Colorado

We had such an amazing time in Colorado! This was Lyla's first vacation and she absolutely had a blast! Vacationing with a toddler is a bit more challenging than we had expected, but once we got into the groove of things, everything ended up working out perfectly. Our typical schedule was pretty much thrown out the window, but we were amazed at how flexible Lyla was...especially on days when she only got a short 15 minute nap in the car!

Lyla did amazing on the plane! Between her Gerber cheesy poofs and Mr. Potato Head, she was totally occupied for the two hour flight and had no complaints.

We spend the majority of our week in and around the Boulder area. We loved Boulder and enjoyed all it had to offer. We especially had fun seeing Jason, Julie, and Eleanor! They took us for a long hike and then up to Nederland for some lunch, coffee, and beautiful scenery. We spent a day in Estes Park/Rocky Mountain Nat. Park, a day at the Denver Zoo, and then moved on to a small town called Evergreen where we stayed a very relaxing two days.

Lyla really enjoyed all of the different playgrounds we took her to. She seemed her happiest when we were outside...which was easy to do since the weather was so beautiful. It did get a little hot a few of the days when we were there, but not too hot that we couldn't play outside!

Lyla had fun hiking in the Rocky Mountain Nat. Park. She especially loved all of the streams and lakes we saw and would holler "wawa" (water!) any time it was in her view.

Besides the weather and the gorgeous landscape, eating is our favorite thing to do on vacation! We pretty much ate out twice a day while we were there. Our favorite restaurant was a place called WaterCourse Foods which was a vegetarian restaurant in Denver. It was so awesome we went there twice.

I think Lyla's favorite thing to eat was the street vendor veggie hot dog that we got for her when we went out for pizza one day...or perhaps the beans at the Mexican restaurant in Estes Park.

By the way, for those of you who were wondering, we got Lyla's travel high chair on Amazon.com, but I have also seen it at Target...and there are a few handmade ones on Etsy that are kind of similar. We really loved the convenience of it, but did have one accident with it when Lyla pushed off the table and went flying...after that we made sure not to leave her side for a second while she was in the chair.

We also visited Red Rocks Amphitheater on our last day there...really amazing. I love this picture because you can see how huge the amphitheater is and you can also kind of see Denver way in the distance.

Overall it was an awesome trip! We will have to go back as there is so much to do and see there!

15 months

Hooray! It's Lyla's 15 month birthday today!

She is getting so big! I have been trying my very best to take a picture of her at each month in her chair...I have forgotten a few months here and there, but I am going to try to keep up with it! Look how much she has changed from her first chair picture at 4 1/2 months!

Lyla's first vacation

Today (our third day in Colorado) we decided to devote the entire day doing things just for Lyla. She has been so patient and flexible on our vacation that she deserved her very own day! We started the day out by attending a big festival in Aurora just for kids.





















They had all kinds of arts and crafts activities, sports and outdoors activities, as well as life size recreations of popular children's board games.
















Lyla playing Hi Ho Cherry-o




















Our favorite was Candy Land (It was so awesome!)

After the festival we went to a local park in Aurora that has a special "Sprayscape" water playground for kids. Lyla was a little cautious, but still had a blast.





















After a much needed several hour nap (her first nap in the hotel since we got here!!!) we took her out to eat for Indian food and drinks where she chowed down on her favorite meal of Aloo Gobi.

My Little Seat

Grandma got Lyla (although it is more for us!) a special present for her first big vacation! It is a very cool travel highchair. We didn't know what to do about a high chair in the hotel room, so this works out perfectly because she can sit in any chair now whether we are at the hotel or out to eat! Plus it takes up less space in the backpack than her diapers!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! We love our fancy new seat!

On a side note, check out Lucy watching the floor for any little crumb to fall! She is the best little mop! She is having her own little vacation while we are away...relaxing for the week at the B&B with Grandma and Grandpa.

Animal names and other words

Lyla calls lots of different animals by the sounds that they make rather than their actual names. So a doggie is actually a "woof" and a kitty cat is a "mow". She knows and can recognized a few others like a "moo", a "baa", and even a "who"! She does however call a bird a bird, and will say "tee tee" when you ask her what a bird says.

"Baby" is her favorite word and she loves to point at all babies and children and yell "BABY!" She has also started calling cars "Bee Bee" which can make things a little confusing at times.

Lyla's Birthday Video

I finally figured out how to post video on this blog so I thought I would share this one with everyone. We made this for Lyla's birthday and passed out copies to family and friends as parting gifts. It's a collection of photos of our little Junebug from birth to 12 months.