all the madness of march

Between the REAL march madness, Spring Break and Easter, March was hectic and wonderful.  Here's what happened in between all that fun......

A lovely Boulder hike one day and a visit to a house I lived at in college. 

Oh the memories!!

Bedtime snuggles.  Hayes doesn't sleep with Ben overnight but by next Winter, he (Hayes) might sleep in long enough to be invited. 

Family bike ride to Cafe Rio, our fast-casual Mexican fave.

SO much landscape shopping this month-Ben was a trooper!

 

A lovely weekend hike with the LB's while Daddy was out of town for work.

It took a while but he play with Wall*E and Eve a lot these days.

"Business trip" was played for hours this month.  Ryan kept trying to put his suitcase away and I'd scream, "NOOOOO!"

gainin' on him!

The Leprechaun left a little Woody toy in Ben's pot-of-gold on St. Patrick's Day.

Ben talked all Spring Break about coming home to dye eggs.

The only thing worse than furniture shopping is when they literally can't figure out how to sell you something.  We tried again another day.

 Wichita friends Chrystal, TJ, Riley, Ethan and Grams were in Breck to ski and we met for breakfast on their way out of town.  It was a lovely but much-too-short meal.

 

Life in CO means shirtless hammock days with snow still on the ground.

Betsy and Blake's son, Grant spent a few days with us one week.  

Ben LOVED having a buddy around.

I encountered the Tesla line one day at the mall.  It snaked the entire length of the mall downstairs and then came upstairs and through half the mall.  This was at 3pm and the sign-up began at 9am.  This was to put a deposit on a car that hasn't even hit production phase yet-crazy!

The month ended on a chilly and gorgeous note. 

happy easter

A few months before Easter, Christy inquired about whether I'd be hosting, "as usual?"  I replied that I was happy to, and MeeMee and Nana and Papa joined us as well.  Our last minute Spring break plans left me running around to get everything prepped in just a couple days but I had done some of the big shopping before we left.  This was one year that hosting in our old house would have been tough as the snow was still melting outside.

Just like at Christmas, the last mention of the Easter Bunny before bed left Ben more concerned than excited.:(

It took quite a bit of encouragement to convince Ben to search for his basket, and he first went in search of his headlamp to help in the search.  That was entertaining enough that he nearly forgot about the basket search.  As with many years, I feel like this part of our morning is a bit rushed as we're always focused on getting the meal prepared.  I need to work on that in the future but Ben did find his basket pretty quickly with a little help from his Dad.

Shining the headlamp was way more fun than searching.

aha!

Jessie stole the show!

The family gathered for brunch about lunch time and enjoyed lingering at the table and chatting for quite a while.  It's nice that the boys can play and entertain themselves while the grown-ups chat.  The boys played in the basement for a while before we bid adieu to MeeMee and the rest of us headed to Joe and DeDe's.  DeDe and I had conspired a visit so we all could meet baby McCoy while he was at their house.  Their son Payden, and his wife Haley, had welcomed him less than a month before.  It was a pleasure to meet him and spend time with the extended family for a bit.  We all enjoyed another round of food and basketball back at the Heimer Haus before everyone headed home.  It was a delightful and fun day and the boys are having more and more fun playing as they grow.

cocktail perfecting 

(this year's was not my favorite)

First time breaking out my china in the new house.

the hunt is on......

money!!!!

This little gem from Ryan's childhood showed up with ears and a tail on and Ben was over-the-moon.  Unfortunately he is disintegrating so he lives on a shelf.

McCoy Carter Stramel

Luke's fun cup was full.

true Spring break

It's not lost on me that we are a very blessed family when it comes to travel.  Between being smart with airline miles, having other family members who make travel a priority, allocating a decent amount of our household budget to family trips, and tagging on Ryan's work travel, we go some great places.  Despite all that, when school vacations come and don't align with our trips, I always feel a certain level of disappointment in a break wasted.  Ryan has done a decent amount of travel to Florida lately and I'm pretty sure I started bugging him in January to make sure he was there over Ben's Spring break, so Ben and I could tag along.  Amazingly, that seed I planted (and watered A LOT) grew, but only days before we were to depart.  We sold our Saturday basketball tickets, lined up Nana and Papa to watch their grand-pups, and set sail for sunny(ish) shores.

This was Ben's first time in charge of a suitcase and he owned it.

Wish he shared this well with everyone.

Clearly cramping his style 

The weather was decent and much better than the feet of snow falling back home, but temps were below normal and one day was fairly rainy.  This was mine and Ben's first time to the gulf coast of Florida and though I might not jump on friend Rob's bandwagon that it's the "best beach in the world," the sand was white and smooth and the water was a perfect aqua hue.  

the view from our balcony

We spent Sunday as a family, walking the beach to beers and snacks and hot-tubbing before dinner.  Ryan worked most of Monday and part of Tuesday while Ben and I entertained ourselves at the beach and pool.  

There were a few playgrounds along the beach at different restaurants.  

We hit up this one a lot.

Sauteed crab claws.  

Ryan coming here a lot was a huge bonus in the food department.

 Monday with Mom..........

 Tuesday morning we headed to the Gulfarium next to our hotel and watched the dolphin show.  Scenes from the movie Blackfish were burned in my mind and I couldn't help but think these animals would be happier at sea.  The other sea life was neat to see and of course the staff gave lots of reasons why their work was so important and why the dolphins needed to be there.

Ryan took lots of GoPro video of all the animals doing their thing, and in a couple years when it's edited together, I'll be sure and post it. ;)

On Tuesday afternoon our at least my life, was changed forever.  We headed down the coast to Seaside at the suggestion of one of Ryan's co-workers.  Seaside is an idyllic coast town that one would really have to see to believe.  Families ride their bikes around town and down to the beach with nary a bike lock in site.  We enjoyed shrimp and lobster rolls and fresh squeezed lemonade from a deck on the beach and strolled through adorable shops.  This vacation playground for the wealthy of the south is absolutely picture-postcard-perfect.  You will not find culture or low prices here, but turquoise water, amazing food, and happy kids running amuck were a welcome way to spend the afternoon.

My mouth still waters at the shrimp salad roll and my heart still skips a beat at the $90 lunch bill with simple (but delicious) sandwiches and a couple beers.

The big open lawn at the center of town.

my south beach model :)

Wednesday brought the nicest weather and a nice day at the beach and by the pool soaking up the sun and sand. 

The last sunset before the last supper.  After this we headed out for some famous smoked prime rib.  Ben was on his best behavior and the whole evening was the perfect end to an amazing few days.

Heading home to more feet of snow Thursday was quite a smack in the face.  We were a little worried we'd be stuck (some of us might have prayed for it,) but after a decent delay on the tarmac to get a gate when we arrived in Denver, we made it home without much incident. 

DIA was a disaster with random bags everywhere and any semblance of organization given up at least 24 hours before. People were crying left and right and others were screaming on their phones at customer service.  Right after someone told us our baggage would be delayed at least an hour, it rolled down the claim-amen!

It was an early start and a long travel day before he plopped down into his bean bag and was out within seconds.  A move to the couch did little to disturb him and a rare post-nap full nights' sleep was proof of how exhausting so much fun can be. 

Huge thanks to Nana and Papa for watching Hayes and Luke.  The break was just what our family needed and I hope it's just the beginning of "true Spring Breaks" for us.