Happy 13th Birthday, Sofia!

Yesterday Sofia turned 13 and is now officially a TEENAGER!!  How did that happen?!  Honestly, it feels like she was just learning how to walk, and then just a busy toddler, and finally in elementary school and busy with school, soccer and friends.  Now, she will be going into 8th grade and will soon be in high school, driving and then off to college!  Hard to believe and it really is going by so quickly and will continue to fly by.

Since we are in the middle of Covid restrictions, we decided to spend the weekend with Sofia's friend Liam and his family at the lake and then celebrate as a family on her actual day.  On Friday we picked up Liam and his 11-year old sister Amelia around 1:30pm and headed for the lake.  On Saturday afternoon, Mikaela, Brad and Gabriel joined us at the lake and we spent the afternoon on the boat.  On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning we rode the jet skis all over the lake.  Liam and Amelia loved it and Amelia rode on the back of my jet ski and kept saying "This is so fun!"  It was great.  It was a bit rough on Friday afternoon, but we were able to go into one of the coves and enjoyed the calm waters.  

On Sunday we went back out on the boat and CK taught Brad how to surf.  He was actually pretty decent at it quickly too.  CK also surfed with Gabriel and Amelia!  I don't know how he does it but they both seemed to really enjoy it.  After surfing, the kids took turns riding on the tube, which they could probably do for hours on end.  Sofia rode with Liam while Amelia and Olivia had a great time riding together.  Gabriel was a little less certain, so he rode a few times on his own.  We had great weather all weekend and it was a great time together.  Sofia did disappear into her book from time-to-time, but she said she had a great time.

Sofia started her big day with "Happy 13th Sofia" donuts which were not only adorable, but absolutely delicious!  She ended up eating 4 of them, which she soon found not to be the best decision since she then felt sick!  I let Sofia sleep in until 10:30am and after donuts she got dressed and we headed over to meet CK at his new office in Ft. Worth.  His office is awesome and really comfortable and cozy!  We are so excited for his new job and so far he is over-the-top happy! After a tour of his office and meeting his co-workers, we headed over to Lucile's Bistro for a Greek salad, cheeseburger for the birthday girl and grilled cheese for Olivia. Both girls were super full from all their donuts, but their lunches were delicious, as was our salads.  While we ate our lunch, CK and I noticed a bakery - Blue Bonnet Bakery, set up in an old church across the street.  We headed over and discovered a total find!  Apparently the Blue Bonnet Bakery has been in business for 80 years and all of their cakes, cookies and donuts looked amazing.  Sofia said "Oh, I just can't even look at the donuts!"  She did pick out a round vanilla cake and we asked them to write "Happy 13th Birthday Sofia"  It looked amazing! After we dropped CK off, the girls and I headed home.

On our way home, I asked Sofia what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said "Absolutely nothing!" which isn't really very different than any other day in the past few weeks.  Once we got home, the girls went upstairs with Skipper to cuddle and watch Star Wars, or something similar on Disney +, which is their new favorite.  For dinner, I'd asked her what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she'd said salmon, broccoli with garlic and lemon and zucchini. On Saturday night we had her other favorite - spaghetti casserole.  

CK made the girls shirley temples and we enjoyed our dinner outside.  It's not nearly as hot as it can be in July and we've enjoyed our meals outside for the past few weeks, which is really great.  The only down side is that Olivia gets eaten up by mosquitos. After dinner, we headed back inside and got the cake ready for our birthday girl!  We sang happy birthday to Sofia and she made a wish while she blew out her "13" candles.   The cake was honestly one of the best we've ever eaten!  It was delicious!  

After cake and ice cream, we headed over to the living room where Olivia passed out the birthday gifts to Sofia.  She wanted to open the gift from Olivia first, which was a Star Wars Lego set, and Sofia was super excited! She then opened presents from all of us which were books, a Harry Potter dragon Lego set, and a coloring book.  CK bought her the International Space Station Lego set and she was beyond excited!   She opened the card from her Grandpa and Grandma that included $100!  She was so excited! Finally, she opened her last gift, which was from Aunt and Uncle - a brand new and beautiful pair of cowboy boots!  They look great on her too!  She had such a great and lazy birthday day and was SO excited by all of her great birthday gifts!  We can't wait to see what the year brings her!

Ready to ride the jet skis!

Sofia is done with pictures!

Sofia, Amelia and Liam on the paddle board.

Sofia, Amelia, Liam, Olivia, and Buddy paddling down the cove together. Buddy wasn't a huge fan.

Such a great group of kids!

The kid's table - Spaghetti casserole and salad!

Happy 13th Birthday, Sofia!

The birthday weekend gang! Ready to celebrate and eat cake and ice cream!

Cutting the first piece!

Liam's sweet gift for Sofia.

Sofia woke up on her actual birthday to A LOT of donuts!!

Happy 13th Olivia!

Awesome since July 2007!! That's our girl!

Meeting Papa in his awesome office!

Ready to celebrate Sofia with the best cake ever.

Our silly girl!

Deciding on her wish for her 13th year.

Happy Birthday!

Look at all those presents!

Letting the opening begin!

Legos!

The International Space Station Lego set!

Skipper is as happy with present opening as Sofia is.

Cowboy boots! Yeehaw!!

Look at those boots! She LOVES them!

Me and my girl!

Summer Vacation Day 6: Trail Ride

After our ferry ride and hike to the waterfall and then the girls' billy coating up the mountain, the girls were tired and we were all pretty hungry, so we decided to head back to Creekside Market. I love that little place! I ordered the turkey club on croissant, which I'm totally going to try and recreate once I'm back home! Sliced turkey, bacon, cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Delicious! We ordered our sandwiches to go and headed back to our hotel. The girls headed over to visit the horses and I called Mitzi, who just lost her mom. She is so sad but also relieved by her passing after her health issues. She was so happy that her Mom didn't suffer.

We had our trail ride at 3:30pm and headed over to the stables to meet our horses. Olivia was given Faye, Sofia was put on Headlights, CK rode a big beauty named Perkins, and I was put on Jigsaw. There was a huge group in front of us so we started a little late and was put with another family of four along with our leader. Jigsaw likes to walk right behind Headlights and bite him on the butt from time to time! It was hilarious! After a few bites to the butt, Headlights gave a decent warning kick, so I started pulling Jigsaw back so he couldn't bite. The ride was super slow and a little boring, but also very beautiful. The girls were desperate to trot or even walk faster and every other sentence was "At Andy's Trail Rides, Andy let us trot and canter!!" They had fun, but it could have been that much better if we were able to trot and canter.

About halfway through the ride, we ended up catching up with the huge riding party that left before us. One of the ladies actually fell off her horse and was afraid to get back on. She wasn't hurt but just didn't feel comfortable getting back on the horse, so she wanted to walk back to the stables. It ended up really slowing our walk down to virtually a stop, but it was a very pretty view, so we tried to focus on that. The girls were also shocked at the lady who wouldn't get back on her horse. I certainly hope if they ever fell off or got tossed off, that they would get back on the horse! It was a slow ride but it was very relaxing and fun.

After our ride, the girls went back to our hotel room and watched Walking with Dinosaurs while CK and I grabbed our books and headed for the pool. It felt so amazing to swim and the water is just the perfect temperature. Once we were wet, it actually is too cold to sit in the shade, but very hot in the sun. It was great.

We got ready to go out for our final dinner. On our way to our car, Sofia was super fussy so I pulled her aside and asked her what was going on with her. She said she has had so much fun and has absolutely loved our vacation, but she is ready to get home, to her bed, to her room and stuff, and to Skipper. I completely understand that and often feel that way, even when we are in the Bahamas. I told her it's a completely normal feeling and I was happy that she understood and explained her feelings. After our talk, she was back to her normal and happy self.

We had our last dinner with Karina and her kids at an absolutely adorable place called Calico which was not far from our hotel and their house. It has an amazing outdoor space and the food and service was fantastic. The girls all ran off together and played in the grass until their food came. I love how much fun Annalise, Sonya, Sofia and Olivia have together and how they just click. Karina and Dave are such an interesting and fun couple and their family is really amazing! We'd absolutely love to meet with them again for a vacation. They are a delight to be with and the girls loved it. After a fabulous dinner together, we said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel to pack and go to bed. What a fantastic last day in Jackson Hole.
Sofia riding her horse for the day, Headlights.

Olivia riding her horse, Faye.

Papa on Perkins.

Starting a fun trail ride!

Already having fun!

Heading into a beautiful trees!

Olivia and Papa, they look like they're already having fun!

Sofia smiling for the camera!

The beautiful view on our ride!

Papa and Olivia, walking through the pretty forest.

Heading back to the stables.

Sofia after a fun ride!

Mommy on Jigsaw!

Overlooking the stables! So cozy!

Moose!!!

Having a fun and final dinner with friends!

Summer Vacation Day 6: Jenny Lake

We had big plans to get up early and drive into Teton National Park so we could hike around Jenny Lake and make our way to the hidden waterfall, however that didn't exactly happen. I woke up at 7am and snuck out of our room, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to the courtyard to write in my journal. I'm not normally a journal writer, but I love to write every day when we travel. It was in the 50s and actually a bit chilly - it felt amazing! I enjoyed sitting outside until 8:30am when I returned to our room to get everyone up! The girls enjoyed blueberry muffins that we actually picked up from the store yesterday and then we loaded up for Jenny Lake, a 40-minute drive even though it's only about 20 miles. We ended up taking Moose Road, which we soon learned is basically the back road into Teton National Park. There was only one other car on the road and it felt like we were out there totally on our own. It's such gorgeous landscape and we actually saw a bear! It was small and looked young, but it walked across the street and into the trees as if we weren't even there. It was pretty cool!

We arrived at Jenny Lake and it was crazy crowded already! We ended up parking on the street pretty far away from the overly full parking lot and walked in to the entrance. It sort of felt like we were going to an amusement park. There were so many people there, many of whom did not exactly look like hiking was something they were interested or capable of doing. Originally we planned to hike the 3 miles around Jenny Lake and make our way to see the waterfall, but before we left Teton Village the girls make a horseback riding appointment for 3pm, so we were on limited time. Since we got such a late start, we decided to take the ferry across the lake and hike the mile to the waterfall and then walk back to the entrance, about 3 additional miles. We waited briefly for the ferry and we couldn't believe how clear the lake water and how perfect the weather was! It was a perfectly sunny and clear day that was equally comfortable while wearing a short sleeve shirt or long sleeve! The ferry trop across the lake was spectacular and so amazingly beautiful it doesn't even feel real. It would really be incredible if we'd arrived at Jenny Lake first thing in the morning so we'd be around a lot less people.

We got off the ferry and walked up the very-clearly marked path toward the waterfall. From the beginning the path and view was beautiful and also a very easy walk. It was very crowded as we got closer to the waterfall and about half of the hikers wore masks. We took a few pictures by the river and then we made it to the waterfall which was really an amazing amount of water and just so powerful and incredible. It was impressive! We took a few pictures and enjoyed the view and then started to he'd back to the trailhead that led to Inspiration Point. As we headed that way, the girls found a huge rock avalanche area and just started to climb. CK and I sat at the bottom with the sound of the waterfall and just enjoyed watching the girls climb and have fun. They ended up making it about 3/4 of the way up and we could hardly even see them! The best part was that it was totally free of other people, although other kids did see them climbing and wanted to join in. They soon realized coming down is much harder than it is to go up, but they made their way down. They said the views were incredible and they were actually overlooking Inspiration Point. We wished one of us would have send a phone with them so they could take pictures, but we didn't realize that they would make it so far up. What a fun and totally unique experience.

Once they returned to the bottom, we asked what they wanted to do - head up to Inspiration Point or head back to the ferry and go back to get ready for the trail ride. They decided that we should head back to the ferry to take it back over to the main entrance so we wouldn't be late for our ride. The hike down to the ferry point was equally amazing and we had the entire trail to ourselves somehow. We ran across an adorable chipmunk that Olivia named "Marisa" because it was such a showboat and literally posed for us. It was so cute! We took approximately 20 pictures of our cute little "Marisa" chipmunk. We loaded onto the ferry and headed back over to the entrance. Once we arrived it was unbelievable how many people were there waiting to get on the ferry! It literally felt like we were at Disneyland! We headed to our car and headed back to our hotel. The cars were literally parked for miles beyond even where we were! It was crazy and apparently there are less people visiting this summer than in years past. I can't even imagine how busy it could potentially be in a regular year! It's so amazingly beautiful and incredible. It honestly doesn't feel real because it's so stunning. Such a fun morning!


Sitting outside reading and enjoying the amazing weather and view.

Possibly the only moose we'll actually see....

Just such a beautiful view!

A bear! It walked across the street in front of us like it owned the place!

We finally made it to Jenny Lake!

The snow-covered mountains are always in the background and so majestic.

Enjoying the amazingly clear water and perfect weather.

Us gals are ready for a little hiking!

The water is SO clear!

Covid family portrait while we take the boat to the far side of Jenny Lake.

Leaving the dock...so pretty.

Olivia and me.

Gorgeous!!

Our first view of the water coming from the waterfall we were heading toward.

Love the force of the water.

Olivia

Just an amazing amount of water! So beautiful and peaceful.

CK and me by the waterfall.

The girls by the amazing waterfall!

The girls are WHY up there!

Our little billy goats showing us where they had hiked!

Girls by the river.

Hiking through the forest.

Just amazing!

Heading back toward the boat after our hike.

Happy girls after a fun hike.

The cute little chipmunk who loved to pose for us.

Girls!

Heading back by boat after the waterfall.

Going to miss this incredible view.