The Lee Family: Enjoying Family Pre-4th

We enjoyed the leftover cinnamon rolls made as french toast, which was amazingly good! After eating breakfast, we said goodbye to Uncle Steve and Aunt Shirl who were heading back to Santa Fe where they planned to host a 4th of July party and watch the fireworks from their favorite spot that we discovered a few years ago. It felt weird to not spend the 4th of July with them in Santa Fe, but it really was fun to spend some time with my Aunt Cathy and all of her family who we haven't seen in three years. Plus, we planned on heading to Santa Fe on July 5th through the 7th so we could see them for a few days and to do some of our usual things in Santa Fe. So, we figured we would be enjoying the best of both worlds.

For lunch, we headed to Cafe Rio in downtown Ft. Collins, which is apparently my Aunt and Uncle's favorite post-church lunch spot. They have a great outdoor patio with a fountain and it was a perfect day to enjoy some delicious Mexican food! The food was really delicious and it was so great to be outside for lunch, something we can't do comfortably in Texas this time of year. My Aunt reminds me of my Mom in some things she says and how she acts and she's a fabulous and easy host. I always wish I could see her and Uncle Eric more frequently, so I enjoy the time we have together.

After lunch, we headed next door to Walrus Ice Cream shop, which makes amazing homemade ice cream. It started raining just as we slipped inside the ice cream shop, so we made it just in time. Sofia picked the salted caramel, which was overwhelmingly sweet while Olivia picked Bluemoon which was really good. They both got their ice creams in cones, which is one of their favorite ways to eat ice cream. After all the kids enjoyed their ice cream, I attempted to get a photo of just the kids together. I was able to get everyone looking my way, sort of. Sofia wanted to manage Briella and make sure she was smiling so I have a lot of photos of her looking down at Briella instead of me.

We continued down the street in downtown Ft. Collins, which is such a cute little area. We've never really explored the area but usually visit once during our visits. It's usually at Cafe Rio and Walrus! We walked over to a really cool store that was right up Sofia and Olivia's alley! It was full of fossils, rocks, games, dinosaurs, etc. A big rubber T Rex is in the entrance and the sales clerk pushed a button and it roared and moved. Sofia and Briella moved over to the loose rocks display and explored all the rocks. They were so cute together. Olivia looked at all the fossils, jewelry and toys and then joined Sofia and Briella at exploring the rocks. The kids all loved exploring the cute shop and there were so many really cool things to explore.

After we were done, we headed out and CK, Sofia, Olivia and I headed to Starbucks so CK and I could get a cup of coffee and Olivia could use the bathroom. While we were inside, it started pouring outside! Thankfully we'd made it in just in time once again. Uncle Eric and Aunt Cathy had gone on to pick up the car and planned to come get us. It finally stopped raining and we got in their car and headed back to their house.

After the rain, it got hot and sunny so we decided to head over to Chris and Jackie's neighborhood pool. The kids were excited and they had a great pool! There was a big kid's play structure in the beach entry as well as a great slide! The kids jumped in, even though the water was pretty chilly! Sofia, Olivia and Lincoln loved going down the slide over and over again and then Sofia headed off on her own and played with Leah for a bit before playing on her own. Lincoln and Olivia continued sliding and playing together. They would get out at times with Bryson and lay on the hot concrete to warm up a bit before jumping back into the water. After awhile, Bryson, Lincoln and Olivia ended up playing on the play structure in the shallow end of the pool.

Once the kids were done swimming, we loaded up and headed back to the house where we had leftovers. The girls and Lincoln spent most of their time playing in the basement and enjoying their time together. Before bed, we watched America's Got Talent and a really interesting show about history. We really don't watch tv and haven't watched either of those shows, but they were both pretty interesting and fun way to pass the evening after a fun-filled day. The kids went to bed over in Leah's room and ended up going to be much earlier than they have been since they were very tired after a few nights of not enough sleep and a long, fun day.

The crew at Cafe Rio