Happy 9th Birthday, Olivia!

This morning our girl woke up as a NINE year old! How did that happen so quickly?! She woke up with her alarm, as she's been doing for most mornings lately at 6:30am, so she could walk Buddy and Skipper with me. When she came out of her room, the dining room table had several sweet homemade birthday cards from her friends.  Normally she would be in school and we would likely be doing a birthday party with her friends.  Since we are remote learning due to COVID, I texted her friends' moms and asked if they could have their kids make a birthday card so I could surprise Olivia on her birthday.  They were ALL so cute and creative and there is nothing that compares to a homemade birthday card!  She was very surprised and loved them, of course!

I love that she has been getting up and walking the dogs with me in the mornings.  It's so sweet and a fun way to spend the morning together. She got dressed and we headed out to the soccer fields. Over the past week of dog walks, I've been asking her what she wants for her birthday and she's been really uncertain. She always says she likes Star Wars (but not Legos necessarily), horses, and reading. So, she didn't really have any good ideas for gifts and I sort of feel like she's outgrowing "toys" that she would have normally played with even a year ago. The only thing she was certain of was her birthday dinner. She specifically asked for quiche and steamed green beans for her birthday dinner, which is one of our favorite meals. She also wanted a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting from Blue Bonnet Bakery in Ft Worth. Such great taste!

After our dog walk, Mindy and Marisa delivered a box of donuts that had "HAPPY BDAY OLIVIA" donuts inside! What a terrific surprise and so delicious! CK and I had appointments together at the DMV to renew our drivers licenses and left the house at 8am for our 8:30am appointment. It was pretty amazing how quickly we were in and out of there and just how easy it was! We got home around 9:30 and the "virtual school day" went smoothly. Just after lunch of a taco casserole I made from leftovers from taco night, I went to the airport to pick up the girls' cousin Sammy! Sam flew in to surprise Olivia and also to spend the weekend with some college buddies. It was so great to see him and have him visit for her big day. I'd meant to keep it a secret, but I unfortunately let the cat out of the bag when I asked if she could go with me! Oops!

We returned home and Olivia was happy to see Sam, but also upset because she had trouble getting on her WebEx meeting. We figured it out and she spend her "brain breaks" jumping on the trampoline with Sam. They are so cute together. We had dinner around 6:30pm so we wouldn't be up half the night with cake and opening presents. Grandpa and Grandma called to talk to Olivia just before dinner and then we sat down to a yummy birthday dinner. After eating, we asked Olivia if she wanted to open presents or have birthday cake/ice cream first and she chose presents!

Along with the donuts from Marisa and Mindy, Olivia also received Tiff's Treats cookies for her big day from Holly and family!  They were so delicious.  She opened her gift from Aunt and Uncle first which was a diamond tiara and two very beautiful Mexican dragons that are serious art pieces!  They are amazing and very unique!  Hannah, her best friend, gave her the game Otrio, which is like a complex tic-tac-toe game.  Sian and family send her a TON of stuff, as usual.  She got a cute coffee mug, an "S" mug, gummy bears, face paint, a journal, a cute purse, a necklace and luggage tags.  Sian ALWAYS remembers our girls' birthdays and always sends a mishmash of gifts. It is so fun to open her gifts!!  CK also got her French lemonade, candy, relaxing tea and gummy bears.  All of her favorites!  As far as gifts from us, I'd already found three interesting books that I thought she might enjoy, but really had no other good ideas. Finally I decided to get her a few cute Star Wars shirts, which Sofia gave to her. Skipper and Buddy gave Olivia some cute giraffe socks as well as a few kinds of gum.  CK and I also wanted to offer her and Sofia weekly horse lessons, since they both love riding so much.  So, we wrote horse lessons in a card, which would be the final present of the night.   Such a great birthday and what a fun day!

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!