day 9: finally the sunshine!

what better way to describe our adventures today than in photo-dump form?!

(and it's late at night, yo! we needs to get some zzz's!)

we started today - the first full day of sunshine that we have enjoyed throughout this trip to denver - with a bang! feeding the ducks at washington park (a favorite when it comes to us, parks, and denver... just give me a blanket and some caprese salad and you have got one happy girl). tasman and edmund really loved throwing stale goldfish to the mallards.

edmund sure does love his uncle paul!...

... and his aunt megan!

washington park was one of the first places that we hung out with sarah and charles when we traveled to denver for the first time years ago... it will always hold a special place in our hearts!

surrey with the fringe on the top...

would it be appropriate to note at this time that tasman independently chose his outfit for the day?!

what a fashionista we have on our hands! 

sweet edmund james...

all the boys (except for charles... 'boo!' for having to work!)

the boys went home with sarah for nap time while paul and i headed downtown for food truck time!

paul visited the biscuit truck again while i snagged some gluten-free pizza...

we sure do love us some food trucks!

after the boys woke up, we drove over to another one of the local recreational parks with water spouts, see-saws, and soccer fields... oh my!

with a quick stop by a home improvement store, i had just enough time to discuss overhead lighting with my youngest nephew... he enjoyed the tips and promises to use recessed cans.

edmund received a birthday gift from his aunt diane!... it was coveted by all... er... tasman. so much so that it was quite the prized and debated-over commodity for the rest of the day!

(quote from tasman: 'i really want to play with that piggy, but i don't want to sit in time-out again.')

livi photo of the day!

without sharing too many details... livi observed her first official child poo blow-out today... we were all traumatized while livi handled the situation surprisingly well - she just laid her head in my lap and watched sarah in-action as supermom... go figure.

tomorrow appears to be our last full day with the schroeders :(... we are planning to hop on over to boulder (a favorite walking city of mine) for most of the morning!

until then...

safe traveling and much love,

the mobleys

day 8: ain't it great!

okay, this will be a brief post for reals... we have had a blast of a day and just watched the pilot episode of modern family as the perfect bedtime send-off. that being said, here is a list of fantastic happenings from today:

1. our belongings arrived in north carolina! a huge thank you to my mom and dad for organizing and storing everything until we find secure stomping grounds!
2. i spent the morning following up on my application for PT licensure... it is finally being reviewed... yay!
3. we journeyed to a local indoor pool that had an excellent pirate ship playground of sorts and a green dragon water slide... it was ridiculously awesome and the nephews loved it (almost as much as their uncle paul)!
4. it rained some more as sarah successfully battled a pink eye infection... we think.
5. we prepared a yummy meal of crock-pot mac + cheese as well as burgers and tots (tater tots, that is)... delish!
6. after dinner we listened to even more of hunger games 2... and even finished it! paul is still trying to soak in what has happened. we can't wait to move on to 'mockingjay'!
7. as previously-mentioned, we wrapped up the day with some modern family... absolutely perf.

oh vacation, how i love thee.

sarah took most of the photos today, so i will only be able to provide you with a photo of how we began our morning and how we ended our day (pay close attention to the end of the day photo... it's also the livi dog photo of the day!)

safe traveling and much love!
the mobleys

day 7: water, water everywhere!

though the sporadic rain in denver continues, our fun adventures are not thwarted!

we began day 7 with a nice sunrise cuddle with our sweet nephew tasman. with paul and i barely awake, we somehow managed to answer his precious early-bird questions that consisted of (but were not limited to):

'what is livi doing right now?'

' aunt megan, where is your shirt with the hot sauce [on it]?'

'where will you and uncle paul live if you don't have a house?'

'can i still come and visit in 2 weeks if you don't have a house?'

'aunt megan, where is your suitcase?' 

(the suitcase was clearly weighing heavy on tasman's mind because he asked about it approximately every 1 minute. love. that. boy.)

i tell you what, i really wished that i had had a recording device within arms reach to capture this morning's conversations for future reference... absolutely hilarious! 

once we were all ready to go, we headed off to the mothership of REI stores to see if paul could get his bike fixed (his chain broke on the first livi bike ride of our denver visit... womp womp).

while we were waiting for paul's bike to get checked out, edmund took his first skateboard ride at REI!

once everyone had their afternoon naps (and by everyone, we mean the nephews... and by the nephews, we mean tasman... oh sweet edmund who doesn't want to miss a moment of fun!), paul and sarah made some cornstarch 'paint' for the boys to use on the driveway. edmund thoroughly enjoyed painting the driveway as well as himself, and tasman thought it would be great to paint directly under the parked car (i emphasize that the car was in park and not turned on).

tasman has a few great words that he has come up with. one of these words/terms is 'jog bog' (is that how we would spell that, sarah?). below is tasman painting what a 'jog bog' looks like. he has decided that should he ever have a dog, it shall be named either 'jog bog' or 'milk jug'... can we please remember this?!

(a close-up of the 'jog bog'.)

while i got to facetime a bit with my fam back home, paul joined the schroeders on a quick bike ride around the block. here is a snapshot of the cute family of 4 with tasman leading the pack!

safety first. pants second.

we then took a quick trip to a nearby park where they have water spouts shooting out of the ground... these boys (especially that bigger boy in blue) love them some water! tasman and uncle paul had a BLAST chasing each other around the water fountains!

what can i say? 

'some walk in the rain, others just get wet.' - roger miller

after each lap around the fountain, tasman would emerge to dry his face off and then gleefully run back into the water trenches... this boy has heart!

edmund loved the water as well!

and we were all thrilled when edmund took 2 steps (on grass!... this pediatric PT was particularly impressed) towards his uncle paul! edmund had quite the cheering squad.

 oh, handsome edmund james!... those big blue eyes even though you're sopping wet!

tasman was a shivering little one by the end... a case that called for extreme bundling and cuddling with aunt megan... oh my heart was smiling so big!

and edmund continued his climbing adventures...

after the water fun, we picked up some delicious pizza (even a gf cheese pizza for yours truly) and enjoyed dinner outside on the front porch. once all of our tummies were stuffed, it was bathtime and subsequent bedtime for the boys. after the little ones were tucked in, charles headed out for his soccer game while paul, sarah, and i listened to hunger games 2 (technically called 'catching fire' i guess) and talked about life. it was the perfect end to our perfect sunday!

livi dog photo of the day!...

tasman wanted to go fishing with his fishing pole. he figured out the perfect bait to 'catch a livi'... a stick! with such great bait, he 'caught a livi' several times. 

also on the list of exciting things that happened today... livi and uluru (the schroeders' cat) met through a glass door this evening. this resulted in a great deal of hair standing on end, hissing, and growling... oh my! hopefully they will be able to tolerate each other for the next few days!

wishing everyone a great start to their week! we might just go to an indoor pool/water park tomorrow...

safe traveling and much love!

the mobleys

day 6: pretty nice little saturday...

hello from denver! we have had quite the marvelous saturday with sarah, charles, tasman, and edmund... nothing like spending some quality time with family... especially your beyond-cute nephews! 

we started the day with an early-morning snuggle with tasman... that precious one knocked on our door this morning requesting a livi visit and cuddle time... how are we supposed to resist that?! we then hit the ground running... literally. as of today, i have officially started my training for marathon #2... so paul hopped on the bike with livi in tow and joined me this morning in unfamiliar running territory. we had a nice run/ride, and livi was more than ready for her mid-morning nap as a result.

we then headed out to the cherry creek farmer's market and... for this weekend only... art festival! as you may know, i adore a good farmer's market and arts festival... so i was pretty much in heaven while participating in my favorite weekend adventure!

me with the adorable nephews! oh how i love these two! at this point, they were literally pulling me in two directions :).

we found some real-life roasting chili peppers at the farmer's market! it made all four of us adults long for our chili relleno cook-off that we held about 4 years ago in denver.

sarah and charles told us about this awesome biscuit bus at the farmer's market! paul was immediately in love and couldn't resist trying their fried chicken and cheese biscuit. the nephews (a.k.a. the pigeons... as paul lovingly called them at this point) enjoyed opening their mouths wide in request and eating little bitty pieces of it as well!

tasman was particularly uber-cute as he hugged on to his uncle paul's leg while waiting for the biscuit!

and tasman enjoyed some of denver's best kettle corn!

at the arts festival, they had an amazing kids zone complete with painting and creating! tasman and edmund helped contribute to a community mural and tasman even made his own rocket out of recycled goods! everyone had a great time, as was evident by most body appendages covered in paint by the end of the afternoon.

we completed our day with a glorious afternoon nap (accompanied by a beautiful thunder/lightning storm in the background) and sarah putting together another amazing meal! once the kiddos went to bed, the four of us adults (plus livi) hung out on the front porch for a while chatting and laughing. quite the perfect saturday, i mean!

(my apologies for the lack of 'livi photo of the day'... but much less photos were taken than i had originally thought today... i will surely make up for it tomorrow!... don't worry, she is loving life in denver and sends nothing but well wishes to all of her admirers!)

we can't wait to see what the rest of the weekend has in store for us!

safe traveling and much love,
the mobleys

p.s. happy wedding day to my college roommate, katie bumgarner! we thought about you all day and sent you oh-so-much love and support from across the country! we were so sad to not be there :(. without a doubt, i'm sure you were the most beautiful bride on this special day, and i hope zach knows that he sure is lucky to be getting the best roomie in the entire world today! all my love, and i can't wait to celebrate with you in raleigh soon!