Balloons and Bikers

One week this summer Paul told me there was a balloon festival going on.  He wanted to get up early and take the kids to the morning take off....before work on a Friday. I told him he was crazy, that was too much to take on during the week, and I forgot about it.  Until....Paul sent me some of these pics on my cell phone.  He had gotten the kids up and out the door to get to this before he had to be at work. 

One of the guys offered to let the kids in the basket and then took off about 5 feet in the air. They loved it.  Audrey wanted to "blast off" and she wants to go up high in a "purple one next time".

We were really excited for the Tour of Utah coming back to town.  We were busy on Friday night so we made plans to cheer them on Saturday and Sunday.  This is Saturday as they made their way down Big Cottonwood and then up Little for a finish at Snowbird.  

The finish of the whole event was in Park City on Sunday.  We went up for the festivities.  Paul and the kids were able to see them start the day(I was doing some biking myself) and then they colored the finish line. 

 It was so much fun cheering on the bikers at the finish line.  The atmosphere was full of so much energy.

Finish Line

Ultimate Hill Climb and Oktoberfest

Last weekend Paul did the bike race he'd been training for all summer....the Ultimate Hill Climb(previously known as the Ultimate Widowmaker).  It is a ride that starts on a road bike in Sandy. You ride up Little Cottonwood until you get to Snowbird. Then you switch to a mountain bike and ride to the top of the tram. The total is 15 miles and 6800 vertical feet.  It's a crazy ride.

The kids waiting to cheer on Paul at his transition

Coming in on his road bike

Cheering daddy on as he starts his climb on his mountain bike

Heading up the tram to meet Paul at the top

Waiting for Daddy to finish. It was cold, and in the clouds

Uncle Billy and Courtney came to cheer also

The trail Paul was coming up

There he is!

With the tram!

Almost to the finish!

Crossing the finish line with Audrey chasing him

Yay Paul!!  Great job!

Heading back down the tram

Oktoberfest fun

We had hotel vouchers from buying our season passes so we all stayed up there for the night.  This is out our hotel window

Excited to go to the pool

Fun at the pool before bed

Sunrise

They have a stocked pound for fishing for the kids.  So we took them. The fish were too smart though. We didn't catch anything.

I liked the name of the pond

Colin turns 5....."a whole hand"

Happy 5th Birthday Colin!!!

I can't believe my little baby boy is 5 already!  When we were thinking about Colin's birthday Paul really wanted to do a bigger party with kids this year.  I wasn't really excited about the idea. I knew it would be a lot of work at an already busy time for us.  We decided not to do it.  Then, Colin decided he wanted a pirate party. Not just any pirate but "Jake and the Neverland Pirates".  As I started to look at ideas of how to do the party to make it special for Colin, I started to get excited about the possibility of having a bunch of kids over to help celebrate.  We decided we'd just go for it, Colin would love it!  

I spent too much time on Pinterest and got some good ideas.  I decided we'd have a treasure hunt and at the end would be a treasure chest full of the goody bags.  I planned to paint a box brown and call it a treasure chest.  Colin had a different idea.  He said we needed to pull up a picture of Jake's treasure chest and make it like his.  He planned out every detail of this box.  Paul ended up being recruited to help due to my lack of artistic skills.  That's when this party became a whole family undertaking....when we realized Colin's attention to detail!!!

Colin celebrated his birthday at school with his teacher and classmates.  He had so much fun. They made  him this hat and card.  

His birthday was on Tuesday but the party wasn't until Wednesday. On his actual birthday we took him out to dinner. He wanted to go to "the restaurant with the chopsticks"...so we went out for sushi!

Audrey copying Colin with the picture

Another video of the kids using chopsticks....why do I always think this is so cute?!

We opened up presents from our out of town family on his actual birthday

Wednesday was the party. It was a lot of work to prepare for.  I was up late Mon, Tues, and left work early on Wed to get ready.  

This is the sandbox where the kids dug for burried treasure.

Walking the plank. It was kind of a cold evening and I was afraid someone was going to fall in the freezing water but no one did.  

We had a dress up station to become pirates!

Pirate names!

We loved the photo booth at Audrey's party so I did it again

Decorations

Food table, we grilled meat to go along with the veggies, fruit and salad.

Jake Cake.  This is another item that Colin was very detailed with what he wanted

I decided I wanted to make a boat sail to put up on the table outside.  Paul asked his dad if he wanted to help with the project.  He did an awesome job. I now know where Colin gets his attention to detail!

Sail in progress

The finished sail.  Looks like it came right from Bucky's ship!

The party in progress.....digging for the treasures

Grandpa grilling!

Happy Birthday to Colin!

I think he's loving his cake

Opening presents

The treasure hunt! This was a huge hit. The kids loved it.  

Looking for clues

Running to the next clue. It's blurry but I like how it shows their excitement.

This video shows how exciting the hunt was for them. I'm so glad I got it on video.  

Finding the treasure chest.

Treasure!!  

Photo booth!

Thanks for a great party!