The Great Escape

The 21+ members of Teams McNerney, Furber and Backer made their way to Denver, CO for a weekend of adult fun, headlined by a Trampled by Turtles show at Red Rocks.

Hard to pick favorites, but my eight-way tie for first place is probably the cocktails at Williams & Graham, the plate o' pork at Old Major, the 'Heads Up' battles at the Denver Brewing Company, our Title IX fantasy football draft and "brunch" at Linger (which followed our ice cream breakfast at Little Man's), the shuffleboard at the Terminal Bar, the 3am pizza from Two Fisted Mario's, the Vanilla Porter(s) at the Breckenridge Brewery, and the amazing indie folk live from the foothills of the Rockies.

(An extra special thanks to the grandmas and aunts who made the weekend possible!) 

The Johnsons

It's been a summer of Indy family reunions.  The latest being a quick afternoon visit from Dan & Sarah (and their three boys, Landon, Blake and Evan).  It's the first time the kids have seen each other since bonding of beach, sun and ice cream at AMI back in 2012.

M & T

E & S packed in 24 hours of fun with Maddie & Tanner, enjoying lunch on the river in St. Anthony Main and shutting down Valleyfair (again) waaay past bedtime.  

This year, thanks to the old folded-napkins-in-the-shoe trick, the three bigger kids were able to meet height requirements for nearly every ride (including the monsters of the midway, like Wild Thing, the Corkscrew, Excalibur, etc.).  

I'm pretty sure they were scared to death, but, they faked it well amongst peers... getting off every ride saying "again, again, again!".  And, poor Sawyer was a sport about being on the outside looking in... especially when consoled with cotton candy, mini donuts and Cherry Coke.

Owen & AnnDee

My cousin 'Nelly was up from AZ to show off her new babe, AnnDee (named after her late aunt, DeeAnn), to friends and family back home in MN.  The girls loved on the little one for a bit, but choose to spend most of the day terrorizing LaLa with AnnDee's big brother, Owen. 

Uptown Art Fair

Since our move out west, trips back to the Big City are fewer and farther between... but always well worth the trip.  

This weekend's urban adventure was to the Uptown Art Fair, which inspired L & I to commit to start pounding holes and decorating our brand new, naked walls... and inspired E & S to try their hands at pottery.

Playing the ponies

Dollar night at Canterbury.  

10 seconds into explaining what 'gambling' was to the girls, E says, "OK, so I'm going to bet on the tallest horse, or if they're all the same size the oldest horse, or if they're all the same age AND the same size, the I'll bet on the horse with the best name".  She then put her quarter down on Friarcracker... who, at 8:1 odds, took down the field.

I'll be taking my little Rain Man to Vegas in exactly 15 years, 7 months and 20 days.

The Mutual Admiration Club

A little summer BBQ fun with the Jung girls, our next door neighbors, and the girls' BFFs since moving into the new 'hood.

The girls of summer

Little Rose FINALLY gets to play organized sports with the big kids, albeit illegally (someone may or may not have fudged her age to get her into Evie's league).  

E's really come into her own this year, charging into grounders and firing line drives to (well,  near) first.

S isn't much for the "organized" part of organized sports, but coach loves her giant swings and lightning-fast speed.

Happy 8th

Another year in the books for this happy couple.

Happy Anniversary, Love.