GIRLS WEEKEND!!!!

Benny was gone this past weekend on his annual 'Guys Trip' with his best buddies. Considering that Mimi and I literally wait for him by the back door every night to greet him when he comes home from work like golden retrievers, I thought it'd be hard to have him away for consecutive days.

Instead the weekend turned into a time just savoring Mimi and doing fun things with her. It really showed that attitude plays such a part in parenting. If I think I should be grumpy/tired/worn out, then I probably will act that way. We just made every moment special, and I've never had so much fun with Mims!

Day 1 started with a trip to Denver. We visited a favorite store where we purchased a Butterfly Nursery to watch the life cycle of a butterfly! Mimi has become such a naturalist lately (as most kids are) and I love fostering her curiosity. Plus, who am I kidding? I'm still playing teacher,  just to a classroom of one :) We may or may not have started a "Science Journal" and I have sentence strips pasted all over the house. We also had "Berenstain Bears Day" yesterday in honor of the books with various activities. I'm holding myself back from teaching her "Zoo Phonics" because I don't want to spoil the fun of preschool/kindergarten (but you know I'll be super excited to sing along with the Zoo Phonics song when she comes home singing it.. ;)

Then we met Ali for lunch and got to catch up with her...A fun, very "girl" treat for sure!

Here's the wonderful Gelato afterwards:

That night we also made a huge pillow fort and watched a movie. Instead of racing to get Mimi into bed, she was my little buddy. We stayed up WAAY past our bedtime (which of course as any parent would know didn't necessarily translate to a later wake up time..drats!)

Day 2 was filled with a morning trip to Mickey D's for breakfast. We found the best play place by far and spent at least an hour there, as the only customers in the spot. Then we went through a car wash. I only include that detail because the fun that came from that menial task was priceless. It reminded me of how fun the world of a 3 year old is...everything is new, everything is exciting and a thrill. Here's to living for quarter toy machines and car washes!

The evening was spent at Bob and Robyn's, cooling off in the pool, eating heavenly burgers ala BT and kicking up my feet in the backyard while Mimi played with Oma.

Day 3 we spent the day at home and then drove to Nana and Rodger's house for a "spend over" as Mimi coined it. It was also to be with my cousin Gabe who was up for the weekend too! We had a blast hanging out in the backyard- Mimi learned to ride her little bike/tricycle, played with all the dogs and even shot some baskets (thanks to the new hoop from Nana and Rodger!!! SPOILED!). The next morning we went to breakfast at Snooze in Fort Collins with the gang (plus Gabe and Calvin..I just didn't get a picture). I had been wanting to go for a loooong time, and it didn't disappoint! 

Toast and fruit for a hungry girl (mimi, in case you were wondering. But I was hungry too!) right away provided by the attentive hostess, a very cool waiter named August (almost made me second guess OUR name for baby...) a free house pancake of the day (chocolate, caramel and sea salt), a FANTASTIC menu and food and even a roaming balloon lady who pulled out an Ariel balloon that was AMAZING!

Then Mimi and I went to the Clothes Pony right down the street. (Our five minute stop turned out to be for at least 45 minutes as I tried to restrain myself from pulling out various plastic cards from my wallet and Mimi "shopped" with a real little cart and had tea parties with girls she'd made friends with). I was in SERIOUS FoCo love all day...what a great place to be :)

Then we got home to see this guy:

We were sure glad to have him home!
Here's to our "Girls Weekend!" 


(although I wouldn't complain if the next girls weekend was without play places, toy stores and animated films. Maybe Mama will get to play a little sometime soon.. ;)