4th of July in Fulton

We headed to Fulton to celebrate the Fourth of July and to attend a family reunion for one of Jeff's dad's sides of the family. It was a great weekend with Jeff's family!

Out at the lake on the farm!

Boone got to take his first ride in the paddle boat! 

Fourth of July morning and first up is putting out the flag. We hadn't celebrated 4th of July in the U.S. for the last two years, so this was Boone's first time with the fireworks, parades and grilling!

Saluting the flag with grandpa.

@nd parade pf the week... Fulton 4th of July parade

Later in the day, my friend Kelly, who lives in Jefferson City, came to the farm with her family. She has a little boy named Cooper who is only a few weeks older than Boone and 

they had a blast playing together.

Checking out the tractor with Dad. Boone is obsessed with anything truck, tractor or construction-related. He talks about any kind of motorized vehicle he sees as we drive down the road, so getting to climb up in a tractor was a huge deal.

Here's a close up! Love these two so much.

The Barb family. Kelly had just delivered little Hudson about a month before this! He was so tiny. And the next three pictures show Cooper and Boone hamming it up! Boone loves being around people his own size. I think if we lived closer Cooper and Boone would be best friends!

Jeff loves to throw Boone around and for the most part, Boone let's him! Not sure how much longer that will go on!

Thankfully no one was injured in all of that! 

I didn't really get any pictures of the family reunion, or from meeting up with some friends from college, the Partingtons, but we had such a fun time in Missouri! Summer is always a great time to be there and we love seeing our family and friends no matter what season it is!

Summer St. Louis Visit

We headed back to Missouri for my cousin's wedding and Jeff's family reunion. Jeff wasn't going to be able to come back for the whole time, so I decided to drive our car back. Carol offered to fly up and drive back with us since it is a long drive! I was very thankful to have her with us!

I didn't have anywhere else to put this picture! Boone and I made Jeff a little breakfast for father's day!

Once Carol got to Denver, we decided to go check out the Hammonds candy factory tour. It is a fun place and the tour is free! Hammonds is sold all over the country in places like Sur La Table and William Sonoma. Their specialty is those big candy canes that you see in fancy stores.

Grandma and Boone in front of a truck outside of the factory.

These next pictures jump to our first couple days in Missouri. On Saturday morning, we went pick blueberries outside of St. Louis. We grew up going blueberry picking on the 4th of July each year, so it was fun to go this year around the same time of year.

Boone "helping" pick berries with Sybil. Really, he just ate a lot of the berries (and he didn't car what color they were... lots of green berries were eaten that morning!)

It was a HOT morning, 

Mom with our blueberry bounty.

Playing at the playground after we were done picking!

Later that night, we went to my cousin's wedding at a beautiful country club in St. Louis. The weather was perfect and the wedding was beautiful. I was glad Boone and I could come back and be with my mom's side of the family.

On Sunday after church, we grabbed some food and went to a local park and played.

Boone loved getting to show Nana and Papa how he rules a playground.

After the park, we went to the Creve Coeur Days parade. Growing up, we always went to the parade and I marched in it in high school with the band. It has gotten quite a bit smaller, but Boone loved all the freebies they handed out.

And of course, we had to hit the zoo once while we where in St. Louis.

Boone looks upset, but we were in line for the train, which is his favorite part of the zoo.

So loved by all his grandparents

Before we left, we had the opportunity to get together with my aunt and uncle and cousin and her kids. Boone loved playing with the bigger boys.

Next stop: Fulton! 

Grandpa and Grandma Come to Town!

Shortly after we got home from the beach, Jeff's parents came out to see us in Colorado. We had a great time with them and saw a few more fun things around Denver.

On Friday evening, we decided to take Boone to the park and let him play. We have a park that is probably a 5 minute drive from us that we really love. I've never seen anything like it. Not only does it have a brand new playground, there is a carousel, paddle boats and an stage area for concerts and events. Jeff met us there after work, and I think everyone had a lot of fun!

Walking up to the park

First carousel ride with grandma!

Just a swingin'

Carousel ride with dad once he got there after work!

On Saturday, we decided to go to the Denver Firefighters Museum downtown. Boone loves fire trucks, firefighters and all the tools that go along with it all. So, when we saw a Groupon for discounted tickets, we knew we had to get it. 

Boone loved every minute at the museum.

He spent most of his time in the truck. Note the little firefighter jacket that Boone is wearing.

Reading and fire trucks? Two of Boone's favorite things!

Our little family in front of the museum!

We always love when family comes in town! It is great to see them and it gives us an excuse to check out new things in Denver! 

Vacation Post #4: Harbour Town, South Beach and Savannah

Okay, we are finally at the end of our vacation pictures. I promise this is the last post! First off, we were staying about a 5 minute walk from a really neat part of Sea Pines called Harbour Town. Harbour Town has the iconic lighthouse that you see on a lot of the Hilton Head merchandise. It is red and white striped and really neat. The area is full of restaurants and shops, a huge playground, nightly concerts and a beautiful harbor (imagine that?!) with huge boats.

A free trolley ran from the place we were staying, to the beach and then to Harbour Town. We decided to take Boone for a ride one evening after dinner and he loved it. It looks like the trolley was going 80 mph from this picture! :)

Riding by one of the golf courses we biked by each day on our way to the beach!

Beautiful lagoons and palmetto trees were all over!

A South Carolina State flag outside a shop in Harbour Town.

The lighthouse.

The pier.

Boone with Nana and Papa.

Hanging out in a few of the hundreds of red rocking chairs that were all over 

Harbour Town after an ice cream break.

There was also an AWESOME playground built around a huge tree. Boone had a blast!

Such a neat play area.

Checking out the boats with Dad.

One of our last afternoons in Hilton Head we decided to check out South Beach Marina. It is home to one of the two Salty Dog Cafes on the island. Since we had heard the food was nothing to write home about, we didn't eat lunch there, but we walked around the docks, checked out the stores and grabbed some refreshment before biking back to our condo.

Boats at the dock.

Parrots in the greenery area between the shops. Apparently, they aren't very nice because there was a big sign warning people not to touch them.

Chalkboards in the area near the shops for doodling.

On Friday, we decided to take a quick trip over to see Savannah. We figured since it was only 45 minutes away, we needed to check it out for a bit. We thought the best way to see as much of the city as we could in a short period of time (we had a toddler with us, remember?) was to do the touristy thing and take a trolley ride. It was great because it was nice and cool in the open air trolley and of course it was steamy and humid in Savannah, so walking around all day would have been pretty miserable. Here's some shots from the trolley ride.

The Boone Man.

Reaching the end of our rope. Love Boone's expression!

But we had a fun time in Savannah!

What a blessing this vacation was! We had so much fun, saw such a beautiful part of the country and had lots of time to relax and enjoy the ocean!

Thanks for bearing with me through all the pictures!