Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend was filled with family and friends.  We did a whirlwind tour of Kansas and Arkansas visiting all of those near and dear to us. 
We headed out early on the Friday morning before Labor Day.  We wanted to get to Lansing at a decent hour so that we could spend some time with Mike, Carol, Brad, Ashley, Adrian and Kennedy. 
We made it to Lansing in the early afternoon and had time to visit, eat a nice dinner and my favorite part...watching the cousins play.
Chance loves to wrestle with Adrian.  I love that it wears Chance out and keeps him entertained :)

There were lots of cousin kisses.

Adrian taught us all how to play rock em sock em.

Saturday morning, we left Chance to play with Grandma and Grandpa and we headed out to Manhattan.  Our close friends from college Justin and Lindsey Springer were in town for their dad's retirement party.  We had all planned to attend the K-State football home opener together and reminisce in our old stomping grounds together. 
Lindsey's great aunt even let us borrow her minivan for the day so that we could all ride together. 

Being together on a road trip definitely felt like old times, but nothing makes me think of old times and old friends like being in Aggieville and the site of main street on a Wildcat Saturday!

We spent all afternoon in Aggieville, visiting all of our old favorite spots and tasting all of our old favorite appetizers.  We tried out a new spot for lunch called Taco Lucha.  They are owned by the same owners of our old favorite resaurant ,So Long Saloon.  I would definitely recommended this place to anyone who wants to try out a new spot in the Ville.  Two thumbs up!
Who can resist a restaurant filled with Mexican wrestling masks? Only in Aggieville...

Our next stop was Rusty's Last Chance.  We walked through all of the K-State memorabilia and laughed about some of our not so great moments during our college years.

It was great to share drinks and laughs with true friends!

Time flew by and we headed to the stadium for kickoff and the Wabash.  We cheered like crazy college kids and even did some dancing in the stands. 

My sweet sister in law, Ashley, must have been able to read my mind somewhere during game time though.  I started to lose focus on the game and started to miss my little man.  I was beginning to worry if he was doing okay and behaving himself for Grandma Carol. 
Ashley put my worries aside and sent me this picture text...
I was then able to enjoy the  rest of the game and felt guilt free again Wabahsing the night away.

We cheered the CATS on to a victory and had an absolute blast with our friends!

Sunday morning we were both slow moving.  Pretending to be in college again can really take a lot of energy :)
We loaded up the car and hugged all of the Lehmans goodbye. 
I had promised my mother earlier in the year that I woud make a trip to Arkansas so that she could spend a few days with Chance at her house. 
The drive from Mike and Carol's to my parent's house is about 3 and 1/2 hours.  We made it safely by early afteroon and had all evening to make dinner, watch movies, and relax with my sister and her family as well.

Labor Day was Johnson family day at Silver Dollar City. 

I had not been to this park in about twenty years.  We had so much fun and spent the day exploring with Chance.
We enjoyed a BBQ lunch wiht my mom and dad in the mine shaft restaurant.

We walked over every swinging bridge and tree house with Chance. 

Mom and I pretended to be jailed. 

Chance LOVED the tree houses!

and the carousel

but no one loved the catepillar and butterfly ride more than Max.  HA! I think he rode it about ten times with Chance and Addison. 

I think we all had a great day exploring the park and spending time together as a family. 

The rest of our week was chill and relaxing.  I helped my mom redecorate her office and Max worked from the dining room table for a few days so I could spend time just being with my parents.  It's nice to be spoiled by your mom and dad once in a while.  I loved not having to make dinner and running hills at night with my dad. 
We also had a great visit with Grandma McKennedy (Max's grandmother) and Aunt Jan.  Grandma knew who Max was right away and she hugged and greeted us all.  It was so nice to visit with her and talkto her about her life. 

I only wish that time did not seem to go by so fast.  It was wonderful spending time with all of our loved ones.  Our whirlwind family tour was amazing and definitely worth the drive. 

Palisade

A few weeks ago, our Denver village took a road trip to Palisade...Colorado's wine country. 
Can you believe that this place is only four hours west of Denver on 1-70?
We discovered this little gem of a town last year on a girls trip and decided that this year it would be fun to bring the boys for a quick weekend get away. 

Max took this picture on a mountain bike ride and it overlooks all of Palisade valley. 

We only had one agenda for the weekend, which was to spend time together and taste some wine.  We decided to start the day off with a great breakfast at the Palisdae Cafe...complete with a round of mimosas of course.

After breakfast, it was time to pack up our bikes and search for the perfect glass of wine. 

Chance was a trooper all day and had an absolute blast riding bicycles with all of his buddies. 

The girls
Megan, Katie, me, and Lauren

It was so much fun riding our bicycles in a big group from place to place.  Megan and Katie even rented a tandem bicycle for our entertainment.  It was actually kind of hard to ride.  Maybe I just don't like the feeling of not being in control of the steering and the brakes :)

Our first stop was at Canyon Wind Vineyards, which is still my favorite.  I just love the layout and the open court yard outside. 

Chance loved showing off  his wall walking skills to his honorary aunties. 

We stayed at Canyon Winds for a glass of wine under the shade tree and stopped long enough for a group photo. 

Our next stop was Clark Family Orchards for fresh peaches.  Nothing beats fresh fruit on a hot day.

After a long bike ride back into town, the gang stopped at Plum Creek.  Chance was zonked out and decided to nap so I sat this tasting out.  It's a good thing too because I had to chase some girl with a bachelorette party down when she tried to steal Nick's $3,000 mountain bike and leave him with her rental to ride.  She was quite shocked when she realized that I had wathced her calculate the whole switcheroo and called her on it.  She apologized and left quickly on the rental bike.  Shame on her...too bad her mother didn't teach her that stealing is not nice and gets you loads of bad karma :(

Our fourth stop was at Garfield Estates.  I honestly did not pay much attention to this stop because Chance was up and rested from his nap.  He was in a great mood and cracking me up by trying on all of the guys' hats and running up and down the vineyard rows.

Across the street from Garfield Estates was Maison la belle vie.  This place was fabulous! I could have sat under that tree and ate cheese and bread all day.  It was such a fun and relaxing spot! The wine was great also.

 

Finally, our last stop was at Grande River Vineyards.  This was towards the end of the day and everyeone was getting fun and fiesty. 

We started to care less about wine tasting and more about playing around with each other.  We sat on the picnic tables and had a dance party to Cook's music. 
Chance even got the group to teach him how to somersault in the grass.
Everyone that came in and out of the vineyard tasting room stopped to talk to us because we were all having such a blast! I love how much Chance makes strangers happy and want to know all about him! 

 

 

I know that a good time was had by all.  Our mission of finding good wine with good friends was definitely accomplished.  Until next year Palisade...keep it classy. 
We'll be back!

 

Friday Photo Fix 9/7 - Denver Aquarium

The end of summer has finally caught up to us! We have been traveling and soaking in every last bit of summer fun...which has been great...except for I am really behind on our blog photos. 

I'm sorry I missed a few Friday Photo Fix's but I promise to post some photos that will make up for it :)

I'll start on my catch up work today by sharing the photos from our visit to the aquarium from a few weeks ago.  This was Chance's first trip to the aquarium since he has been old enough to know what is going on (I think the last time he was only two weeks old and slept the entire time).

Max and I were a little curious about how Chance would even react at the aquarium, but we decided to give it a try.

Chance absolutley LOVED it!

He ran from tank to tank jumping up and down and pointing at every animal he could find!

 

He would reach his hands up to Max and I to pick him up so that he could see what was going on in the taller tanks.

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He would crouch down and look at the fish very quietly. 

He would point without looking back at Max or I to show us anything that he felt was noteworthy.

 

 

 

Chance would climb up on all of the ledges to get as close as possible to all of the fish.

 

He literally gasped and took off when he saw the tunnel built for little kids that takes them to look at the fish from beneath the floor. 

 

The aquarium was filled with all kinds of animals.  We saw everything from seahorses,

to piranha's,

to baby sea turtles and Nemo.

I think that it is safe to say that the Denver Aquarium will be a Sunday stop for the Lehman family for many years to come. 

 

I know a lucky little boy who just might get an aquarium pass in his stocking.