We’re back! We had a great time hanging out at the lake and spending time with family.

Our trip started off with a bang. Penelope was sick of traveling as soon as we got to the airport (a total of 40 minutes in her car seat). We were far from done with our travels so we all took turns chasing after her and riding on the moving walkway as we waited for our flight.

We read on the internet that suckers were great for entertaining toddlers on airplanes. That. Is. A. Lie. Let’s just say that when the beverage cart came I had a sucker stuck in my hair and we felt like we had earned the right to order something a little stronger than Sierra Mist. Funnily enough the mini liquor bottles seemed to do the trick… she was amply entertained from that point on.

Don’t judge… it’s not nice.

It wasn’t my proudest moment as a mom. After I snapped this photo we laughed and laughed then I thought about her future prospects as a drunken sorority sister in college and I immediate stopped laughing.

After we got off the airplane the family bonding began.

There was big cousin bonding…

Baby cousin bonding…

Fishing…

Paddle boat riding…

Birthday celebrations…

Happy Birthday Melmo Janice!

And lots and lots of swimming…

For the record, I ate like crap and didn’t go running once. BUT I burned some major calories swimming to the far reaches of the lake. My family refers to me as the lady in the water, it’s impossible to get me out.

While we were gone our friend KJ watched Scout for us. Scout refers to her as Auntie Kake because she spoils him. Every time she watches him he gets a puppaccino from Starbucks and she buys him a new toy. Auntie Kake let us know he was just fine by sending us a photo of him after they took a long hike.

He looked like we felt by the time we got home. After a flight back, again… with adult beverages (purely for Penelope’s sake) I tucked the baby in and went to check on my garden. As soon as I stepped outside I could smell that sweet June scent that Colorado always emits this time of year. I keep sniffing trees to find out what it is but it’s still a mystery. That smell is one of my all time favorite things about living in Colorado during the summer.

While we were gone my friend Andrea was kind enough to take care of my other little pets, the plants. I was excited to see how much everything had grown!

Look at who greeted me in my cottage garden…

We also had a few new developments…

Beans

Zinnias

Red Onions

I can’t wait for the seeds I’ve planted to come to life. It’s crazy how it literally happens overnight.

Anyway, we’ve got a crazy summer planned with lots of fun visitors penciled in.

If I’m going to get back on track with my weight loss I’m going to have to really stay on point with my meal planning and carving out time for workouts. Typically, if we have friends or family visiting I’ll throw out my routine for the sake of entertaining but I’m not going to get anywhere if I do that. At the same time I love hosting because it forces you to look outside of the box and find fun things to do in your area.

I’ve only got a few days before our first visitors arrive so I’ve got a lot to do in preparation…

I should probably start by unpacking.

What have you got planned for the summer and what do you do to stay on track throughout all of the festivities?