Whoa… I think I have a summer fun hangover. Last night I dropped my brother-in law and niece off at the airport and now here I am at 5:30 in the morning trying to crank out a blog post before our next guest arrives later this afternoon.

We had a blast while Bryce and Ruby were here and every time I sat down to share it with you all I would hear this cute little voice say… “Um, Auntie Nina? Do you remember when you said you would take me to the park?” or “Auntie Nina? Would you braid my hair?” or “Auntie Nina? Can I sit in your lap?”

Who can say no to that?

Ruby lives in St. Louis and this was her first time coming to Colorado with just her daddy. She’s a sassy little thing who at the age of two insisted on being called Roosky Littlemoney. We have no idea where this name came from.

Before they arrived I planned out meals and stocked up on healthy yet tasty things to eat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to win any “Auntie of the Year” awards with Ruby by forcing her to eat healthy stuff while she was out to visit. I made her the healthy banana muffins I had planned during her first morning but she didn’t like them. Then I made her cinnamon toast but she didn’t like that either because it was on whole grain bread. Everyone else got huge grease laden burritos coated in cheese and green chili for breakfast. I had gone for a run and came back to eat eggs and toast. Shortly after that we headed out for Roosky Littlemoney’s Denver adventure.

We started out at the Market for coffee and headed straight over to Rocket Fizz for candy.

(Don’t worry Carrie, I didn’t buy her any candy cigarettes or Garbage Pail kids cards.) But she did end up with a foot sucker that she spent four days eating and those snapper things that you throw on the ground to make a loud popping noise. She loved those things! Shortly after we headed over to the Tattered Cover so that Auntie Nina could buy Roosky and her sister a few gifts.

We got home just in time for lunch and I was going to grill up some chicken and make grilled chicken wraps with hummus and veggies. That’s when Uncle T asked Ruby if she wanted chicken nuggets instead… I didn’t have chicken nuggets. So I took her to Chick-fil-A before we headed to the pool. (I got a grilled chicken sandwich.)

After we were done swimming I heard a little voice say, “Auntie Nina? Do you remember how you told me we could get ice cream when I came here?” So guess where we went on the way home…

(I got a kid’s size coconut frozen yogurt.)

Later that night Brent decided that the only hospitable thing to do would be to take Bryce and Ruby to his favorite pizza place for dinner. My grilled chicken was going to have to wait. The girls didn’t mind one bit…

…neither did Uncle Brycie.

While I had taken the girls to the pool he had squeezed in a quick run in the foothills. I tried to keep it healthy by requesting a thin crust Margherita pizza and had two slices… and two beers. I could feel my resolve to be healthy waning and it was only the first day.

The next day was father’s day so we headed to our favorite breakfast spot… Toast.

The wait was crazy long since it was Father’s Day. By the time we got seated it was almost lunch time and I was starving. I ordered a veggie omelet… and a side of pancakes.

Later on that day we went for a hike.

It wasn’t long before little Roosky Littlemoney got tired. So we took turns carrying her.

It was the best way to burn off pancakes if I do say so myself.

After the hike we cooled off our toes before heading back to the house to grill some burgers and brats for the daddies. After I had finished cooking dinner Penelope had a melt down so I put her to bed. By the time I got back to the table my burger was cold and the melted cheese looked like something had died on it. So I passed…

However, that didn’t stop me from eating the strawberry shortcake I had made from scratch for dessert.

Every day while Ruby was here I still had to tend to my garden and she was intrigued. She asked me to show her everything that I was growing and she wanted to plant something too. One morning we planted rainbow carrot seeds.

They should be ready to harvest in September so I told her I would send her some carrots in the mail. We took pictures of the process so that she could show her preschool classmates during show and tell.

The rest of Roosky’s Colorado adventure included lots of cuddles…

More ice cream…

Happy meal picnics…

Dance video games…

I’m so fast it doesn’t even look like I have arms.

And braids…

25 to be exact.

We’ll miss that little girl!

But at the moment I need to hurry and clean my house for our next guest! We haven’t seen each other as adults. I’m pretty sure she’s not going to ask me to get her a happy meal so I’m hoping I can eat a bit cleaner and participate in a few more figure friendly activities. I’m also pretty sure she won’t make me stop writing a blog post in order to braid her hair or play Just Dance… but you never know 😉

Let the summer adventures continue!