Random Summer Fun

This little cowboy is killing us with his cuteness. Some days, I think he will kill us with his lack of useful language skills. The boy can make animal sounds with the best of them. And will sing all the livelong day. But words like more, up, down, all done, off, milk etc. are not to be found. It's coming soon, I know. But I feel sorry for the little guy in the meantime.
Eating watermelon at the river.
Isabel and Milo did 6 weeks worth of intensive swim lessons and are actual swimmers these days. It's pretty sweet and a pretty relief. AND it pretty much wore them out every day. And that was pretty sweet too.

If he could be outside all day, every day that would be great. Thank you very much.

Cute neighbor Amanda (with her own Ergo) and her cute baby, Thane, at the beautiful river with us.

Throwing giant rocks in the river. Watch out for kayakers. They were out in droves.

Isabel and her "friend since I was practically born", Maycee at the river.

Milo played in a 3v3 tournament this summer and took part in the awesome Soccer and Scouting program. He had a blast and is getting better and better. At bossing his teammates around (see above). Kind of kidding on that one. He really is getting better. And he really is a little bossy sometimes. But not usually.

Cuteness.

This guy got his first haircut. I was sweating profusely, trying to hold him steady in the little car/chair. Good thing they have dum-dums there. He held it with white knuckles and looked completely freaked out the entire time. Now, he is just cute. And all business. Get the kid a briefcase.

Colorado Springs: Take Two

Last weekend, we went camping with Grandma Kim, Grandpa Manuel, Kiana, Grandma Cathryn, and Kurt (Grandma Cathryn's booooooyyyyfriend). It was so, so, so much fun. We could spend weeks in CoSprings and not run out of things to do. Mucho memories.

Kiana and Isabel scrambling around on some rocks at Lake Manitou.
Ha ha. Funniest and most awkward situation ever. See above.
Milo: taking care of business in the outhouse FOREVER.
Spencer: standing outside the outhouse offering moral support/keeping away the knockers-who-stress Milo out FOREVER.
That Guy: standing in what he thinks is a line behind Spencer FOREVER.
That Guy: not going into the vacant-the-entire-time women's bathroom or going to one of the six other bathrooms in the campground FOREVER.
The Rest of Us: laughing hysterically at the campground, taking distance shots like this one.

Running around like a wild baby for days. Loved it. Every stinking second of it.

At the top of Pike's Peak eating one of their "world famous donuts". He medium liked them.

Again, at the top eating a "world famous donut". She did not like them and she was not pleased that she didn't get a second option.

Kiana liking her "world famous donut". A lot. The adults like them a lot too. Yum.

4/5ths of the Mestas grandchildren at the summit. A storm rolled in (not a blurry pic--a cloudy pic) just as we reached the top. Bummer but so cool to be walking around in the clouds.

Spencer ruins a cute picture. Isabel takes pretty decent pictures.

If you've camped with Spencer, you know that he spends much time perfecting (read: obsessing over) the perfect s'mores fire and the perfect s'mores. The kids had a few lessons.

Cutie. Not so cutie the next day when she was high on sugar and low on sleep. Day two of camping is always the toughest no?

Working their technique.

Hot dogs (barf), cousins, and cowgirl hats. Doesn't get much better than that. Except for maybe when the grouchy campground host comes by to tell you stories about the bear in the campground and scares your children to tears. Nice. Real nice.

Cathryn doing her Vanna as she shows off the view from Pike's Peak Highway. Does she look peaked? Because we were. That highway is no joke. Switchbacks and sheer dropoffs=nausea for many of us. The grade is also so steep that they check your brake temps on the way down to be sure they aren't going to fail on the way down.

Exploring Garden of the Gods with Grandma Cathryn.

Coming back from a hike around the lake with Grandma. That Grandma Cathryn is always up for a story and an adventure. Milo and Isabel were so sad when she left. They wanted to know if she could come back next weekend and go camping in Colorado Springs AGAIN.

On top of a big boulder with Kiana.

DC to NYC: NYC

The view from Abbie's window. That's the Hudson and George Washington Bridge (to New Jersey). I totally ran across that bridge. And it was awesome.

This post could also be called "Conquering NYC with Cousins".



Holy smokes this was fun. The kids all did fantastic. They loved one another to pieces. We loved Abbie and Forrest to pieces. We had good fun, saw fun things, rode the subway billions of places and just generally had some serious fun.

Playing doctor the evening that we arrived. Audrie's curls are almost too much for me. I just want to squeeze her and play with her hair all day.

After riding the super clean and super awesome (seriously the best way to travel) Amtrak train from DC, we embarked upon NYC via Penn Station. WOW. Talk about the definition of chaos. There were a million people going a million different directions and somewhere near a millions smells. And then there was us. :) When we stopped to get our bearings (all the while clutching our children and luggage), Milo was kind enough to attempt to help a homeless man who was looking for something in the trash ("I think he lost something Mom!") and he was also thrilled to point out a grown woman dressed like a mermaid (thankfully wearing a trash bag over her torso to shield others from her seashell pasties).

Subway cousins.

We made our way to Abbie & Forrest's adorable apartment (on the Columbia Medical campus--this close to Harlem), had a yummy dinner, and watched the cousins play their little hearts out.


The next day, we were off to picnic in Central Park!!

Too much cuteness in front of Bethesda Fountain.

Isabel threw every last piece of change she had (leftover from souvenir money she got from Grandma Kim and Grandpa Manuel AND from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa) in Bethesda Fountain. Even the smooshed-flat penny she made at the National Zoo. Because she lives big like that. Milo cried for her. Because he's a sensitive guy like that.

Cutest Keeler ever.

Our picnic was soggy hot but so fun. The kids ran and played and ran some more. All in their church clothes. Then we rode the subway to New York City church. It was highly entertaining.

A bunch of LDS folks in their Sunday best definitely stand out on the train.

2nd cutest Keeler ever.
Living it up in the big city.

The next day was pretty much a 6 year old's dream come true. FAO Schwarz. Hot dogs and shakes for lunch. Ginormous natural history museum. Oh, and cousins and more cousins.

Pure joy.
Eating a hot dog in New York City.

We are big Mo Willems (greatest children's author ever) fans around here and let me tell you, there were more than a handful of pigeon-wants-a-hot-dog jokes told that day. Milo was a little horrified that his hot dog had 'kraut on it.

Notice the two snoozers on the left. Notice the nonsnoozer on the right. Cutie pies all around. This is us triumphantly eating our Shake Shack food. Because it wasn't so easy to get to and it was a bit of a line. But all well worth it.
Why cousins are awesome: they will ooohh and aaaahhh at everything with you (while assuming "the Anderson" stance).

Why cousins are awesome part two: they will let you lead them around by a leash/they will lead you around by a leash so your mom can have a break from the leash.

Keeler thought the barriers to the exhibits were totally lame.

Isabel requested that we take a break from the animals and dinosaurs to "go check out all the dead stuffed humans". Also known as the "history of western/eastern civilization". Future anthropologist that one.

Keeler was totally in awe of the dino fossils and skeletons.

FAO Shwarz schwag.

Yup. They totally played on the piano. No, they haven't seen BIG.

Day three was our Statue of Liberty day. I&M were so psyched to see Miss Liberty--they had even done "research" and checked out some books at the library about how she was made, why France gave her to us, and who made her. Too bad their lame mom didn't realize that it would have been best to plan the Liberty Island excursion well in advance. Oh well, the view from the Staten Island Ferry was pretty good too. View from the ferry. Just as pretty in real life as in pictures.

Adorable. And what is with the same ears??

Ferry Family

This one wanted to try out the view from every bench and seat and rail of the ferry.

Nautical Milo

Next it was on to the financial district. Wall Street is one crazy place. Can't imagine working there. I can, however, imagine eating a this yummy Patisserie in the financial district every day.

If it's the last day of vacation, your mom will let you eat waffles with chocolate syrup for lunch. And your sister will tell the lady waiting in line for the bathroom that it's probably gonna be awhile because her brother is in there pooping and he takes FOREVER to poop.

Just trying to blend in with all the suits.

So much fun! So many yummy meals. So many laughs. So much cuteness. An entire pan of brownies in one sitting (no kids to blame on that one). Forrest is going to ditch med school and be a life coach. Abbie is a fantastic cook and cutest mommy. NYC is crazy fun. We're going back. The kids asked on the plane ride home when we could go back. As in, tomorrow? (That may be all that I remember of the return flight. I've blocked the rest. Let's just say it wasn't the easy peasy occasion that the flight to DC was.)