Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Miles' birthday with balloons, a barbecue and, of course, lots of cake. 

Counting his age on his fingers. He kept insisting that he was turning 5.

He requested a chocolate train cake, and then ate a giant piece in mere minutes.

Slyly scoping out the presents.

It became quite clear that Miles is the second child as Grant hovered over the present opening, getting excited over every gift as if it were his own birthday: "Oh, I can't wait to see what it is...Oh my gosh, Miles, look what you got!" Miles was just as thrilled with his presents: some new books, tinker toys, outdoor toys and a stegosaurus.

Miles Is 3!

Happy birthday to Miles, our sweet and salty, funny and feisty little guy. Another year went by so fast!

Berry Picking

We took a trip to Berry Patch Farms a couple of Saturdays ago to pick blueberries. Unfortunately, we did more searching than picking. The berries were either not quite ripe or completely picked over. The boys still thought the search was fun.

We brought home just a small bag of berries this time. Just enough to make a delicious berry cake. Miles came home with exactly zero blueberries because every single berry he picked ended up in his mouth. At the end of the day, his fingers were blue and his tummy was full. And he was a happy boy.

New Bike

G is rocking a two-wheeler with training wheels! He has finally outgrown his much-loved balance bike and is on to the next stage (sniff, sniff).

This year: the neighborhood. Next year: Tour de Smith?

Fourth of July

We are not parade people, yet for the last three years we've had a blast at the Telluride Fourth of July parade. The whole town comes to life for it, and it's hard not to get into the spirit. This year we actually got great seats on the parade route, and the boys had a great time waving at the floats and collecting candy. A sweet family from Oregon sat with us, and their older boys were very generous with their candy. G and M were in sugar heaven.

For the first time in the three years we've been visiting Telluride, it was wet enough that the town was actually able to shoot off fireworks. We were excited to take the boys for the first time. But by the time the fireworks began, at 9:45 or so, the boys were exhausted. In fact, Miles fell asleep before the show began and continued to sleep through it! And even though he was wearing sound-blocking headphones, G was terrified of the fireworks, crying hysterically. So we left after about 5 minutes, carrying our exhausted boys home in the dark, with the fireworks booming in the canyon behind us.

Telluride 2014

We love this peaceful mountain town so much that we keep coming back. This year we spent just a week in Telluride, renting a house in town and spending our days exploring, hiking and, of course, throwing rocks into streams. Every morning we woke up to the sound of a mountain stream, walked to town to get breakfast and coffee, and then ended up at a park surrounded by ginormous mountains. It was lovely and quiet, with just so much activity that the boys slept hard every night. 

Family selfie on the gondola