All Things Kelly

Have you ever taken a bite out of a protein bar and immediately spit the contents right back out?  This seems to be my reaction every time I try to ingest one of those over-priced, tasteless bricks.  I’ll admit that the concept is fantastic.  A small packaged, portable bar that is designed to fill you up and provide the protein you need to accomplish great things.  Too bad they are so terrible that I have yet to be able to experience these promised results.  I have tried brand after brand all resulting in wasted money. Recently, my beloved, Alton Brown aired a show guaranteeing that the protein bar disbeliever would be converted after trying his recipe. 

Leon had 2 fantasy football drafts this weekend and in case you are not a football widow this is truly an important occasion.  I would guess he ranks this time of year up there with the birth of Eloise and our wedding.  Honestly, I bet it likes it more than our wedding.  But being the wife I have some insight into what is really going on and I am going to out him on a couple of his tricks. 

I am happy to announce that Project Colorado, my well documented plan to relocate my friends and family to Colorado, has yet another success story.  My wonderful brother-in-law Eric officially moved to Colorado this weekend!!  And to add to the fun and excitement my fabulous sister-in-law Brooke was here to help with the move.  If only she were staying…   Here are some fun photos from our family weekend.

So the questions have begun.  Eloise is at the age that people are starting to ask, will there be more children in the Kelly household?  I knew this was a question we would get asked but I am surprised at how often and by complete strangers.  I can’t imagine saying to someone, so are you having procreational sex or working on your family dossier for a prospective birth mom, and that is essentially what they are asking.  So what are we doing?

Eloise took a couple days to understand the point of the beach.  She didn’t like the sounds of the waves, she wasn’t sure about the grainy inedible stuff we were playing in but she did like going in the water with Papa.  A few days into the trip she decided she liked the sand, and seemed to get the idea of playing in it, although her job was primarily to destroy anything Papa made.  A few photo highlights!

We are back!  We had a fantastic trip and as I am sure you expected there are lots of Eloise photos for this week.  In fact, the remainder of the week will be all Eloise.  Our charming little one traveled like a pro.  We flew to Chicago the first night and stayed at the airport hilton and took the 5+ hour flight to Aruba first thing in the AM.  On the return we had a total of 14 hours of travel time and while she was exhausted and a little manic she was great.  Here are a few photos of our traveler.

You might recall a guest post from a few months ago that talked up my fantastic friends.  Well it is time to find out if it was justified.  While my little family sits on the beach in Aruba some of my favorite people will be providing guest blogs to keep you entertained.  You don’t want to miss the wide range of fantastic topics they have in store.  I will be back in August hopefully with lots of Eloise photos!  See you then!

On Monday we took a family bike ride to America the Beautiful Park and along the way I got a flat.  Lucky for me Eloise and Papa are a professional bicycle repair dynamic duo. 

In our lovely mountain town of Cripple Creek there are some very adorable donkeys. They are the descendants of the mining donkeys from over 150 years ago, used in the gold rush.  In order for the town to feed and care for this wild crew of about a dozen, Cripple Creek hosts an annual event (now in it’s 79th year) called Donkey Derby Days.

Eloise and her sous chefs (Lisa, Grams and Mama) created a nice dinner from Big Daddy’s Father’s Day Show- Fit for a King- for Leon’s 2nd Father’s Day.  The day also included a big hike and lots of quality family time.  Here are a few photos.