Mom's 80th Birthday

Oh my.  Can she really, really be 80?  She simply can't be.  I mean she has the energy of a 20 year old and the mind of a 40 year old..hey I'm giving her the benefit of wisdom with age! She absolutely, positively does NOT act like an 80 year old woman.  She still has her snarky sense of humor, her impeccable fashion sense and such a wanderlust spirit that it makes gypsies stop and take note.  But above all of this, she LOVES her children and her grandchildren with such fierceness it's almost scary.  Yet these are all of the things that we adore about her.  If I can be 1/10th of the woman she is I will feel like the most blessed gal in the world.  

We knew we wanted to do a family celebration for her so Rob and I managed to coordinate his kids and my kids schedules and we were all able to gather here in Parker on her actual birthday weekend.  How fortunate was that?  I mean with Delaney and her work schedule, Henley and college courses, and Zoe and August with their summer jobs.  But we managed to get everyone here and it was a great weekend. 

Delaney and Henley came in on Thursday night but the rest of the family didn't arrive until later Friday evening so we took advantage of the free morning and the three of us opted to do a morning hike at Castlewood Canyon State Park.  Fortunately for us, the morning was cool and cloudy and was perfect for our hike.  There are several trails that we could take and we ended up taking the trail that went in a large loop so we were able to see the whole thing.  It normally takes people about 3 hours total but since we stopped and took pictures, and selfless, and one wrong turn; it turned into a 5 hour hike. Ha!

Everyone else arrived later Friday night and we spent the rest of the evening eating, sitting outside on the deck and enjoying visiting with one another.  Saturday August and Zoe wanted to hike so we all went to The Bluffs  for a short hike.  It was a gorgeous morning and we were able to see the entire Front Range and downtown Denver from the top of the mountain since it was so clear.  

That afternoon we went to Boulder to get out of the house and let everyone see another part of Colorado that they hadn't been to.  Of course, Pearl street was its usual crazy self.  After walking around and watching the street performers and going into the shops we treated ourselves to some gelato before heading back home.  

We took mom to Yanni's for her birthday dinner (Greek was her choice) and the evening was a total success.  They even brought her candles on her dessert and the whole restaurant sang Happy Birthday to her.  Once home, she opened her gifts and we spent the rest of the evening together reminiscing about the kids when they were little and all of the special times we have been fortunate enough to spend together.  

Unfortunately, the girls had a 10 am flight back to Texas on Sunday morning and Rob needed to get Zoe back to Santa Fe for her work so everyone was gone by about 9 am.  The house was way too quiet the rest of the day but the laughter and the love we all shared remained in my heart.