We have been filling our family days with lots of summer-goodness over the past couple weeks, and I think that the best way I can “show” you what we’ve been up to is through my Instagram photos.  I don’t usually like to do Instagram posts here on the blog because it feels like I’m just re-posting the same things a second time, but I also understand that I don’t always take my dslr with me everywhere I go and I ALWAYS have my phone with me.  It also gives me the opportunity to elaborate on my Instagrams – because believe me when I tell you that I only post my favorite things:)

Did I tell you that we went to Denver Comic Con?  On Father’s Day the kids and myself took Tristan all day to gawk at the weird/cool costumes and browse boxes and boxes of comics.  I’m not much of a comic reader, but it was surprisingly fun, and I was VERY excited to see James Marsters in person.  The kids didn’t know who he was, but patiently sat in the packed room full of fans hanging onto his every word.  I would love to go back to DCC next year and I’m hoping that James (yes, we’re now on a first-name basis) will be back.  Maybe I’ll even dress up as Buffy?  ;)

One of the coolest things that the kids got to do was get a drawing lesson from one of the Disney animators – Greg Guler.  He’s drawn Phineas and Ferb, Aladdin, Lilo and Stitch, ect….  Pretty cool considering Phineas and Ferb is one of our kid’s all-time favorites.  They had a blast, and I was pretty impressed with how much their drawings looked just like the cartoons.

We’ve been spending a TON of time swimming at my parent’s house.  They have an above ground pool and we go over 2-3 times a week to splash and cool off.  The kids don’t seem to be getting tired of it – ever.

On Saturday I headed up to Colorado Springs to go to garage sales and do a little thrifting.  It’s a little over an hour drive, but such a beautiful city – I wish we could go up there more.  One of the main reasons I wanted to go was that Rachel from Smile and Wave recently moved to CS and was having a garage sale.  I’ve read her blog for the past few years, and really really wanted to meet her, and I knew that she would have some great items for sale.  I am SO glad that I went – she’s so sweet, and I took a couple pairs of her shoes, a teapot, and some wooden furniture legs home.  Rachel even wrote a blog post about the sale – how cute is she?

This photo was taken outside the ARC thrift in Colorado Springs – there is currently a bad fire burning in Manitou Springs – so sad!  Colorado has several fires burning around the state, and it seems to be getting worse.  Hoping and praying for a downpour of rain SOON.

All in all, my trip to CS was very good and I got some pretty items that I am excited about:)

I bought this Biscoff Spread on a whim at King Soopers the other day, and I can’t believe that I have never tried it before!  It’s painfully good.  It says that it’s the “European Alternative to peanut butter” and it’s made from Biscoff cookies (which I’ve never tried either).  The kids and I loved it SO much – we ended up eating the entire jar in 1.5 days!  This could be dangerous.  I definitely recommend it – you can check their website to see which stores carry it.

I’ve still been taking the kids to our local library every Friday.  I wanted to do that all through the summer to keep the kids reading, and it’s actually kept me reading as well.  I look forward to it every week – the quiet atmosphere, the smell of the books, and the iced Americano are just plain blissful.

We’ve also made a few trips to Sunflower Farmer’s Market, and I’m thinking that we may need to do that once a week as well.  We don’t have one in Brighton, so we have to drive about 25 minutes to the nearest one.  It’s worth the drive though, because I like the kids to help pick out the fruits and veggies – it makes them more likely to want to eat them.  We also usually go home with a bag full of salt water taffy which Tristan appreciates very much.

What have you been filling your summer days with?