Denver Staycation: Hilton Garden Inn Denver Union Station

This blog post is in partnership with Hilton Garden Inn Denver Union Station. All opinions expressed are my own.

Winter this year has felt long and my family has been in desperate need of a getaway. Since the boys are between basketball seasons right now, we planned a little Denver staycation weekend which was exactly what we all needed!

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Denver Union Station, nestled right in downtown Denver between Union Station, Coors Field, and the Museum of Contemporary Art! This was such a perfect spot for a combination of relaxing at the hotel during the day and venturing into downtown in the evening.

Roman and I love exploring a new hotel and we had fun finding all the cozy lounge spots, with the real prize being the 54 foot heated indoor pool featuring an incredible view of the city! The highlight of the weekend for the boys was definitely the pool - we went 3 times!

We enjoyed breakfast at the Garden Lane Canteen found right in the lobby! The kids loved the combination of ordering a hot breakfast but also being able to the enjoy all the perfect hotel breakfast buffet items as well.  

Overall, our weekend was the perfect mix of relaxing in clean, white hotel bedding, laughing with the family at the pool, and exploring downtown Denver. I loved that the Hilton Garden Inn Denver Union Station felt more like a true "experience" vs. just a place to stay the night. We can't wait to return!

   

back to school // to do list!

( photo from this post, last year! )

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     School starts in two weeks, so we're soaking up the last couple weeks of summer but also getting things a little bit prepared for the school year. I'm looking forward to more routine in our lives but I am not looking forward to getting up early in the morning or the whining that will ensue each day as we attempt to wake up sleepy bear Roman who is also not a morning person. I will also be missing him for sure!

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     I wanted to document my to-do list here for what I want to be accomplish in the next couple of weeks to get ready for the school year! Most of these things have to do with Roman, because Asher will be doing preschool at home with us for now. I was actually able to cross a few things off already this weekend - yah!

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Back to School To Do List

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*Make sure Roman's closet is school-ready*

- buy socks  purchased a pack at Old Navy

- buy a few tee shirts I bought Roman a few shirts during the Old Navy clearance sale. I also found one in the closet that I bought last summer at the end of season and had stashed away! Roman and Asher both have several new tee shirts from the companies that we work with on the blog and on Instagram!

- find a couple more pairs of shorts I found two pairs of shorts today at Old Navy; one nicer pair and one pair of athletic shorts. I paid less that $8 combined for both!

- buy new gym shoes Roman and Asher both got new blue Nike shoes today at Famous Footwear. ( They are having a buy one get one 1/2 off sale! ) Roman really wanted Nike shoes this year for school and Aaron promised the boys he would buy them some since he just got a promotion at work. We had a lot of fun picking them out and have definitely never spent so much on kid's shoes or even ever bought them shoes at a shoe store in general!  We had to buy Asher some to be fair of course but honestly it was worth it to see him running down the aisles at the store impressed by how fast his shoes were!

*Hair cuts for both boys* ( I have a coupon for Cost Cutters for $2 off )

*Get supply list and purchase back to school supplies* ( I'm planning to go to Target because back to school shopping at Walmart just depresses me, end of story. )

*Make sure our kitchen is well stocked for school lunch making*

- buy ziplock bags, paper napkins, disposable silverware, a few more pieces of tupperware + ice packs ( We definitely need to restock these items and I feel like it will make the school year much less stressful to start out with them on hand! )

- potentially look for new water bottles for both boys ( We don't really have any good ones right now and I'd love for the boys to each have a nicer one for going to the park and walks as well! Do you all have any suggestions for good water bottles for kids that are durable, non toxic and don't leak?? )

- make sure the kitchen has a good supply of lunch foods + snacks! ( Packing lunches is always stressful because we always seem to be scrambling for ideas at the last minute! )

*Sign Roman up for soccer* ( This boy is soccer obsessed and we found a place to sign him up for the fall! )

*Look for activities for Asher to do in the mornings* ( We want Asher to have some fun activities to do while Roman is at school and to get him out to socialize and be engaged in learning! )

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I feel like I'm probably forgetting something important but I'm hoping that these things will get us off to a good start!

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Have you started on your back to school preparations yet? What's on your list??

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summer visitors!

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my mom and littlest sister came and visited us in colorado! i'm usually the worst at documenting these types of occasions but since my mom is the best at it, i was able to grab a couple family photos! we were having lunch at a nice little restaurant on the river and it had a great little photo-op spot outside. then it started raining and my sister and i both one after the other accidentally jumped into someone else's car that was gray like mine... oops! i sure miss these ladies and can't wait for their next visit!

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of course my mom insisted that aaron take some solo photos of me...

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one that my sister grabbed of us on my backup camera that i let her use while she was here.
she got some great photos! :)

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happy monday, friends!

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june so far.

just a little update on what we've been up to this past month :)roman had his last day of kindergarten! ( water day ) i died with sadness at how big he is getting. :(
// we headed out to ohio that very same day after some car troubles that turned out to just be a drained battery. kansas sunsets are amazing! we took turns driving and drove straight through, 20 hours, without stopping for anything besides gas + food.i didn't take many instagram photos in the midwest, but this is one of my favorite pictures: my littlest sister + my namaw and papaw in front of their house! i'm so glad that we got to spend 2 different days visiting with them; i love and miss them so much.
// after a couple weeks in ohio / indiana, we headed back. this photo is of asher sleeping somewhere on the road trip home. sleeping babies are by far the best kind of road tripping babies...on the way to ohio we drove through some pretty scary storms. on the way back, however, the storms in kansas were way too big of a deal to drive through. we saw the craziest lightening ever and threatening storm warnings were all over the radio. we stopped at a few hotels which were all booked and were told that all of the hotels were filled up until we found ONE room left in this crappy motel!
i was so thankful that we could get off the road but it was kind of a bummer having to shell out money for one bed in a smoky scented room only to stay up super late watching for tornadoes.
( ok, i was the only one staying awake, but seriously how could i sleep? )
// i love the colors of this truck wash in salina, ks. this is at my favorite  little stop on the drive - we have good memories here from our many road trips. :)gas station break! // stocking up at target for essentials when we got home.our first visit to the big playground near our house this season. i love taking my kids to the park and getting this view! living here is awesome.  we have been taking lots of neighborhood walks! also, we found a nice free stroller on the side of the road which has been a nice addition since we didn't bring ours out to colorado when we moved.
quick story: we had this stroller sitting outside of our condo one day and it disappeared. turns out that our neighbor took it thinking we were "getting rid of it" for some reason. still not sure of the logic behind that, but he returned it after thoroughly cleaning it so i guess we win in the end!
 // little boys checking the mail.playing on the balcony one evening. both of my boys love dressing up, they are so much fun! they've been... dare i say playing together a little better lately??
// roman's new FabKids outfit came in the mail! always a happy day when that happens. :)
(affiliate link used) i definitely missed these mountains while we were away. these are the foothills behind our house at sunset. i have never actually been homesick for a place until i moved here.
love, love, love colorado. <3 <3
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( photos from instagram: are you following me?? @bygillianclaire )
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wild.

oh this little boy is driving me wild lately.

absolutely wild.

does that seem to be a reoccurring theme on my blog lately?

well, it is a reoccurring theme in my life; that's for sure.

 asher's needs and passions and feelings are strong and sudden.

they are loud and angry and fervent and tirelessly exhausting.

but with the wild, there always comes good.

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yesterday, out of nowhere, asher snapped out of one of his tantrums in the car and he looked at me with his turned down eyes and sighed, " i sowwy mommy, i sowwwwy."

 it was heartbreaking to see his little soul take a breath and voice what he feels in his heart.

i know that his tantrums and actions pain him as well.

and today, after an all out furious tantrum, he apologized again,
 "i sorry mommy."

and then he promptly invented a new ridiculous smile that he flashed to us all.
and we all laughed and smiled back.

and he said, "i happy! i happy!"

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asher delights in love and affection and when he gets the attention that he craves - he beams with true appreciation and joy.

this is a boy who wants to be loved more than anything.

and he is a wonderful lesson to us all, that love doesn't always come easy.

and it shouldn't.

or it wouldn't really be worth nearly as much in the end.

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pictures of cows.

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we were driving around the reservoir over the weekend, looking for new spots. and first of all, let me just say that i was so dang happy to get a picture of those cows. i have been thinking about taking pictures of cows for years. no really, i'm not just saying that.
many times as i drove home to our house in indiana, i would look at all of the cows that i passed and think about taking photos of them. indiana is full of so much pretty scenery: old barns, endless soybean and corn fields, pretty hazy sunsets and wildflowers. and there are so many cows. they truly became my favorite animal when we lived out there.
but i never took the moment to get the pictures that i wanted. i'm really bad about that; just stopping and getting out of the car to take a photograph. i'm too lazy i suppose.
and frankly, it never seems worth it.
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but this day. the other day, when i saw these black cows grazing in the hills like this, i finally had aaron pull over the car and i rolled down the window and i got it. it was just too, too perfect. because if there is anything better than cows grazing in the fields of indiana, it is certainly cows in the mountains. hands down.
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asher was stressing out in the backseat and roman was yelling at me and i had one of those mother-fail moments where i snapped for a moment.
and i just told everyone in the family to get used to it.
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sometimes i'm going to hang out the window when it's 20 degrees out to take a picture of the creek by the mountains. and sometimes i'm going to ask aaron to turn the car around so that i can get a picture of the orange and aqua sunset even though everyone is tired and wants to get home. in times like these, little boys are sure to squeal at me from the backseat.
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but gosh darn it, sometimes i'm going to pull over the car and take a picture of some cows.

and it's going to make me very happy.

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oh, and my family is cute too. they forgave me and then i snuck in some pictures of them as well ;)

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life right now.

 

we are in our new house now. some things are unpacked, a lot of things aren't. i feel a bit  overwhelmed because i have realized that we have too much junk and it bothers me. i mean my dream is to live in a one room teepee or a tiny tree house, but my reality is that i live in a three bedroom home filled with boxes upon boxes of STUFF that has nowhere to go but that i somehow feel the need to hold onto. sigh. comparatively we live very minimally and my husband and i feel very strongly about not owning lots of stuff. however, we have TOO much. i feel overwhelmed and stuck in our unpacking venture right now. blah. i took these photos of the boys a couple weeks ago before we took a family walk to the park. it was a very fun family fall-ish night. stress levels have gone down significantly by living in town. ahh the beauty of quick trips to the store! 

 

and in further news, my little ashey-pie was featured on spearmintbaby which made my day, so check it out!

grilling out + roman photos.

just some photos i took a couple weeks ago when we were waiting at the park to grill out with aaron's parents...
asher growing big and tall,

 baby bed hair

and asher and daddy hanging out. i always love how those two look together :)

roman didn't make an appearance in my photos that day, but he did agree to take some photos of asher and i in front of the silos that are across the street from our house.

we always try to keep roman awake on our way home by saying, "whoever sees the silos first wins!." i don't even know how many times we've said that phrase along with, "do you see the silos?" keeping roman awake is always a challenge and if he naps - it's a nightmare at night. it's so sweet because now he always pretends that he doesn't see the silos to give us a chance to "win" or he says, "the whole family wins!" love that little voice in the backseat. i still always think of the house we lived in when he turned two and how his teeny little 2 year old voice sounded when he said, "we're home!" from the backseat  as we pulled in. :) these little memories are some of the best for sure.

our anniversary.

this year for our wedding anniversary we went to brown county, indiana to celebrate 12 years of knowing each other, 6 years of marriage and 2 wonderful little boys. this was back in march and since we are getting ready to head out to brown county again this weekend for a family vacation with aaron's family, i thought i'd finally share some of these photos :)

our cabin was amazing and was my dream home. tiny and perfect. it was a warm spring this year so the weather was lovely. i brought along my new camera and went a little photo crazy. by the end of the trip i was wearing myself out with the picture taking!