Yesterday we celebrated Isla turning eight years old. It was such a low-key and fun family day, and Isla told me as she was falling asleep that it was her favorite birthday ever. We threw a party for her before school let out in May (will share photos soon!), so she was very content having a quiet day at my parent’s house in Durango. She chose to go zip-lining with me and Sasha, and we had a blast with our little dare devil girl. She tested Sasha’s fears just a few days earlier at the carnival, and again as she jumped backwards off the super high zip-line towers.

For her birthday, Isla received jewelry, slime, crystals, a sketch pad and pens, a stuffed animal dog, a ton of great books (she loves graphic novels right now!), Polly Pockets, and a pink ATM machine bank to keep her money safe (from little sisters, of course). She requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and snickerdoodle cookies for dessert (in lieu of cake, which she doesn’t love). Isla got to choose the movie for the night – Parent Trap – which makes me cry every time I watch it! Such a great classic.

In Isla’s 8th year of life, she spent a summer in Colorado, 7 months in a rental house, and moved into a new house – as well as starting at a new school and making all new friends. She began gymnastics and tumbling classes for the first time in her life, which she absolutely adores. She will begin cheerleading in the fall with two of her best friends! Isla has become much more independent, but also still loves spending time with us (especially if it’s 1:1). Isla loves art – she is always coloring, sketching and creating.

I wrote in her birthday card that she is the best “mini-mama,” and she kept bringing up how much she loved that phrase. It is absolutely the truth – she takes care of all her sisters, especially Poppy, so well. She has such a loving, tender heart and cares deeply about other people’s feelings. We are so proud of the sweet big girl she is becoming!

The past ten days have flown by. Faster than ever, but they always seem to when we are here in Durango. It’s truly our happy place. We try to come at least twice a year – this May trip is always very cycling-focused, as Sasha, my dad and his friends do the Iron Horse Bike Classic race. Which is basically just cruel-and-unusual torture for cyclists who want to ride uphill for hours on end. Not my cup of tea, but I’m so proud of Sasha for doing it for the third year in a row.

Kirby and Brett came as well, as they have for the last few years. It was so much fun having them here, but I missed sweet Lillian and Henry! Kirby turned 29 last week, and we spent a bit of time planning her 30th birthday trip to Greece. I can’t wait.

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was watching Isla ride a pedal bike by herself. She has used a Strider bike for a year now, but only started taking it seriously in December. Six months later, she got on a pedal bike and without training wheels, was off! It took a few days to get comfortable with doing it, but she loves it. So proud of her!

We frequented our favorite restaurants (Himalayan, Thai Kitchen, Grassburger, Carvers, Chimayos, Fired Up Pizza, Eolus), drank coffee from Durango Coffee Co., bought vegan baked goods from Smiley Cafe, visited the newly public Lake Nighthorse, fed the fish at the Hatchery, went to the Rec Center, hiked up to Ft. Lewis College, played in the river, went on gorgeous mountain runs, went to multiple parks (Santa Rita being the best!), walked around the train museum, played lots of front porch Jenga, drank wine at Sutcliffe Winery, spent hours in the front yard running around with the girls, pet horses at my parent’s friend’s race in Cortez and cheered on a bunch of cyclists all weekend long. A perfect trip. Back to reality tomorrow!

Here are a few (ahem, 100) of my favorite photos from the past week. Believe it or not, there really are more! Ha.