On Saturday, Kevin and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary.  I am so blessed to be married to my best friend, and this year we decided to celebrate as a family, so we went up to Denver for the weekend and played.

We started the day by going to Ikea and the Park Meadows Mall – and Derek and Lily even got to check out the Lego store, which they love. After getting lunch and playing for a while, we headed to downtown Denver.  Lily and Derek and I had tickets to go to see the Broadway production of Mary Poppins, and so Kevin and Arthur dropped us off at the theater, and then they headed to our hotel.

The kids and I had a little time before we had to head into the theater, and so we stopped at a little cafe and got a treat.  We decided to share a giant cinnamon roll and it was delicious.  The perfect "spoon full of sugar" before the play.

As we walked out of the cafe, we were literally run over by a giant herd of people dressed up for the Kentucky Derby.  I am not sure where they were headed, but there were at least a hundred of them, and they were in a hurry.  I had to pull Derek out of the way before he got mowed down by the group.

We were so excited to see the show.  I had heard such amazing things about it from friends who had seen it in NYC, and I had been waiting years for the tour to come our way.

It was Derek's very first Broadway show, and Lily's 5th – what a lucky girl!

Our seats were fantastic.  We were right in the middle, and my favorite thing was the little wall right in front of our seats, which meant that nobody would block our views.  I need to remember that row in the future – it is perfect for kids.

The show was amazing, and the kids were so well behaved.  I did have to pull Derek down a few times when he would get so excited, that he would stand up in the middle of the show.  And they loved taking a break and having a snack during intermission.

Lily's favorite part of the play was the character Miss Andrews (she was in the books) and the silly things that happened to her.  Derek's favorite part was when Bert walked on the walls and the ceiling during Step-in-time.  I loved watching Lily and Derek's reactions to everything and I loved how they incorporated so much more of the books into the play, and was so glad I had read the books to Lily :).

While we were at the play, Kevin and Arthur were having a blast swimming in the hotel pool.  It was Arthur's first time swimming, and he loved it.  Kevin said he was super cute.  (And luckily, I got to see a little of it when we went swimming again later in the evening.)

 
After the play, Kevin and Arthur met up with us at Mellow Mushroom on the 16th Street Mall.  It is a delicious pizza place, and we hadn't been to one in years.  My calzone was amazing!

On our way back to the hotel, we happened to notice a colorfully painted piano on the sidewalk.  When we looked closer, we noticed a sign that said that anyone was free to play it, and so we had Lily hop on and play one of her recital pieces.  It was so awesome, and she was so excited about it, smiling away as she performed for the people walking by.

Once we got back to the hotel, we all went swimming for a while.  It was a lot of fun, but my favorite part was getting to soak in the hot tub – so nice.  Then we got back to the room and got the kids all showered and in their jammies, and Kevin went out to find us some dessert.  He found a Pinkberry frozen yogurt shop, and brought chocolate/cookies and cream back for Lily and Derek, and brought Keylime for both of us.  It was amazing!

Dessert was the perfect end to a fanastic day.  I wish I could say that the night went as well, but I didn't sleep at all.  Derek was talking in his sleep and kept waking me up, and I was stiff and sore, so I just couldn't relax.  Arthur slept pretty well, however, and only woke up a couple times.  I made him a makeshift crib by putting the armchair flush against my side of the bed, since they had forgotten to bring one to us like I had requested.  I think it worked great, and he was cozy.

The next morning, we got some breakfast and headed home.  I know it wasn't a romantic get away, but it was the perfect family weekend and a wonderful way to celebrate 12 years of marriage.  I loved having that special family time together, which is just what we needed before Kevin has to leave.