Camping at Blue Mountain

We had a great time camping at Blue Mountain last weekend.

The boys love camping.  Morgan actually started packing the car on his own Friday morning after he got tired of waiting on his pokey parents.  And both boys buckled themselves in and waited in their car seats with books until it was time to go.  (:

 Hanging out at Camp Barber

 Having dinner in the screen tent.  This is a lovely little camping invention that we added to our inventory this year--it provides shade and has drastically reduced the number of times a boy runs screaming away because a bug or two have helped themselves to their food.

 We went on a long hike one morning to look for animal tracks and scat.  I, unfortunately, got sick right before we were supposed to leave for this camping adventure.  I didn't have the heart to cancel on the boys, so I went anyways (probably not the wisest choice, given I'm on day three of antibiotics and had to miss a day of work), but we managed even if I was sort of just a bump on a log the whole weekend.

 This is a huge petrified redwood tree stump we got to see at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.  Colorado used to be filled with these big trees a very, very long time ago.

 We went on another hike through the petrified forest.  The boys had junior ranger workbooks, so they were looking for specific things to mark in their books.

We played by the river and the boys caught minnows

While Daddy tried to catch some real fish

 Morgan's way of roasting marshmallows...he's very anti-smoke-in-the-eyes

 Jacoby tackling roasting marshmallows like he does most things...very methodically and correctly.

 Can you see how dirty they are?!?!  They were filthy little creatures by the end of the weekend!

 I bought this silly game which has very little educational value, but somehow it makes the boys go looney tunes!  They just go crazy and get silly, in part I think because they like to gang up on Mommy (who still beats them so bad!).  It was the perfect way to spend time together in the tent before bed time (brrrr).

 We packed up camp and headed on our way Sunday morning.

  After we got cleaned up we were off to purchase a brand new washer and dryer!  Our old dryer has been screeching for a couple of months and the washer finally bit the dust late last week.  We really like this set and it actually reminds me of R2D2--it chimes, dings, and even sings a little melody when it's finished.  (:

Grandparents Visit & Summer Fun

 We were very fortunate to see Grandpa Michael and Grandmanette two weekends in a row (before and after Utah)!  They practiced drawing with Grandmanette.

 We went to see How to Train Your Dragon 2, which was excellent.

 There was also a fun trip to the book store and lots of reading and ipad time.

 We've also been playing in the sprinkler.

 And finding new splash parks around town.

We made cloud dough one day, which was fun and messy.

We're having a great summer!

Trip to Utah

Justin attended a conference a few weeks ago in Park City, UT, so the boys and I joined him.  We had a wonderful time exploring!

 Our drive through Wyoming was windy, rainy, and snowy all the way to Park City.  This was the view from our window when we arrived.

 On our first day, the boys and I drove into Salt Lake City to visit the Natural History Museum of Utah.  It's a great museum with lots to see and explore.

 The boys enjoyed the various dig sites around the museum.

 We spent one afternoon at Park City Mountain Resort, enjoying some of the summer activities and riding the chair lift.

 On our second day, we ventured back into the city to visit the new aquarium.  It was awesome and huge!

 We had a great time exploring all of the exhibits.

 We even splurged and went to the 4-D movie about sharks.

 By the time we were ready to leave, most of Utah had showed up.  It's a very popular, new attraction.

 We visited the Utah Olympic Winter Park on our last afternoon.  These are the medals from the Salt Lake winter games.

 This was one of the puppets from the opening ceremony.

 And we spent a lot of time watching the ski jumpers practice and land in this special pool.  So cool!

 The boys tried out this mini ropes course (although they really wanted to tackle the real ropes course that all of the big kids were going on).

 And we rode more chair lifts...

 After his conference each evening, Justin got to take the boys up the Canyons gondola.

 Having a great time and maybe slightly loopy because of the high altitude.  (:

We were so grateful for our special suite.  Thanks to Justin's conference rate, we were able to upgrade inexpensively so we had a full kitchen, two bathrooms, and large living room with fire place.  It was a lovely time and we hope to visit there again!

Preschool Graduation & Other Events

Here's one of a few catch-up posts, since I'm behind.  We've been busy with summer fun and have lots to share.

First and foremost, Morgan graduated from Pre-K earlier this month and so our time at preschool has officially come to an end.  It was a lovely event followed by a very fun party that went on late into the evening.

 So proud of this boy!

 All of Morgan's friends.  They've been together since the Infant Room!

 Receiving his diploma from Miss S.--love this lady!

 Pondering serious thoughts about his future and what life will be like beyond preschool.

 Mommy and her littlest boy

 And Daddy too

 Jacoby has already started giving Morgan pointers about what life is like at elementary school.  Morgan is so ready!

We're enjoying our summer days together.  I cannot believe it's the end of June already!

Here's Jacoby practicing his jump shot with Daddy.

 The boys are in swim lessons and also participated in VBS for a week.  Can you see that the theme was perfect for them?

 

And last but not least, we celebrated Father's Day with Grandpa Michael and Grandmanette in town.

More to come tomorrow!

Summer is here!

Yay for summer!  We are very happy to be out of school and moving right into (mostly) less hectic days.  I love being home two days a week!  Here's what we've been up to lately:

My family came down for a lovely visit over Memorial weekend.  We went for a hike and picnic one of the days.

 And here is our Second grader and Kindergartner!  Both of them finished up school/preschool well.  Tears were shed by Mommy and Miss S. when I picked Morgan up for the final time from our dear preschool.  I was doing just fine until each of his friends came up and starting giving him hugs, telling him they love him, etc.  Seriously, my heart!  And they lined up along the fence to wave as we left.  Sheesh.  The things they don't tell you when you become a parent!  Morgan informed Justin when we got home that Mommy and Miss S. were sad but he was the first one to go to Kindergarten! (:

 Grandpa and Morgan discussing a Lego magazine over breakfast

 We rode the bus into downtown Denver one day

 And visited our favorite bookstore

 Kenz and I ran the BolderBoulder 10K on Memorial Day, along with 52,000 other people.  It's the best race and it was so fun to run it with my sista!  Like our outfits?  (:  The boys unanimously rejected my tutu as an addition to their dress up bin.

 This girl took off on a mission to win!

 Just a selfie at the starting line

 The finish line is at Folsom Field at CU

 Jacoby helped put together buckets of summer fun, which we gave to Morgan's class on his last day of preschool.

Introducing Legolas and Bilbo

And here are the ants.  These guys have some pretty cool tunneling techniques.  We're sort of exploring creatures this summer.  The boys enjoy observing and taking care of them.

Here's our big summer list.  I think it's going to be a great summer!