Colorado 2010

In July we took a somewhat spontaneous trip to Colorado. We had decided not to go this year, but the call of the mountains was too strong! We were there for four nights and we packed in as much hiking as possible. The first day we all went up to Bible Point with Granddad, Gammo, and their dogs.






Next, we hiked to Alberta Falls with Grammy, Granddad, and Gammo. We scrambled up the rocks all the way to the top. This is such a pretty place. We were all really proud of Luke for doing this because it is challenging for little people who have just turned four.





Our next hike was a really big accomplishment for Jackson. He kept asking if he could do a summit hike instead of just lakes and waterfalls. He's hiked Bible Point and Emerald Mountain a few times, and so he knows how awesome it feels to stand on top of a mountain and look around. We chose Deer Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park, but I had my doubts about whether or not he could finish it. It was just over 6 miles round trip. The longest he'd hiked before this was probably 2-3 miles. And guess what...He finished!! It was such a special day for me to hike this mountain with Jackson, Daddy, and Mat.







We love getting to spend time at the YMCA of the Rockies. I told you we had some fun grandparents. Was I right, or was I right? What a wonderful blessing for us and the boys to get to spend time with them hiking and just hanging out.

Eating ice cream and having some laughs at the Rustic Cafe.



Celebrating Luke's birthday (again) at our cabin.



Playing putt-putt with Granddad.



Taking a silly group photo. I was shocked how my Dad, the king of silly pictures, is the only one playing it straight. Hmmm...I guess the joke's on us.



We are definitely NOT going next year..absolutely not...unless we change our minds.

Summer at the Lake

If anybody out there is still reading this, let me please explain that my computer is having an Internet problem. I can only get on the Internet when I'm very close to my airport which means at my house I have to be upstairs sitting at my desk. Since this problem started I haven't been using my computer at home at all, and that's why I've been so delinquent about blogging. So now it's Friday afternoon, the boys are playing Wii, and I'm sitting at the desk finally posting about the summer.

We took three trips to the lakehouse in East Texas this summer. I know...we are extremely lucky and blessed! Here are a few highlights.

Lakehouse trip #1 was Memorial Day weekend. The boys love fishing and going out in the boat, so those are our biggest memories of this first trip. This time we decided to keep one of the catfish and fry it up. Gross...but yum!







The next time we went to the lake was Father's Day weekend. We went because there was a screening of When I Rise near Mt. Pleasant which is closeby. What a special night that was! The boys loved meeting Barbara and seeing Daddy up on stage. Lukey made Barbara laugh when we first walked in because she asked how old he was and he said, "Three and three quarters."









The other highlight of that trip was that Big Papa caught a raccoon that had been terrorizing their dog. Everyone ended up feeling sorry for the raccoon, though, because it was a mother of baby raccoons (or it was pregnant??). Anyway, he let it go in the woods across the street.



The next trip was Fourth of July. Our summer is just not complete without sitting on the dock watching the fireworks over Lake Cypress Springs.







We have three July birthdays so we also had a little celebration in honor of Big Papa, Mat, and Luke.



We did more fishing.





And we also did some of this...



And a little of that...



And does that look like a fun grandmother or what?



Finally, we had the opportunity to visit the home of one of Nana's friends a couple of times. This person lives "off the grid." Her home was built from scraps, no running water or electricity, she's a vegetarian who grows her own food. Oh and did I mention she's an accomplished musician who teaches at the university level? Very, very cool. I wish I could post more pictures, but she is a private person and I feel I've said enough since this is the Internet after all. But what a cool story...Seriously.





We loved our time at the lake this summer! Did I mention that we're lucky? Well, we're actually lucky enough to have SIX fun grandparents! More about the rest of them in future posts. (Probably next Friday when the boys are playing Wii. :-)

Back to School

What an awesome summer we had! I can't believe that we took six trips, did two different VBS's, two day camps, swimming lessons, two birthdays, jury duty, took care of the school animals, taught Sunday school, and still managed to make it to work occasionally. You can see why I never had time to blog! But alas, all good things must come to an end. Last week we said good-bye to summer and hello to first grade!





This is Jackson's teacher Mrs. Boyd showing him where to put all of his stuff. Jackson was very happy that he got Mrs. Boyd for his teacher. He knew her a little bit from last year.





Some of the things that are different this year for Jackson are that he will stay at school until 2:45 instead of noon. That means he eats lunch at school. I've been making his lunch everyday except Friday when they have Double Dave's Pizza. They also sit at desks rather than four kids to a table. No more center time or toys this year - they work all day! He gets two recesses which he was very excited about. He also gets to go to PE and art twice a week this year. He goes to Spanish and music twice a week instead of once a week, and he still goes to the garden twice a month and chapel once a week.





Jackson only had two girls from his Kindergarten class move to 1st grade with him, but he was still very excited about school and really not worried about a thing. He's a great student. Meanwhile, a few weeks ago Lukey started asking me on nightly basis whether he had to go to school the next day. I would say, "No Lukey, not for a few more weeks (days, etc.)" I think he would like to just stay home and swing everyday for the rest of his life. But he did in fact go to school yesterday and everything was fine.



After we got inside he started hanging onto me for dear life, and I could tell his teacher Miss Becca is a fan of saying a quick good-bye at the door. So I told him I would wait in the car for a few minutes out in the parking lot in case he needed me. ;-) That seemed to do the trick, and he went inside with no tears.





It's going to be a great year!