Backyard Fun

Well after visiting Steve and Kate last month and seeing their awesome backyard pool, we decided to take the plunge too:

Admittedly, our pool is a just a little bit smaller in scale, but the kids think this pool is THE DEAL...looking forward to many fun summertime hours relaxing under the umbrella while the kiddos play!

Reunion Party

On Sunday we went to a backyard party at Carol's house. Lots of folks that I haven't seen for years were there. These are people that I used to go to church camp or youth conferences with, and I've known most of them since I was about 14 or 15 (almost as long as I've lived in Colorado). Most of us still live around Colorado (several of us even live in Parker but don't get together as often as we should; we are going to make a concerted effort to get at least the Parker crew together regularly), some live out of state. It was a fun reunion afternoon! Look at us and all our kids...unbelievable...the next generation.
(Also there but not in the picture: Carol (obviously); Holley and husband; Drew (showed up later); Sarah and boyfriend; Scott, Jane and Matthew. I think that's it, sorry if I'm forgetting anyone.)

Shout out

All right, I have to give a shout out to Kelsyus for a positive customer service experience. Holla!

Last summer, I picked up one of their portable hammocks on clearance at the Bed, Bath and Beyond in West Jordan, UT. Well, this summer, one of the black caps on the frame broke, rendering it unusable. On a whim, I found a customer service e-mail for them on-line and sent them an e-mail basically explaining the situation, that of course we don't still have a receipt, we've moved to another state, we never exceeded the weight limit, etc, and was there anyway we might be able to get a replacement part? (And this is to take nothing away from BB&B, I just tried Kelsyus first because it saved me a trip to the store.) Anyways, I figured this e-mail would basically go into a Customer Service Black Hole, but I'd at least give it a shot.

Lo and behold, less than 24 hours later, I had an e-mail stating that they'd send me a new hammock frame at no charge. So now the test was whether or not a hammock frame would actually show up or if they were just kind of placating me. Well, an entirely new hammock, frame and canvas, showed up on our porch yesterday! And it's a better model portable hammock too! So thanks, Kelsyus!

A Camping We Will Go

We had such a fun time on our first camping trip in the tent trailer this weekend! We went with two other families from church. It was nice to start out close to home before our longer trip over the 4th. We camped in a national forest campground called Kelsey Campground, in southwest Douglas County, near Deckers and Pine. The kids basically had a fabulously filthy time: What more could a kid ask for? The dudes: Andrew's first ever s'more in his life: Cooking breakfast:Rich and Sarah (Sarah's due Sept 15th with their second girl): Hiking: The kids (Ben, Megan, Max, Mason and Sophie):Hanging out:
Hope you all had a great weekend too! And Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

Pop-up!

Here's the one we bought, an '03 Coleman Bayside. We don't actually pick it up until next Saturday (they're running it through their shop to make sure everything works, etc), but we're excited for some good ol' family fun! (Do I sound like Clark Griswold or what?)