He's So Excited...

...for his first visit from the Tooth Fairy tonight!

Black Hills (deux)

We headed to the Black Hill for the 4th of July again this year.  We went 3 years ago and had a really great time and felt like there was still a ton of stuff to check out, so we headed back this year.  We'd go again too! 

A not-so-conventional view of Washington in profile.

Cooking on the fire.

Our awesome campground and its waterslide.

The dinos in Rapid could use a coat of paint, but are otherwise just as fun for kiddos as they were when I was a kid.

 This trip we toured Wind Cave National Park.

Waiting for the fireworks in Custer, SD.  Every block of downtown has a differently painted buffalo on the corners.

 Reptile Gardens.

We also got to reconnect with some good friends that we haven't seen since Ben was about 8 months old.  They only live in Ft. Collins, but we just haven't gotten together.  Families get busy, we moved to Utah and back, etc.  Anyways, we found out we were both heading to the Black Hills for the 4th and camped right next to each other, which was awesome!  Our kids played together really well and were so sad when we had to leave.  We reassured them, "Really, we only live an hour away from each other.  We'll make sure to see them again before another five years passes by!"

To Be a Boy

Max went to Boy Scout Day Camp for his first time this summer.  It involved cool things like shooting BB guns, archery...even the crafts were cool and involved activities like hammering nails into wood.  I mean really, how fun of a camp is that?

Dinos

Last month we (finally) made it over to Dinosaur Ridge.  My kids aren't even huge dinosaur freaks and we still really enjoyed it.  It was a warm but not sweltering day, and it just made for a nice afternoon hike with some interesting geology thrown in - lots of hands-on stuff for the kids to check out and it's free! 

 

 

 

We also got a nice view of the back side of Red Rocks.  I read the next day that Willie Nelson's tour bus was there the same day we were...now if I'd only brought binoculars!

My Heart Smiles

One day last week, I turned off the vacuum and saw this scene down in the living room.  Big brother just reading away to little brother, both of them enjoying Fern and Wilbur.

Then another evening I was cuddling with Max while we waited for Ben to finish brushing his teeth and join us for a bedtime story.  The boys were fresh out of the bath and Max's hair smelled of watermelon soap instead of the usual summertime mix of sweat, dirt, sunscreen, and swimming pool.  I told him, "Mmm, you smell good buddy."  He said, "Thanks.  You smell good too Mom.  You smell like love."

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

We met up with our friends Amber and Erin and their kiddos at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo about a week ago.  It was our first time to this zoo, but we'd heard such good things about it we had to check it out, and we were so glad that our friends could meet up with us too!

I loved these benches.

A third brother?

The event of the day that got all eight kids laughing the hardest was a monkey that howled and howled and howled at us, climbed to the very highest perch in his cage, and then let loose a long stream of pee.  Ahh, the kids were rolling, from the high schooler clear down to the preschooler.  (OK we moms were laughing too.)

The big attraction at the zoo is the elevated walkway around the giraffe exhibit, so you are at eye-level with the giraffes.  We got an up close and personal look at these beautiful creatures and got to feed them!

Crocs

Both boys decided to join the neighborhood swim team, the Crocs, this year.  Ben had a very short season.  Poor guy jumped in at his first meet, swam about 5 yards and panicked in the deep water.  We may try again next year if he's interested.

As for Max, we are three weeks into it and I can't believe the improvement already!  It's what everybody told me, "You'll be amazed at how much better of a swimmer your kid is at the end of the season," and it's true!  The first meet, I was just hoping he could make it the length of the pool.  And he did. 

The second week, he did it without having to hang on the rope and shaved 9 seconds off his 25 free and 50 free and 34 seconds off his 25 back. 

Today we haven't gotten the times yet, but he won his heats in the 25 free and 25 back (and he's at the bottom of his age division) and participated in his first relay!  I'm so stinkin' proud of both his positive attitude to keep working at it even when it's not easy (the 50 free is a killer for him) and at his actual improvement!  I should've recorded his 25 free today, but I got his 25 back.  He's in lane 2.

I tell you though, it pretty much wipes us all out on Saturdays.  After the first meet, this was outside Max's door.

And not to be outdone, little brother followed suit, complete with the backwards lower-case "b".

It Wouldn't Be May Without Some Graduations

JD got his JD!

The camera was zoomed so much that if I moved a millimeter it got blurry, but trust me when I say that's my brother on his walk across the stage.

The proud graduate and father-to-be.

My brothers and me.

Jordan, aka Michele Bachmann.

 The original JD's.

The two lawyers in the family, Grandma Mary Lou and Jody.

And sweet Benjamin had his pre-K graduation.

"Oh we're ready, oh we're ready for kindergarten"

Handshake, diploma

and a hug.

We're going to miss Sunshine Preschool!!

I was running.

We kicked off May by running the Cherry Creek  Sneak, a 5k.

A shorter fun run is offered for kids, but my boys have already gotten wise to the ways of races and their greedy little eyes lit up at the idea of getting a bag full of swag.  One only receives swag for completing the full 5k, so they insisted on the longer distance.  Luckily, my parents volunteered to pace the 5k with the boys so Andrew and I could still run.

Some of the swag.

At the end of the month, Andrew & I did the Bolder Boulder.  A nagging cough combined with cold, snowy crummy weather left me without a lot of training in May.  Did I also mention that the Bolder Boulder's a 10k?  Having never run further than a 5k and not even running that very often in the weeks leading up to the race, I set the bar very low for the BB, figuring on a lot of walking.  Along came the race morning, and in spite of being stuck in a SLOW wave (seriously, strolling the course in jeans while texting?  Get in the walkers' wave!), which meant a lot of weaving through other "racers," I ran the entire course in 64 minutes!  Andrew turned in a very impressive 69 minutes, with very little walking!  It helped that after about the 4th mile, the course was slightly downhill, except for a final hill up into Folsom Field.  So we had an awesome morning and I was pleasantly surprised!

I think back to last year when we were doing the Couch to 5K program and I thought I was going to die the first time I had to run 20 minutes without stopping.  I still find it a little hard to believe I ran for an hour without stopping. :)

My friend Francie that keeps peer pressuring me into races. 

And this turkey also did his fun run fundraiser at school and ran/walked 32 laps - which amounts to 8 miles! 

Almost 2 months...

...since my last post.  Well, picking up where we left off...

Andrew's birthday fell on Easter this year, so I thought it was appropriate to pull this photo out of the archives.  Anytime I can use this picture, I do...it makes me laugh!  The birthday boy is now 36.  It's funny how whatever age, whether it's 30 or 35 or I'd bet 60, never feels as old as I thought it was when I was younger.  Aaaand, of course we had blueberry pie to celebrate.

Sweet Spot

Walking up to his bedroom door to check on him last night...

 Zooming in...

Seriously - love that kid!  (Both of them actually!)