Summer 2014!!

One week until school starts! Ack! There are times where I feel like summer went by too fast, but when I look back at all the fun things we did I know we made the best of our time.

First was the realization that we've been here two years now! This came full circle to me when we ate some pizza at the PX the other day. We rarely visit the PX here as there are other places to shop, but this used to be a frequent outing in Korea. I would buy one large slice of pizza from Anthony's and share it between the two boys, and cut it up with plastic forks and knives. Now they're big kids eating their own giant slice of pizza, no cutting needed!

 Since Alex's birthday we have had a lot of summer fun.

There were bubbles-




Bug experiments-



Cub Scout Camp-


Fun with mom while brother's at cub scout camp-

Glow Golf!

Dippin Dots!

Camping in the backyard-


Playing with friends-




Fourth of July concert (and rain afterwards)-

Fun with family in Denver-
My sister Valerie flew up from Phoenix for a weekend and we got some time with the 3 siblings and my mom without grand kids. We hit up Estes park, a movie and an antique shop!

Summer Reading Programs-

This is a puppy couch at our library that Alex loves. The boys read A LOT this summer!

Date nights-

For this date we went to the Skirted Heifer (a yummy burger joint), and a summer jazz concert!




Rained out summer concerts-
The next night after our date the Colorado Symphony was doing an 80s themed concert in the park. Weather was not in our favor and it only stopped raining long enough for us to eat our KFC, and then it started pouring again. We got cold and grumpy so we left :)








And more rain!
It has been a very rainy summer. The last two summers Colorado has been on fire, and this time we're getting a ton of thunderstorms. This pic is of us after getting caught in a downpour outside Walmart


Piano lessons-

Cade started lessons this summer and is doing great! He'll kill me for this picture, but he always sticks his tongue out

Puppy time! Can't get enough of this awesome pup!


Visiting Grandma and Uncle Kevin-




Fun crafts at the Space Foundation-

I built something!

El Paso County Fair-

Alex was all alone on this ride, and though he said he had fun, he looked terrified!

And our last camping trip for the year at the Great Sand Dunes National Park-

The weekend that the kids and I went up to Denver, Dan did a road trip on his motorcycle out to Utah. He visited with family and stopped in some fun places on his way to meet us at the Sand Dunes.

I highly recommend a visit to the Sand Dunes NP. We had a fantastic time. Our weather was cool and rainy much like the rest of Colorado. This made for awesome dunes weather since the sand never got too hot, but it made for cool camping nights. Our second night there we even got caught in a hail storm. It was pretty intense and the boys' tent didn't fair as well with the rain and their sleeping bags got pretty wet. We realized that 6 out of the 8 camping trips we've had since living in Colorado we have had inclement weather. Careful if you camp with us!

Ready for an easy and tasty camping recipe? Buy a bag of frozen Rhodes cinnamon rolls, put them in the dutch oven over night and then warm them on the fire the next morning! These were SO tasty!!!

Some of the pictures are a little blurry because my phone was in a ziploc bag. We were SO covered in sand that I didn't dare let my phone get sandy too.

Playing in Medano creek. Usually by July the creek has dried up, but not this year!

Can't have rainbows without rain!

Dan made some awesome fires to keep us warm!

This summer was all about making memories and I think that was a success. We've got some friends visiting us this week to complete our summer of adventure and memories and then it's on to another school year! I'm always excited to watch my kids learn and grow. Can't wait!

Alex's Birthday!!

The Saturday before Alex's birthday we met up with Grandma Kathy and Uncle Kevin at the Denver Zoo! We had never been (well apparently I went when I was really little), and the weather was perfect! The zoo was bigger than I expected and was really nice, though it's not as interactive as the Cheyenne Mountain zoo here in Colorado Springs. We all had a great time.

Silly faces, but there's a tiger in the background!

Good thing my mom got a picture of me, I always forget!

I just had to get a picture of this. In the bathrooms the front of the doors had different animals on them, and then when you go inside and shut the door, well, you get the backside! Lol

Once we were worn out at the zoo, and Dan was done working in the Springs, we all met at Casa Bonita, a family tradition. We all went there as kids and now I've brought my kids here quite a few times. It's a silly, cliche, mexican restaurant with not the best food, but a huge waterfall and diving area where they put on skits, gunfights and have professional divers. There's even an arcade and a scary cave maze thing that the kids love to go through. And don't forget the sopapillas! They even brought one to Alex for his birthday with some whipped cream and candles on it!

Since it was 2 in the afternoon we got seats right by the waterfall!

Crazy faces....

  

Then we celebrated Alex's birthday on the 19th. It's kind of become a tradition for me to make birthday shirts for the boys. Alex is all about bugs these days so I made him a shirt with a jar full of bugs on it! 

I took the boys out for donuts for breakfast and then we waited patiently for daddy to come home from work so we could go out to dinner. He picked Texas Roadhouse for his birthday dinner and we had a fun time.

They brought out the birthday saddle for him to sit on and the whole restaurant gave a big "Yee-haw!"

Once we got home it was finally time for presents and 'cake'!

First present was a butterfly net from daddy!

Grandma Kathy got him a butterfly growing kit. The caterpillars came in the mail the other day! It's fun to watch!

I know it's silly, but he asks me to buy this every time we're at the grocery store and I always say no. He was SO excited to get a 97 cent box of macaroni!

Cade wanted to share his new obsession of Godzilla with Alex and bought him a little set.

And the one thing Alex wanted the very most? A bug vacuum! 

 Alex wanted his cake to be a cookie monster, our favorite family dessert! Yum!

For some reason I still think he's 4 years old, but he definitely has a growing brain and body. I am so excited for him to be in 1st grade in the fall. I think he will love how much he can learn. We love our cuddly, talkative, know it all Alex. He has the biggest heart and I look forward to another year watching him grow! 

First camping trip of 2014!

And it almost didn't happen. The morning of our camping trip Cade threw up. He never gets sick! We weren't sure whether to go ahead with the trip or play it safe. He seemed to feeling back to normal after puking, so we took a chance and went anyways!

We planned a trip to Farish Recreation Area with our friends the Bennetts. They live just down the street and the kids have a great time playing together (and the adults too), so we thought it'd be fun to have a camp out.

This campground is beautiful! North of Woodland park, at about 9,000 ft. Clear mountain air, great scenery, and military owned and operated, making it economical and nice friendly neighbors for your campgrounds.

It was a little chilly at night, stormy at times, raining at times, and terribly hot at times, but that's camping in Colorado for you!

We cooked, we hiked, we chatted while the kids played, Joe fished and even the dogs had a good time!

We had matching tents!

We called this a water dog. It was some sort of salamander, gills AND legs!

Carson got cold in the tent so he snuggled with Dan. So cute!

It's not camping without some dutch oven cooking!

Cade and Caleb

Our campsites were right off the lake and just behind us were the woods. The kids explored behind our sites and found these awesome boulder formations that created some cave-like areas to play in and climb around on. This is a kid's dream come true!

 

We joked about using this as their engagement picture, lol! Cade and Shelby

There were a few unpleasant moments, like when Dan burned his thumb on the dutch oven, when Alex burned is pinky on the fire ring, and then when Alex lost a battle with one of the boulders and got scratched up his back. He was still a good sport!

Alex and Conner never left each other's side, often holding hands

On our last night before bed we did a little glow in the dark tic tac toe. I think that's why the pictures are a little blurry. But they had fun and got to bring home some glow souvenirs! 

What a way to kick off summer! We had a blast :)