Turbo Summer...

Mark and I are starting to refer to the past few weeks as "turbo summer". We've packed in a lot in the last month. Partially because the kids are going to be on "track" (year around school) this year. They start on July 9th. They will be in school for 3 weeks then out for 3. The other reason is because their cousin Caitlyn is visiting and we wanted to do fun things with her.

It's been fun but we are sure tired at bed time! Yesterday we went to Estes Park for the day. Today we went to Arts On Fire and painted pottery. Everyone did a good job. I even painted something! Then we went to the park and had lunch. Back home to get Alex off to his drum lesson and then off to Alex's baseball game. Grandma came back from Steamboat today. Nice to have her back. I'm sure it was a lot quieter for her there! Caitlyn seems to be enjoying herself and we are really enjoying having her. I asked Monica if I could keep her (it's nice having another girl in the house) She said no. Darn. We are going to miss her... Here are a few pics from Estes Park.

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More Summer fun... Water World

We are having a great time with Caitlyn. Seems we've been on the go a lot but having fun. We went to Water World today for the first time. I didn't get very many pictures because I was too busy having fun going down the water slides....... I'm probably going to be sore tomorrow but it was worth it. The kids loved all the rides and especially liked the wave pool. Here are a few pics I managed to get.

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Tennis

The boys are having fun with their tennis lessons. Here are a few pictures Terra took...

Summer fun...

We have been staying busy. Mark's birthday was yesterday. We celebrated Sunday night with a spaghetti & meatball dinner. Then yesterday we went motorcycling. Mark taught Caitlyn how to ride. She already kind of knew but he taught her how to shift. She did great. She is a really fast learner. After riding we did a little hiking. Today we went to Pirates Cove for several hours. We are all tired tonight!

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It's Friday...

We've had a busy couple of days. Caitlyn made it in yesterday afternoon...yeah. For those of you that don't know Caitlyn is our niece. She had a long ride. She and the boys have been going non-stop ever since. They are really enjoying each other. Caitlyn lives in Houston so we don't get to see her very often. It's fun to watch how she and the boys pick up just where they left off. Not like they haven't seen each other in a year. We went to the aquarium (yes again) today. They had a good time.

Last night I was at Alex's baseball practice when I got a call from Mark. His question was "Don't worry but I was wondering what our emergency room deductible is"? He had cut his hand pretty bad working on the Go-cart. We all met up at the emergency room. He ended up with 5 stitches.. It was pretty deep. It's a little sore today but not too bad.

We got a new "Surfing" slip and slide. It came with a DVD that showed these surfer "dudes" doing all kinds of neat tricks on it. It didn't quite work as well as shown on the DVD. Imagine that! haha They still had fun.

Summer days are here...

It's Wednesday... the boys are settling into summer vacation. Sleeping late, swimming, playing tennis, etc. Grandma is coming today and our niece Caitlyn is coming tomorrow, so we are all looking forward to that. They are already thinking of things they want to do with Caitlyn. they want to go to Water World. So far we have avoided going there, haha. It's one of if not the largest water park in the country, looks a little overwhelming to me but I'm sure the kids would love it.

The kids are doing tennis twice a week for a couple of weeks with their coach from school and a couple of their friends. Yesterday was their first lesson and they really enjoyed it.

Mark's birthday is Monday... Hope to have a family bbq this weekend to celebrate.

Getting ready for a garage sale. Not sure when it's going to happen. I've had the boys go through all their "stuff". Motivated them by saying they could have the money for the things they sell. They are going to try to make enough to by a fish tank. We have 2 really nice train tables with storage bins underneath. I don't want to just give them away because they are in good condition, so if anyone knows someone who would like to look at them I could email a picture. Also a clothes hanger..oops I mean a treadmill that hasn't been used much. I might try Craig's list but there are so many on there... so many of us with good intentions to exercise, haha.

We had a nice Father's Day. Mark and his Dad went shooting in the morning and the kids and I met them for lunch at "Three Margaritas". Then to Cold Stone for ice cream. Came home opened presents and shared our vacation video with Dad. All in all a nice day. Here are some pictures from Father's Day.

Back from South Dakota

We had a great trip. We made it home Friday night about 9:30 pm. We were pretty pooped. We spent the weekend doing all the things that need to be done when you get back from vacation...laundry, cleaning, putting things away, working in the yard..etc.

We had a nice Father's Day too. I will blog about that later...

We stayed busy on our trip. Did lots of fun things. Really enjoyed seeing Mt. Rushmore. We all thought it was much more impressive in person. I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Mark said the same thing. The Black Hills are beautiful. We stayed in a cabin at a campground in Hill City, just a few miles from Mt. Rushmore. The Streeters recommended it and it was great. Thanks Elaine and Mike! We stayed in a one room cabin the first 2 nights and upgraded to a 2 room cabin with a lot more space the last 2 days. It was nice to spread out, although we didn't spend a whole lot of time there. The kids enjoyed scootering and riding their bikes around the campground. There is a lot to do around Mt. Rushmore. Bear Country, Reptile Gardens, Fossil museums, the mammoth site, we also hit an indoor water park. Here a some of the pictures...
Starting with Mount Rushmore...

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Reptile Gardens, Rapid city, South Dakota

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Alex's first little league game

Alex had his first baseball game today. He played t-ball once when he was about 4 but hasn't played since then. He did really good. He got 2 hits and played first base and made 2 outs. The coaches were pretty happy with him. Then he asked the coach if he could play catcher and the coach said he quessed so but he would rather have Alex in the outfield because he did such a good job. I was happy with the coach for letting him and he said he likes to let the kids play all positions... even though I could tell he really wanted him in the outfield. Turns out he was a good little catcher too. I'm excited for him because this is something he decided to do on his own. Usually he follows Connor's lead. It's fun to see him becoming more independent.

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Graduation 2008

Today was the kids last day of school and graduation... The graduation ceremony was great and the boys won some awards.. both won National Fitness awards. Connor won a citizenship award, which is given out by the teachers to two kids in each class. It is for helpfulness, empathy towards others and respect for classmates. We were very proud of Connor.

The school years just seem to keep flying by but we are gathering a lot of wonderful memories of classmates and teachers. We will miss Mrs. Bowman and Mrs. Nelson very much but they will always be a part of the boys lives. Teachers make such a big impression. They are very special. We have been very fortunate.

After graduation Alex's class had a pool party. It was a nice way to end off the year! Connor went to his friends b-day party. They went to the Rockies game. He's on his way home now. Big Day! Alex has his first baseball game at 9 in the morning.

Here are a few pictures from today. It was hard to get them but here they are...

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The last of Memorial Day weekend photos...

These are the last few photos from our trip to Kansas. We visited Grandma Dot's new place. She moved a few months ago into a really nice condo/apt. She has a beautiful view of a lake behind her unit. She can look out her windows and see ducks and swans swimming on the lake.

Mom had a cookout on Sunday.. lots of good food. Grandma Dot makes the best potato salad and Mom makes the best baked beans.. It was all very good. thank you Mom and Grandma! After we ate we went to the backyard where the boys drove Grandma's riding lawn mower. Needless to say this made me very nervous but the blade wasn't engaged and it didn't go very fast. They had a great time driving around grandma's big backyard.

We also played a little football... I didn't get any pictures but we had a good time. I wasn't feeling too well and went to lay down in the evening. We left at 4:30 the next morning and I was miserable. Thank you Mom for helping Mark with the boys and loading the truck. I slept all the way home and continued to be in bed the next day. I visited the doctor on Wed. and found out I had Strep, got antibiotics and started feeling better pretty quick. Still feel a little sluggish but much better.

Dad (Dick) went to Wichita with us. I'm glad he was there to help Mark on the way home. I felt pretty useless... All in all it was a good trip though. The boys always enjoy certain rituals when we visit Wichita like Grandma taking them to the dollar stores. Checking out Grandpa Jerry's newest treasures he's found at garage or estate sales, like marbles or polished rocks, they love climbing this one big tree in Grandma's back yard..etc. It's always nice to share parts of Mark and my childhood with the kids when we go back. I think it's hard for them to believe we actually had a life before them..haha

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