Colorado 2014- Day 2 & 3- Westcliffe, CO

My uncle has a secluded cabin in the mountains near Westcliffe and he always invites our family to come and stay in it on our way to Breckenridge.  My parents and sister have been there before but this is the first time we have had the chance to stay there.  I didn't know exactly what to expect but it was better than I could have ever imagined.  It was quiet, had no internet/phone access, and was surrounded by nature.  The kids are not used to this kind of environment and they were in heaven! 

 

We were greeted in the driveway by my uncle and one of the deer that lives in the woods near his cabin.  This particular deer was very calm and curious.  My uncle fed him some corn and after he ate it, he kept inching closer and closer to where we were sitting.  We were finally able to get him close enough to feed him some crackers out of our hands.  Because of that, we nicknamed him Cracker!  Cracker stayed around until we left for dinner that night and was back early the next morning waiting for us to feed him again.

The other highlight of our time in Westcliffe was getting to ride Uncle Jodie's four wheelers. Parker and Lily hopped right on, but it took us a little while to coax Eden into trying them. 

 This was Eden before...

 and this was Eden after we convinced her to take a ride.  I knew she would love it if she just tried it.  As we were riding, she kept yelling, "THIS IS AWESOME!!!". 

Emily and her family had taken a detour on the way to Westcliffe to eat dinner with Jon's dad so they didn't get to Westcliffe until bedtime.  My kids couldn't wait to tell them about Cracker!  Luckily, they got to meet him the next morning when Cracker showed up again along with four of his friends. 

Addison and I were able to feed Cracker a little breakfast but all of the other deer were very skittish and would not get anywhere near us.

 

After breakfast, we spent a couple of hours taking the kids on more four wheeler rides around the mountain.  They could not get enough!  We even convinced Granna to take a ride!

Just like everything else in life, all good things must come to an end!  We hated to say goodbye to Westcliffe, but we still had a three hour drive into Breckenridge so we had to load up and head out after the last four wheeler ride.  We stopped for one more family pic at the top of the Hoosier Pass on the way to Breckenridge. 

When I asked the kids what their favorite part of Westcliffe was they all agreed it was the deer and four wheelers.  I think our time in Westcliffe is something they will always remember and we are so thankful to my uncle for opening up his beautiful cabin to us for the night.

Colorado 2014- Day 1 & 2

We left Saturday morning for a week in Colorado!  After looking at airline prices and realizing that plane tickets for 5 people are not cheap, we decided to drive for the first time ever.  It helped that we were able to caravan with my parents and my sister's family.  The kids thought that was a great idea until we were about 5 miles down the road!  Luckily, we broke the trip into several stops which made it a little easier on everyone!

Our first stop was the Rhone reunion in Bowie.  We enjoyed lunch with my dad's side of the family and then got back on the road and headed to Amarillo, our first stop on the trip.

 We found a great rest stop about half way to Amarillo with a playground for the kids.  It was nice to let them stretch their legs a little before getting back in the car.

Once we got to Amarillo, we enjoyed dinner with one of my sweet friends from college.  Our kids all had a blast playing with each other, especially Parker and her son Judson.  It was so nice to visit and catch up with her since we don't get to see her very often.

The hotel we stayed in that night had an indoor pool.  My kids have only stayed in a hotel one other time so they were very excited about swimming at the hotel.

We got on the road bright and early the next morning.  We were able to stop at the New Mexico border for a group picture but accidentally missed the sign as we passed into Colorado.  After a long six hours in the car, we safely arrived at my uncle's cabin in Westcliffe, CO- our first destination on our trip.

 



Pine Cove 2014

Parker just finished up a week of Pine Cove Camp in the City at our church.  Just like last summer, he had a fantastic week!  This year, he was in the Uluwatu cabin with three of his best friends- Cole, Trip and Cullen and his counselor's name was Frosty.  Parker was also excited that Addison was old enough to go to camp with him this year.  They were both exhausted at the end of each day but couldn't wait to back the next day!  It was fun to look online each day to see some of the pictures that Pine Cove posted of them. 

On the last day, every camper was given a character quality award from their counselor.  It was fun to hear what Frosty had to say about Parker after he spent the week with him.  I thought it was pretty accurate!

Parker was sad to see the week come to an end and is already looking forward to going again next summer! I am so thankful to our church for providing our kids with such a wonderful, life changing experience.  I know it is something he will remember for many years to come.

Lazy Days of Summer

We have been horribly lazy this summer and it has been absolutely wonderful! If I had to sum up our summer in four words they would be: 1) baseball, 2) swimming, 3) reading, and 4) crafting. 

 

1) BASEBALL- Parker was so excited when he was asked to be on the All Star team this summer.  We just finished the season last weekend when we placed 2nd at the regional tournament.  We spent a lot of time at practices and tournaments and Parker enjoyed every minute of it.  I'll do a separate post soon about some of the tournament highlights that we enjoyed over the past two months.

 2) SWIMMING- The girls have been in Granna's pool probably 6 out of 7 days every week this summer.  Parker hasn't been able to join the girls every day because of his baseball practices/games, but he swims every chance he gets!   They all three continue to amaze me with how proficient they are in the water, but the one who has amazed all of us this summer is Lily.  Our swim instructor did not give lessons this summer so Lily started the season back in floaties.  After just a few days, she was swimming cautiously without them and, now, she can go anywhere she wants in the pool without any help.  She has even taught herself how to dive down to the bottom to retrieve dive sticks both in the shallow AND deep end of the pool!  She can also swim the width (and almost length) of the pool effortlessly.  She hasn't used floaties in several weeks and can now keep up with all 4 of her older siblings/cousins.  I'm so thankful that all of my kids are so comfortable in the water.  They are really going to miss swimming every day once school starts up again.

 

 

3) READING- I have to admit that last summer I was a total slacker when it came to getting Parker to read.  As a reading teacher, I am always talking to parents about the importance of reading in the summer so that their kids do not regress.  Last summer, we went weeks without picking up a book.  I felt like such a hypocrite so I decided to make it up this summer.  I'm happy to report that we have all been very diligent with our reading this summer.  We joined the Summer Reading Club at the library which helps us stay accountable and lets us earn free books for our home library!  It's definitely a win-win for everyone! 

Eden found a new way to hold her book one day...with her toes!!

One day last week, the kids were not getting along (constant fighting from the moment they woke up...ugh!) so I sent them to their rooms to eat lunch.  When I checked on Lily, she was quietly reading while she ate.  Love it! 

We have also attended several of the library programs this summer.  One of the kids favorite programs was the balloon lady who used balloons to tell stories.  Parker was chosen to come up and be the rabbit in The Tortoise and the Hare and his friend Alexis got to be one of the Three Little Pigs. 

4) CRAFTING- At least several times a day, you will find Lily coloring, painting, or doing beads at the kitchen table.  Parker and Eden often join her, but she has definitely been my crafty girl this summer!  Sometimes, in between loads of laundry and preparing the next meal, you might even find me sitting down and joining her too!!

We are more than halfway through our summer and all I can say is that it has gone way too fast!  I have enjoyed every day with these three (except for that full moon on Friday the 13th...that day was a killer.  Not sure what God was thinking mixing those two things!) and am thankful that we don't have to be doing elaborate things every day to have fun! It's these lazy days that I'm going to miss the most when school starts back again here in a few weeks.  Until then, we are going to keep on swimming, reading, crafting, and loving these lazy days of summer!