Wolf or Owl?

We were at the local High School for Alison's choir performance, and Jake found this mural of a wolf fascinating, but he wasn't quite brave enough to stand by it for a picture, so Eli did it for him. Now Jake loves to find the picture on my phone and ask me (as he does about everything, all day long), "What's that?!" When I tell him it's a wolf he'll say, "No it's an owl. Ah-Woo!" 

One day we had this conversation at the grocery store and then he and I started howling, because howling is fun, and we passed a little girl with her mom and the little girl started howling too! Jake and I were so proud to have started a howl! (And if you've seen Zootopia as much as we have, you know that term is a nod to that movie!)

Mystery Machine

Jake and I saw a real mystery machine! We could hardly believe our luck!

Tuesday Clothes

These are Alison and Logan's Tuesday outfits; they are their favorite shirts so they always wear them the day after I do their laundry!

New Room

Grandma drove us home from Colorado since Daddy flew home earlier than us, and to repay her kindness I worked her like a slave for three of the four days she was here (the other day she got a break since it was Sunday!), and we redecorated Eli and Jake's room. 

While we were gone, Jason got us started by taking down their huge bunk bed and patching the walls. Mom and I then primed the dark brown walls, painted the room a lovely blue, re-purposed the shelves from their falling-down bookshelves into wall shelves, built Eli's headboard, and hung the curtains, shelves, and bulletin boards. It was a huge project that I could never have finished so quickly (or sanely) without her. I love their beautiful new cleaner, simpler, more spacious-feeling room and love that it makes me think of my mom when I see it.

Last

Ok, a few random pictures from Colorado to wrap up.

Uncle JD's family got a new puppy, Maddie, who already has everyone wrapped around her little paw.

As always the swings were in high demand.

The ball hanging from the tree was new to us, and fun to try.

Grandma has the best toys!

We went to the library and loved this huge hot air balloon inside!

The movie Solo was a hit.

Playing at parks with cousins is the best.

We had a great trip!

Fishing?

We tried fishing, but it ended up being more of a tangle-the-poles-beyond-repair kind of outing. At least the company was good and the scenery was pretty!

Swimming

Whether at Aunt Emily's pool, Grandma's pool, or the reservoir we did a lot of swimming and had a lot of fun doing so!

Rockies Game

The big boys got to go to another Rockies game with their Grandpa!

And Ali got to go with Grandma to babysit the Rains boys, since their mom and dad were at the game too. All her little cousins loved her, but especially Preston.

Family

Of course my favorite part of the trip was all the family I got to be with!

Great Grandma Blau even came out for a visit while we were there so she could see us!

We're missing three bothers here, but I'll take what I can get!

Garage Sale

Funny enough, another favorite memory from Colorado was helping get Grandma and Grandpa's garage sale set up and having a soda and cookie stand. But then maybe it's not so surprising considering Ali and Logan made around $80 that they got to split...not a small amount considering they get $10 in allowance each month. They were super diligent sitting out there in the hot sun for hours, and were richly rewarded. The funniest moment was when one couple bought a few cookies, left, and then a few minutes later came back and bought $15 more of the cookies because they thought they were so yummy!

Mountain Fun

The kids had so much fun the two days up in the mountains camping. They love climbing on the rocks.

Korrali and her daddy came up and camped too, so they even got cousin time!

They saw some deer!

Paddle boating was a must!

Auntie Lianna and Claire came up to join the fun on the second day.

They visited a fun old-fashioned farmstead with a cool old house, fun outdoor playground and croquet court, and play house.

You got to dress up in old-fashioned clothes while there.

Campfires are always fun.

The second night when we joined them we went to a great pizza place and wandered around town.

The mountains are sure pretty!

Camping with Grandma

Before we went, I asked the kids what they wanted to do in Colorado, and in near unison they all said, "Go camping with Grandma!" She is so much fun, and totally made their camping dreams come true.

They were supposed to camp for two nights, but Logan had a rough first night with leg aches and Ali had a stomach ache the second night, so they both came home with me. It was just Eli and Grandma for the second night--lucky boy!!

Jake, Grandpa and I came up the second evening to do a campfire with them and with the hopes of doing some mountain star gazing, but alas it was cloudy. Oh well, the company was good.

Cave of the Winds

One of the highlights of the trip was when I took the older three to Cave of the Winds, some cool underground caves in Colorado Springs. We took the lantern tour which was part tour by lantern, part ghost story walk. It was cool and creepy and memorable. 

We had a bit of a stressful time getting there. My phone gave me the option for three or four totally different places and I didn't know which one was the right one, and time was running short so my mom finally lead us there in her car, even though it was 40 minutes away from my brother's house where we were! When I told my kids how nice it was of Grandma to make sure we got there ok, Eli said, "Well, she IS your mom." Indeed. Lucky me!

Anyway, we got there with even a few minutes to enjoy the pretty mountains!

The bear in the waiting area begged to photographed with!

Many of the stories revolved around people who had discovered the caves, loved the caves, or died or disappeared in the caves. Many of those latter stories we chose to believe were total fiction!

Parts of the tour were pretty tight, even for my little guys. I brought of the rear of the group and it was pretty creepy to look behind me and see total blackness. At one point the guide had us blow out our candles and be silent, and it was an amazing sensory deprivation experience...but I was about 10 seconds away from demanding we light our candles again RIGHT NOW by the time our guide finally lit his again!

All of the kids said this was one of their favorite parts of the trip, and I hope it is something different enough that they are able to remember it for a long time!