Bunk Beds

Parker and Will not only share a room now, but have bunk beds! Parker said it's "a dream come true"! Will says it's " weel (real) comfy". They especially like to hide "gadgets" in the desk drawers (on the left, hidden). Other highlights: secret passage way to Will's bed (under the desk), the top bunk priviledge, of course, and a special spiderman nightlight that hangs on the underside of P's bed and shines light when we read together.

White Water Rafting

We signed up for a family white water rafting trip down the Arkansas river. The Adventure Company (based in Buena Vista, Colorado) we went with calls this trip the "Milk Run". Appropriate enough as we saw little to no white water and the trip would be better described as a family float trip. BUT it was still fun...and what else could we expect with our 5 and 3 year olds! Here are some pictures from the head waters of the Arkansas River:

(Will trying to go overboard)

(Our guide, Louie, let Parker steer!)

First Snow of the Season: 8.16.08

Seems unbelievable, but we were there for it! The last two nights of our SUMMER vacation in AUGUST, Breckenridge had their first snow of the season. (Ski season opens Nov. 7th....hint, hint) Anyway, we lucked out and got upgraded to a three bedroom condo overlooking the slopes. It was beautiful...but don't think we'll be looking out that window "in season".

Snow/sleet beginning to fall while we watched from our deck;(

But the next morning the freshly snowed mountain was gorgeous. Parker took this picture...on Chris and I's 7th anniversary:

Can't wait to go back during ski season! Anyone else game?

Fish Eyeballs

There is a privately owned (well stocked) trout farm/pond in Estes Park. After our little hike around Bear Lake, we decided to go fishing. Within 20 seconds of Will's first cast, he caught one! He obviously wasn't sure what the heck was going on and kinda freaked out especially when the fish came up out of the water flailing and flopping. Will vowed that he would never fish again. Here is a picture of his first catch:

We (Parker) had to wait another hour before another fish decided to bite. During that hour, Will forgot the trama of his first catch and was back in the saddle:

Here's Parker's first catch:

Back at camp, Chris cooked our tiny dinner:

As we finished eating our fish dinner, Chris asked Parker (completely kidding, of course) if he "was going to eat that eyeball." Parker looked at Chris and (they entered some sort of dare world) said, "Are you?"

Chris ate one.

Then Parker ate one.

Mom and Will refrained.

Family Staycation

This summer (the week before school started) we took a little family vacation. More of a "staycation", since we did not go outside a 2 hour radius from our home. But we were gone a total of four nights and there is something to say about the four of us being together for that bit of time. It was awesome and set the precedent pretty high for future family vacations;) We spent the first two nights camping in Estes Park. The boys did their fair share:

There was much time to perfect Light Saber moves:

But no worries, there was much much more than Star Wars. We drove up Bear Lake Road which follows Glacier Creek through about 10 miles of spectacular scenery to Bear Lake, one of the few sub alpine lakes that is accessible by car. Here we are at Bear Lake at 9,500 ft:

Of course pictures do not do justice.....but beautiful nonetheless:

Lifetime Friends

I got a little behind on some really important posts! But it works as Parker finishes his first week of school tomorrow. I've been thinking back to my elementary years. I remember snippets from early preschool (some of those earliest memories could in fact just be a well repeated story) but the memories don't get concrete until kindergarten. I remember my teacher, Mr. Lewis, and his magic tricks and how my mom always tried to hook up her single friends with him. I remember the purple Miss Piggy outfit I wore the first day of school and the LONG dark wooden halls of Washington. How the 5th and 6th graders were so big and awesome they may as well have been driving! Anyway, all this and I am confronted with the fact that Parker is that old and he is already making those memories he'll have for always.

On that note, we were fortunate enough to spend time with one of my dearest and oldest friends I've known since Washington Elementary! Aurora and Yarri and Jacob took a road trip to Colorado a couple weeks ago and not only did we get to spend a couple nights with them in our home, but Parker, Will and I got to go up and camp with them in Winter Park for a night. Just so happened to be Yarri's birthday....what a way to celebrate! It was amazing to spend time with them. Also fun to see how Parker and Jacob hit it off and played nonstop Star Wars. Will had his own special pal, Rama (Yarri's brother who lives in Winter Park) who Will affectionately refers to as "my Rama". Here are some pictures from our time together:

We drove up Rollins Pass and had a picnic with some amazing views:

At the very top we even got to play in the snow...Lucy dog's first time ever:

Can't wait 'til we see you guys again!

Kindergarten Courage

There are many kinds of courage......(one of our favorite new books is "Courage" by Bernard Waber....you should check it out. Thanks Dee!)

Today was Parker's first day of kindergarten and everyone had to muster up their own kind of courage. Such a milestone and the end of an era in a way. But the beginning of so much more....... For Parker, courage was "not being shy".

Parker walking into Ms. Buch's (pronounced Bush) classroom.

Sitting 'criss cross applesauce' next to his friend, Riley (who P met over the summer)

For Will, courage was being the first to scale the school building wall:

("Monkeys" are the morning Kindergarten group, and "Turtles" are the afternoon Kgroup)

For mom and dad, courage was holding Parker's hand on the way to school...and then letting go.

Some other moments of this BIG day included a "back to school breakfast" in the cul-de-sac and a celebratory afterschool "apple" cupcake made by our neighbor, Ms. Michelle (a/k/a Martha Stewart;)