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;)

Arambel Visit

This past week has been full of family and friends! We got to spend a short time with Uncle Dave (aka G.U.D.), Aunt Betty, Sara, Ray, Hanna, Ernie and Marly on their way back to Arkansas from California. It was great to see everyone....amazing how everyone keeps changing/growing up even though I'm not right there to see it!

As soon as Marly got out of the van, Parker was a bit smitten... They had a great time together mostly playing "light sabers":

Chewy, Luke, and Princess Leia:

Even Ernie couldn't resist The Force:

Chris and Marly on a quick ride

So glad to have spent time with you guys, even if only a few hours.....

Loose Tooth

Parker told me at breakfast this morning that he had a loose tooth. To be honest, I didn't believe him because there are three other people (2nd and 3rd graders) on our block that also have a loose tooth. I thought it more an "empathetic" loose tooth. I finally just tested it, and he's right!!! It's LOOSE!