2015-2016 School Year

Tyler started 3rd grade back on August 25th.  I was in IL at the time, so Scott and Molly had to get him to school his first day.  So far all is going well and we really like his teacher.

 

Two weeks ago, Molly started her preschool co-op that we do with some neighbors.  Last year we had 5 kids, this year just 3.  Another mom and her son are coming next week to see if they want to join.  This one is just on Wednesday  from 9:30-12:00 and each mom takes a month to teach.  I am teaching in Sept. and our topic is Life Cycles.  Here is a picture from our first week when we learned about the butterfly life cycle.

This past Tuesday Molly started pre-k at Marvelously Made Preschool.  It's a Montessori preschool and I just love it. Her friend, Payton from our Wednesday preschool goes there. His mom is the one that talked me into going to look at it.  Molly loves it so far.  She told me on Tuesday that she made a new friend, Kaelyn.  Thursday she wanted to show me her.  When we saw her walk in, she said-mom, there she is.  At the same time, I heard Kaelyn tell her mom-mom, that's Molly.  They ran to each other, grabbed hands, and off they went.  It was so cute!

 

Thursday, Molly started Cubbies for the new year.  She was in Cubbies last year and Tyler was in Sparks last year for Awana.  This year, Tyler did not want to participate, so I'm with Molly in Cubbies.  She had a fun first night. 

Surprise Party

A week ago I was flying home from IL.  I flew in early Saturday, the 22nd, for my mom's surprise 60th birthday party.  It was my Dad's idea and my sisters and I had fun planning it.  I found these cute invitations on Etsy.

Anyway, I flew in on Saturday and Kim picked me up.  Her, Tom, and I all went out for lunch.  Then her and I went to get mason jars and flowers to make the centerpieces.  We did that at Tom's.  We all met at Lino's at 4:30 to get set up.  

You can kinda tell that the picture boards are in the shape of 60!.  Val even painted purple and gold dots on them to match the invitations. 

I was really hoping my mom would be surprised.  I thought coming downstairs would give it away when she saw bigger rooms, but it didn't.  She was surprised!! And even more surprised when she saw me.  I'm so glad we were able to pull it off.

Dinner was delicious.  We had salad, 3 different kinds of pasta and pizza.  We had brought a cake, which Val had made like the invitations, and we had ice cream.

You can see that other picture of my mom...well, my Dad wanted games.  The grand kids played Pin the Lips on Grandma.  It was cute.

My Dad wanted to play too

We also passed out games for the adults.  We had the Licence Plate Game-it was vanity licence plates and we had to figure out what they meant.  And we had a few questionnaire about my mom too.

Us kids went in together to get her a charm bracelet with a charm for each child and grandchild.  It has our name engraved and our birthstone on it too.  That again, was my Dad's idea. 

Everyone had a great time and most of all we celebrated my mom and how wonderful she is!! I'm so glad I was able to go. 

Guadelupe River State Park

We finally made it to the Guadelupe River yesterday with some friends.  We had a fun time.  The kids swam, climbed on rocks, we went on a little hike to some rapids that the kids had fun in, and they collected rocks and shells. 

 

 

 

 

 

Glenwood Springs, CO

Friday morning we headed up to Glenwood Springs.  We met my parents to hand off Molly.  She stayed with them and swam in the mineral pools there while the rest of us went white water rafting.  Molly had a blast, of course, swimming and having Grandma and Grandpa all to herself.

 

White water rafting was fun. It was a lot of fun being in the rapids.  Next time, we want bigger ones and more frequent.  It was a great rafting tour for our first time.

I'm in the back with the green shirt and white hat.  Stacey is in front of me and Kristen is in front of her in the pink shirt.  Scott and Tyler are on the right side.  Scott is in back by me and Tyler is in front of him.

 

After rafting we had a very delicious lunch at Slope and Hatch-if you get a chance, go, it was so good.  They make specialty tacos and hot dogs.  We had the fish tacos and they were amazing! From there, we met up with my parents and Molly and headed to the ice cream and candy store.  We had ice cream and the kids picked out a treat for the ride back to Denver.  We flew home Saturday morning.  It was a wonderful vacation !!

Dillon and Keystone, CO

We stayed with Scott's sister, Stacey on Wed, and Thurs. nights.  Right behind their house is a national forest.  It's amazing.  We hiked Thursday morning and the kids loved it.  We found fresh strawberries on the hike and also a little stream to play in. 

This is right off their back porch

My little hikers

 

This water was cold!!

 

After our hike, we packed a lunch and went to the Keystone Resort area.  We kayaked, paddle boated, fed ducks, played in the sand and just had a fun time. 

 

After Keystone, we went back to the house to relax and watch a movie. We cooked out for dinner and then Molly made cupcakes with Stacey and Kristen-they put the strawberries that they picked on top. While those cooked, we took a quick dip in the pool and hot tub. My kids never get tired of swimming.

 

We finished the evening by watching Frozen.  Stacey had never seen it before!  Both kids ended up falling asleep and Bentley cuddle up with them.

Golden, CO

Wednesday morning after we picked Scott up from the airport, we headed to Golden, CO.  We went to Heritage Square.  It's like a mini fair/amusement park.  We mini putted, rode go carts, went out in the paddle boats and bumper boats, the kids rode some rides, zip lined, and did some other fun activities.  We spent a good 5 hours there.  It was fun!

These ducks were the paddle boats

 

My try at a selfie in our go cart

 

Molly really wanted to do in this ball.  We were surprised, but she waited in line a half hr for her turn.  Once in the ball, she was a little nervous and mostly just sat.  Other kids would try walking in it, but would fall and she didn't want to do that.  I was glad she tried something new.

This is Tyler and Scott zip lining.  When Tyler finished he said it was Epic and fun, but he wouldn't go again.  I had a ticket to go with him, but he wouldn't.  I gave it to my mom instead and she loved it.   I don't have a picture since I was taking video with her phone.

Molly loved this banana ride and went on it over and over!

My Mom rode some rides by herself.  I can't do spinney rides anymore and Tyler said they made him dizzy just watching Grandma. 

When we were finished at Heritage Square, we drove through the Red Rocks and then stopped at Lookout Point. My mom's family used to come and have weenie roasts here when she was growing up. 

From there, we drove up to Dillon to meet Scott's sister, Stacey and her friend, Kristen for dinner.  The drive there was filled with gorgeous views.

This is Dillon Lake

My parents headed up to Vail after dinner and we stayed at Stacey's for the next two nights.  More posts about that coming up.