Colorado Part 3 - Breckenridge

On Monday, everyone decided to go up to Breckenridge, where in the summer they have a "Peak 8 Fun Park" with the Alpine Slide, the scenic chair lift and some other activities. We've done the slide before, so our kids were very excited. (And be warned -- this post will have lots of pictures!)

McKay and Hannah were old enough to go down the slide by themselves this year -- they went up the lift like troopers! Hannah was a bit slow coming down the first time, but she said it wasn't scary. They each got to take 3 rides down.

Courtney and Hayley each had one ride down with me and one with Brian. Poor Courtney discovered she is a little scared of heights! (At least on chair lifts!) She was holding on to that chair with all her might and wouldn't even turn her head to look back and wave goodbye to everyone.

But she didn't get scared riding down and liked going as fast as possible. Hayley also had fun.

I'm not sure what the girls are discussing here as Courtney got off her ride (maybe Courtney is explaining just how awesome it was or telling her about the chipmunks we saw on the way...), but I just loved this picture -- I hope my girls are able to always be friends with each other!

After our rides down the slide, we took a ride up on the larger scenic chair lift. This lift goes a lot further up the mountain and lets you off to hike or walk around as long as you like before you ride it back down.

I rode with Courtney and McKay going up, and she was trying so hard to be brave, but you could tell she was still really scared of that chair lift!

We took my nephew Kent's wheelchair up with us -- they attached it to the back of one of the chairs (people also take their bikes up the lift and then ride them back down the mountain).

Pretty scenery on the way up!

At the top we got off to walk around a bit. Lots of pretty wildflowers and pretty views!

We took family pictures at one of the scenic overlook areas.

We didn't stay long at the top because the kids were tired (of course) and plus we were cold! (Well, okay, maybe Brian wasn't cold but the rest of us were.) I think we were able the only people there without sweatshirts or jackets. Honestly I didn't even think about packing jackets back in hot Texas! But we definitely could have used them up at the top of the mountain that morning. I rode back down with Courtney and Hannah. Courtney wasn't quite as scared coming down as going up, but you can tell she was still a little bit nervous!

The worst part was getting off the chair and getting out of the way before it knocked you over.

Before we left, the kids begged us to let them do the "human maze." They got their punch cards and clocked in their starting time...

...then they were off through the maze trying to find the four different letter punches (they spelled MAZE) before finding the exit.

Here's McKay going up some stairs to the letter M punch.

McKay was the first one of the kids out in a time of about 9 minutes. He followed Brian's advice of always turning to the right and eventually finding your way through the maze. The girls took a bit longer but made it out eventually too!

This was a busy day, but a fun one! The rest of the week was more relaxed -- I think I'll do one more post about the rest of our vacation.

Colorado Part 2 - Keystone

On Saturday afternoon, we all went over to the Keystone resort, where they have some shopping, a playground, and a little lake and you can rent paddleboats and canoes.

McKay really wanted to try either a canoe or a kayak this year, so he and Brian ended up in a canoe.

The girls and I took a paddleboat out along with two bags of duck/fish food (their favorite part!).

My sisters also each took a paddleboat out with their families.

Brian tried backing McKay's end of the canoe up into the fountain:

After the duck food was gone, my girls ended up like this for the rest of the ride:

After the boat rides, we let the kids play on the playground for a little while. The tire swing was a big hit!

I made the kids climb up on the "Stage Coach" for a picture since I remembered taking one in that spot when we were there last two years ago. I didn't end up with much of the stage coach in the picture this time.

Here's the one two years ago!

We tried getting one with all the cousins that were there:

And we had to get a sister picture too! Here I am with two of my three awesome sisters -- Amy and Sandra. (My sister Malinda wasn't there this year.)

Fun times!

Colorado Part 1 - Lake Dillon

We're back from our wonderful week in Dillon, Colorado (followed by a quick weekend trip to Arlington). It was a great week! The weather couldn't have been better and it was so fun to spend some time with a couple of my sisters (I wish all the family could have been there). It's going to take me several days to catch up to real life here, so my posts about our trip will come in bits and pieces! (Many of you have probably already seen most of these pictures on Facebook, but I wanted to post here too because this is more of my family journal.)

We stayed for the week at my parent's time-share condo near Lake Dillon. It's so nice to have more room than a hotel and a full kitchen so you don't have to eat out every meal.

And one of the best things about the condo is it's just a short walk away from beautiful Lake Dillon!

Of course it doesn't take the girls long to see how cold the water is (no matter how many times we told them we didn't want them getting all wet).

Even McKay joined in the wading fun.

Here is my cute sister Amy and her little girl Emma:

And I even managed to get on the other side of the camera for a change!

Stay tuned for more...

On the Road Again

I've been meaning to post all week now, but obviously haven't gotten around to it yet. We're busy trying to get ready to leave in the morning for our week-long vacation in Dillon, Colorado. My parents are letting us use their timeshare condo there, and two of my sisters will be joining us. We can't wait!

We decided to take our truck so we can take our bikes and enjoy the bike paths around Lake Dillon. We figure we surived a much longer drive crammed in our truck when we went to WY last fall, so this should be a piece of cake, right?

I might even try to post from Colorado -- we'll see how good the Internet access is!

4th of July Fireworks

We had a fairly quiet 4th of July celebration this year. We had invited our friends, the Roberts family, over for a BBQ dinner. They brought some sparklers and a few fireworks to share. We decided that since we had early church the next morning, it would be easier to get the kids all bathed and ready for bed before we started doing fireworks.

We all got back together after it was dark and kids were in their PJs. We started with a few sparklers on the back patio. I don't think any of our kids have done sparklers before, so they all thought it was pretty cool.

Then we went around to the driveway for the other fireworks. We also enjoyed watching the various displays around the city. Although they were pretty far away, we had a decent view of some of the bigger shows.

The kids were all pretty impressed with the small fireworks we set off in the driveway. It doesn't take much to elicit lots of "oohs" and "aahs"!

Brian had wanted to drive down to watch the big city display this year, but we didn't make it. (That was partly my fault because I was just as happy to stay home.) We'll make another effort next year!

Swimming 101

We finished up our first session of swimming lessons last week. All four kids took lessons and the girls are signed up for another two-week session after our vacation in a few weeks. (I told McKay he only had to take one round this year.)

We recognized a couple of teachers from last year and the kids all seemed to have a good experience. McKay was especially excited when it turned out he was the only kid in his class level, so he got the teacher all to himself.

Here are a few (okay, more than a few!) shots from lessons:

Keepin' It In the Family

McKay is very excited that he gets to start in band next year in 6th grade. Before school ended, he was able to meet with the band teacher and "test" to see which instrument(s) he would be most likely to do well with. He ended up choosing the trombone.

McKay's Great-Grandpa A. played the trombone until he was in his 80's. McKay's Grandpa G. (my dad) plays the trombone. McKay also has an uncle (my brother) and a cousin (my sister's son) who play the trombone.

My dad brought his old trombone with him on his last visit for McKay to practice with over the summer (I think he told McKay he's had it since 1957). McKay also got a beginner's book complete with a CD to play along with.

He is really enjoying it so far! And he found a great place to practice!

Gotta love the view (and I'll admit Mom enjoys hearing the practicing through the thick windows)! We'll wait a few months before sharing the video clips. :-)