New Specs

Hannah has joined the eyeglasses club in our family!

I didn't realize how bad her vision was until our vacation this summer. She's never said anything about having trouble reading the board at school or anything. We were attending church in Frisco, CO and sitting at the back. I asked her to tell me what the hymn numbers were (off the board at the front of the chapel). She said she couldn't read them (Courtney could read them just fine). McKay handed her his glasses and then she could read them! So we started asking her to read other signs while we were driving around that we thought she should be able to read, but she couldn't.

I took her in for an eye check-up after we got home and sure enough, she needs glasses. Her vision was 20/80 in one eye and 20/100 in the other eye (much worse than McKay's were when he got his glasses). She was so excited to pick out some frames (red ones) and they were even able to get the lenses put in while we waited.

Now I'm just having to remind her to wear them! We only have one pair so I'm crossing my fingers they don't get lost or broken.

I must admit I'm having a harder time getting used to Hannah wearing glasses than I did with McKay. I immediately thought McKay's glasses suited him and his personality. I think Hannah's glasses look fine, I just miss having a clear shot of her big beautiful eyes all the time. (I know, I'm being a little vain about it...) She is so thrilled with how much better the world looks to her now!

18 Years!

Today Brian and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary. (At least it counts as "today" since it is after midnight and I don't know how soon I will be able to post this tomorrow!)

Wow, has it really been 18 years? I still remember very clearly many things about August 2, 1991. Some big things, some little things. But mostly gratitude and love for my new husband. He is the best! He does so much for our family and I rely on him in so many ways.

I decided to put together a little slideshow of pictures spanning our 18 years together. (I first heard this song on a friend's blog and liked it so much I had to download it and use it myself!) It's hard to fit 18 years of pictures in 3 minutes, so they move kind of fast!

Happy Anniversary, Brian! I love you forever and always!

Colorado Part 4 - Bike, Swim, Play!

The rest of our time in Colorado was spent with some fun and relaxing recreational activities. Brian and I got to go see the new Harry Potter 6 movie (thanks to our niece Kelsey for babysitting!). We had a little family party celebrating my niece Emma's 2nd birthday.

We spent a couple of afternoons swimming in the condo pool:

We made a big family purchase and got ourselves a Nintendo Wii system (McKay offered to pay for part of it with his own money he has been saving from working over the summer).

The girls and I had a fun morning at a local park:

And, we were able to do some biking! When we came two years ago, Brian and McKay rented bikes for a couple of hours for a ride. We decided that this year we wanted to have our own bikes, so we squished everyone in our truck and brought the bikes. Brian (and McKay) went out a couple of times on some rides. Our first attempt at a family bike ride was not quite what we planned.

Brian and I were a little worried about how the younger kids would do riding on the bike path that goes around the lake. It is a very busy bike bath with a lot of serious bikers (who go pretty fast!). We didn't want the girls weaving from one side to the other while people were trying to pass them. So Brian had everyone get on their bikes in the dirt parking area above the lake and we practiced riding in a line so he could watch how everyone did. We rode back and forth a couple of times like this until Hayley (who has training wheels on her bike) got her main bike wheels on the road pavement but her training wheel over the dirt parking area (which was not the same height) and tipped over, with her leg under the back wheel. McKay was right behind her in the line and couldn't stop fast enough so his front tire rode on top of her back wheel, squishing her leg a bit in the process. She wasn't badly hurt (a scrape and bruise) but it was enough to mark the end of the family ride. It ended up that I went with Hannah and Courtney for a short ride down the path a bit before we turned around to come back (and they did great staying to one side of the path).

On Thursday, Brian and McKay wanted to try a longer bike ride. We drove back up to Breckenridge and dropped them off at the beginning of a paved bike trail that goes about 9 miles down into Frisco, and then it's another 6-7 miles around the lake to our condo in Dillon.

Most of the ride is downhill, so it's fairly easy. They said there was one section where they had to go up the mountain a bit (which apparently wore McKay out), but they made it!

We had a great week in Colorado! It's always hard to get back into "real life" after a nice vacation!

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!