FasterLaster.com

82765Our friends across the street told us of a candy factory that still makes all of their hard candies by hand. Hammond’s Candy offer tours daily and a group of their friends planned on going since it is Fall Break. So they invited us to go along too. Jason was working so I figured why not! It was a really neat tour. The kids liked seeing how they make some of the “old fashioned” type candy. At the end of the tour there were free samples. Of course the tour ended in the gift shop where they had all sorts of candies and chocolates. I let the kids pick out one piece, I got one and I picked one of for Jason. Olivia, Chloe, and Stryder picked a sucker. Wyatt picked the ribbon candy that they got to watch being made. I got Jason a Creamsicle flavored sucker. At the counter they had patches that are red and white with a lollipop on it. I picked on up for each of the kids to put on their scout vest. All in all it was a fun day. I wish that Jason had been able to go with us. In December they have a Candy Cane festival so maybe we will take Jason to that! There are a few pictures not many.

Well we got the Bust part right.
82451
So we started packing after the kids got home from school. Of course in our typical fashion it took way more time to pack than it should have. Like always Jason was fussing at me for packing too much. But we got it done, and ask a neighbor to feed the dogs for us. Off we went at 6:30pm. We headed towards Castle Rock. The plan was for me to run into Target, get some snacks and breakfast while Jason went and got gas. I am waiting in line to check out when Jason calls and says that the bus has broken down and he is in the street, and can’t get out of the way of traffic. So I put the food up, and called a tow truck. Jason and the kids were down the street from Target so I walked to meet them. So we waited at the bus for the tow truck to get there. Jason had been able to get the bus off the street and onto the sidewalk. It actually didn’t take too long for the tow truck to get there. The only problem was that they could only take Jason in the tow truck. So the kids and I walked up the street to the A & W to get something to eat and wait on Jason. Jason got home and picked up the suburban and came back to Castle Rock to get us. Lucky for us it is only 8 miles from our house to where the bus broke down. This is the first time that the Bus has actually left us stranded somewhere. So we are home, and not going to Pike’s Peak this weekend we will try another weekend. Jason will spend the weekend trying to figure out and fix the bus. The kids were disappointed, but we will go another time. Jason has a theory that it has something to do with his Colorado license. He received his license in the mail today. Unfortunately it means that we will have to get the garage half way cleaned up so that he can pull the bus in to work on it. According to our home owners we can’t work on it in the drive way or the street. So i think that it will take most of tomorrow to get that done, then he can start to work on it.
82454

Today is the first day of a brand new school year. The kids were very excited. The day started off as normal with the alarm going off at 6:00. It was a little hard for me to get up, but it wasn’t too bad. First was to get Wyatt up. Wyatt’s first response was “five more minutes, please”. After that he got up with no problems. Stryder and Chloe got up with no problems, and so did Olivia. Breakfast was normal, and the making of lunches was too. We got ready early since I didn’t know how long it will take to get to school. The school is about 30 away with normal traffic. So with morning work traffic I didn’t know how long it would take to get to the school. So we took some pictures in the front yard before we left. 82427We got to school early, and were able to find a parking place. Up to the school we headed. Took some more pictures outside of the school before we found the places that they were supposed to enter. 82436 Each grade has a certain door that they have to enter. So we found Wyatt’s in the back of the school. The students are to wait outside that door for their teacher to come and get them. I am not sure how well that is going to work when it is raining or snowing but we will find that out later. After dropping Wyatt off, we found the door for 1st grade. Lots of parents and kids waiting outside. I took a few more pictures, and we waited. The principal came along and announced that this is the “Kiss and go” drop of point for the first grade. So when the bell rings you are to let the kids go in with their teacher, and that there is no need to go with them to class. So I gave them a kiss and took a couple of pictures and off they went. Olivia thought that she should be going too, and was crying. Poor thing really wants to go to school. So we headed home. I hope that they have a great first day at a brand new school.

Well today was the Character Connection Day at school. Basically it was a come and check out the school and meet your teacher. We also had to take all the school supplies in. This way on Monday it wouldn’t take up so much time. So first was Stryder and Chloe’s teacher, Mrs. Hardin. They seemed to like her right away. She was very nice, and I think that they will do well in there. She let them pick where they wanted to sit. Stryder picked his right away in the back of the room. Chloe however picked the front of the room. I was a little afraid at first that she would try and pick next to him. The she let them pick which cubby they wanted. This time Chloe did pick the one right next to Stryder, but he didn’t say anything so I guess it was fine with him. Once we got all their stuff settled it was off to have the school picture made. It is also the class picture as well. I think that it will be a collage. I over heard something about student ID’s as well, but am not really sure about that. I guess we will wait and see. They had a “safari” them since the school mascot is a lion, and you had a map of the school and you had different “tracks” to follow to check out the school. At each stop the teacher for that room stamped the map, and at the end the kids got a prize. A water bottle with the school name and logo. I ended up having to buy one for Olivia, because she got upset that she didn’t get one. After lunch was Wyatt’s turn to meet his teacher, Mr. Young. Wyatt really liked him and I think that it will be a good fit for him. He was very nice and we got a good feel about Wyatt’s upcoming year. Wyatt picked his spot and unloaded his back pack with all of his stuff. And that was it. It is a very nice school and I think that our kids will have a great year.

Mom and Daddy have been busy getting the rest of our stuff from Robin Hood packed up. Since we left they have been over there almost everyday to do something. Well last week they finally got everything done. So Wednesday the 25th they packed up a 14 foot Uhaul with the rest of our stuff and started driving West. The kids knew that they were coming, but what they didn’t know was that they were bringing a surprise with them. They brought along their cousin Nathan. I wanted it to be a big surprise for the kids. Mom and Dad decided that they would take turns and drive straight through. So they got here Thursday night around dinner time. We met them at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I waited outside for them. When they got there I took them inside and told our kids “hey look i found outside”! Nathan was hiding behind Grammie. They were exctied to see them but when Nathan walked around her all 4 of them just ran to him and started hugging him. They were so happy to see him. Of course Olivia’s first question was “where’s Katie”. We had a great weekend with them. The kids played while we unloaded and loaded stuff up in the uhaul, and while we unpacked as many boxes as we could. Friday afternoon I took them swimming, but a storm started coming in and it was lightening, so we only got to swim for about half an hour. but they had fun. Storms come over the mountains really quick, so you never know when they are coming. But they are really cool to watch come over the mountains. I have pictures from the pool, i will post later. jason hasn’t taught me how to do that yet! jason took some picture of the kids playing too.

Yesterday we spent the day swimming and playing in the slip and slide at Jennifer’s house. The kids had a ball playing in the water. We ordered pizza and just hung out. After about 3 hours everyone was getting hot and tired so we came inside and the kids watched tv for a little while. Olivia was so tired that she fell asleep in my lap in the rocker. Ben just layed on the couch, he never went to sleep. It was time to go. Stryder and Chloe were spending the night at nana and papa’s so we needed to leave. Ben came over to olivia even though she was sleep and he gave her a kiss. It was so sweet. I talked with Jennifer later and she said that Ben sat at the window crying because we were leaving. Luke asked what was wrong with him. Jennifer told him that Ben somehow knew that was the last time that Olivia would get to come over to play. I have some cute pictures of them playing in the water. I will have to figure out later how to post them.