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We had a wonderful time taking the day to see all that DMNS has to offer. We were able to see some of the Genghis Khan exhibit as well a lots of other neat stuff. Chloe even had some publicity shots taken of her for the Museum.
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I know this is a little behind, but I thought better late than never.

Friday August 7 – Stryder and Chloe are starting 3rd grade, and Olivia is starting kindergarten!  I can’t believe it!  Time is going by really fast.  Everyone is very excited about starting school.  Olivia is beside herself about finally getting to go with everyone to school.  It was a little hard for mom to get up early.  I have been so used to sleeping until at least 9:00 that getting up at 6:00 was rather hard.  All the kids got up with no problems or fussing.  Wyatt would not start school until Monday, but he had to get up early too.  He didn’t like that very much but he wanted to get to spend the day with Jason and I by himself.  We had a surprise for him.

So its off to school after a few pictures.  Jason was working so he had to meet us at school.  With a 30 minute drive to school Olivia fell asleep in the car.  So when we got to school she was a little cranky.  She wasn’t as excited as she had been.  Once we got inside and she woke up a little more she was fine. Stryder and Chloe were off once we got into the building.  Jason and I barely got out a “Have a good day, we love you”!  We waited with Olivia to go into her classroom.  She was very excited by this time.  Jason was holding up pretty well.  He was very tired after being up all night, and his baby girl was going to kindergarten.  I think that Jason took it harder than I did.  Of course Olivia was fine in her class.  She found her cubby, put her backpack and lunch box away and sat on the carpet in the gathering place.  She was ready!  With a wave good bye, Jason and I left.  I have to say it was strange.   The PTO was holding a BooHoo/Yahoo  for parents at a deli across the street from the school so we headed over there.  There were not many parents there that were crying, most seemed pretty happy that school was starting.  I know that Jason and I were glad.  We stayed there for a little while, and then headed to a friends house.  Like us, she was sending her last child to kindergarten, and was really happy about it.  She was hosting a champane breakfast for a few people who were sending off the last child to school.  We knew several people there  and got to meet some new ones.  It was nice.  All of those parents were like us, glad and happy about the last once finally being in school.

Jason and I surprised Wyatt by taking him to see Harry Potter since it was his last day of summer break and the others were all in school.  He was excited about that.  Jason made it through the movie, without going to sleep.  By this time he was on 20 hours of no sleep.  After the movie we took Wyatt to lunch.  Then it was time to go back to school.  Olivia’s class was having popsicle party during the last 30 minutes of school, so we wanted to go back to that.  The 3rd grade had a popsicle party after school.    It was a very good first day of school.

Monday-August 10- Wyatt’s first of 7th grade  (Middle School!!!!  Yikes! )

Wow, I can’t believe that I have a middle schooler!  We got up with no problems this morning.  Everyone is still excited about school.  Wyatt doesn’t seem nervous at all.  He has been really excited about starting a new school, and starting middle school.  He is also really excited about riding the school bus.  The bus stop is about a 10 minute walk from our house, and we ask him if he wanted us to walk with him.  He said it didn’t matter to him, but you could tell that he really didn’t want us to.  So I stayed home and Jason walked with him half way.  Jason could see the bus waiting, and then he came back.  Wyatt walked the rest of the way there.  He said that he had a great day.  He has now had 3 days of school and he is still excited about it. I have a few pictures, Wyatt would only let us take one.

Wyatt made it home today about lunch time from a week long stay at Peacefull Valley Boy Scout camp.  Jason and I wondered if we would get a 3 sentence explanation on how is week went.  Well we were wrong.  He couldn’t stop talking about it.  He had a fantastic time.  He earned 3 merit badges, and began working on a fourth.  The fourth one will take him a few months to complete the requirements.  Last night Stryder, Chloe, Olivia and I were able to go out to the camp for the Family Campfire Program. ( Jason had to work)  Since Wyatt didn’t attend last summer we didn’t know what to expect.  They fed us dinner, had a closing flag ceremony, and then the campfire program where the Scouts sang, and preformed skits.  It was so fun.  Wyatt was in a skit that was by far the funniest!  (Thanks to Wyatt.  He is such a clown)  He definately wants to attend next year.  That is always a good sign that he had a good time.  I took a few pictures.  Olivia sat with Wyatt and his Scout buddies during the campfire program, and she loved it!

The kids are finally back from TN.  I’m very glad to see them and can’t wait till we get to camping some next month.

We had such a great time in Vegas. Now it’s all over

Stryder and Chloe’s 2nd grade class went to the Butterfly Pavilion today. It was a really nice place. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The kids had a great time. There was a tarantula section, and Chloe even held one. I wouldn’t do it, and neither would Stryder. They got to pet a starfish, and a sting wray. In the butterfly room Stryder wanted one to land on him. One never did. He got so upset when one landed on Chloe’s shoulder. Here are some pics.

With the money that they raised selling cookies, Chloe’s troop choose to go to Build-A-Bear Workshop as their fun activity. This was an experience to say the least. I have never been there with a large group of girls. (There are 14 in her Troop) Let alone all the walk-ins that were there. That place is NUTS!!! Not quit as bad as Chuck E Cheese, but a very close second! Here are a few pictures.

After the Phoenix Mine trip we headed a bit further west to Hwy 6 and headed up to Loveland Pass to see the view. As expected it was a bit windy and cold, so our stay up there was short. The Suburban also wanted to overheat a bit up the pass, but we will attribute this to the coolant not being mixed to 50/50 yet. Before everyone froze I took a few photos.

While searching for something uniquely Colorado to take Andrea and the kids to we ran across the Phoenix Gold Mine and decided to head into the front range to explore. We were greeted with a nice tour guide who took us all through a small history of the mine and showed us the many tools used to mine from all ranges of time periods. We were able to see gold veins right in the rock itself, as well as some areas of the mine where it had started to collapse in and was no longer able to be mined. After the tour, we were turned loose in the creek near the mine to try our hand at gold panning for gold. A prospector gave us some tips on how to go about searching for gold, and Steph actually found a small gold nugget. She got to keep it as well. Some of the Photos can be found here

Stryder and Chloe were so excited that their cousins were able to be here to celebrate their birthday with them. That made it extra special for them. They wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner for their birthday. Jason worked the night before so he needed to rest , but before he did Stryder and Chloe got to open their presents from their cousins, grandparents, and us. After that Jason took a nap, and the kids all went out to play. After Jason slept for a while, he got up and watched the kids play and Andrea and I went shopping for a little while. We came back and got everyone loaded up and set off for Chuck E. Cheese. We got there and they had a great time. We stayed for about 2 hours. Jason and the boys left to go tour the haunted house that they planed on working in, and the girls went shopping again. After the boys were done, with the haunted house we met up at Good Times for frozen custard. The kids had a great birthday! hereare the photos