Another Season in the Books

Chandler finished her 2nd soccer season as a much better player.  She really enjoyed playing, and we finally got to see that athleticism shine.  Since she's on a roll we signed up for fall soccer as well.  Looks like we're getting closer to that minivan status.

 The Baby Gorillas

It's Garden Time!

Each year our garden gets a little bigger as we add more boxes, but of course bigger doesn't always mean better!  We've tried to utilize any free space in our yard and put it to good use - making food for us!  Steve built 2 new boxes a couple weeks ago and next summer we're planning on using some of our shady front yard for some nice lettuce!

The garden has really taken a beating this summer, literally.  Between the hail storms, wind, and flooding rains, it's endured a lot.  Each time the leaves get knocked down and shredded, they get back up and thrive.  Needless to say, because of the cooler summer, the tomatoes are looking shabby.  They're about 1/3 of the usual size, but we've still gotten a few tomatoes.  Bummer!

Our new crops this year are carrots, banana peppers, onions, and butternut squash, which are all doing well!  The kids love to pick the carrots, peel them, and somewhat munch on them.  Nothing better than gardening with kids to get them excited about food!  I am most excited for the butternut squash.  Each year I cook up way too many squashes, puree them, and freeze them for the winter.  I'll try any recipe with the yummy gourd!  This year I'll actually get to use my own!  Stay tuned for some of my favorite recipes.

 Our first butternut squash

 Of course the zucchini always do well!

 My big basil plant.  The last few years my basil plants have fizzled (probably the extreme heat), so I'm excited we finally have a bush!  I've already made some pesto, but plan on freezing lots for the winter.

 At the beginning of summer I used our own strawberries and rhubarb to make a pie.  We had so many strawberries I was almost able to use only garden ones for the pie.  I had to add a few of those grocery store strawberries, but it was still delicious!

Gardening has really become one of the highlights of our summer.  Our neighborhood has even talked about combining gardening and swapping, which I would LOVE!  It's always fun swapping, sharing, and even cooking for each other using our garden goods.

11 Years of Wedded Bliss

To me, anniversaries don't need a big celebration, so when we were planning on taking the kids to my aunt's house for a family BBQ for our anniversary I was fine with that!  No biggie!  I woke up Sunday morning to a Starbucks delivery (woohoo) and flowers.  Then Steve surprised me with a date night after the BBQ!  Our ideal date - hiking at Red Rocks park and then dinner in Morrison.

The hike was beautiful!  We don't get up there nearly as often as we'd like.  We stopped along the path for a glass of wine, which we've never done before, but since there was a Jerry Garcia tribute concert that night there was plenty of boozing happening around us.  

Steve is much more the romantic of the relationship, and I'm glad he planned something, so we didn't have our usual dinner at home where we're bribing the kids to eat dinner while they complain!

Happy Anniversary babe.  I am in love with you now more than ever.  You're an amazing daddy and husband and I hope one day each of our little girlies find a man as great as you.  

Our Annual "Staycation"

We tend to be creatures of habit, and even though we're always up for a new adventure it seems like we find ourselves in Colorado Springs each year for our mini-vacation.  This year we decided we should put the new camper to good use and use that to sleep in.  Of course the girls demanded a pool, and mommy demanded a shower, so we thought we'd try a KOA for the first time.  It was definitely parking lot camping at its finest, but I'll take clean showers and toilets, mini-golf, and a pool to make us all a bit happier.

We drove down after Chandler's soccer game and met the Deegans at Garden of the Gods park for a nice picnic and hike.  The kids had fun, as the rain and lightning were looming above, but somehow holded off to make our hike more enjoyable.

Such tough kiddos

 So much attitude between these two!

 We hiked to a new spot we'd never seen at the park and with few visitors.  Awesome pic possibilities (if we only would've remembered our nice camera and not had to used the phone).

 The kiddos

We ended the evening with a nice pizza dinner in Manitou Springs with the Deegans before heading to the KOA to set up camp.

After an eventful night at the KOA between the routine train honking by every 10 minutes and me getting a tiny bug stuck in my ear (horrifying experience....let me tell ya), we were running on adrenaline the next day to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  It was a hot one, and we forgot a stroller, but the kids did great holding it together.

She really tried to feed the giraffes this time, but was still a little hesitant

 Chandler even fed them this year!

 And Brooklynn gets right in there.  That girl has no fear of animals.

 Petting the wallaby

 And the snake.......

 Their favorite part - riding the pony

 Such a big girl!

 We came back and had a little hangout time at the pool and played some mini-golf.

On our way back to the camper the rain started.  It was soon pouring and we couldn't see outside the camper.  We were thinking it'd blow over quickly as the sun was setting.  To our surprise the rain only got worse.  Before we knew it we were 18" deep in water and afraid our camper was about to become a boat (I'm not sure how buoyant pop-ups are).  Steve quickly hitched up the trailer as I shuttled kids to the car as our firewood and grill floated away.  We found higher ground at the campsite and stayed there.  Turns out we were at the very bottom of the campground....what luck!  After a soggy night we slept good and woke up for our last stop - The North Pole.

The weather was pretty cool, and being a Monday, the park was empty.  We never had to wait for rides, and the kids were able to ride every ride, some even multiple times.  Brooklynn rode every ride and some of the scary ones by herself.  I can't believe how brave she's been this summer!  Adaley rode every ride as well - I guess that happens as the youngest and you have to roll with the punches.

Our first ride

 Love that smile!

 All aboard

 Driving by herself

 They even met with Santa and were so cute!  

 First time they've all sat on his lap.  High hopes for Christmas this year!

 Only Chandler would actually lick the frozen North pole.  This girl is no germaphobe!

We ended the trip with a nice dinner in Manitou Springs (again) before heading home. Adaley fell asleep in the car and continued to sleep right through dinner.  What a tired baby!

 And she's up and ready to eat!

 We were all exhausted but had so much fun.  Maybe next year we'll venture somewhere new, but why fix it if it's not broken, right?

We Can't Ever Leave this Place!

When we moved to Thornton 3 1/2 years ago we knew immediately we had an awesome neighborhood.  We were welcomed by most of the hood, and by the first day we already knew more neighbors than we knew the 7 years we lived in our Aurora house.  We were fortunate to have lots of kids around us too, which we didn't have in the old house and each year there seems to be more and more.

With the revival of the kids in the hood, some of our neighbors organized a block party for our street.  Most of the street came out, so it was nice to see old faces in a fun environment and also to meet new ones.  There was lots of food, the jumpy house, face painting, and the famous bike parade.  The kids loved decorating their bikes, and even Adaley had to join the parade.  The kids had a blast playing with friends!  Next year's will be bigger and better than this, and we can't wait.

Had to add costumes to the bike decorating fun

 The kids lining up for the bike parade

 There they go!

 And even a cotton candy machine!

Every time we want to move (which isn't often), but we really would like a larger garage with a less-busy street, we are reminded of these wonderful neighbors we have and how important that is too!  We have a sense of community here and know we're all watching out for each other, and you can't find that just anywhere.

Back from camping and we got more to do!

As if a couple nights of camping wasn't enough we decided to cram more into our weekend.  We packed up extra early Saturday morning to make it to Chandler's soccer game.  She was insistent on participating in pictures and playing against Brady's team.  

After the game and a short rest we drove to Denver for the Dragon Boat Festival to see Kenz dance twice.  She killed it.....yet again!

The Thompsons flew in for the weekend, because Josh's grandma has passed, so we were able to squeeze some QT with them Saturday evening!

Sunday morning we got moving to tour to the fire station.  The girls have been anxiously anticipating a tour from fireman Brett, but our schedules just hadn't lined up, so they were cautiously optimistic that it was really about to happen!  The girls loved touring the ambulance, fire truck, and their favorite, Brett's little bedroom.  "What?  He actually sleeps here?"  It was so interesting to us all to see the life of a firefighter and how it all works.

First stop:  the ambulance (Brett is on the medic unit right now)

Brett & the girls

Chandler just had to climb to the top

So cute!

Chandler still says she wants to be a firefighter when she's grown, but I'm not sure if that's just because she loves Brett so much!