Back to Littleton . . .

Here are pictures of our week back at Littleton:

 On Monday we headed to a candy factory in Denver - called "Hammond's."  We got a tour and a free candy cane.  It was fun!

 Busy at work making candy!

 Fun!  I bought some things at their little over-priced shop afterwards.  :)  I bought a PJ & Jam chocolate bar and we all liked that.  I also bought Ben a "Pigs 'n Tater" chocolate bar - milk chocolate with bacon bits and potato chips.  I think he liked it!  (Me?  I had to choke it down and give him the rest of my piece . . .)

 Cousins, cousins!  My girls and boys adore their Maxwell cousins so much.  Those cousins are totally wonderful and practically perfect!  Such sweet and good kids.  Here is Grace and Emmy.  (Grace and her sister Emma had to leave Tuesday morning for Girls' Camp and so we were all saddened - but my little girls especially - to not have them around for our last few days.)

 The boys, inspired by some finger-crocheting thing that Nicholas had made, all got in to at Grandma's.  She brought out her bag of stuff and taught them a few lessons and they all went to town.  Notice Jonas' tongue?!  :)

 One of the reasons we came back to Littleton was for Emmy's appointment at Childrens' hospital regarding her frequent/continuous UTIs.  It was a good visit and the girls got treats at the end!

 Grandma Diana and the girls making banana bread together.  We all devoured it at lunchtime it was so yummy!

 Emmy (and Miles) lost a tooth in Littleton as well!  The tooth fairy didn't make it the first couple of nights for Miles' tooth, but finally pulled through when Emmy lost her tooth as well.  Cute, cute.

 One day we went to Bellview park - where they have a stream running through it.  The kids loved it!

 We also took a fun, little train ride at the park.  Super cute.

 The boys, Miles especially, wanted to go back in the stream near the tunnel.  They had fun running through it.  I like this picture for some reason - Emmy and the three monkeys behind her (Jonas, Nicholas, and Miles).

 The monkeys in the light.  :)

We left Thursday morning to return to Home Sweet Home.  On our way back, we stopped by our puppies again.  They had grown seen we'd seen them 2 weeks before and were even more cute.  It was a great visit and I think we were able to narrow it down to three that we want:

 Jonas is holding what is called Saddleback.  He has some markings across his shoulders like a . . . (wait for it) saddle!  He is so adorable.  But he doesn't have all of teeth on the bottom - whereas all his siblings do.  We'll see what the vet says . . . But so cute still!

 Miles is holding the one he wants - the female runt, as she is known.  Super cute, too!

This one is "Will" because of his "will" to live.  He was the 10th puppy (out of 10) and was born in the wee hours of the morning.  The owners didn't know there was another one and so he was just born all alone with just his mama and siblings around.  Super sweet!

How ever are we going to decide?!

Anyways, we finally made it back.  It was long, yet great, trip - 2 weeks!  It was great to come home and see Ben/Dad!

Our week in Midway

Have I mentioned on my blog that my parents are serving another mission?  I'm not sure!  Whoops!  So here it goes then (if I haven't mentioned it) . . . my parents are serving their 2nd mission in Frankfurt, Germany.  It is a Public Affairs mission.  They have been there for about a month now and are enjoying themselves, but also anxious to feel more confident in their responsibilities.

Anyways, I decided to spend some time in their home - and it was good timing as it just got rented out right after I had asked to stay.  Yay for us.  So after spending the 4th in Littleton (I'll post on that later . . . most of my pictures are on Ben's laptop, both of which are in Montrose), we headed out on the 6th.  I dropped Ben off in Junction (we had left his truck there earlier), and then continued on to Midway with the kids.  We got there Monday night and stayed until we left on Saturday morning.

We had a really good time.  We went swimming each morning.  It was good to get there early because 1.  Nobody (except one time) was there except for us and 2.  Every afternoon a big rainstorm would roll in.  It was nice in the pool and the kids had a blast.  We went to Classic Skating on their cheap-night:  Tuesday.  The kids LOVED it.  Although they were more in to the bouncy stuff than the rink - which is a bummer for me since I love the rink (and I don't play on the bouncy toys).  But they did humor me and we were able to scooter for a bit.

Wednesday night we went and saw "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."  It was performed at Midway's outdoor theater.  It was super great and the kids really liked it, too.  The lightening storm in the sky was pretty impressive as well.

Each afternoon we went to the library.  Which was good timing since it always started pouring while we were there.  One day as we left and hopped in to our car, my car said it was 58 degrees out.  Brrrr.  We went to the library so the boys could log in their work for Brain Chase.  I checked my online stuff (no internet access at my parents' home), and the girls played computer games, looked at books, etc., etc.  It was nice.

We left on Saturday and came back to Littleton.  Emmy has an appointment at Children's Hospital here (for her frequent/continuous UTIs) on Tuesday, the 14th.  So we'll spend a bit more time here and then head home towards the end of the week.  Here are some pictures from our time in Midway:

 Go, Emmy, go!

 What a cutie!

 Zoom, zoom, boys.

 Oh they loved this slide and its big drop-off.  It was a huge hit.

 So fun!  The kids just ran for hours . . . and had a blast.

Lucy won one of the skating (although we were on scooters) rink's game.  She won some cotton candy!

 Here are the boys waiting for "Joseph. . . " to begin.  Fun, fun!

 This just shows the stage.  It was a great production and starred "Doug Osmond" as "Joseph."  Doug is Donny's nephew and looked exactly like an Osmond.

 1, 2, 3, JUMP!

 Swimming, swimming.

 Lucy loved it, too.  She dived under the water all the time and, on the last day, jumped off the side in to the pool on her own (but with a life-jacket).  She would also take her jacket off and swim around.

 What a swim-babe.  :)

 The girls and I went biking a few times on the path.  Such a beautiful and perfect little path to ride on!  The girls just loved it and I thought it was the cutest thing.

My view.  :)  So stinking cute!

 Our dinner of spaghetti and jello.  Jonas was in charge of making the jello that day.  It was . . . interesting!  I didn't taste it (not a jello fan am i), but the kids all assured me it tasted delicious.  It was just weird - like I poured off some liquid on the top, but it was still pretty liquidy.

 I told the kids they could probably suck it up with a straw.  So the boys found straws and everyone sucked up the jello.  Wow, what fun.  :)

My kids lucked out on driving on July 11th - 7/11.  Free Slurpee Day!  They each got one in Heber on our way out, and then another one in Frisco - right after dinner.  What lucky kids.  They hardly ever (like maybe twice in their lives) get Slurpees because we don't have a 7-11 in Montrose.  So good thing we were driving for 9-hours on Saturday, passing towns with 7-11s.  :)

We had a great time in Midway!

Camp Free Willy

We started out our July 4th weekend on the 2nd.  We were going to Littleton for the 4th, but had a few detours on our way.  Our first detour was checking out the new puppies - one of which we'll take home the first week of August or so.  They are just so cute!  The kids all loved them.  I'm not sure which one we will end up with, but it doesn't really matter!  Anyways, that was stop number one.

Stop number two was for camping.  We met Grandpa Max, Uncle Joe, and Nicholas (cousin) for a camp-out.  We had a great time and it was super fun to be with our extended family!

We called this camp, Camp Free Willy.  There were lots of names we could have christened this camp-out, but Free Willy is what we went with.  Why?  Did we watch the movie while camping?  Nope, we brought along Wilson and he just got to roam all over the place - unleashed (due to his girth and, especially, his age, he doesn't go too far nor too fast).  It was so great just watching him wander and explore.  Our kids, at first, we soooo nervous - "Dad, he's going too far!"  "Dad, we can't see him?!"  "Dad, we need to put him on a leash!"  etc., etc.  It was cute.  But, really, Wilson just had the time of his life.  Probably the best time of his life.  It was grand to watch.

Anyways, here are some of the pictures of our fun camp-out:

 Our camping area.

Wilson probably thought he had literally died and gone to heaven!

Cute cousins hanging out by the fire.

Wilson dug a little pit - his sleeping pit.  He was so muddy and adorable.

Can you tell what we cooked for dinner . . . ?

And, yes, we even ate it and liked it.  :)

S'more time!

Grandpa and his three youngest grandsons.  What a great looking group.  :)  This was morning time.  Our boys slept with Joe and Nicholas and Grandpa Max in their tent.  Fun, fun.

The kids were getting some "gun safety" lessons and tips from Grandpa.  Awesome.  Ben had asked his dad to bring his gun because Jonas is super in to guns and really wanted to shoot a real gun (as opposed to BB guns that he has shot with Cub Scouts).  So this was a real treat for Jonas - 'though I think we all enjoyed it.

Lucy, with help from dad, got to shoot the gun.

Emmy, too, enjoyed it!

Joe and Nicholas shooting.

Awesome.

Jonas loved it!  He even hit the target quite a few times.

Miles, though sort of spacey in paying close attention, was focused and determined to hit the targets.  He wasn't too bad and got a few as well.

Yep, I even tried shooting.  I didn't hit anything.  I should have had a picture of the three men - Grandpa Max was 100% (sure, he only shot once, but he did hit the target that one time!), and Joe and Ben were quite the sharp-shooters.

We went down to the creek - we were supposed to cross this the night before, but we weren't quite sure.  So our camping plans changed - but were still great!  We hung out here for a bit and pumped some filtered water and just played.  The three men took Joe's truck and went to the spot Ben wanted to camp at - it's a beautiful area (our family hiked there years back).

The girls just playing and being silly!

Jonas was super in to his sling-shot.  Nicholas had also brought his and so they had fun together.  Jonas was really in to shooting butterflies - much, much to Miles' chagrin.  I, too, ended up feeling badly and told Jonas his limit was 3 butterflies.

Sadly, this is the closest picture I got of Joe - Joe's truck coming back over the creek.  :)

The kids loved driving along the dirt road - we let them just sit in the back, no seat-belts on, with their heads out the window.  Oh the joys!

Anyways, it was a fun way to start our vacation.  :)

A Quintessential Summer

Overall, I think my kids are having a real and true Summer.  I say "quintessential," due to it not being perfect, but, rather, it perfectly describing what summer should be.

I have had many, "I'm bored mom" and "What can I do today?"  That's part of the classic summer, right?!  We've had our fights, tantrums, melt-downs, etc. - again, all part of what summer involves.

But my kids have gotten to enjoy the good stuff that a "classic summer" entails.  Like camping.  Hiking.  Biking.  Backpacking.

The kids did swim-lessons - a total classic.  Both girls just finished up Dance Camp.  A lemonade stand has happened.

All of these above activities fit great in to the "Quintessential Summer," but it wouldn't be complete without our neighborhood.

We have a neighborhood with kids (not many, but just enough) - kids that are allowed to run loose (within boundaries - my kids' boundaries are a little smaller than the others, but still it's more than a lot of kids I know get . . .).  I would say my kids are outside more than they are inside.  They are in front playing whatever, riding their bikes - and, yes, even chasing down the ice-cream truck.  Ice-cream truck = quintessential summer in my book, for sure.  The kids also love to play in our backyard.  Our tramp is a great spot - for just hanging out on, playing "crack-the-egg," setting the oscillating sprinkler underneath it, and plain old just jumping.  Our sand-box is a big hit - the interest in it has been revived!  Even our 8th-grade neighbor loves playing in it.  They build canals, dams, etc. and then turn on the hose and watch it all get destroyed or whatever.  The hose is the key to the sand-box for sure.

The boys have gotten to go to the park with their friends and race their lego cars down the slide.  They have also walked many a times to the hardware store (or rode their bikes) to buy a soda and some candy.

This hasn't happened yet, but we will be spending the July 4th weekend with family - grandparents and cousins.  How perfect is that?!  Everyone is excited about this weekend.

There is one part of a quintessential summer that has not happened here yet - sleeping out on the tramp.  Unfortunately, for my kids, they have to earn it.  They earn it by not having one fight during the day.  It hasn't happened yet.  We'll see if it happens before the summer is over!

Summer Bits

Here are just a few little things that have happened this past week:

The very Saturday night we got back from our backpacking trip, the girls performed in a Talent Show that was hosted by the Spanish branch in our area.  They had sent around sign-up sheets in primary and my girls had signed up for "dance" (Lucy) and "gymnastics" (Emmy).  To make it easier, we decided to just have the girls do something together - Emmy would do one thing and then Lucy would do it.  It was cute:

 The girls even have matching leotards.  One was a hand-me-down a few years ago and we just got the other one (hand-me-down as well!) just a few months ago.  Crazy!

 Emmy doing a "bridge" (or getting down from one) and Lucy doing a "table."

Emmy's headstand was pretty impressive.  :)

The girls had dance camp this week (M-Th, 10-1) and so for Monday I had planned to take the boys mountain biking.  Jonas has talked about it for a while and I found out a spot right close to us.  So as soon as we dropped off the girls, we drove to the biking area.  It was a pretty good area for us to give it a try.  Instead of going in to the sometimes-horrible details, let it suffice that I will not be taking Miles mountain biking for a really, really long time - long enough for me to forget.  I think I'll take Jonas again sometime, for sure.

 A hot and sweaty boy!

Like I mentioned, the girls had dance camp this week.  They both were in the same one - since it was for 4-7 year olds.  They both loved it and had a really great time.  On the last day the parents came early and the kids showed their crafts and then did a little dance.

 So adorable.

 Emmy dancing.  :)

 Lucy dancing - next to an Olaf-painted girl.  :)

Fun, fun, cute, cute.