Cousin Fun...Boulders, Campfires and Big Deer

Ethan and Mary Kate had a blast hanging out with their second cousins at our family reunion in Estes Park.

Our first night, we had a campfire and there were some huge boulders to climb right near our campfire site. Those were a big hit with the kids and much to all the parents' relief, no one fell off the rocks and hurt themselves.

Everyone enjoyed some fabulous smores complete with gourmet chocolates, compliments of Justin. The best smores, I've ever had by far!

Soon after we'd settled in around the fire, we were visited by a beautiful whitetail buck. The kids were awestruck.

Mary Kate came back from deer watching and got right back to what turned out to be her favorite activity while in Estes Park: sitting in the dirt and pouring it all over herself. My dear sister suggested to MK that she go give Mom a big kiss. MK thought that sounded like a great idea. So I was dirt fingerprint stamped on both cheeks by my daughter as she gave me a big smooch.

Then it was back to the boulders for the kids.

And the moms gathered for a quick snapshot.

Cowboy Ethan Rides the Trail

Our fabulous vacation came to an end and we arrived home last night. I have a whole bunch of great photos to post, but these ones from Ethan's pony ride at Estes Park Center are definitely some of the best memories from our trip. He'd been waiting for and anticipating this pony ride for about five months and had the whole cowboy outfit...hat, shirt, belt/buckle and boots. He got to ride for about 20 minutes and loved every second of it!

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Road Trip Update - Kearney to Fort Collins

We drove from Kearney, NE to Fort Collins on Saturday. Since this was our second day on the road and we only had about 330 miles (compared to the 625 on Friday), we decided to take a scenic route through the Pawnee National Grasslands in eastern Colorado via Highway 14. The highlight of this route was the Pawnee Buttes, which are three sedimentary rock formations that rise 350 feet in the air.

On the way, we saw quite a few pronghorn.


Our first view of the buttes.



Us at one of observation points.



Ethan liked the "huge rocks," but he was more interested in the windmill that powered a well pump and filled a cattle watering station. Here he is carefully observing the pump in action.

We arrived in Fort Collins around 5 pm and checked into our hotel. By 6:30 pm, all six families had arrived and we went out to the Coopersmith Pub and Brewery for dinner. What a great place! The pub/brewery is located in Old Town and there was an outdoor concert in the square, which we all enjoyed while we waited for our tables. Salsa music really got the kids dancing and the parents were glad they could burn off lots of energy after long car and plane trips.

Greetings from Kearney, Nebraska!

We drove to Kearney, Nebraska yesterday and spent the evening enjoying the hotel waterslides. Yesterday was a long day with about 9.5 hours in the car, but the kids did very well and we stopped 3 times for "run around" breaks, as Ethan called them. They consisted of running around grassy areas/meadows (which Iowa and Nebraska have plenty of) at top speed until we fell down. Temperatures topped out at 98 degrees (near Omaha), so we tried to do our running around in the shade.

Today we'll swim for an hour before heading out to Fort Collins. I'll post some photos of trip highlights hopefully tonight, but right now I'm on the hotel computer, as everyone is still sleeping in our room (at 7:45 am, can you believe it?).

Ethan is a Level Two Swimmer!

No pictures with this post, but we wanted to share some exciting news from Ethan. He has "graduated" from Level One swimming lessons to Level Two! He works really hard during his lessons and always does his best. We are so proud of him and he is excited to learn all the new skills in Level Two.

Happy Independence Day!!

We celebrated Independence Day at the lake and spent most of the weekend fishing, canoeing, riding the pontoon boat and playing in the sand.

We decorated the pontoon boat for the annual July 4th boat parade. We made a USA sign and Ethan wrote all of our names on the sign.



Since we were in the parade, we didn't get any pictures of what our boat looked from shore in the parade. During the parade, the kids got to sit out on the front of the boat with their second cousins. After a great BBQ we lit some sparklers (hands protected by giant oven mits) and watched fireworks over the lake. Mary Kate fell asleep well before the fireworks began, but Ethan held out for about half the show before conking out.



MK was a little hesitant about the sparkler at first, but quickly found her groove and impressed everyone with her double-sparkler dance moves.



Ethan stuck to a single sparkler routine.

Here's the best picture Dad snapped of Mom with the kids on the boat. Although you can't tell from this picture, the kids love the boat. They didn't want to be bothered with posing for a picture.

Ethan enjoying the boat cruise...

Strawberry Pickin'

Last Thursday morning we got out of the house early and enjoyed a great morning picking strawberries. Then we came home and packed the van for our holiday weekend celebration at the lake.

Ethan was more interested in the horses and the irrigation system than the berries. Mary Kate proved to be quite the picker, although we need to improve on her ripeness selection...if left on her own, she picked every berry in sight...no discrimination between white, pink or red. She also loved carrying a pail.