beach party

We love our Rec Center...

Today Sam and I went to a "beach party" for 5 and under only - it was great! There were tons of kids, pool toys, deck toys, beach balls, chalk art and even a sand box:

We met our good friends there and swam and swam - not only was it fun, but we got new beach bags and pin wheels when we left!

A great way to start the week... and our adventures together!

first day of school

The last days of summer...

We have such great friends... not only do they invite us to have fun, summer adventures with them but they take and share such great pictures of all the good times!

For example, here are the boys at "Franklin Beach" last week...

(thanks Ann!)

Then they celebrated a friend's birthday at the lake and had another fantastic summer adventure in the sand, on the boat and being pulled on the tube!!!

(thanks Patti!)

Ahhh... but summer days never last.

School days have finally arrived and no one was as excited for

the first day of school this morning as Hamp!

(oh, may he always possess such enthusiasm for his education!)

After a brisk half-mile ride up to the school in cool morning temps (!) we got to see Dad ~ a.k.a. Principal Hightower ~ waiting for us at the front door!

It was a great first day back for Dad and Hamp...

... now Sam and I just have to figure out what kind of adventures we'll have while they're in school all day?!?! ☺

open house

School starts on Wednesday...

But first, we got to go to the big open house for the brand new elementary school!

In addition to the traditional open house activities such as finding your classroom, meeting your teacher, and seeing all your friends... we also got to try out the brand new sidewalks and road to the school:

There was a great picnic before the grand opening where Hamp was quick to find friends...
... and Sam was fine to just be in his own little world among the throngs of people.

Dad got to cut the ribbon...

... and we were off to Hamp's 1st grade classroom!

The best part of the new school is the state-of-the-art technology. Hamp's teacher already had their "smart board" up for the kids to play with!

(Now I know some of you in the big city might already have all this stuff available to you - but we're thrilled to have it out here in the boondocks!)

With the introduction of Meeker's 1st round-a-bout (traffic circle) the police were even there to teach the kids how to be safe when riding & walking to school ~ good to see Hamp was paying attention!

It was a wonderful debut of the new facilty and all the kids, parents and community members were on hand to celebrate... and of course, play on the new playground equipment!

Looks like it's going to be another fun-filled year!!!

Meeker by air

For Jason's birthday, I got him a sight-seeing tour of town by air!

There is a little airport here - no commercial flights, but feel free to come on in with your own aircraft sometime.

The boys were pretty excited to ride in the plane...

It was so neat - we took an hour and flew over the Flattops Wilderness Area and saw all the lakes, peaks and rivers that we hear about and hope to hike to someday!

What a beautiful morning for a really cool adventure!

"duckface!"

There is no sound better than that of my boys laughing with one another!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGa1kpm0JD4

forty

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the man who makes it all possible!

Father to the greatest boys in the world, and best friend to me... four decades ago he was the light of his momma's eyes (Hi Yaya!) and today he is the most loving, funniest, kindest, and most beautiful man I know. I am lucky to be with him, and so grateful for the family he has given me.

I love you!

May we have many more adventures together!!!

all I want for Christmas...

we've been keeping the tooth fairy in business this summer!

yellowstone

Well, if you judged the trip from the first few hours you would have thought it would be a disaster! We hit the road at 6am... and by 9am Sam had puked in the car, the windshield was chipped and we had forgotten Hamp's shoes!

...

Fortunately, the chaos ended there and the next three days were fantastic! We had a little family reunion in Jackson, Wyoming and then drove up through the Tetons to Yellowstone...

If asked, I would say that my three favorite parts of the trip were

CAMPING:

PICNICKING BY THE FIRESTONE RIVER:

AND WATCHING THE COUSINS PLAY TOGETHER!

Naturally, Sam had his own opinions about what were the best parts of the weekend! His favorites were

GEYSERS:

(Old Faithful!)
WATERFALLS:

AND ICE CREAM!