a busy weekend

Whoever said there's nothing to do in a small town, never lived here!Saturday had our whole family running around town in celebration of many things...

• the 7th annual Fall Festival and community day
• a joint 1-year and 2-year old birthday party at the park
• a 7-year old birthday party at the pool
• and a 30-year old birthday dinner party to top it all off!

(and we didn't even make it to the varsity football game in the afternoon!)

So we took Sunday off and played with friends, watched football, mowed the leaves in the yard (!) and watched more football. Some of us had more adventure this weekend than they could handle:
Have a great week!
and Happy Birthday to Wyatt, Tucker, Porter and Browning - thanks for making our weekend fun!!!

fun in the sun

Sam had a great play date with two of his favorite buddies last Friday - and thank goodness it was a warm September day because they got a hold of the waterhose to originally "wash" their clothes in the bucket, aka the washing machine...
... but when a waterhose, a warm day and three 3-year olds get together...... so the washing machine was eventually abandoned for more exciting adventures!

hunting

The latest adventure is brought to you by John, our good friend and avid hunter. He invited Jason to join him this past weekend to hunt elk. It is archery season so the hunt is a little more exciting... there is a lot of calling involved and in order to be successful you should be relatively close to the animal.

(I do not speak from experience... perhaps Jason should have written this!)
Anyway, the afternoon was apparently great for hiking, enjoying the outdoors and taking pictures... but not so good for getting close to an elk.
Despite not seeing any elk, there was some other wildlife out and about!

This bear paid a visit to John and his 11-year old son earlier in the weekend - a pretty neat adventure, indeed!

Friday night fun!

Six families, fifteen kids, lots of good food and wine, great space to run and play and great space to sit and visit, and best of all the perfect way to end a week/start a weekend!

THANKS Erik & Trina for hosting the evening!

the Classic

One of our favorite weekends... the Meeker Classic Sheepdog Trials!Always a great event, this year the whole family got out in the

beautiful weather to watch the trials...
... and of course, Hamp immediately found a friend to play with!

Meanwhile, Sam enjoyed all the treats available, including snowcones and ice cream!

different day

different treat

same silly smile!

The Classic has many great side features, including a petting zoo, artisan booths, plenty of great food and souveniers. One of our favorites parts is the art contest - artists from all over submit their work in hopes to be chosen as the poster for next year's event! There are always many beautiful pieces - and this year we found one espeically unique... and now it's hanging in Jason's new office! He won the silent auction for this piece, an acrylic painting by CO artist Larel Bahe.

Another of our favorite parts is the concert downtown! This year featured a great bluegrass band whose music was apparently good for flying around like an airplane: But really, the main event is what we all enjoy - the sheepdogs (border collies primarily) and the infamously ornery Meeker sheep doing their thing!

It's fascinating to see the skill that

these dogs and thier handlers use

and the bond they share!

"That'll do"

Trapper's Lake

Our Labor Day holiday was spent just an hour from town, up in the mountains at one of our favorite spots!

We went with some friends and had a picnic by the lake, and the boys had a blast doing what they do best...

DIGGING:

HIKING:
and CLIMBING ROCKS:

The best part was watching all the discovery, exploration and imagination that occurs whenever we go hiking! Made for a great day of adventure...

kickoff!

What a great way to begin not only our long holiday weekend, but what will hopefully be a successful football season on all fronts: high school (go Cowboys!), college (too many teams to list!) and even NFL (Go Broncos! - expect for Tebow. old rivalries die hard.)

Anyway, the season opener for Meeker High School was Saturday afternoon... it was a perfect day for some football and friends, especially when your friends get to sit in the box and help you announce the game:

Sam had fun playing with all his buddies...

... and so did Hamp. This was the most I saw of him the whole game - hanging out and playing around the grandstands!

The stands were a great place to run and play once the crowd cleared a bit...

... and after the game, the whole gang hung around for a while to play!

free willy!

It's a long story, but today's after-school adventure begins with the aquisition of a frog:

Eventhough the boys were pretty enamored with idea of a pet frog, I had to insist that we release him back to his natural habitat...
... and I think letting him go was as much fun as watching him up close in the jar!

When it was all said and done, Hamp says "So, that's wildlife."

(It was so matter-of-fact, as if the release of a single frog was the equivalent to an entire year's worth of Biology 101, that I had to laugh at the confidence of his statement!)

After losing sight of the frog, we did what any little boy would do while at the river... throw rocks!