Fall sports

In September, we focused on 2 primary activities: football for Hamp and volleyball for Sam.

As a freshman, Hamp plays on the Junior Varsity high school football team where he sees some great action as a defensive free safety and offensive wide receiver (and occasional kicker?). The coaching staff is excellent and promotes team unity by having everyone dress out for Varsity games - which means Hamp stands on the sidelines with all his buddies under the Friday night lights! He enjoys the team, seems to work hard everyday at practice, and looks so grown up in those pads! (that's his momma talking)

As an 11 year-old, Sam gets to play Rec League ball. He decided he really wanted to try volleyball this year and it was an excellent decision... not only does he LOVE the game, but he is quite good at it! While 10/11 year-old volleyball has potential to be excrutiatingly slow, these kids know what they are doing and do a great job of getting the ball over the net and keeping it up. His team never lost a game this season so they have been real fun to watch play... but best of all is watching how supportive and encouraging they all are to one another.

Labor Day

All I can say is that I am grateful.

Sometimes it is exhausting trying to plan adventure... and tempting to just stay home and do nothing when the time is available.

But adventure always calls and it's always worth it!

Labor Day weekend, we were invited to join friends at Flaming Gorge - a legendary vacation spot perfect for camping and boating. It was 3 days with 6 boats and 4 dozen friends and family who were all encouraging, welcoming and super-fun!

Needless to say - the boys LOVED the lake life:

junk food

camp fires

knee-boarding

skiing

tubing until your arms fall off (or you can't breath from laughing!)

cliff jumping

rope swings

and the best part - good friends!

New year... new schools!

These two had a successful first week of school as a new 6th grader and a FRESHMAN!!!!
So not just a new year of school, but new buildings!

Sam eased into the middle school with much anticipation - ready to go! He got his trapper keeper, his schedule and picked up the trombone for 6th grade band. His observation was that middle school lived up to the representations he had seen in movies and tv - having lockers, meeting friends in the hall, bells to change classes, etc.... here's to hoping it doesn't go so far as the stereotypical 8th grade bully stealing the 6th graders' milk money! Anyway, he will spend the next couple of months playing rec league volleyball, practicing for the annual junior musical production of Mary Poppins (auditions are this week!) and of course, twice weekly workouts at the gymnastics center in Craig.

Hamp seemed relatively comfortable moving up to the high school! Whether it's growing up in a small town, having used the high school building for concerts and events, or just having his mom work there... his familiarity with the high school allowed him to settle right in. He gave good reports of all his teachers/classes and is excited to take art and woodshop as elective courses this year. And when he's not doing homework and studying, he'll spend the next few months on the football field either at practice, as a Junior Varsity receiver, or as a sideliner at the Friday night Varsity games!
Go #88!!!

Finishing up summer

It has been a long, hot summer in Meeker.
By taking vacation as soon as school got out, we left ourselves a lot of time when we got home to enjoy... well, being home!
We did just that - we loved being on the river, and cooling off at the lake.
We had long afternoons of lounging at home and late evenings of flashlight-tag or back deck happy hours!
We enjoyed having our family here for a while, and enjoyed being with friends a lot!
The last few weeks of summer were kind of random - hiking, golf, biking, paddling, more golf... mom even made a quick trip to Denver to see the traveling production of Les Miserables!
It all comes down to making the most of our days - and we seem to do that well!

a little putt-putt golf...

a little Junior golf tourney...

even a little Cowboy Football golf fundraiser!

"chaperoning" a girls' trip to Denver - an incredible performance!!!

a day at the lake!

While the boys prefer to have messier adventures.... I prefer to enjoy a day at lake like this:


I could spend a hundred summers with these two.....

Mississippi comes to Meeker!

We picked up Yaya and the Hightower cousins (minus baby Charlotte - can't wait until she is old enough to come to Camp Meeker!) from the train station on a Sunday afternoon and I swear the adventures never stopped until they rolled out of town 8 days later!
Not only were the cousins inseparable, but they played hard and were so much fun to have.

Our adventures included:

~ hiking the South Fork River trail

~ exploring the South Fork cave

~ paddling the White River

~ boating on Lake Avery

~ jumping at the trampoline park in Grand Junction

~ cheering the GJ Rockies (MiLB) to victory and loving the post-game fireworks

~ picking garden fresh raspberries

~ creating our own tie-dye tee shirts

~ playing badminton in Mojo & Dado's backyard

~ enjoying ice-cream sundaes at Mojo & Dado's house

~ celebrating July birthdays

~ making a movie (watch for The Legendary Piñata in a theater near you!)

~ watching movies (ahhhh... the Greatest Showman!)

~ swimming for hours at the Rec Center pool

~ riding bikes around town

~ coloring with Aunt LaDonna

Thank you Yaya for coming to visit and bringing the cousins!
We only wish Papa could have made the trip, too...
Love & miss you all!

working this summer...

So besides traveling, paddling and creating.... the boys have also kept busy with a little bit of work so far this summer.

Hamp applied to be a part of the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps - an organization out of Steamboat which technically claims to "engage young people in the outdoors, inspiring them to use their strengths and potential to lead healthy, productive lives. We teach responsibility for self, community and environment through teamwork, service and experiential education" but I would say he got paid for 2 weeks of fun building projects, camping and hiking and making new friends! I was so proud of his confidence from the interview for the crew position to the end-of-the-session group presentation.

Meanwhile - Sam spent a week at a volleyball camp in Meeker, and now continues to do gymnastics in Craig 5 hrs per week with his team. His tumbling skills have improved amazingly, but more importantly his social circle has expanded to include some really neat and fun teammates!

In between everything else - they sometimes acquiesce to my requests for house projects (especially when there are incentives!) and last week they worked together to clean & stain the front porch!

And sometimes, keeping them busy affords me a little free time to escape to the mountain trails with a couple of my favorites hiking partners...