on the river

Everything was finally in place for a weekend in the boat...

1 - the river was down enough to not be too scary (but still be very fun!)

2 - it was not raining

3 - it was hot enough that the cold water felt great!

4 - we were not doing anything else!!!

The first trip had Sam with Dad in the soft kayak, Hamp with friend in their raft, and me in my hard boat. (thus, no pictures!)

These shots were all from the second trip, just Hamp and Dad in the soft kayak...

they even stopped to say "hi" to our friends in the river!

The summer is moving along as quickly as the river... here's to hoping we can go again soon!

missions accomplished

It's official - I can now turn another year older.

Thanks to Mindy at Kids Place Live I received my birthday missions on Wednesday and here is the evidence to support completion of these dastardly tasks.

(I mean geesh, it's not like I could stay 35 forever?!?!! right???)

** for further explanation, go back to here **

mission #1:

lay down and have someone give you eye brows, a beard and a mustache made of whip cream!

mission #2:

sit backward on the toilet

(hey, I don't make this stuff up I just comply. Take any obscenity issues up with Mindy!)

mission #3:

re-write the words to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Wrinkle, wrinkle there you are

Thought I'd avoided you so far

But thirty-six snuck up on me

Now middle-age is what I see

Wrinkle, wrinkle there you are

Proof of a good life so far!

** this post is dedicated to ali! **

camp trip

A quick, mid-week adventure provided for an excellent "mini-vacay" for all of us and a great opportunity to not only spend time with good friends but a chance to see a part of the state that we weren't familiar with... Ouray

We set up camp and immediately got to work on lunch!

Then there was much exploring to be done... Ouray's surrounding mountains are home to some beautiful hiking with several great creeks and waterfalls to see!

The above picture was taken from the bridge shown below!

It sits atop an incredible canyon and waterfall...

with a man-made trail to take you to the creek at the bottom!

(where the boys did the most instinctual thing possible - throw rocks in the water!)

We took another hike to check out the huge waterfall on the perimeter trail, right off the town center... the kids were such troopers!

So after some fun hiking and sight-seeing, we had a terrific dinner in town... then back to the campsite for some s'mores and good night's sleep!

The next morning was perfect for a dip in the local hot springs pool...

The scenery was amazing and the company was fantastic, too!

A swim, a quick stop at the park, and a big, Mexican lunch wrapped up our visit and sent us home with a craving for more mountain time and some very tired little boys!

weekend fun

What a great weekend to have the girls stay with us!

There were just so many fun adventures to have...

First, there was Movie Under the Stars on Friday night.

We got to the park early to meet up with friends, grab some popcorn, and get set up for

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen!

Then we woke up the next morning and headed downtown for Community Appreciation Day:

The courthouse lawn was full of fun activities for the whole family!

waterslides:

bouncy houses:

art stations:

battle arena:

tattoo station:

coloring station:

and even a face painting clown that mesmerized the kids with her funny stories and

magic tricks!

But oh, the adventures did not end with the clown!

In fact, there was also an ice cream eating contest, and the Scoop-Off contest for best homemade ice cream!

(not to brag, but my own HH PeachBerry Surprise pulled out a first place win!!!)

And to top it all off, there was even some local flavor - we're quite lucky to have such neat families living in Meeker that are willing to share their culture and talent! - in the form of live music and dance from Samoa...

check them out in a short video taken from Jason's iphone:

We topped the weekend off with more live music on the courthouse lawn and more dancing and visiting with friends!

Have a great week! On to more adventures...