Memorial Day 2013

Memorial Day started out just the way it has for the past 7 years.  We headed up to Boulder for Clint to run in the Bolder Boulder 10k.  The kids always have a good time!  I was trying to watch for Clint, but it's hard to distinguish between hundreds of guys running when you also have to watch the antics of your children. Luckily, Dale spotted him.

 After he raced we wandered around and collected our stash of free stuff.  Lila was in absolute heaven.  People kept handing her chapsticks!  She had three in her fist and wouldn't let me put them in her bag. 

 

 After the race, we took the kids fishing.  It was already late morning so we weren't expecting many, if any, fish to bite. 

 My kids don't have the patience for fishing.  After a few minutes with no action, they started throwing rocks in the lake.  It's a good thing I really didn't want to catch any fish anyway!

 Then we headed further up into the mountains to check out a campground.  Lila had refused to relinquish her chapsticks and was liberally applying them to her entire face.  She likes to smear chapstick on her eyebrows.  But, she was a very quiet, well behaved traveler!

 The kids climbed trees,

 took turns with the camera,

 and shot my bow.  Clint gave me the bow for Christmas.  The weather had been crummy for so long that I hadn't had a chance to shoot it, yet.  Everyone loved it!

 Dale's not a bad shot!

 Regan is a super cute archer!

 

 The more Lila played, the filthier her face got!  This was after she "cleaned" herself up.  I was not allowed to help her.  Chapstick makes fabulous glue!

 

 Haden was very good with the bow, as long as he had help holding it.  He was also the very most animated when he hit the target!

 And then it got cold and we headed home.  The kids got to ride in the sunroof while we were on the off-roading trails.  I have had several requests from Regan and Haden for their own bows.  It may be a good Christmas present!

 

Regan's field trip

Regan's 2nd grade class went to the Wildlife Experience for their field trip.  I was unable to go, but too nervous to trust Regan with anyone I didn't know, so I volunteered Dale to chaperone.  He only had to take care of three girls--super easy, especially considering all the mischief makers in Regan's class!  Regan loved having him there, but didn't really know what her friends meant when they kept saying that the really "liked" her uncle.  I'll keep my little girl innocent and naïve as long as I can!

 

Regan had fun, and I was happy knowing she would be well taken care of.   

May the 4th

 This was the second year in the row we've attended a local museum's May the 4th Star Wars event.  I will never cease to be amazed at how many grown ups dress up for this kind of thing.

 

 

 

 

Haden and Lila were both in heaven!  Regan opted to stay home with me.  She's been over the Star Wars phase for quite a while.  We're still waiting for Haden to outgrow it!

The yurt trip

Clint has been wanting to camp in a yurt for quite a while now, but we just never got around to it.  We're kind of last minute planners and reservations for yurts fill up really fast.  There was one reservation left for a Thursday night in March that he jumped on.  He took off work and I pulled the kids out of school.  He neglected to mention, until the night before that the yurt was just over a mile from the road and we would have to rent skis and pack everything in to get there.  I was apprehensive, to say the least!  Especially when we had to drive through white out conditions to get there.  The fresh coat of snow made everything beautiful!

 

We brought the sled for Lila.  She just isn't big enough to cross country ski yet. 

 Regan is an awesome little skier!  She loved it!  After skiing in to the yurt, she and Clint dropped their gear and kept going. 

Haden did the best he could skiing, but after countless falls, he climbed in the sled with Lila.

There really wasn't much room, though, so they had to improvise!

I'm really glad Clint is as tough as he is.  If it was up to me there would have been no way all three kiddos would have made it all the way to the yurt!

I was really surprised how small the yurt was!

 

 We had to make a trek to the outhouse.  Lila had insisted on being potty trained the week after we got back from California.  On the way home from dropping her siblings off at school one day, she told me she was tired of wearing diapers and wanted to wear panties from now on.  And she did. Out houses are so not ideal for newly potty trained little girls with teeny tiny bladders! I didn't even count the number of trips we had to make!  Every time she was perched on the seat, she begged me not to let her fall in!  It would have been really stinky had it not been so cold!

 Lila loved watching everyone playing in the snow from the warmth of the yurt.  Smart girl!

 Clint surprised everyone with new headlamps for the trip.  The kids love them and use them every chance they get! 

  All ready for bed.  The stove made it so hot in the yurt that the top bunks were completely unusable.  Until the fire went out, and we all were freezing.  Clint had to rebuild the fire in the middle of the night.

 I love living in Colorado!

 Dale had moved in with us the previous month and came with us on our adventure.  The kids love having him around so much!

 

 Dale has never been able to have his picture taken without making a dumb pose.  I have stacks and stacks of pictures from when he was little to prove it.  Some things never change....

 The next morning we washed dishes,

 cut firewood,

restocked the stash of wood in the house,

 and headed back to the car.

 Clint checked his email as soon as we had service.  There was one from the guy in charge of the yurts warning us that the lady who had stayed in the yurt immediately before us had seen fresh mountain lion tracks close by.  He was worried because he knew we had kiddos with us.  It is a very good thing I had not seen that email before we left or I probably would have cancelled the trip.  Luckily, we all came back and no one saw anything remotely resembling a mountain lion.  Next time, though, I think we'll bring a gun.

 

 

Disneyland

We spent our last day in California at Disneyland.  Unfortunately, California had cancelled school for the day and it was packed!!  We still got to go on all the rides and see all the characters that we had planned, though.  I took Lila around to meet Tinkerbell and all the Princesses.  I don't think Clint could have handled it!  He took Haden to see all the Star Wars stuff. 

 While we were waiting in the ridiculously slow moving line to see the princesses, Cinderella's step mother and stepsisters wandered passed us.  Lila saw them and immediately began yelling at them.  "You are not nice to be mean to Cinderella!  She is nice and you are not!"  Unfortunately, they didn't hear her, but it was my favorite part of the entire day!

 

 

 Lila was initially terrified of the Beast.  He was so good and patient with her, though, that she soon warmed up and was brave enough to touch him.  She incredulously told everyone who would listen to her afterwards that the beast really was nice!

 

Haden liked watching the Jedi Academy, but wasn't interested in participating. 

His favorite ride has always been the Astroblasters.  He takes it very seriously!

 

I didn't see Regan much because I spent most of the day with Lila and no one else wanted to do what Lila wanted to do.  Regan is definitely the biggest thrill seeker of all three of the kids!  Luckily, her cousins could accompany her on the scarier rides.

 

It was a fun trip, and we were all glad to be home!  It may be a couple of years before I can convince Clint to go back!