Camping in the Black Hills

My family took our second annual family vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota. My mom, four sisters, one brother, one brother-in-law, and two nieces met us up there. It was a lot of fun! The first day we explored Badlands National Park. It was like hiking through giant sandcastles. The views were spectacular and definitely unlike anything we had seen before.Regan and Haden both loved running around and throwing rocks after spending all of the day before in their carseats. We stopped at Wall Drug Store on the way home. All of their roadside signs advertising homemade ice cream had everyone salivating after hiking in the hot sun. They had a lot of photo ops in their "backyard" which we took advantage of. The kids loved running through the water fountains that were set to music. Regan got wet several times, but she just laughed. (She HATES having water anywhere on her face, but apparently she is a lot more tolerant if it isn't during a bath.) There was a T-Rex that came to life every few minutes roaring at waving his head around. Both Regan and Haden began screaming at the first growl and didn't stop until long after they could no longer see the dinosaur. We stopped at Mt. Rushmore for their evening program on the way back to camp. Everyone slept very well that night.

The second day, one group toured a cave and one group hiked Harney's Peak. It is a seven mile round trip hike up to an abandoned fire tower; also the highest peak between the Rocky Mountains and the Swiss Alps. Regan was an amazing little hiker and Haden was very tolerant of his backpack. The fire tower was made of rock and resembled a castle. We kept telling Regan that Rapunzel lived in the tower and we needed to save her. It worked for a while, but then she started telling us to let the prince save her because she couldn't "do this anymore." She did get another burst of energy when she saw the tower and was rather disappointed that Rapunzel was already gone. The view at the top was amazing. You could see forever in all directions, if you didn't mind the wind that was blowing incredibly hard. A storm was blowing in and we had to outrun it on our way down the mountain. The light rain made for perfect hiking weather, but the thunder and lightening were just a little scary. We spent that afternoon at Mt. Rushmore, so we could get pictures in the light.

The last day we drove through Custer State Park. Regan was very impressed with the buffalo, but didn't care for the donkeys. They beg food off the tourists, and if you don't roll down your window to feed them, they slobber all over your windows. Regan insisted that we not roll down her window when two donkeys had their entire head in Clint's window going after the pretzels.

On the way home we went through a rainstorm and pointed out the rainbow to Regan. She was craning her neck to see, and in a disappointed voice said, "Mom, I don't see any Care Bears. They are supposed to be sliding down the rainbow and playing on the clouds. Where are they?" I didn't quite know how to respond.

Regan turns 4!

My family came for Regan's birthday. Regan had requested a "Strawberry Shortcake" theme for this particular party, but I ran out of creative energy and was just going to buy some Strawberry Shortcake toys to put on top of her cake. Apparently, Strawberry Shortcake is no longer popular enough for stores to carry the little figures, so after looking through Target and Walmart, I gave up and told Regan she could just have strawberries. Regan insisted on helping to decorate her cake. She wanted "fuchsia" frosting. (I wonder where that came from??) She had orginally put strawberries on the top of the cake, but from the time it was decorated until we ate it, they slid off. It still tasted delicious! My mom gave Regan a Diamond Castle Barbie that sings a song and flips her skirt around. So the song from the movie, "I feel connected...." is constantlybeing played and regularly running through my head! Regan absolutely loves her new Barbie and has been pestering my brother, who is staying with us for the summer, to get busy building her barbie house. She had a wonderful birthday, I can't believe my little girl is already four! She is growing up way too fast.

Fancy Nancy Birthday Party

Regan wanted to celebrate turning four by throwing a "Fancy Nancy Birthday Party." Everything at our house has to be like Fancy Nancy these days. She came up with a list of friends to invite. She told Clint that he and Haden were not allowed to come becuase they were boys. Luckily, Savannah was allowed to stay so she could help. We had seven of Regan's friends show up decked out in their finest Fancy Nancy outfits. We decorated glamorous hats, read books, ate fancy food (fruit kebobs and heart shaped pb&j's) and played a dancing game. The girls were great. I think everyone had fun--Regan is already asking if she can have another Fancy Nancy birthday party next year!

The last day of preschool

Thursday was Regan's last day of preschool for the year. She has matured so much since August and her speech has improved tremendously! Her opinions have increased as well...I remember being so worried about how she was going to handle being away from me 4 days a week--she never once cried or was even reluctant to let me leave. Her teachers have been fabulous and have taken such good care of her. We are so lucky that she is going to be able to stay in the same class next year! The picture on the left is the first day of school, the one on the right, the last day of school.

Since Regan has a summer birthday, we celebrated on the last day of preschool. Regan requested Sesame Street cupcakes which turned out very well--the kids loved them! They sang to her and she got to wear a crazy hat that was way too heavy for her little head. She took it off immediately after the picture. She has loved attending preschool and has already been asking when she gets to go back!

Devil's Head

Devil's Head is one of our favorite hikes. It is relatively close, fairly short (Regan hiked it by herself this year!) and the payoff is great! The view from the top is definitely worth it! It feels like you are on top of the world. We made our annual trip last weekend. The trail was really crowded--apparently lots of people had the same idea we had. The hike is always beautiful and I'm always impressed that the cute little man at the top of the fire tower climbs all 143 stairs several times a day.

Regan was so happy that she had earned her card to prove she had made it to the top! By the way, she dressed herself that morning and I figured that, in the mountains, the brighter the better. It would be a lot harder to lose a little girl dressed in bright orange and pink!

I think Haden was just relieved to be out of his backpack!

Our first campout of the year

In an effort to distract Regan from one thing or another, Clint offered to set up the tent in the backyard. Regan LOVES sleeping in the tent, so the distraction was succesful, but the price was rather high. Regan insisted on everyone sleeping in the tent. (I'm still wondering how Savannah got out of it, but she did.) We had to start off with a picnic of pizza. (Regan earned her very own pizza from Pizza Hut by listening to us read books to her. Luckily for Haden, she was very generous with her pizza.) For some reason, both kids eat so much better outside! Both kids also went to sleep very well in the tent, but Haden woke up 5 or 6 times through out the night. Needless to say, I am looking forward to our four day camping trip in a couple of weeks...

Bolder Boulder

On Memorial Day Clint ran his third Bolder Boulder. We left the house around 5:20 so we could make it to the drop off point before Clint's very early 7:04 start time. (There are so many people that run this race that they have many, many waves of runners.) Whoever ever thought that we would hit bumper to bumper traffic on a highway heading into Boulder at 6:20 in the morning? It was crazy! We were able to drop Clint off, find a place to park, dress the kids, and make it to the stadium about 20 minutes before Clint ran into the stadium completing his 6.2 miles. Regan kept watching the hundreds of runners and asking where daddy was and what was taking him so long? After eating her fill of orange rolls and hot chocolate she took over the camera and was perfectly content taking pictures. Haden just wanted to climb up and down the bleachers. Clint did very well, completing the race in 44:22 which, I think, is a personal record. After collecting the free chapsticks, army cups, a flag, and Breyer's strawberry bar we headed home to watch the Memorial Service at home and then everyone crashed for the rest of the day.

Maxwell Falls

Regan wanted to go for a hike today, so she and Clint packed the car so we could leave. We love exploring the mountains around Evergreen. Clint wanted to check out Maxwell Falls again-this time in the spring. A recent review online said that this was the time to go. We went late last summer and the falls were hardly impressive. The directions were not fabulous, and we made the same wrong turns we made last time. (Even though the directions say to stay on Shadow Mountain Rd, don't. Go straight even though Shadow Mountain Rd turns right and the correct road becomes Black Mountain Rd.) After Regan gave Clint a hard time about getting lost once again we found the trail head. It is about a half mile hike down to the falls-the perfect length for Regan and her attention span! The falls were about the same as they were last year. We had a picnic at the top and Clint and Regan played hide and seek. She packed the bags, thus the pink Sleeping Beauty umbrella and the teddy bear. Clint had a hard time finding her when it was her turn to hide! Hmmm, I wonder where Regan could be? Maybe hiding behind the rock? Haden also acquired more battle wounds. He tripped and fell leaving several long scratches across his poor face. Regan decided that she wanted to whack Savannah with a stick she found, but Savannah wouldn't cooperate. Rather than intervening I figured Savannah could take care of herself. Resorting to trickery, Regan yelled to Savannah, asking her if she wanted any candy. Clever thinking on her part-Savannah would want the candy and come close enough for Regan to whack her. Savannah didn't fall for it and Regan was left chasing her yelling, "Savannah, do you want the candy or not?!" All those war movies she watches with Clint are apparently rubbing off!

Firestation field trip

This week was Regan's final preschool field trip. We went to the firestation. I think this was actually my first trip to a firestation as well. (We never went on field trips in elementary school-I vaguely remember some of the firemen coming to our school, but we never went to the firestation.) Haden absolutely loved it; Regan would have been just as happy staying home and watching PBS. She wasn't impressed by the trucks, the firemen, or the search and rescue dog, but she did mention the fireman sliding down the pole several times later that afternoon. Haden loves dogs and had to be dragged away from "Tank." Savannah taught him to say "woof, woof" and now he uses it whenever he sees a dog. He kept holding up the line of kids as they explored the inside of the fire engine. He refused to be hurried and I almost had to go in to get him. The kitchen also fascinated him. They had a monster stove and Haden did a good job of letting me know that he would rather be cooking than listening to the fireman talk about stop, drop, and roll.

The Gift of Life & Breath

Last weekend was Regan's first official 5k race! Originally, Clint, Savannah, & I were all going to run, but Clint is rather competitive and decided he didn't want to push the double stroller because he might accidentally run someone over. So, I walked with Regan and Clint pushed Haden in the single stroller. She did very well! We ran for the first 5 minutes and then the novelty wore off. Somewhere around half way she insisted that she was tired and was walking so slowly that we would have been there all day, so she rode on my back until Clint finished the race, retraced the route, found us and took over. It was also Savannah's first official race and she was pleased with her time, considering she hasn't been running much for the last couple of months. I am not nearly as competitive as either Clint or Savannah, so I was perfectly happy to walk with Regan! (Notice the huge bruise on Haden's forehead...)