First Day of School

School has officially started!  I have a 4th and 2nd grader going today and a kindergartner on Wednesday.

 Elizabeth is starting 4th grade in Mr. Sachs class and we're excited!

 Rachel was super excited and was awake and almost ready for school by the time I woke up to go for my run this morning. Rachel is in Mrs. Elnicki's class.

 Rachel and Ella.  Look at that smile, I think she's excited!

 A little nervous but excited.

Last Days of Summer Break

About a month ago we did swim lessons and here are the pictures from that.  This summer has been unseasonably cool so we didn't get to swim as much as we would have liked. 

Evelyn learned how to float on her back and front and loved playing games with her teacher.Rachel will be ready to move up to the big class doing laps next and Elizabeth learned the breast stroke even better.

Last week it felt like our house was invaded by neighborhood kids and there was a day I just had to get out so we went bowling.

 I wish we could say we went bowling in Hawaii but no they just had these in the entry so we took pictures.

 Another day last week I had to run some errands and we were close to the awesome Centennial park so we stopped to play for an hour.

 The last weekday of summer break I asked the girls what they wanted to do and they just said they wanted a friend over so that's what we did.  Evelyn had her friend Laynie.

 Elizabeth had her friend Courtney (we're sad they're not in the same class together this year)

 Rachel had her friend Ella--they are in the same class this year and starting out sitting next to each other, hopefully some school work gets done among the giggling.

 We made homemade pretzels thanks to a recipe from Alton Brown and crafted away.

 Saturday it was finally a nice hot day (we're actually experiencing summer now that school is back in session) and we were invited to the pool.  Afterwards I tried one of the cucumbers from our garden and this is about all they're good for.

 Eric also had a work party at another bowling place in town so we bowled, played pool, did arcades, and Elizabeth and Eric ripped it up playing Lazer Tag.

 Goodbye summer break, hello scheduled school year!

Hail 1 Plants 0

We got hail yesterday and even though it didn't get much bigger than a marble (when we had the tornado four years ago and major damage it was golf ball size) it was constant for a good 10 minutes.  When I went outside today to assess the damage I was saddened to see this.

Yes, we have a huge pumpkin growing so hopefully the damage was only to the leaves and not the stems so everything can keep growing and repair itself.

Glenwood Springs

Eric has been working crazy hours lately with a looming deadline at work but I'm glad we were able to make a quick weekend getaway to celebrate Eric's birthday weekend.  We chose Glenwood Springs as a lot of our friends really like it and it's only about a three hour drive along the beautiful I-70.

Our view when we stopped for lunch overlooking Lake Dillon

In the distance you can see the 14-ers Gray & Torres that Eric and I hiked a few years ago.

We chose to camp and we were right along the river which was nice during the day.  Across the river though was a railroad track so at night it wasn't so nice with big cargo trains lumbering through three-four times.  Needless to say we didn't stay the 2nd night we were planning on.

 

Teaching the kids about the finer things in life--IBC rootbeer!

Although we didn't make it to the infamous hot springs of Glenwood as the outside temperature was a little too hot to go in a hot spring we made it up to Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park where we had a good time.

Elizabeth on the gondola going up to the park, trying to help her not freak out about the height and the stops along the way.

 Rachel and Evelyn on the gondola

 Phot-Op

 On the ferris wheel

 Our ticket included a tour of the caves and the natural air conditioning felt really good.

 

 Halfway through the tour you go outside for views. See that swing?  We didn't do it.

 That's our campsite in the clump of trees and down by the river

 Look at us!

 Another photo op

 Rachel and I went on this roller coaster where you look down at the beautiful views of Glenwood Springs.  We went on it three times in a row because she couldn't get enough. Grandma, I think you have a roller coaster buddy when we go to Magic Mountain!

 A roller coaster more the size of the little ones.  Evelyn loved it!

 A kiddy ride where you go up and down like on a horsey.

We also did laser tag, alpine slide ride, and a zipline that wasn't very fast.  We went back to camp afterwards and played in the river a little more watching rafters go by.  Heading back home we stopped in Frisco for dinner and enjoyed the downtown atmosphere there.  I don't know what these ski villages are like in the winter as we only frequent them in the summer.

Say Yes to the Dress

Sometimes Netflix can be a curse addicting me to sappy reality TV shows with five seasons ready to watch at once.  The guilty pleasure right now is "Say Yes to the Dress" but I see it as bonding time with my daughters (and occasionally forcing Eric watch and realize how lucky he is to have pretty drama-free me).  I look forward to the day I get to go wedding dress shopping with my three girls, hopefully not at the same time and hopefully not for another 15 years or so.  I just wanted to document where the girls style sense is at the moment and thankfully I have steered them to less expensive and more modest dresses than at Kleinfeld's.

Elizabeth's pick and list of features in "the" dress--a little bit of lace, maybe some beading, rectangle oval or very little train, straight-ish fit.  Here's what we found online:

Rachel also wanted a more straight fit and this was her favorite.

Evelyn is our princess so I'm surprised she isn't asking for the big ballgown but instead likes a more  plain (no beads) mermaid style.