First Day of 1st Grade

Little Miss looses Tooth #5

Little Miss lost tooth #5 today (her bottom left, next to the middle). I came to pick her up from gymnastics camp and she ran over and showed me the empty space :) She had been eating a granola bar for her snack at camp and said that her tooth hurt. She put her hand up to feel why and her tooth fell out in her hand.

The Oleo Ranch 2010

We left Texas this past week for some much needed rest and relaxation (and cooler temperatures) in Colorado at The Oleo Ranch.

We left out of DFW around 9:30am on Saturday morning, August 7th. Drove all day Saturday and stayed the night in Alamosa.

Got up Sunday morning, went grocery shopping at City Market and got on the road. We stopped at a little shop (can't remember the town) that had a live elk and some reindeer before we actually started up the mountain. We bought some elk sausage and some antler tip necklaces for the kids and then checked out the reindeer and the huge elk. Then we headed up the mountin. Just before we went over the Continental Divide we saw a bunch of elk in the valley - many more than we normally see. The kids got out their binoculars (as did we) and we watched them for a bit. We also stopped at North Clear Creek Falls to see the beautiful waterfall which we weren't able to see last year because they were fixing the fence that keeps you from falling off the cliff :)

On Monday the kids and Ryan went fishing in the stream and then later at the ponds while I stayed at the cabins and painted my rocks. I also played a bit of Quiddler with my mom, sister, and mother in law. The kids also finally got to do their "dino fossil dig" activity that I bought and it was a hit!

*Ryan and the kids before they went fishing and Little Miss and Little Man out in the streams*

*Little Man fishing the ponds and Little Miss helping Gramps with his fish. *

*The Great Fossil Dig 2010 - Little Man had his open in abour 3 minutes but Little Miss took her time and really tried to be as slow and patient as a real paleontologist*

Tuesday was Lake City day. On the way down the mountain to town we passed a guy riding a unicycle down the mountain. We stopped at a scenic overlook a little ways down and the unicycle guy ended up stopping there as well. Turns out he was a member of a unicycle group and was unicycling over all of the major mountain passes in Colorado - I believe he said there were 32 and he was on #30. It was great getting to talk to him. We hung around Lake City for a couple of hours. We did some shopping and then hit up our favourite ice cream shop in town. On the way up the mountain Ryan spied some wild raspberries so we stopped to pick a few.

*Me and Little Miss -Here is how we do our hair in the mountains :) -Us at the Scenic Overlook*

*The Unicycler - Lara and I - Ryan and Little Man "They're watching us" *


*My little Rock Hound (I love geology so I'm so excited that she is a fossil and rock lover!)- The Boys ready to fish - Ryan picking raspberries *

Wednesday was definitely fishing day. Wednesday night is Fish Fry night so we needed to make sure that we had caught enough fish to feed everyone. Ryan, the kids and I headed down to the stream to catch dinner. On the way to the streams and on the way back up we stopped by the barn to love on the horses. No luck for us catching fish but everyone else had caught enough over the last couple of days that we only had one fish left at the end of the meal! After dinner we all loaded into the car around dusk and headed down to the valley to look for elk. We came upon the most elk we'd ever seen. They were grazing and "talking" to each other. Kids loved it!

On Thursday we headed down to Creede. On the way down to Creede we stopped to do a small hike up to a pretty waterfall. It was the first time the kids have done a "hike" before. Then it was down the mountain to Creede for some shopping and FABULOUS maple fudge :) Before leaving town we took the kids up to see the old mines which are always incredible to see. Once back at the ranch we took the kids to the ponds for some spinning rod fishing. Little Man reeled one in for Ryan and Little Miss got her boot stuck in the mud. Back at the cabin it was our last night there after dinner we busted out the glow stick bracelets. Then it was time for bed because we had a long day of driving on Friday!

*Little Miss & Little Man on the hike - Little Man hiking with his hiking stick - The waterfall we hiked to see*

*Ryan and Little Miss checking out the waterfall - Little Miss and I through the trees*

*The old mines in Creede - Ryan and Little Man fishing - Me taking pictures of my family*

Friday morning we headed out for Lubbock. We drove through some major storms just north of Lubbock and took some beautiful sunset and rainbow pictures. We got into Lubbock around 9:30pm and headed straight to Mamarita's for some of their FABULOUS chips and queso!

Saturday was Texas Tech day! We drove through campus and reminised - took pictures with the kids and played in the fountain. Then we hit up a couple of our favourite stores to get the kids (and us) some Texas Tech gear :) Before we left town we met up with one of my college girlfriends, Brit, and her family to have lunch and catch up. We're thinking that we might come back to Lubbock for a football game this season and so that the kids can visit Brit's kids and check out their farm! We left Lubbock around 330pm and got into DFW around 9:30pm. Kids did great this trip and we were happy that Lara and Ryan came this time too!

Waco Road Trip

What an exhausting and fabulous day :)

We headed south to Waco this morning to meet our friends from Austin for a fun filled afternoon at the museum. We met at 11am at the Collin Street Bakery to fill our tummies with lunch and some of their yummy cookies and then it was on to visit the Mayborn Museum.

Our main purpose for the trip was to visit the Lego Castle Adventure exhibit. It was really amazing. There were building stations for old and young, dragons, knights, and even stained glass made completely out of legos, and the kids favourite - a computerized catapult.
After taking in our fill of the Lego exhibit we hit the rest of the museum. We spent 5 hours exploring the 17 themed Discovery rooms which included the Water and Bubbles Room, the Health Room, the Energy Room, and the People of the World Room. It was definitely worth the drive. Super fun summer day!