Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Colorado

The whole family loaded up in the car the day we moved out with our good friend Brad Gilbert and headed to Colorado. The boys really did great in the car. I was a little nervous about that... There were lots of movies watched (or actually just the same couple of movies repeatedly).

The boys had a ball. They did things they don't normally get to do, like play outside in their jammies, stay up super late, eat a bun with mustard for dinner...

The ZOE kids went every morning to do fun activities like mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, snow sliding, and kayaking. The boys and I stayed at the camp and played with our friends the Hunters. We had a great time. The boys got super dirty every day. Noah thought the camp was Colorado... It was very cute!

There was not a lot of sleeping that went on while we were there. One night, Greg stayed with boys so I could go to the meeting. He said he had dosed off. When he woke up, John was standing in his bed and the boys were yelling back and forth and laughing.

On Wednesday evening, Greg flew home for a meeting. He flew back Thursday evening and then we hopped in the car on Friday morning to head home.


John with his two favorite things: hippo and a water bottle.


Noah playing hockey at 6am in his jammies


John following Noah around at 6am in his jammies


Taking an early morning "hike"


Noah doing a little rock climbing


Playing in the dirt - check out the nose

The day the ZOE kids went snow sliding, we went too. We drove and drove and drove. Then the bus just pulled off on the side of the road. Shelly and I looked at each other and discussed how we had envisioned a parking lot and some flat, safe areas for the kids. But, as was the theme of the week, we made the best of it! Initially, we thought maybe the kids could slide down, but once we saw the mountain, we decided it was much to steep for the them. So, they played along side of the road. They had a blast!


Heading off the play


So excited!


Sliding down on his bottom


Loving the snow


Having a snack


Playing with his snowball


Avery, Atley, and Noah


Loving each other...so sweet


Canon and Noah playing air hockey


Noah and Uncle Brad checking out the elk


Making a wide pass around the elk


Me and the boys


This sign was outside the area we had just walked through. Our friend, John Orf, was telling us where to go to see the elk. He said, "See that sign that says 'Danger?' That's where you want to go."

Noah following John on the yellow line



The whole group

The morning we left, there was a kickball tournament. The little kids played too. Noah kicked a home run.


Kicking the ball


Rounding the bases


Crossing Home


2nd Home Run


Playing in the park


Just hanging out


John with his buddy Champ (who broke out with chicken pox while we were there...poor little guy)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Big Fish, Little Fish


(Noah wouldn't hold his fish, but he caught the one Greg is holding.)

Cicadas...Ugh!

At the end of May, the cicadas started to appear... When I saw the first one, I showed Noah and we talked about it. Then I realized they were literally everywhere! We could hardly walk through the grass without stepping on them. It was a little disgusting. Eventually they got so noisy it was miserable to be outside. When I was a kid, I collected the skins. Kind of disgusting! My mom said she did too when she was a kid. Noah didn't collect them, but he liked to knock them off with a stick.

I captured nearly every stage of the icky cicadas shedding their skins. They're nearly all gone, thankfully! There are a few still hanging around.










Moving...

It's been a bit of a whirlwind, but we've moved... It was bittersweet. It's exciting to be building a new house. It was also sad to leave the house we brought our babies home to. Noah and John were quite the helpers with the packing... John unpacked the boxes as fast as I could pack them. It was a little counterproductive. Noah just started packing whatever he could get his hands on.






We decided we needed to get everything moved out of the house before we left for the Colorado trip with ZOE. It was very wise, but it was a little stressful at the time. (But isn't moving always stressful??) Greg and I had moved lots of boxes and small stuff to the storage unit before anyone came to help. Then Saturday morning, the boys arrive to load up the rest. That morning we got nearly everything moved out. That night, we left for Colorado... After we got home from Colorado, we cleaned and moved out the few remaining things. Last Thursday, we closed on the house. So we are officially homeless.

Last night in the "old" house