Grandpa Bruce Visits

It's always fun to spend time with Grandpa Bruce when he comes to town, and he always does a good job of jumping right into whatever the boys are doing when he's here. 

During his dad's last visit, Brent had the great idea of going on a family hike up at Brainard Lake.  Apparently, we weren't the only ones with that bright idea, however, so we couldn't park close enough to the lake to see the actual body of water that the boys were hoping to see.  But we took a beautiful, meandering hike through the trees, nonetheless, and it was lovely.

Here's a great shot of Grandpa Bruce with the boys.  One of their main missions on our hikes is to find viable walking sticks that suit them both well.  Gavin snuck one of his last ones into the trunk of our car. 

Cherry Picking by the Pound

We have this very large cherry tree in our back yard and it usually produces some good cherries.  Several years ago we even lost about a third of the tree to an early snow storm that broke one of the main trunks off of it, but it has continued to thrive.  I also seem to remember in years past that the birds and bugs got to them really early, but this year year it was different for some reason.  We had lots of good cherries so Gavin helped us pick quite a few of them.

As you can see, after a while he had picked this huge bowl full and Tara eventually cleaned them out and made a nice home made cherry pie from all his labor.  She did forget to get a cherry pitter though and had to squeeze out all of the seeds by squishing them which made for a long day of cooking.

Who's Missing a Front Tooth?

Although it isn't his first lost tooth, it seems like an important one with his front tooth now missing.  What is funny is that he has a gap on the same side on the bottom as the one he lost on the top.  He is kind of lopsided.  It was wiggly for what seemed like an eternity, but we finally wrangled it out there.  Off to the tooth fairy again, it seems!

Moffat Tunnel Hike - Part 2 of 2

It's so great to have a few places--the mountains being one of those--wherein the boys can really run WILD! They found this giant rock next to the trail on the way back and were happy to test out their real rock climbing skills.

We were able to capture this picture with Brent and the boys , though it seemed safer to add a supportive hand to ensure nobody fell off the rock.

This pictures shows the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel where we began and also ended the hike.  The tunnel is still in use to this day by trains crossing the continental divide.  Some clouds and misty rain started to creep in at the end of our hike, so it was good that we were able to end when we did.  It really was a nice enjoyable day in the mountains for us all.

Moffat Tunnel Hike - Part 1 of 2

Nice shot, Babe!  We've seen some beautiful flowers on our hikes this summer.  It's been fun to teach the boys about the Colorado state flower: the lovely columbine.  They've been especially interested in the part about NOT being able to pick columbines. 

One of Brent's brilliant ideas this summer was letting the boys carry the Camel Bak.  Gavin had been marveling at the people carrying backpacks that appeared to be full of water!  The cutest moments on our hikes are when Gavin stands still long enough to let Gage drink from the hose on the Camel Bak. 

I love this picture!  What twins we had on the trail that day!  Gavin is often at his best when he's hiking in the mountains, much like his mama.

I think we took this one ourselves.  Not bad...

I'm so thankful that we hiked a bunch this summer as a family.  It was so fun to have Brent with us instead of working hard in grad school.  We're all really glad that he's done with his MBA! 

Swimming lessons...

We finally bit the bullet this summer and enrolled both kids in swimming lessons at the Colorado Swim School.  It's conveniently located about 5 minutes from our house, and we went to check it out (the mysterious swimming pool put in next to Hobby Lobby) and were impressed with the program and instruction.  We wasted too much time and money at cheaper rec center lessons with no results (and this is the story of so many families we've talked to), so it was time to sign the boys up for something legit and hope for some real results.

Every new student in the program comes every day for a 30 minute lesson for the first two weeks, and after that students are encouraged to continue coming twice a week.  Our boys made so much progress in those first two weeks!  And they both loved their instructors, which really helped, too. 

So we did every day lessons for the two weeks in June, came twice a week in July and moved to once a week in August.  They teach the kids, especially in Gage's age group, to flip on their backs and float.  We have appreciated the emphasis on safety and good strokes.

Gage loved his teacher, and she left to take a different job shortly after Gage's lessons, so we're thankful we had her instruction when we did.  He has become so much more comfortable in the water since June! 

Gavin still loves a clean room...

"Atta boy!"  Check out Gavin's super clean room.  He really thrives on keeping it clean most of the time, and I know how Brent has a special appreciation for this this trait of Gavin's.  It really is neat to see how much pride he takes in organizing his stuff and keeping his space tidy. 

Brotherly love...

Here's another moment of brotherly love captured at our house, because we assume that people would rather see moments like this than ones with a bunch of yelling and fighting.  Am I right?  Please tell me that they will outgrow the constant fighting.  This wasn't my experience with my brother (ever!), so it's all foreign and frustrating for me.