Colorado Springs, CO...so much fun!

We had a blast at the pool!

So hard to time sliders

Trampoline time was fun too!

Again, hard to time to get just the right picture.

Our favorite was....The Garden of the Gods.  

From what I am told, the rocks look different in various light, but whenever you see them, they are magnificent!

LOOK....an actual family picture!

Hiking, climbing, what more could we ask for?

She got hot, but loved hiking with us!  She is now on a glucosamine & chondronitin regimen with aspirin as needed. It's not easy getting old.

Such enthusiasm to see his sister, even though they weren't even separated.

There is real rugged hiking, there is paved hiking, we did both. The option of horseback riding will be a future event. for you mountain bikers, you're welcomed too at this city park of Colorado Springs. 

Liberal Kansas

This is Dorthy's house, in Liberal Kansas.  They have a huge museum dedicated to the Wizard of Oz in this small town, unfortunately it was about 5pm on a Sunday when we got there.  However, we could walk around outside and play on a playground they had.

Look at these Munchkins, aren't they adorable?

Great place to stop and stretch our legs, run around, and maybe next time, the museum will be open!

The Third of July

When in Iowa, that means a very good chance of fireworks at the farm if it is around the Fourth of July.  No exception this year! And a great show was once again put on.  Of course Sweetness did not care for them, she really does not like loud noises.  Kjetil cheered for them, while crying scared of the noises, so we spent some time inside, with the dogs -who were shaking like it was the end of the world.

It is hard to tell just how filthy he was in this picture...sweaty, covered in dirt and food...I think my sister-in-law nearly had a heart attack over how dirty I let him get. I did give him a bath shortly after this picture was taken.

Big stuff...she wanted to help down on the dike with the big fireworks

She was a bit hesitant after picking up a hot stick. She had a very very minor finger burn that after some cool water she was fine, but more cautious.

 

And just so my sister-in-law doesn't have another heart attack, he only got glow sticks, which he was happy with, but fully aware he was not getting the cool sparklers

Pictures never do justice.

The Kindergarten Adventure!

Five years ago, I had her six months baby pictures taken:

Today, was CJ's first day of Kindergarten:

Is it time yet?

There she goes....There they go....She's off to Kindergarten!

The general report: she had fun and can't wait for tomorrow.

A Favorite thing, Horses at the farm

 Say hello to Babe, Jack and Sprite

Friendly sort of horses that love carrots and even just nuggets of crab apples which must be very sour

Once CJ got on, we could not get her off, and all hesitation disappeared!

Sweetness riding with Aunt JoJo, what could be better?

He could think of a few things he'd rather do.

We said our goodbyes and loaded into the van...

Babe needed to say good bye again

Wait, are those silly horses trying to come home with us?

Babe, did you need something? Oh yea, that would be our apples she's trying to help herself to.

Horses love apples so much, they'll climb right into a van for them...well maybe not...but Sweetness sure thought they might! She was a good sport having 2 horse heads on top of her and her strapped in.

Trinadad Colorado, July 10, 2010

The BRIGHTEST rainbow we have ever seen.  It was actually a double rainbow, but the second one is hard or nearly impossible to see in the picture.

It gave us a great moment to talk about God's promise with the rainbow. Only a moment, but it was a wonderful sight to start the next hour of adventure off right.

We had about 10 miles to go before we would be entering New Mexico. Ten miles of mountainous roads.  Ten miles of promised beautiful scenery and lots of signs for moose, deer and bears.  We did not see any of those things.

It took us an HOUR to go those ten miles.  After snapping the picture of the rainbow, we headed up the hill and a camper pulling a vehicle threw a rock at my windshield, thinking I didn't want to buy a new windshield after all we have recently replaced on the van, (but that is for another day), I moved over to pass. As I was side by side I got hit again, and again and noticed the "gravel" on the  interstate..and as the rain became heavier, and the road became icy, we realized it was not rocks, but hail. I slowed down and pulled back behind the camper.

That would be piles of hail along the side of the road. Sweetness really can not stand loud noises, and before we got the the second mile and before the hail got bigger, louder and heavier, she passed out and slept until we got to New Mexico. Imagine listening to that for an hour, and this was before it got really bad.

Thinking that this is great fun.

The temperature dropped 40 degrees when we hit the cold front, and easily climbed back the 40 degrees once we were across the border.

Around mile 6 or 7 we turned on the radio to see if we could hear any specific weather reports. It was incredibly loud in the van, the hail was mostly pea - bean size hail, but there was a short period of marble size hail.  The radio reported flash floods possible...well we had seen water running across the road in a couple of spots, in fact we could see how the water was washing out below the road next to us.  Not exactly a comforting sight when on a mountain road. Radio also mentioned mud and rock slides possible...again, not what one wants to hear and a great motivator to keep moving and try and get out of there before the road washes away, or the mountain side comes down on top of you.

About a mile later, as I was descending a very steep incline on a very icy road I saw ahead something in the right lane and noticed that the truck a head of me went around it.

That would be a very large boulder, and several smaller ones that aren't pictured, littering the interstate. Again a motivator to get out of the area and not pull over and let the storm pass...seemed equally dangerous at the time. That boulder was going to require equipment to get moved off the road.  If weather conditions had been better, I'm sure Eric would have gladly jumped out to do a size comparison, and while I think he was taller than the boulder, not by much.

Sweetness still sleeping and the other two having a great time playing roller coaster and squealing in delight.  Mommy was not as appreciative of these extra and extra loud noises at this particular time as she may have been at another time.

Alternating plugging each ear to get some relief from the hail buckets dropping on the van.

NEW MEXICO IN SIGHT!

A very welcomed sight! 

The only thing that could have made it better, another rainbow

What great conversation God gave us, oh and an opportunity to build character.

And two days later, once home, CJ's journal entry was this:

Summer's Great Adventures

Next Sunday, we will be preparing for the first day of Kindergarten.  Sadly, our summer vaction is nearly over.  If your's still has weeks left, enjoy them, and for the rest of what you may call summer, I will visit some of our incredible adventures we have had in our short 7 week school break.

At first I thought I might call this series, Some of our Favorite Things, but then as various situations, events, and adventures happened, it became apparent that they would not fall under that catagory.  So, this is my introduction to the next several posts, I have no idea how many, that will fall under the general title of Summer's Great Adventures....which will include our favorites along with everything else.  Also, I may share them in no real particular order.

I have five weeks of pictures to get uploaded, and we still need to make the last leg of our trip to home today, and there is a flood watch/advisory/warning along with more thunderstorms coming, right through our travel path...no matter what has been thrown at us thus far, we have made it safely and with good humor, and intend to finish our trip today that way. However, if the roads are flooded closed, it will be tomorrow before we get to unpack, sort, and chill out on our back patio. Then I will look to getting this series going.