Dean Boys part 2

While the Dean boys were visiting, Grandma Willy and Grandpa Mark also came to visit. We all drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a walk around Sprague Lake and a picnic. For a few days before we went Christopher had been telling Connor about how the hills in Ohio were much bigger than our hills but he took that back at some point when we were driving in the mountains :)

Connor, Christopher, Jonathan, Logan


Eating a snack and watching the ducks who quickly swam over to look for crumbs


Christopher and Connor on the trail


The whole group minus me (taking the picture) and Grandma Willy


Connor and Jonathan holding hands


Connor took this picture of Christopher and it makes me smile!



Waiting for us slow pokes

After a picnic lunch we split up with Jeremy, Logan, Willy and Mark heading back to Longmont and the rest of us (me, Ben, Christopher, Connor and Jonathan) continuing up with the goal of reaching the top of Trail Ridge Road.
An elk we saw along the way


Posing at one of the overlooks


We made it above tree line!


We stopped at a bathroom before the top and decided that was good enough to call "the top" given that we were all gasping for breath after each little walk at the overlooks :) It didn't take long for everyone but me to fall asleep on the way back! (I may have taken a picture of Ben sleeping too but I'll save that for later blackmail! haha)

Tomorrow: pictures from the Rockies game!

Dean Boys!

Jeremy's brother Ben and their boys Christopher and Jonathan visited us in June. Sadly Naomi had to go back to work before continuing on to the Colorado part of their vacation but we were glad to have at least the boys! With the two adult boys and the four little ones in this house, though, Bailey and I had to stick together :)
Bailey

It was a VERY busy week with the three oldest boys going to VBS for five nights and Christopher and Connor going to Lego camp five mornings! It seemed like we were constantly on the go but with that many boys under 6 it probably would have felt that way no matter what our plans were :) Here are some pictures from the slower times...
Riding in Connor's jeep


Running in the sprinklers and playing in the backyard (Connor and Christopher)

Logan and Connor in a slide at a local park (the park has a water feature which is why their shirts are off!)


Connor at the top of the rope climbing structure at the same park


Just before eating dinner one night


We also went to Rocky Mountain National Park and a Rockies game but I'll drag this whole story out and make you wait for the pictures :)

Peaceful Valley

On June 7th we went for a hike near Papa and Grandma's house. We weren't sure how far we would make it with the unpredictable weather but we pushed through the graupel* and had a great time! Connor probably hiked about twice as far as the rest of us ("stay on the trail" is such a boring concept!) and Logan only hiked about 5 minutes and rode the rest of the way on Daddy's shoulders.
Taking a break on a big fallen tree


This is one of my favorite pictures so far this summer which is kind of funny since they're wearing jackets and it was about to graupel. :)

* Defined by the handy 9News.com Weather Glossary as "Graupel: Small pellets of ice created when supercooled water droplets coat, or rime, a snowflake. The pellets are cloudy or white, not clear like sleet, and often are mistaken for hail." Yes, it was June 7th :)

Pella Crossing

We've been trying to have a picnic and go on a hike of some sort every weekend since Memorial Day. Well, that worked up until about two weeks ago. More on that later (ooh the suspense).

Anyway, here are some pictures from our walk around the Pella Crossing ponds near Hygiene. This is where Connor and Logan first discovered the joys of rock plooking. Plooking, you ask? Well, plook is the sound that tiny little rocks make when they're thrown in the water when attempting to learn how to skip rocks :)

Did I say tomorrow?

Yeah, I said I'd post the answer to the question below "tomorrow". Well, in my world, tomorrow is a new word for a period of time equal to about three of your old fashioned weeks. :)

Beth was correct with her first guess - Logan and Lachlan are boys; Jaana, Reece, and Elliott are girls. Crazy, huh? Reece isn't too surprising (think Reese Witherspoon, of course) but the spelling with a c is a decidedly male spelling, ranking 415th most popular baby boy name in 2008. In case you care, and cause I took the time to look it up so I must share it, Reese with an s was the 154th most popular baby girl name in 2008 (per the Social Security Administration's baby name site). Elliott on the other hand...I can't explain that one.

I have lots of pictures to post and just no time to do it! Here are a few to whet your appetite and hopefully I'll post more....tomorrow. :) Right.

These were taken on Memorial Day on our hike up Bald Mountain. Surprisingly, it was not named after Jeremy after all. LOL

Bleh...

No posts lately because I have no time and nothing to say anyway.

Furloughs. 'nuff said.

However, Ben and the boys are visiting this week so we're BUSY and my house is overrun with BOYS. Bailey and I are sticking together :)

Here's a fun little riddle for you...

I dropped Logan off at his two morning per week "summer camp" this morning and these were the names of the other children in his class:

Jaana (pronounced Yawn-a, in case you're curious)
Elliott
Reece
Lachlan

Including Logan, how many girls and how many boys were in his class? Answer tomorrow, if I remember to blog :)

School's Out!

Sigh...no posts for almost a month! Work is kicking my butt. Still. It sucks. And there's no end in sight (a good thing or a bad thing? I'm not always sure).

Here's something happier... :)

After just about 5 1/2 years on this Earth, Connor finally got his first official phone number from a girl! For months now his friend Ally has been giving him sweet love notes every single day. They almost always say:

To Connor
From Ally
Love, Ally

And then there's usually a picture of the two of them, or a heart, or a dog (they play some game on the playground about being dog catchers - who knows)

When I picked him up on Monday, he didn't have a note from Ally but mixed in with his art work from that day was a strip of paper with a bunch of numbers on it. At first it didn't occur to me it could be a phone number; I was just confused because the 3s were backwards and Connor's actually pretty good at writing 3s. Then I realized that the 3s had a 0 between them (our area code) but the numbers after them didn't mean anything to me. I asked Connor what it was and he said "I asked Ally to give me her phone number so we can set up dates this summer."

"Dates?!"

"Yeah, playdates, Mom."

Right. PLAYdates. Yeah.
I had to take a picture of it and, though I don't want to show the whole thing online of course, I have to show parts so you can see how cute it is! Click on it to see a larger version!

Since then I've been joking that it took him 5 years to get the first entry in his little black book because he had to meet a girl who both knew her phone number AND could write her numbers :)

Here are some pictures from Wednesday morning before school. We've been walking around the block on the nice mornings before driving to school and the boys have fun collecting roly polys and trying to spot robins :)

Check out their haircuts! I basically shaved their heads last weekend :) They both love their short hair!

So, school's out for the summer! I volunteered to coordinate playdates for the incoming kindergartners at our elementary school. You know, in my spare time. Should be fun, though. And yes, I typed kindergartners, of which Connor will be one in just 10 short weeks. Yikes!

The boys have various activities scheduled throughout the summer too so we'll be busy. Oh and Jeremy's brother Ben and their two boys will be coming to visit next month which we're excited about!

Warm weather!

The weather was gorgeous for most of last week and we took full advantage of it! When we got home from preschool on Wednesday the guy across the street was mowing his lawn for the first time this year. Connor remembered that he usually mows with his shirt off but since he kept his shirt on that day, Connor decided that he and Logan should be shirtless.

They love to pick dandelions and bring them to me :)


Posing

Off the deep end

Connor's swimming has improved a lot lately! Here's a quick video of him jumping off the diving board during swim lessons. Enjoy!

And a picture of him getting ready to dive in...

Signs of Spring

The weather has been beautiful here the last few days, so we've happily resumed eating as many meals outside as possible. As we were eating dinner on the deck tonight, Connor was telling us about the signs of Spring. Think he said the trees budding? The weather getting warmer? Rain instead of snow? No. According to Connor, owies on your knees are the first sign of Spring. :)