Camping #2

 After a good nights' sleep and a hearty breakfast, the camp woke up!  They guys were all going to head out to ride and it was a beautiful morning!!

Here's Gary and Evan all set to ride on their new bikes!

Kenzie decided to ride AND drive with Papa and even Jaime decided to head out with Brad too so it was just Jessi, Gwyn and I left at the camp!

We did some reading, had some coffee, played some games inside and out and before we knew it, they were all back in!   Here's another photo of Gary and Evan!

It must be Happy Hour in our trailer!

And somehow, we all fit! Even Kona!

Dinner than night was taco stew - we set it up on the table outside of Jaime's place again and it worked out just fine!  Evening time found a few of us walking down to the aspen grove again just to see if the moose was there but he wasn't!  Cute picture of Kona though!

The campfire was a success once again - this time Jessi had the perfect marshmallow!

Can you tell it was a little chilly out that evening?  We put the color packets on the flame and enjoyed the pretty colors once again!

Gwyn slept on the folded down couch in our trailer that night - she stayed plenty warm and was happy about that!!

Monday a few of them went for a ride again and after lunch we all packed up except for Gary and Evan, who were staying another night!  It was another bumpy ride out to the highway but then it's only 45 minutes to our place - one of the reasons we LOVE going to Buffalo Peaks!

What a great camping trip with most of the family!

Family Camping - Buffalo Peaks

 Glenn and I were excited when Jessi texted and asked us if we wanted to go camping with them over at Buffalo Peaks!  YES - we did!  And then we found out Jaime had the weekend off and so we turned it into a mini family camping, knowing that Jill, Aleah and Parker would be in New Orleans at the National Youth Group Gathering!  We did invite Robby but he was super busy with work so opted not to come down!

Plans were for Jaimes' and Glenn and I to head over early Friday morning - due to the weekend, we knew it would get super busy over there and wanted to make sure we could get a campsite big enough for 3 sets of people!

But unfortunately, Glenn went to bed with bad stomach cramps and I was the same that night - 1:30 came and then I was basically up the rest of the night, sick as a dog!  DANG!  By early morning I was done with all the stomach issues but was so weak that I knew I couldn't go camping that day!  So Jaime's headed over and even on a Friday morning, all the good spots were taken!  They did find a place big enough for all of us but it was pretty uneven - still better than nothing!

We headed over early Saturday morning - took a while to get the 5th wheel leveled but Glenn managed to get it done and then we headed out for a ride!

It was fun ATVing with the Smiths as we hadn't done that in a long time!!  The weather was gorgeous and the scenery spectacular!

I always love this view overlooking Buena Vista!

The Keppys' arrived not long after we got back - Evan had to work and Kenzie had a party Sat. evening so they were coming together early Sunday morning!  We were really hoping Kylan would have gotten the day off so he could come over and ride also but that didn't happen.....

I guess we're having happy hour here - Jessi made a corn dip which was excellent!

Brats, hot dogs and salads were on the agenda for dinner that evening!  We ate up around Jaime's trailer since that was where the fire pit was!

Jaime wanted to take us down across the road to see this stand of aspens so a few of us walked down - Jessi just happened to turn and look down towards the creek and there was a bull moose just standing there looking at us!!!  OH MY GOSH!!  We were all SO excited!  This had been on Jessi's bucket list forever and here it was standing right there - luckily I had my camera with me!!

Back up to the campfire for marshmallow roasting - I had found the LARGE marshamallows and oh gosh did everyone have fun roasting them!

As you can see, it was VERY dry at Buffalo Peaks - apparently they're not getting the nice rains that we are at our place!  

Here's Jaime showing us the PERFECT roasted marshmallow!  And then the girls would pull off the crunchy outside and eat it and roast it again!

Jessi also had a patient tell her about these colored tablets that you put in the fire for color - her Walmart didn't have them but mine did and I actually found them - oh gosh it made the fire pretty and we had enough for both nights!

I think everyone slept pretty darn good that first night!  Gwyn did get cold so she opted to sleep in our 5th wheel the next night as we had plenty of room!!  To Be Cont'd.....

It's All About Gwyn

 Gwyn was excited to be done with family pictures AND lunch - why???  Because she was coming home with us for a couple of nights!!  It wouldn't be as long as some years when she comes down but due to time constraints, this is the best we could do!

We had a quick stop (right - is ANY stop a quick stop??) in Co Springs so Gwyn could get a smoothie and I could get a caramel frappe!  Papa wanted a malt so he could drive at the same time -  nope - this McDonald's doesn't serve malts so had to get him a sundae!!  It took FOREVER!

Gwyn quickly changed her shorts for pants and put on a sweatshirt when she got to our house - the temps are sure different in the mountains than in Denver!

I went to get a pack of cards to play the 8 game and realized that I had NOT used the deck of cards I had bought in Greece - WOW - the cards are absolutely beautiful!!  (more on that in another post)

Papa took Gwyn for a ride in the razor - and yes, she got to drive!

Gwyn gets to pick her 2 dinner meals and I ALWAYS know in advance what she wants:  1 night is fish and the other night is cheeseburger soup!  She watched Papa cook the fish out on the deck!

Papa decided to get in on the 8 game later on that evening!  I'm sure I can legally say that I have played that game way over 100 times with the grandkids - and yet Papa said he had NEVER played it!!!!  HMMMMMMMMM!

Gwyn and I BOTH had fun when I got out the tub of outside toys - we had started doing contests last year on how many times we could click the ball up and catch it!  And yes, Gwyn always beats me!

This may be the LAST year that Gwyn gets to swing!  All the other kids are too tall now and this year we realized that her feet drag on the rock if she doesn't lift them a little!  Makes me sad!!

Papa insisted that Gwyn come out so he could show her how the log splitter worked - I'm not sure she was impressed - HA!

Last year when Gwyn was here, I took her up to Mike's house as they had a new puppy and she had so much fun with it - well this is the puppy now, all grown up!!  Gwyn enjoyed throwing the ball and watching Zeb retrieve it!

Cocoa and coffee and cinnamon rolls - YUM!

And one last picture of the two of us (excuse the gray side - who knows????) before we head to CS to meet Jessi!

We met Jessi at Chapel Hills Mall and saw "Lilo and Stitch" - cute movie and a perfect show to enjoy with Jessi's free popcorn and drink for HER birthday!!

It was a fun but short time with Gwyn and hopefully next year will be a little longer!

Family Pictures

 I'd been waiting for YEARS for this day - FAMILY PICTURES!!!  We hadn't taken them for 6 years and oh my gosh, all the grandkids had changed SO MUCH!

Comparing schedules for the summer was ridiculous with 4 families - and it FINALLY came down to 1 day that would work, as long as 3 kids could change their work schedule, which they did!

We met early on a Sunday morning up in Denver as Jessi has a photographer friend that she uses - that way kids could get to afternoon work if they needed to!  Choosing a place to take them wasn't too hard as a couple of the pretty parks are SO BUSY with people that it's just not possible and feasible to take pictures there so we ended up at 17 Mile Park - this place is an old homestead and has some cool buildings including a red barn and a windmill BUT the sun was out in full force that morning so we took to the trees and that was perfect!

Here are just a few of the dozens of pictures to choose from:

I have to admit that out of all the pictures, the one above is my absolute favorite!!  Daughters ARE SO VERY SPECIAL!!!!!

Everyone was starving afterwards so we divided into 2 different groups to stop and pick up fast food:  Slim Chickens and Chipolte!!  Then we all met back at Jessi's house to eat!  SO FUN!!

It was such a perfect day to all be together!  FAMILY IS EVERYTHING!

July Celebrations

 Celebration time for many of us!! And starting off the month was of course the 4th of July which is Robby and Jill's anniversary and Aleahs birthday!  This year she was turning Sweet 16 and Jill decided to throw her a surprise party at a clubhouse - she planned it SO well and I sure loved all of her ideas!  Jessi and Kenzie drove up to be part of it and the party turned out awesome!

It was a "dress up" party and Kenzie and Aleah looked SO CUTE in their dresses - and I LOVE the fact that even when they're dressed up, they wear their tennis shoes!

Cutest cupcakes ever!  Can you guess that "pink" was the signature color?

And back at home, opening her special gifts!

Robby and Jill opened their anniversary cards - what a celebration day for all of them!

Most of the kids went to see fireworks on the 4th - we opted to just stay home and actually watched a cool show with a lot of 80's country artists which we both enjoyed AND watched the spectaular fireworks at Washington DC!

Next up was Jessi's birthday on the 10th!  She had a wonderful day with gifts and ice cream!

And on the the 13th, it was Jill's and my birthday!  We do enjoy spending our birthdays together but it just hasn't worked out the last couple of years!  Jill went out with a friend to see an 80's rock band at a park so she had a wonderful time too!

And then there's me - no, this isn't a picture of me - HA!  My brother and his wife came into town on my birthday so we enjoyed cocktail hour together and I fixed a nice meal!  It was great to see them!

No picture of me - when you're the one always behind the camera, it just never happens!!  Glenn and I did go out to eat on Saturday night at a new "pub" in town - it was packed though so ended up eating at the bar which is never as comfortable as a table but the food was excellent!  I think next year I'll go all out and take a selfie........

June Photo Dump

 It's JULY!!  Our busy birthday month with 4 birthdays and an anniversary to celebrate!  But first let's wrap up June!

If it's summer, it's construction time in Colorado!  For a couple of weeks if you wanted to get to Co. Springs, you had 3 different construction zones to get through!!  Road work down to one lane between Divide and Florissant for rail guard work - complete standstill on the picture below due to installing a longer turn lane in Divide for traffic going to Cripple Creek so the usual turn lane was shut down (this was an absolute nightmare as the people turning couldn't turn because oncoming traffic was coming from Florissant to Divide so sometimes only 4 or 5 cars could get through the light going straight) - OMG - I sat for over 20 minutes trying to get through!!! And the last construction site was on the pass to Co. Springs as they had one side completely shut down as they were doing rock mitigation!!  Thankfully we're down to only 1 construction now!

Yes, that's a tornado in Teller County - my friend Beth sent me this as we were driving home from Denver!!  She lives in Divide in the Sherwood Forest subdivision - luckily no major damage, just a lot of downed trees!

The POA held its' annual Dumpster Days one weekend - Glenn always works the first morning (to get all the cool free stuff - ha!!) and we actually ordered 3 dumpsters this year instead of 2!  But as fate would have it, we didn't have many people stop by with trash so we only filled 2 of the dumpsters!

We did have a nice turnout at the BBQ that day but SO many leftovers!!  This is basically 1/3 of the leftovers we had!!

We were thrilled to have Glenn's sister Sherry along with her daughter and family join us for a late afternoon dinner and evening - they were playing tourists in Colorado along with a Red Rocks concert!  We had a fun evening with the 2 kids who are so cute and fun to be around!  They are all definitely welcome to come again when they're back in Colorado!

The latter part of June means it's time to get the POA homeowners' bills ready to mail in July!  It's always a big job to do but this year I did it with a smile on my face as it's my LAST year to be treasurer - so this was my LAST billing!  My treasurer duties will be done at the end of August which is the close of our fiscal year!  

And that's a wrap for June!