Rocky Mountain National Park

Pretty cool that the kids got to see an Elk up close like this.

 Charlie had a great hike around Bear Lake in the backpack.

Needing to go Potty and no one wanting to go into the "outhouse" bathrooms available.  YUK!! We survived with no accidents :)

Graham was a little disappointed by our first semi-flat hike so we were excited that he was going to love hiking when we got to Vail.  Not the case, but more on that later.

Here is our pet chipmunk we discovered.  He never moved.

Rock climbing.

Nicky's in Estes Park, CO

        

We flew in at 1:00 Mountain time and drove up to Estes Park where we stayed in this cozy little cabin for just one night.  

 We were nestled in between two tall mountains and had a great a wonderful view or a creek.  Mary Virginia was so cute, she was scared of the mountains.  I suppose it is weird to see mountains for the first time when you are only 3 years old and have never seen them.  It never crossed my mind to            show her some pictures and explain what they are before we left. 

 There was a putting green located conveniently in front of our cabin.  Graham and PawPaw were out there for quite a while before while Michael and I ran to the grocery store and to pick up dinner.  

Leaving for Colorado

In August we loaded up the kiddos and flew to Colorado.  Michael and I had just been itching to get out west and decided we might as well do it.  Everybody was so excited to fly and head someone new. 

Getting all of our wiggles out before we hit the 2 and half hour flight.

No a tear or grumble was to be heard from this sweet boy.  What a great first flight Charlie!

Our first family canoe trip

For Michael's birthday, we took Graham and Mary Virginia canoeing for the first time while sweet Charlie got to stay with a sitter.  They were so excited to wear their "river shoes".  We were kind of last minute in our planning so we didn't get out to the river until lunch time and hence, no naps were taken. I was a little leery of this plan but it all worked out and we had a blast.  We drove out past Bellevue to the Narrows of the Harpeth.  So fun!

Already breaking into the fun snacks I brought and we haven't even stepped into the boat.

Don't think you will catch me i this murky water.  I didn't even want my kids in it for fear of water moccasins and such wildlife.  EEEkkkkk!!!!

We had a science lesson while we were out there.  Graham spotted this fresh water muscle at one of our resting places.  It was 

So interesting to we city folk.

This little one was pooped before we even got onto the interstate.  Notice the spoon and peanut butter. 

Happy Birthday Michael!!

Odds and ends

This summer was Graham's first time to experience camp.  We started the summer off with an All Sports camp at FRA and had a fun two week camp at Sequioa where he learned how to play tennis and 

perfected his freestyle stroke.  To end the camp, he and Michael camped out for the first time.  I lucked up and found a battery operated fan at Wal-mart for them.  The weather was no less than 100 degrees previously in the day.  

Chubs had a mohawk after bath tonight.

Graham was so excited that he could feed Charlie a bottle on this particular night.  He is in love with his baby brother.  Mary Virginia is coming around :)

Wow, we have a child that will actually eat baby food and table food!!!

The beginning of a legend.

Charlie had fun in Sissy's sunday worship (ETC) class this morning.  It was our Sunday to serve so we took him in the room with us.

Some random artwork we completed today.

Silly.

Charlie loves crawling under our coffee table and pulling the magazines apart.   We have had a few tears as he bumps his head on the edge. 

The kids have discovered trimming the monkey grass with safe scissors.  So funny how they are "helping" Michael with yard work.