School is Cool

 We are officially back to school!! Trey is in 2nd Grade and although he claims school is "ruining" his life he seems pretty excited to have a little brother at "his" school!

 Kaden is in Kindergarten and could not be more excited. I thought for sure he would be a little bit nervous, nope not even a little! On the first day he was ready to go an hour before school started and when I went to pick him up that afternoon he came running out and said, "Mom, I did so good today I didn't even have to go to the office!"

Miss Avrey wants so badly to keep up with her brothers and was more than a little upset when she did not get out of the car at the school. I guess I gave her false hope by getting her a backpack! Opps!

Rocky Mountain High...For Real

Sunset on Long's Peak from our Campground at Moraine Valley within Rocky Mountain National Park. Jeff's family took a "tour" of the Rockies, and we met up with them for a few days of camping. This was our view for three days...we suffered through it.

 We ventured out to some high mountain lakes, and did some hiking, of course. Trey and Avrey at Bear Lake, with the silly face on full display.

Captain Kaden ready for the hike to Alberta Falls.

Avrey with Gram and Grandpa making their way up the trail.

Hopping a few rocks on the way to the falls.

Quite nice up there, although we couldn't leave soon enough as the trail went along shear cliffs next to falls, pretty...yes...terrifying with children...yes

Avrey just having fun in the outdoors!

Jeff's brother Derek, and Trey enjoying Jeff's famous dutch oven sweet chili, yes...it's delicious.

Getting the fire ready for some smores! Just can't beat that view, quite amazing.

Kaden telling "scary stories" over a great campfire.

Trey...not tired.

Avrey and Grandpa out for a little morning stroll together.

Who doesn't love pancakes in the mountains?? Especially when it's made on Jeff's new camping "toy" that he probably would have just boiled water on all day had we let him.

Still can't escape golf, even when camping. Apparently rocks serve as a great substitute for Titleist.

Trey thought he was cool to get his head wet in the creek on the way to Alberta Falls...

Until we got to Alluvial Fan. This is a waterfall formed when a dam up above broke in the early '80's pushing an obscene amount of giant bolders down the hill.  The creek was a great place for the kids to splash and play around, they had a blast.

When the creek is created from glacier melt...it's gonna be cold!

Trey wanting to be with the big boys and going under all of the way. Like a champ he didn't hold back. Jeff said it brought back memories of George Costanza..."I was in the pool!"

Still trying to decide which of these mammals is the "wild" one.

Mom and Avrey with a great view behind them from Sprague Lake.

One night it rained enough that we couldn't sit by the fire. So, we improvised and took shelter in the tent trailer and spent time visiting and consuming way too many calories.

We thought three days in the wild would be rough, but it was just the opposite. We really didn't want to leave, and are grateful for the memories we made in such a beautiful setting.

Go Broncos!

 Jeff called on his way home from work today and told me to meet him at the Broncos practice facility (just a few miles from our house) with Trey since the team was still practicing in the afternoon. Of course, Trey was star struck that he was watching the real Broncos, particularly when he saw Peyton Manning throw a touchdown, and after practice starting running back Willis McGahee came over to sign autographs. They got a cool picture...along with a fist bump. All Jeff had was a folded up sticky note in his pocket...Willis looked at Jeff and jokingly said "Are you for real man?" Hey, it was enough because Trey got the signature! He was one happy kid.

 Yup...the one and only, although not in action.