Picture Pages

Our summer is going by in a blur! I am trying to do as much with the boys while I can, since I'm lucky enough to be home with them this summer... We're marking things off our "fun stuff to do" list right and left. My plans to catch up on books and magazines and finish the socks I'm making for a friend aren't happening quite as I thought they would. But it's been good and we're having so much fun.

Shawn picked out his own Father's Day present, but the boys wanted to make him something, too...

Each boy made a necklace and they did the mask together. I'm not sure why they wanted to make a mask... but they had tons of fun doing it!

We saw the 3D version of "Up", which the kids absolutely loved. Unfortunately, we got there a bit late and had to sit in the 3rd row of the theater!

We enjoyed some cherries at the Farmer's Market, too. Gavin didn't think to ask for a napkin and ended up with cherries all over his face, hands and clothes. There is probably cherry juice all over the car as well.

We thought a little weekend getaway would be fun and we headed down to Colorado Springs for a couple days to revisit some old favorites and see some new stuff, too.

We went to Garden of the Gods...

The boys helped hold up the Balanced Rock.

... we walked around and looked at the cool red formations...

... and posed for a picture together.

We also went to my favorite zoo, ever ~ the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It's very hands on, which is the best part in my opinion.

You can do things like feed giraffes...

... hold birds on feeding sticks...

... and pet a baby wallaby.

We had dinner at the Flying W Ranch (I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately), did some shopping in Old Colorado City, where we discovered a great local artist and purchased a few of his prints, and enjoyed exploring the Indian Cliff Dwellings, too.

They had a tipi...

... walked around in the dwellings...

... and did some dancing.

For the holiday weekend, we started off with a drive to Grand Lake, Colorado and hiked around the Shadow Mountain Lake. It was gorgeous!

We saw lots of wildflowers...

Stood by the lake...

And ran through the rain.

We also enjoyed the Cherry Creek Arts Festival and dinner with friends, as well as two fireworks shows! I also did my first ever 5K run ~ a neighborhood event. I hadn't trained as much as I would have liked to, but I didn't die and I didn't come in last. Those were my two goals. Next year, I hope to run the entire 5K, rather than walking when I was tired. We'll see how that goes.

Other than that, we're playing at the pool, watching cheap movies, running at the park, going to museums, catching toads, picking strawberries and just squeezing in as much fun as we can (with a little reading and writing in there, too, lest we forget what we learned last year).

Hope your summer is going well, too!