Swim, Bike, Run...

 The kids thought it was pretty awesome to cheer on MiMi and Uncle Rob in their triathlon this summer.  They even got to cross the finish line with them...

 Way to go MiMi!!  She placed 2nd overall for the women.  Woohoo!!

4th of July at Aunt MiMi's Lake...

What a treat it was for us to actually have family around to celebrate the 4th of July with!  We had so much fun lighting fireworks off with the family pyros, namely Kindra, Garrett and Uncle Rob...

 Then we went out on the lake to watch the local town fireworks from the water.  What a cool experience!

And back to the house for more pyromania... good thing Grandpa wasn't there for this part, he probably would have had an anxiety attack...

 Holidays are just so much fun, Sophie could hardly take all the excitement...

Thanks for letting us hang out at the lake you guys!  What a blast...

Microwaveable Puffy Paint...

We tried it and....  we liked it!!  One of those projects that looked cool, but you wondered if it actually did what it claimed it did.  Well this one was worth the effort, the kids loved it...

Ana and Sophie even made a puffy garden for Nana since she 

wasn't able to be in her garden after her back surgery...

Camping Extravaganza...

It's not summer in Colorado unless there is CAMPING!  We kicked off our summer this year with an awesome camping trip to Pickle Gulch with a few families that we just love.  

There is nothing like fresh mountain air, marshmallows roasted over an open fire, and 23 crazy kids running in every direction for 3 days!  Nope, nothing like it...

(Notice the whistles in the picture above... we really wanted to go home with 23 kids, too :)

Fort building...

 Hayden can't get enough of the great outdoors.  He is in his element in the mountains...

Family flags...

 Ana can't get enough of her friends.  She's still our social butterfly...

 Nature crafts...

 Great girl friends...

 Sophie can't seem to get into enough trouble.  Yes, this one is always into something...

 The ultimate "Bags" tournament...

More nature crafts... 

 And Family Olympics...

 

Thanks camping clan for such a fun trip, let's do it again soon!

The Many Slushie Stands of Summer...

In an effort to teach our kids how to earn, save and manage money, Rob built them this slushie stand last year (they got the slushie maker from Aunt Mimi).  So on the first semi-warm day of this year, they were begging to get it out and start earning some more dough.  We held them off till it was actually hot enough for people to want to buy a slushie, but then there was no holding them back...

It's quite the entertainment for all of the neighbor kids, helpers are never in short supply.

It's been a great way to teach the kids about profits, and how you need to use them to buy more supplies for your business - it was a hard concept for them to understand, especially when they saw how it slowed down their savings!  The kids have had many Slushie Stand days this summer and earned enough money to buy a family pass to the Denver Zoo.
Way to go guys!

Summer Time Fun...

While Hayden and Rob were having a "Boys Day Out", the girls and I whipped up some home-made sidewalk paint.  Good messy fun...

I do love my girls...