First Day of 2nd Grade

    Somehow, our sweet precious girl went off to 2nd grade!!! I'm pretty sure we were just sending her off to kindergarten yesterday.  You seriously can't blink because the years just fly by.  I don't even want to think about how hard next year will be when Dawson goes to school.  Anyways, it is always a hard transition.  Summer is so carefree and fun and it's a bit hard to be back to a school schedule which involves waking up early, drop offs, pick-ups, homework, etc.
    Ashlyn's school always does an ice cream social a few days before school starts so students can see their classroom and meet their teacher.  Her school is fairly new, and it has two stories.  She was so excited to discover her classroom is now on the second story.  I was a little sad to see she has already moved upstairs.  She's growing up to quickly.  She had fun exploring her new classroom.  There are quite a few students in her class this year that were also in her class last year.  Her teacher was very friendly and I think she is going to have another terrific year.
      The night before school started, we went to the pizza place that we go to every year.  I did it as a kid and it's a fun way to get ready for such a big day the next day.  Ashlyn really enjoyed it and it's a tradition we all enjoy.
     Her first day back was a great one. I missed her so much while she was gone, but she had such a good day. The entire school lined up outside and then it's inside for a day of learning.  Each day we picked her up she said she had "great" days. so I think you could say this year is off to a great start.  I can't wait to watch our baby grow and see all the things she learns in 2nd grade.

Pizza time

Yum!

Dawson had to try out the pinball Transformers game

Photobooth time

Pretty girl all ready for her first day as a second grader

The new backpack she picked out

Our beautiful daughter

Her brother didn't want her to go

Quick pic on the playground

Ready for school

The whole lineup is chaos, but a neat tradition

Dawson needed a quick rest

Heading inside 

Drive-In and Cabin

      Our cabin trip started a little differently last weekend.  Joey headed up with the kids for an extra special treat.  They got to go to a drive-in!  In the past, we have made a yearly trip to the drive-in down in Pueblo.  Our last trip two years ago wasn't the best and we found it to be very crowded so we haven't been back.  There is a drive-in in Buena Vista so Joey figured it would be a good one to try.  They were playing the movie "Inside Out" which the kids were dying to see.  Joey said the weather was perfect and the had such a fun time watching a movie outside.  They ate popcorn and laughed and had a wonderful time.
    My sister and I headed up to the cabin bright and early Saturday morning.  Last weekend at the cabin, the weather was quite cool.  We were so pleased to see it was already in the 70s when we got there around 9:30. For the first time all summer, we were able to break out our shorts at the cabin.          There is a small river or or tributary that runs behind my dad's cabin.  In the beginning of summer it was flowing like crazy and the water was very high from all of the snow melt off.  We discovered this weekend that it was flowing very slowly.  It was also not deep at all.  We took the kids down there and they had an incredible time running around in the water.  It only went past their ankles so they were completely safe.  The girls especially loved it.  We sat down there all day as they built mudpies, played house, and went hunting for "rare" rocks.  It was such fun and something we have never gotten the chance to do before.  I'm really hoping for one more really nice weekend to play in the water.

The Buena Vista drive-in

They were the first ones there.  Can't beat that backdrop.  

Ella ready for the movie to start

Crazy kids

Feeding chipmunks

This is a different part of the river that they like to throw rocks in

Gracie going for a walk

Water time!

SO much to explore

They discovered that sticks were fun

Alli really likes the water

Gracie LOVED the water

Dawson got a little dirty

Fun times

This swing gets constant use I think

I tried to take a picture to capture how dirty Ashlyn was

Gracie pretending she was going for a ride

The weather was gorgeous during the day, but it poured rain almost all night.  

Time to go feed the chipmunks again

We love it when we have the place to ourselves

Tiny Town

     Last week was Ashlyn's last full week of summer break.  We wanted to make the very most of it and tried to pack as much fun into that week as we could.  I think we did a good job.
     We started the week with a trip up to Denver.  My mom, sister, Ella, Jameson, Gracie, Ashlyn, Dawson and I all went along.  We amazingly all fit into our mini-van.
    We started our trip with a stop at a place called Tiny Town.  My mom had been wanting to take the kids there for some time, and we finally made it.  Tiny Town is nestled in the mountains on the eastern part of Denver.  It contains lots of tiny houses that are modeled after real places in Denver.  There also is a really neat playground and a train.  The kids really liked Tiny Town.  We had a great time looking at all the different houses.  Some of the houses the kids could even climb through.  They had a great time playing on the playground.  We ended our visit with a ride on the train.  We love the train park in Phoenix and this one was pretty similar.  The kids had so much fun.
       After Tiny Town, we were very close to the town of Evergreen.  We decided to stop there for lunch.  We went to Beau Jos for pizza.  We had one in the Springs many years ago and I had forgotten how good it was.  We all stuffed ourselves silly with pizza.
         After lunch, we made our way to our hotel.  We got settled and did some swimming.  Those kids just love to swim and they swam their little hearts out.  I will updated soon with the rest of our trip.

Tiny buildings

Crawlin through

They are all decorated inside and are kindof like giant dollhouses

Gracie checking out a house

Silly boy

Taking a quick break

Tine to play

Always swinging

How fun

Ashlyn really liked this house

Our view from the train