Bye Bye Summer

Labor Day Weekend, traditionally means saying good bye to summer...

      ... it just feels different than any other season. These images are some of my favorite things of Summer. What we see, hear, taste, and do if not everyday, then every week, all summer long...
~ Swimming
~ Peaches and Heirloom tomatoes
~ Zucchini Bread
~ Sounds of Cicadas (one morning we found one on our tomato plant)
~ Staying up late with neighbor friends
~ Pam's Lazy Susans in her back yard
~ My front yard impatiens, pinks and oranges

Photo of the Week

Our Annie!!!

Tie Dye Fun

One of our crafts at the craft shop at Snow Mountain Ranch was making tie dye shirts for the kids. We, well mostly me but Tovrea did do much of his own, made these shirts on the last day so the project continued at home with soaking and rinsing, and rinsing...and more rinsing!

Today all 3 shirts were washed and ready to wear-

Snow Mountain Ranch...a week of camp!

Our family vacation was a fun filled with a week at Snow Mountain Ranch~ YMCA Camp of the Rockies.  Tons of activities for the kids, day camp, horse back riding, exploring... We enjoyed the cabin, with a week of no tv!! (Couldn't quite manage it without my computer).

We were joined by Kristen and Jack the first half of the week, and Nonna for one night and day, then we had the Price family for the second half of the week. The older boys went to day camp each day, bonding with their favorite camp counselor, Josh. The younger ones stayed with me during the day. We checked out the towns of Granby and Winterpark. We shopped at a great western store. We always made it back to the cabin for nap time, for all of us!  I even got to read (and finish) a book!

Take a look at our fun and relaxing week:

Butterflies and Zombies

This week we had more fun with "Paint Face" as they call it. I painted the girls, CoCo and Ingrid, to be butterflies- hanging around looking pretty just like a butterfly.

For the boys, Tovrea and David

....it had to be Zombies...

The boys decided they would actually become Zombies and I captured their ideas on what it would be like if Zombies were in our backyard.  Keep in mind, they were only brave enough to think about this during the day light hours. As soon as it started to get dark, the paint was gone...

in the grass...

on the swings...

in the tee pee...

walking around

on the slide

             and finally on the patio...

Crazy Hair

Tovrea's hair grows fast!  We are taking him for haircuts every 5 weeks. His hair is generally crazy and every morning I chase him down with the squirt bottle.  Now that it is summer, we get a little lax with the squirting and combing...

Here is what he looked like before we decided the frequent haircuts were just too frequent-

 

Here is what he looked like shortly after the BUZZ cut...

Two different looks...both are CRAZY.  Thinking we will keep this cute head of hair somewhere in between... but thankfully we have a few weeks, maybe even months before having to get another haircut.

Lego Tutor

Tovrea's interest in Legos is a passion. He passionately wants more and more lego sets, so that he can sort-of put them together...lose interest... and ultimately have all the different parts of different sets mixed up together resulting in nothing built.

Over the last couple of years we have accumulated several sets, there are the numerous Star Wars sets, the Castle set, the many Police sets, the Aquarius sets...it goes on.  About a year ago, I started to realize this was getting crazy and we set about separating all the pieces by color. Many more months went by and we were slightly more organized yet no real progress in building.  Feeling overwhelmed by the mass of lego confusion and having nothing to show for the 16 sets he already owned, we were at a loss.  Ugh! What to do!

That is where our fantastic lego hero comes in...to save us from lego misery!  The best project of the summer has been having Zach at our house helping, tutoring and guiding Tovrea through lego directions and completing so many of the unbuilt space ships, air crafts, bionicles, etc.

I made a deal with Tovrea, no more new lego sets until as many as possible of the 16 sets were built and displayed on his shelf. I agreed to hire Zach as our lego tutor, to come once or twice a week for a couple of hours through the summer.  Tovrea idolizes Zach, who is 13 and amazingly smart and so sweet to T!

I have to say this has been a huge success!  Tovrea, of course, will be rewarded for his concentration, learning and determination with a new lego set....hehe!!

Good Job Tovrea...you're getting it done!

Gondola in Aspen

A nice weekend trip to Aspen allowed us to enjoy a gondola ride up the mountain to 11000 feet. It was warm and sunny, and full of mosquitoes! We bought sun hats at the top, took pictures with scenic views, bungee trampoline jumped (for Tovrea), and made our way back down in time for naps...

Photo of the Week

Slip and Slide Fun!!

First Swim Meet

Swimming everyday, lap after lap, getting ready for the first race! The boys (Tovrea and Jack) were so excited...nervous really.  Adrenaline running, hearts beating, bodies shaking, here is how it looked~

Event numbers 25 Free, 25 Back, and 25 Breast

   Waiting in the warming area, with purple lips.
Looks like he is yawning but he was practicing taking breaths.

getting ready for his first race...

Swimmers take your mark!

GO!

You did it!!! 32.0 seconds

   Getting a high-five from Coach Mark.

Tovrea and Jack getting ready for backstroke.

Jack giving Tovrea support for last race.

Good Job Tovrea! I am so proud of you taking on swim team this year!

Bubbles and Watermelon

Sure signs of summer!  Playing outside with the bubble machine and enjoying some refreshing watermelon! Ah...the days of summer are so fun!!!