The many faces of Jadeyn!

Ants!

Boys will be boys! and Jadeyn is no exception when it comes to the natural instinct of what to do when he sees a pile of ants: Poke 'em, step on 'em, squish 'em etc! He couldn't get enough of them, even after they stopped moving!

Roses Roses Roses

Roses!!

Kevin's hobby of roses has been so much fun.
Its wonderful to have a fresh bouquet on the table all summer long.

Jadeyn is of course fascinated by them.
Here I am teaching him how to "poke" the roses, not pick them.
The very next minute though he is licking them instead of smelling them!

Dandelions are precious too, but he picks those for sure!

Turquoise Lake, Colorado

Turquoise Lake, Colorado

July 16-18th, 2009

Time for camping again! We are trying to take advantage of every free weekend to squeeze as much camping in as possible before the weather turns cold. We got an early start by leaving on Thursday and buy was it nice to have some time before the lake got crowded. We camped at Turquoise Lake just outside of Leadville, CO. At 9,900 feet, the days were beautiful, but the nights were COLD! Never fear, our new awesome Marmot sleeping bags kept us hot! Jadeyn was cozy in a onsie, pjs, sleep sack, a hat and two blankets!

Jadeyn was ecstatic to see the his favorite toys were already at the campsite: dirt, pine needles, pine cones, sticks and rocks! He was in heaven getting as dirty as he could get and plundering our campsite with all his might. He visited the neighboring campsites dogs quite often and made friends quickly with the passerbyers.


Nighttime brought campfire and s'mores and of course Kevin's famous E.L. Smudges. We ate too many and loved it!

Turquoise Lake was much bigger than I expected. Beautiful, but occasionally quite windy. We headed to the opposite side of the lake where the river met it. There we were out of the wind and into amazing fishing. Rainbow, brook, and even a few brown trout. They were a nice size as well. Jadeyn loved to help and got excited with each fish. Well, for that matter, so did Kevin!!! Jadeyn laughed every time Kevin would gut the fish too. Kind of odd...

On our last day, we had worn our little boy out and he took a very grateful nap right by the lake again. Sweet.

Fun times, can't wait to do it again!

Food, Family, Fun, Firearms, Fireworks

Happy 4th of July!

We headed to Wyoming where the fireworks are big and legal!

Food

Delicious T-bone steaks, beans, drinks, birthday cake, fruit, desserts.... Yumm!

Family

We had a blast with family and seeing Jadeyn romp around with a few of his cousins. He did his best to keep up and loved it. Melanie's family, Danielle's family, and of course Kevin's parents and Jessica. Grandma Pete even came to visit!

Fun

There were piano and dance performances, lots of laughs and tickling, hours in the sandbox, trampoline time (yup, me and Kev can still to a flip on the tramp, but we're a little sore!), Lyman parade (horses, tractors and firetrucks).

Firearms

Kev and I got to finally shoot our new guns. We headed to the "green hills" and did a little target practice with Kevin's dad and Nathan, Melanie's son. It was a blast! We weren't even too bad at hitting the clay pigeons! A little sore on the shoulder from getting used to my shotgun and still getting used to the kick on Kev's 40 cal Springfield XDM.

Fireworks

No place better to go for your own fireworks than Wyoming. Four giant warehouses all in one block full of fireworks. A bit of cash later, we were stocked up! Kevin just can't resist the tradition of blowing stuff up. Smoke bombs, sparklers, rockets, fountains and then the BIG ones! They were great. Jadeyn loved them; he clapped and cheered. Kevin, being the Optometrist present, had to set the example and wear his eye protection! :)

Picking up the Smokebombs

Lighting the smokebombs

Sparkler Time!

All in all, it was a great weekend. A wonderful way to celebrate living in America!