The Downtown Aquarium

Oooo this is one of my favorite places to take the kids.

And WHO KNEW??? There are actually mermaids at the aquarium in Denver. Wow. We were surprised! I think they were doing a photo shoot for the holidays.

This grouper cracks me up --- he is HUGE and just swims along, leisurely and slow... checking out the kids on the other side of the glass... like he would eat them for lunch if he could get to them...

And I think I've actually blogged about these before but everytime I see it, it amazes me! These are shark babies --- that one in the middle that you can see through was actually swimming around in his little egg -- It's called a mermaid's purse. Sooo cool!

Jack liked the sharks! He would growl at them as they swam by. :)

My friend Val

Can you see her in there with all of those third graders???

She was once a sixth grader of mine. She is in her first year of teaching and doing an amazing job. Her heart is for the kids and she wants to do the best that she can for them.

I am soooooooo proud of her!!!

Miss Betsy and Elsie

While we were in Denver, we visited with many of my old buds from Lumberg... This is Betsy and her pretty new little girl Elsie. She is just a tiny little thing - 7 weeks old here and weighing in at a whopping 7 pounds, 1 ounce (that one ounce is important!!!) She is a healthy and happy little girl with an amazing Mama! She was very happy to meet us at the Starbucks at REI and sit in the sun and share her beautiful girl with us. Thanks Bets for an enjoyable morning!

Ella walked with Jack all the way around the patio to retrieve the truck he'd tossed over the side... what a good big sister!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of my other Lumberg buds that I met up with while in the Big City --- Michele and Molly --- next time we must get pictures!
I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and afternoon together... can't wait to do it again!

First Day of School

So for a girl who has two pretty nice cameras, you'd think I could get one of them to work for this important morning. My point-n-shoot has some kind of error message flashing that I think has something to do with the flash and my "real" camera has a faulty flash card. Seriously...

So, these are what I got -- and who would've thought it would be about 55 degrees and raining and practically dark out when it was time to go to school??!!??
And anyone with more than one kid, knows how tricky it is to get them all to smile and look cute at the same time... so here are a few that I think catch each of them at their finest....

You'll see in pictures later that Jack was just as ready as the girls to go to school.

Ella in front of the pear tree we planted for her at the old house... couldn't resist stopping for these shots... since it's still our house... might dig up the tree...


And here are the lovely ladies in front of Meadowlark's temporary home... for two years. We are getting a brand-spankin' new school because our old building was literally falling in on itself. The tricky part is that this building that we will be in for the next two years is actually older than our "old" building. Go figure. Some things aren't built like they used to be! But we have an awesome principal and group of teachers who have worked VERY hard to get this building ready for the Meadowlark Bobcats and it's going to be great!

This is Mrs. Mueke, Meg's second grade teacher.

And here's our kindergartener... Holy cow. How is it possible that I have two children in elementary school?And Mrs. Clements, Ella's kindergarten teacher.

Ella found her friend Olivia from church and they settled right in, reading books, just like Mrs. Clements told them to. And as I said before... Jack was ready to stay. He blends right in! ;) I teased Mrs. Clements that I would just leave him and she said with it being the first day in kindergarten, she might not even notice. :)

They both had fantastic days - even though the weather was less than ideal. When we picked Meg up, it was raining cats and dogs. Poor Jack had fallen asleep in his car seat (because he refused to sleep when I put him down for his nap) got soaked when I opened the van door to let Meg in.

Tomorrow will be even better.

Yep... More Veedawoo

Remember when I said I couldn't believe that I only had a few pics of Veedawoo... well because I had a whole bunch more!!!

It's so fun to watch your own kids do things that you remember doing as a kid... have always LOVED playing and hiking, climbing, and bouldering around in Veedawoo. I remember investigating puddles like these back in the day...
This is a beautiful view but also kind of sad... all of those brwon trees have been killed by the Pine Beetle... bummer...

Ella found a snake's skin... eeeewwww... and coooool!

And we had to play in the water...

Oh and we had to play in the water some more!

The little guy's feet were absolutely PINK when we finally tore him away... the water was so chilly!

STRIKE A POSE!

(have I ever mentioned that I prefer being behind the camera?)

Wayne's Retirement Party in Laramie

We all met together to celebrate Wayne's retirement at the Alice Hardy Steven's Center in Laramie. What a beautiful place...

We got many big group shots that even included Granma Wanda who very recently moved to Laramie from Illinois. It was good to have everyone together to celebrate Wayne's accomplishments.

Dave and Mariah cool off in the shade.

Wayne, his 3 children and 11 grandchildren

Savannah

Dave and Phil, chillin'

Wayne with one of the fancy cakes and grandchildren climbing all over the bar in the background! :)

Ella and Krystal

Three pretty ladies: Ella, Krystal, and Allie

Mariah

Lindsay became Jack's newest best friend when she sat down with him and shared her cake!

Looks like Savannah enjoyed her chocolate cake!

Cute boy!

Jack and Allie pose

Jack and Lindsay

The flowers were beautiful!!! Daisies are my absolute favorite!

Tim's a silly guy... and handsome too!

Meg really loves and looks up to Allie - what an awesome role model for my girl!