A Fun Week!

It's only Wednesday, but we've been busy this week!  Monday we went to our favorite place (the Denver Zoo) with our friend Ellie from Alaska!  We taught with her parents, she was in college when we first started teaching in Healy but we became very close with her whole family.  Ellie moved to Denver a couple of weeks ago and her brother lives in the city too so we are very excited they are close!  Today we went swimming with Carson & Ali's friend Abigail (and my friend Kristy) at their neighborhood pool (it was 96* today!), and then tonight was Carson's first soccer practice for the fall season.  He seemed to have a lot of fun and Aliana enjoyed the post-soccer snack and juice box so she was happy :).  There were a few other little sisters hanging around so I'm sure we'll have some new friends for her soon!  
*Carson took the picture of us girls at the zoo, he's a great photographer!

Face Painting

The kids have been crazy for face painting since our neighborhood Summer Social last weekend.  Carson got Spiderman (which ended up looking a little more like Darth Maul) and Aliana got a flower on her cheek.  Today the Denver Science Museum had a free day - we braved the crowds and I think the best part of the day for the kids was the face painting!  The kids decided to have the "face paint" on their arms so they could enjoy it for the rest of the day without having to look in the mirror 100 times :).  The Science Museum was awesome and even with all the people it didn't seem too crowded most of the morning.  Finally, a rare family photo where everyone is smiling and looking, thanks to Oma!

Back to School!

Brian started school yesterday so we've spent the last couple of weeks staying busy with activities!  We went on a family hike to Boulder Falls, played at the pedestrian mall (in the water) in Boulder, visited the zoo, the kids had a sleep over with their cousins at Oma & Opa's, enjoyed play time at home, and we have all been watching a lot of Olympics!  (yes, that's the picture of the kids sleeping on the couch "watching the Olympics" late in the afternoon).  And since Brian is back to school that means we are too!  I'm doing some homeschool activities with Carson this year since he won't start kindergarten for another year - the video is of Carson reading a book!  He's very proud :)

Colorado Rockies

It's the end of Carson's summer sports, so in celebration Carson and dad went to a Rockies game last weekend!  Carson stayed up past 10:00pm and Brian said he kept saying "I'm so excited!" throughout the game :).  Carson played t-ball and soccer through our local rec league and really enjoyed them both.  The kids got medals this week and Carson was pretty pumped.  I had to include the last picture of Aliana... this is how we find her most nights when we go up to check on her.  She likes to fill her bed with toys before she goes to sleep every night :)

Grammy & Grandpa Michael's visit

Over the 4th of July we had a visit from Grammy & Grandpa Michael.  It was a great week -- we went to the zoo, stayed up late on the 4th, visited a fire truck, climbed trees, rode bikes, enjoyed crafts and yummy food!   Thanks Grammy & Grandpa for a fun visit!

Stomp Rockets

The kids got a Stomp Rocket on the 4th of July from Grandpa Michael, which kept them busy most of the night waiting for the fireworks!  The fireworks for the city of Thornton are launched literally in our backyard so we just put our lawn chairs out and waited until it got dark!  (that's why there are a million cars parked on the street).  The kids also managed to participate in some family pictures, I'm always surprised when these pictures turn out with the kids looking at the camera :)

Brian's Home!

Daddy has been gone in Ohio for the past 2 weeks for school conference... it was a LONG time! :)  We tried to keep busy with friends and Oma & Opa (Brian's mom and dad).  We went to the zoo, built legos, played in the kiddie pool, had a week of VBS at our church, and of course watched shows and ate popcorn for dinner! (well, not every night)  We are happy to have him home!