Tag Archives: Lena

Labor Day Weekend Fun

We made a quick trip to Colorado for Labor Day weekend, to enjoy the outdoors and for some camping. We did a ton, but here are some of the highlights.

First hike of the trip, with perfect morning mountain weather. 
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We checked out this big castle. Bishop Castle.

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Can you find Reed and Lena?

The castle has some amazing details. This is the third floor, as you can see the huge arch windows in the photos above.
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Later on Saturday, we checked out Great Sand Dunes National Park.
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Just a tip, wear closed toe shoes and don’t go mid-day. This sand is hot. Don’t repeat our mistakes!

On our way to our campsite, we saw this beautiful double rainbow.
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After dinner walks. With a girl who dances to the beat of her own drum and a boy who likes being up high.
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The big kids and I stayed up after dark and had some fun with long exposure photos.
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Unfortunately, it was a cloudly night, so we didn’t get to enjoy the stars too much.

Here’s my one road trip tip: Building forts in the car. It worked brilliantly, and bought us some quiet time.
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Amazing views.
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Nest stop: Treasure Falls.
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Only Lena and Aaron made it all the way to the upper deck. The boys were a bit too tired to keep hiking up at that point.

Family photo, sitting at the top of a gorge. Making me nervous.
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It was pouring rain when we got back to our campsite that night, so we had to cancel our plans for hot dogs and smores over the fire. But apparently, my kids are okay with hotdogs for breakfast.
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Can’t wait for our next trip.

Back to School

School has been back for a couple of weeks now– I’ve just been a bit slow on getting this blog post together. I still need a few more hours in my day.

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Last year/this year:
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Reed started 1st grade on a different day than Lena started kindergarten, which is why you may notice the different outfits.

Blogging… yeah

Someone finally told me to blog, so here I am. I’ve been meaning to update, but that just doesn’t happen. There is something about having 3 kids that makes my time seem to disappear. Ha, actually, there’s something about Gus that seems to make time disappear!

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This face? Yes, absolutely this face.

If someone can convince him to just cut back on his need to get filthy, I will have much more time to blog.

We have had a busy summer. We spent 6 weeks with my family on the East Coast. Aaron stayed home with the dogs and I went with the kids.

They got to spend time with their 6 cousins, which was pretty much the best time for everyone.

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Girly had these crazy double sets of teeth.

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But, she lost her first tooth, so we’re down to just one extra.
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She also learned how to ride a two wheel bike. She borrowed her cousin’s balance bike for awhile, then just took off.

We spent our last weekend with my family at my family reunion. The last time that I went was the summer when we were in the process to adopt Reed and Lena. I blogged about the reunion and my niece’s sweet interest in Lena’s photo back then. 

It was a lot of fun to go with the kids and everyone seemed to have a great time.

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Quite possibly the sweetest horse I’ve ever met. He bent down so each of the kids, even my tiniest one, could stroke him.

The photos have been a little Gus and Lena heavy, so here is one of Reed, being Reed.
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And here’s a photo of a dog. Who wants to guess which dog that is?

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Now, we’re back home. School starts next week! Wow.

I’m thinking of transitioning to writing a bit more about stuff besides my kids and adoption. I’m not sure about the details about what I will be blogging about and when I will ever get around to it. Maybe.

Also, in the meantime, to get your fix of our Moose, I created a Facebook page. I use Facebook way more than WordPress because it’s fast and easy. I will try to update that a bit more regularly, so come and like it! There’s a button to the right.

Summer

What we’ve been up to this summer…

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Just kidding– we’re busy. Verrrrry busy.

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Making memories with cousins.

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Playing Basketball.

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Trying out baby toys he missed out on.

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Swimming.

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Helping a cousin celebrate her birthday.

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New teeth coming in, before the old one comes out.

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Learning new skills.

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Adoring the baby cousin’s Elvis lip.

That’s our jam-packed, lots of fun summer so far.

Going to the chapel

Aaron’s sister got married this weekend.

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Very exciting!

Reed and Lena had the honor of being a ringbearer and flower girl.

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I had to pay them each 50 cents to “hug” for this picture. Later when I told someone else that Reed said, “and it was terrible. I was allergic.” For the record, I don’t normally bribe them, but I couldn’t resist getting a sweet picture of them dressed up.
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Gus was very bummed he wasn’t asked to be a ringbearer. Actually, he just hates tuxedos. Especially the shoe part.

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Fortunately, I was able to coax a smile out of him.

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She was so happy to be a flower girl.

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Gus was all better once we ditched the pants.

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The simple joys of being 5!

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And lastly, as I said on Facebook, sometimes it’s best to just take the girl and leave your pants.