Butteryfly Kisses

Lilly invited me to take her to the Daddy Daughter Dance. Of course, I couldn't wait to take her. We had so much fun last year we had to go again this year.

The theme of the dance was butterfly kisses.

I gave Lilly a corsage to wear with her dress. She was very excited about it.





Lilly danced to just about every song. She loves to spin around and make her dress poof out. She also liked me sliding her between my legs and back up to her feet.

Game Day

Saturday was National Gaming Day at the Library. We went down to take part.Jacob got to try his luck playing Wii bowling. He posted the high score, a 174.

Jacob didn't win at Cootie, but he finished his bug just for the picture.

Lilly was the winner of Cootie.

Lilly also played a Trouble while waiting for Jacob to bowl. There were so many games, it was hard to choose what to play.

Field trip

Jacob's 3rd grade class went on a field trip to the Math and Science Center in Grand Junction. I was able to take off of work and go along. I tried to keep up and get pictures of the fun. The pictures don't do justice to the fun and learning.

Jacob got to be the power for a generator. The faster that he pedals, the more lights on the sign light up. Pedal fast Jacob!!!

This little machine creates lightening. Watch for the flash between the steel balls.

Lilly is standing in a kaleidoscope.

These bubble making frames produced some interesting bubbles. . . Square bubbles, pyramid bubbles. Something that I had never seen.

A "REAL" airplane ride.

Today was Airport Appreciation Day in Montrose. The Experimental Aircraft Association pilots volunteer their time and airplanes (not the experimental ones) to give kids free rides. The airplane he rode in was a Cessna 175 (modified to tailwheel configuration.) I don't know who was more excited about the whole thing--me or Jacob.

Jacob got to sit right seat. You can barely see him as they are starting to taxi out.

Here's takeoff. The pilot took it easy, with a nice easy liftoff.


Jacob took the camera with him, so he took advantage of the view to get a few shots. This is a good self portrait.This is a pond that could be seen out the window. Jacob took about 20 pictures during his flight. He also got to take over the controls for a few seconds (until he realized that the pilot had let go and he was in complete control.)Our house was even picked out during the flight. Jacob found out how hard it can be to get a picture when something is going past at 125 MPH. I marked the house with a red arrow so that you can see it in the picture.Here's the flight crew walking back in after a nice flight.

Hitting The Trail...

On Labor Day we took the kids on a hike that ended at the Gunnison river. The mile hike down was a lot of fun. However, on the way back up, with us each carrying a kid, we reconsidered a bit. But the kids had a great day...and our muscle soreness is getting better. Cooling off in the water

Enjoying the flowers

Taking in the sights

Youth Appreciation Day! ! ! !

Every year Montrose holds Youth Appreciation day. We got to enjoy things like tethered hot air balloon rides, a fun run (with slip and slide end), rock climbing, and the gymnastics equipment. We will let you take a look at the pictures and see for yourself how much we enjoyed ourselves.

P.S. We have to shout out a special "thank you" to Grandpa Dean and Grandma Gwyn for taking us around town to get a jump start on all the exciting and fun things to do.

For Grandma Gwyn...

There seems to be a new seamstress in the family. This is a coat and hat that Lilly made completely by herself. She took a piece of felt, cut out arm holes, and stapled on baggies for pockets. Her hat is made out of construction paper and something from the house that she cut up (either Ryan's shirt or socks, I can't remember which one).

This is the after...

And this is the before...he, he, he.

The kids got to go to a movie with Ryan. Sorry all of the pictures are side-ways. Hope you can all see how much fun the kids have been having this summer, though.

Jacob's big bubble .

Happy Birthday to you!!

Four already. Almost impossible to believe that 4 years have gone by so quickly.

Like any birthday should be, today was all about Lilly. We started by getting the paper out of the way of the new toys. Lilly got a Barbie house, clothes, Ken, some accessories for her baby dolls and some money. After opening all the presents, we headed up to Grand Junction to the Teddy Bear Stuff'n Factory. Lilly has been looking forward to building her own bear for a while now. She has been marking off the days on the calendar ever since Jacob's birthday last month. Here are the kids after adding the stuff and some clothes to the animal skins that they picked out. Lilly picked a soft blue bear and added just enough stuffing to make it "cuddly." Jacob picked a calico cat and did the same with his stuffing.After their animals were all stuffed, dressed, weighed and measured, they were put into backpacks and we were ready to head back home.

It was a good day to turn 4. Lots of gifts, lots of fun and good memories made as a family.

Oh Boy, Yankee Boy.

The extra day off called for a drive up to Yankee Boy Basin above Ouray. The scenery is breathtaking.

Although most of the "wild"life arrived in Jeeps, we did manage to spot this guy sitting on the top of a rockpile.

Jacob and Lilly loved all the waterfalls. With all the streams, hills and rocks, there were lots of small falls running to look at. They also loved crossing the streams on the rocks without getting their shoes wet.

The wildflowers are what called us to Yankee Boy. We saw a picture of the flowers in a magazine, so we decided to head to the hills and check it out for ourselves. We were a little early in the year for the best blooms, so we will probably go back up again toward the end of the month.

Then of course, we had to have the kids pose in the flowers for a photo session.