Our Short Trip to Lubbock

 The boys and I went to Lubbock for a few days.  We opted to fly because I get too sleepy while I drive long distances - the boys hadn't been on an plane since our trip to California a couple of years ago.  They did great and Ryan did a good job of taking care of me during take-off and landing (I'm a nervous flier).  We had a very busy trip that was jam-packed with activities the whole time.  We were also able to take dinner over to G-Nanny and Mr. G's our first evening - the kids did great by playing outside in their backyard allowing for a nice adult conversation and dinner.  It was so nice to see Nanny and spend some time catching up.

 

 

 The kids took a glass-fusing class one afternoon.

Luke has taken an intense interest in the Army and asked Grandad to interview him about what he did in the Army.   According to Luke, his friend Henry wants to be in the Army and he wants to be able to tell him all about it.  Some of Luke's questions "did you fight in a jungle, did you fight in a rainforest, did you fight anywhere with meat eaters, like carnivores?"  Grandad and all 4 kids had a great time.

 Dad started the show and tell by going over the quilt that mom made for him when he retired that covers his whole military career.  Luke, Olivia and Ryan attempted to take notes.

All of the kids got to try on his uniforms.

 Luke was very interested in the picture of the tank platoon that dad once commanded.

 Olivia took extensive notes of everything needed to be in the army.  Ryan's notes included what you needed to be in terms of qualities and supplies (black boots and hard-work).  Luke tried to start his notes with "#1 Be a cadet."  but his pencil wouldn't work and he got behind so he took notes later.

On Friday we headed up to Canyon to see the musical "Texas" in Palo Duro Canyon.  I remember seeing it when I was about the boys' age - so I was very excited to take them.  They loved it - especially the horses and the fireworks at the end.

 Before the musical, we went to the Panhandle and Plains Museum - the kids loved it and Olivia really enjoyed playing the teacher.

 On Saturday, we went to Jane and Charlie's for my most favorite dinner ever - Jane's homemade Chicken Fried Steak.  We had a great time and the kids played out in the backyard again - it was wonderful to catch up with 2 of my most favorite people in the world.

The boys have become very interested in death and dying lately.  They have asked a lot of questions about what happens when you die - including cemeteries and being buried.  On Sunday we went to the Lubbock Cemetery so the boys could see where my grandmother was buried, as well as some other relatives.

 Dad and I liked being able to tell them a little bit about my Mee Maw - they really enjoyed looking at all of the headstones.  They also both made it clear that they do not want to be cremated.

And of course, no trip to Lubbock would be complete with Ryan being able to smother every small dog around.  He loves Lucy, but he was so very excited to see Olivia's dog, Macaroni.

We had a great trip and Ryan cried all the way home from the airport and probably asked me a 2 dozen times when we would be going back.

Backyard Camping

 

The boys and I had a camping trip this week in our backyard while Greg was out of town.  They had a great time and I got several "thank you Mama"s out of it throughout the day and night.

 Due to the fire ban, they made their own pretend fire in the chiminea and pretended to roast marshmallows.

 We ate hotdogs outside - complete with paper plates.

 They loved their marshmallows even though they weren't really cooked.  They liked the ice cream that we had later better - but they thought it was fun to pretend to roast them.

 Ryan was all ready for bed.

 As was Luke with all of his animals.

We slept as well as can be expected for camping.  The 3 of us shared the 1 air mattress (with my feet hanging off the end) because I didn't want to set up the big tent for just the 3 of us.  We took a long walk before bed, so they were pretty tired by 9.  Luke went straight asleep and Ryan came inside once to tell me that Luke was asleep.  I slept until about 5:30 when an airplane woke me up - I went inside to go back to bed and the boys followed me in - they ended up sleeping until 9:00.  One of the huge benefits of backyard camping is being able to go inside to sleep in your own bed once the sun comes up.  I don't think they have ever slept that late before.  I can't wait until they feel old enough to sleep outside by themselves - maybe by next summer.

Holiday Weekend

 We had a great and relaxing 4th of July weekend.  Greg took off of work on Thursday and Friday, so we were able to spend a ton of time together as a family.

Greg had to do some kind of "fireworks" on the 4th, even though there was a state-wide fire ban.  He had bought fireworks several weeks before the ban was in place and the boys were so anxious to try them out the evening of the 4th.  Due to the understandably over-anxiousness of the state to any fires, Greg agreed to only let the boys play with the sparklers.  He'll have to save the rest of the fireworks for another time. 

 Ryan was disappointed that we weren't going to do more than the sparklers.

 However, Luke was very concerned about Daddy getting a ticket from the police, so he was just fine with it.

 On Thursday we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike.  However, as soon as we got out of the car at the trail head, the skies opened up and there was a torrential downpour.  We tried to wait it out, but after an hour in the car with 2 crazy boys, we decided we'd head up another day.  I did have to get out and get at least one picture

Fortunately, it wasn't raining in Denver, so we took the boys to a mini golf and go-cart place.  I couldn't get any pictures of the go-cart race because Ryan and I were too busy passing Greg and Luke up to take one.

 Luke did a better job than normal with golf.  He tends to just whack at the ball, but Greg helped him quite a bit and he really improved over last time.

 Ryan really had a great time.

We had hoped to try a hike again, but it ended up raining most of the weekend - so we went to a lake in Denver to allow the boys to throw rocks in the water - one of their most favorite things.

 Luke also had a big milestone this weekend - he had his first sleepover at his bestfriend's house.  He was so excited that he sat on the front porch for an hour waiting for Henry's mom to come and pick him up.  He had a great time, but he ended up taking a 2 1/2 hour nap when he got home on Saturday.

 

 We were concerned about Ryan feeling left out - but he loved having me and Greg to himself.  Greg took him to the driving range - he got to try out his new golf clubs for the first time (besides in the backyard).  He also got to pick where we went to go to dinner - Chick-fil-a - and then we came home and watched Spiderman.  Luke was so jealous of the golf and movie.

I took a few pictures of the boys while we were hanging out on the front porch - they have such sweet faces.

 We had a good weekend and the boys and I are now looking forward to heading to Texas for a few days - we had hoped to go in June, but we never got our act together - so now we will be flying down on Wednesday - the boys can't wait to see their cousins.  I'm a little anxious about taking the both of them on a plane by myself - fortunately, it is a short flight and they are great boys.

4th of July

 

 We went to the 4th of July concert at Civic Center Park again this year.  We all had a great time having a picnic and then enjoying the concert and fireworks.

 

We got the park a couple of hours before the concert started in order to get a good spot - the boys kept busy playing games.

 

 Our "neighbors" gave the boys their light-up flags to play with - which they danced with for awhile.

 Luke entertained us and the people around us with his interpretative dancing. 

He danced for almost an hour straight to a variety of music that the Colorado Symphony played.  It cracked us up, especially since he was so unembarrassed by it.

This Past Week

 The boys and I had a good week.  Greg was out of town part of the week, but the boys and I stayed busy doing a variety of different things.  We also enjoyed a brief rainstorm during the week and Ryan and Luke were excited to go out side and play in the rain.

Due to another thunderstorm the next day, we went to a paint your own pottery studio.

 Luke painted a fish.

 And Ryan painted a tank.

 They also finished up their second session of tennis lessons.  They had fun playing tennis and I think it is something that they would like to continue with. 

 On Friday, we went to the new Colorado History Museum.  The boys had a good time driving the Model T Ford...

 Lifting a shovel weighted down with rocks in the mining exhibit...

And gathering eggs from the chickens to take to the county store for 25 cents a dozen.  They had a good time.

This week we plan to spend time at the pool, take swim lessons in the morning, and enjoy 4th of July stuff close to home.