Our Trip to the Royal Gorge Bridge

On June 6th, the day before our 10th wedding anniversary, Brandon finally told me what he had planned for us to do on our anniversary.  He had planned for us to go to The Royal Gorge bridge, which is close to Canon City,Co.  Brandon also planned for one of our good friends to watch our kids for the day.

I woke up on the 7th, our anniversary, to find a treasure hunt of sorts displaying various pictures.  At first I thought the pictures were of  the Royal Gorge, but I soon found out that Brandon had set everything up to take me to San Diego later in the month for his work convention.  I was so excited!  I will do a post about San Diego later, for now I will focus on our trip to the Royal Gorge Bridge.

After I recovered from my excitement, we got ready for the day, dropped off the kids at my friends house and headed off to the Royal Gorge.  I am so grateful that we were able to see the Royal Gorge Bridge in all its glory before it burned. A fire savagely burned down the royal gorge area just days after we went. 

The Royal Gorge Bridge was amazing! The views were breathtaking!

When we first got to the park, we went on a vertical train called the incline railway that took us down underneath the bridge.  The train was traveling at a 45 degree angle.  It was such a unique experience to see the bridge from the ground up.

While we were under the bridge, we took a moment to take some fun pictures with the timer.  One of my favorite things about Brandon is that he is always up for a good time and knows how to have fun.

After the train, we walked across the bridge and made sure to stop and get pictures with the flags from the various states that we have lived in. 

Where it all began!

Next we devoured a delicious funnel cake while we watched a video about the history of the Royal Gorge Bridge.

 Then, we explored the western side and saw a gun fight.  After, we headed back to the other side via the aerial tram.

To finish our romantic day, we rode on the carousel and maybe snuck a kiss or two.

For dinner, we stopped in Salida for some delicious wood pizza.

I loved spending the day with my sweetheart.  It was fun to have time for just us.  I loved that he took the time to plan that special day for us. 

Popsicles, Bubbles and a Bike Wash

Nothing says the start of summer like popsicles and bubbles. These pictures were taken early June.  As you can tell from these pictures, the boys just barley got their first official buzz cuts of the summer season.

 We were enjoying a lazy summer morning of blowing bubbles and eating popsicles after the kids and I had finished our chores.  

Lucy LOVES bubbles and was thrilled with all the bubbles around her. I picked up some bubble containers for her that do not spill.  The kids also got a kick out of the big bubbles that would come from the big bubble wand.

Next, we decided to have a bike wash. The kids wheeled their bikes around to front after adding more mud to them in the backyard to make sure that their bikes were really dirty.

   I had a bucket of soapy water and rags for them to scrub their bike down after it was squirted a little from the hose.  After the bikes were soapy, the kids were able to squirt their bikes with the hose to get all the soap off. As you might imagine, the kids got pretty wet, but they had a blast.

   Lucy thought it was really fun until she got a good squirt of water on her from the hose.  It was a fun summer morning with the kids. 

Basbeballs and Kites

One night in early June we headed to the park for the kids to fly kites an play baseball.  The kids received kites from the Easter Bunny and had been dying to try them out.  Also, the boys needed to practice for the upcoming baseball season. 

It was a fun night. The boys played baseball with Brandon for awhile and I flew kites with the girls and took them to play on the play ground. 

After the boys were finished playing baseball, they came and played tag with us on the playground.  Next, we went and flew kites again. We were able to get all three kites up in the air at one time.  The kids loved it!  Also, Lucy would walk around saying kite, kite over and over again.  It was really cute.

This is how my life goes. Lucy is content to let Brandon hold her for a minute, but then she wants her mom back!

It was a wonderful summer evening that we spent as a family.

Family Trip to the Sand Dunes

There is a short period of time when the Sand Dunes that are close by us have water and have the somewhat appearance of a beach.

  This year, the time fell around Memorial Day. We decided to pack up the kids and head out to explore the sandy beach. 

 As you can tell by my crazy hair and Lucy's that the wind was vicious that day. Our kids would fall down to their knees because of how powerful the sand was hitting their legs due to the wind.  The kids would whine as the sand would blow into their eyes and they couldn't see anything.  The sleds we brought to ride down the dunes would blow away from us. It was quite the experience.  However, the kids enjoyed their time imensly of playing in the freezing water (the water comes from the snow caps in the mountains) and the sandy mud!   The big kids played in the mud for awhile.

 Despite the weather, it was a fun day as a family that we finished off with frostys from Wendys! 

Field Day 2013

On one of the last days of school, the kids had their Field Day.  Brandon, Lucy and I went to cheer the kids on.  At the start of Field Day, the kids were given a ribbon.  After each activity, the kids were either given a star or a sticker representing how well they did.  There were about twelve different stations for the kids to rotate through ranging from relay races to balancing a peacock feather on your hand.  The kids loved every minute of it!  

Ben did really well in the high jump.  He took second! He also took first in the first round and second in the foot race. Ben took first in the basketball rotation. 

Emmy took first in the shoe sling.  She took first in the first round and second round in the in foot race. 

Hyrum did really well withe the balancing of the feather.  Hyrum took first in the water balloon toss.  Hyrum got second in the jump rope rotation.    

A Hard Lesson Learned

Back in April, the kids learned a hard lesson.  The spray paint had been recently used for Hyrum's Pinewood derby car and was left out. Some girls were teasing the boys through the fence. The kids thought it would be a good idea to spray paint the girls through our fence.  Luckily, no spray pain ended up on the girls' clothes (a little ended up on the fence).  Ben then decided that it was a good idea to practice his spelling on the shed and spell the word drem (dream) with spray paint. 

Even though I knew the paint wouldn't come off, I still had the kids scrub the shed with tooth brushes. They weren't happy with me that I was taking their picture.  However, they didn't complain too much when I had them clean. They knew they made a big mistake and have learned not to play with spray paint!