Pagosa

When PC found out that his new job was not going to start until November, we decided to head out of town during the second week of fall break.  There was availability at the place we stayed in Pagosa Springs two years ago, so we decided to head down there again. We took advantage of all the fun resort activities. We were able to go on a couple of easy hikes too. They had to be easy since I was still recovering from my gall bladder surgery. (Yeah, that happened. My doctor was pretty sure I had gall stones when I was pregnant, but we had to wait to do an abdominal ultrasound until after she was born. It was so bad the ultrasound tech even told me I had stones in there. At my post-op appointment he said I had had over 50 stones in my gall bladder and chronic swelling. He said I've had this problem for at least five years! I think that a lot of times I thought I was having IBS was really just gall stones. I definitely feel better now that it is gone!)
The first night we went to the campfire and s'more night. Then we played on the playground and the volleyball court. It was chilly, but fun. The pictures didn't turn out the best, but you can see how much fun everyone was having at least!

We did Kids Krafts the next day. They made rain makers, wooden snakes, bags, and bug catchers. 

 

Our first hike was to Treasure Mountain Falls. We saw a rainbow on the way. I was only able to catch it a little bit with the camera. You can see that picture from my sneak peek post here.

One of our favorite activities at the resort is Boogie Bingo. It's just normal Bingo, except when you win you have to dance (boogie) up to the prize table. It's a lot of fun. Debra, one of the ladies that worked there, loved the kids and took care of them all week. When Shortcake was bored, she would pull out sticker sheets like this one and Shortcake would have a blast too.

 We also hiked to the Piedra Falls since it was an easy hike as well. It was chilly up in the mountains. We saw some hunters on the drive up to the trail head, as well as several deer. It was really pretty though. Shortcake wanted me to take her picture beside every rock and tree trunk. She's not camera shy at all!

Other days we enjoyed swimming in the pool . . .

 playing miniature golf . . .

and trying to recreate a picture we took two years ago. (We didn't remember the correct order of everyone, but you can see that picture from my post here.)

 And we had to take another with Shortcake in the picture as well.

There was a lot of down time as well. I had to write a research paper for school that week and some days were rainy/snowy and we spent most of those days inside. There was a family fun center to play air hockey, Foosball, arcade games, Xbox, and other fun things. We watched MacFarland USA one day (in pics below) and when we were packing up to leave, we saw a hot air balloon. Shortcake wanted to ride in it so bad, but we had to settle for just getting her picture with it.

Tink

It's hard to believe that over 14 years ago, this little girl was born. Ok, I know she isn't little anymore, but she's still my little girl! We celebrated her birthday in Pagosa Springs.

We made striped delight for her "cake" and she got makeup for her gifts.  She went to her first dance a few weeks later and had a lot of fun.  She's definitely growing up.

Pagosa Sneak Peek

Here are a few pictures from my camera from our trip to Pagosa Springs. I will do more detailed posts later.

View on the way to Treasure Falls. There is a rainbow right in the middle of the picture, though it is hard to see.

We saw lots of deer up in the mountains. Here is a deer shot for Dad.

Snow on the mountains!

Cross Country

XC season is almost over. Bucko's last race is tomorrow. Tink still goes until the end of next week. We took all the kids to go see Tink's race at the Air Academy. We even ran into an old friend we knew in England. Her daughter is in cross country as well.

It was so fun to watch the boys run alongside of her to encourage her on. Sweet boys.
I really wanted to see Bucko race, so when he raced at Ft. Carson, we took the elementary school kids out of school early and went down to watch him. He ran really well and we were proud of him.

Then I got to go to another of Tink's races this past Thursday. We were going to the Be Smart fireside right after, so it was just me and Baby Girl. She did well and mastered her goal of not walking at all during the race. That is good since her races are 5K's. Bucko's are only 1.5 miles. But I'm proud of both of them for sticking to it. They've had fun too.

Camping

PC and Bucko went camping with the eleven-year-old Scouts. They ended up at Eleven Mile State Park for this one. I think the campsite location changed three times before they finally ended up settling for this one. (When they went to book the other two, they were full.) I think they only had three 11-year-olds on this campout, but the pictures are gorgeous!  Look at this view!

Bucko was assigned to help with breakfast. He's on his way to First Class. He said he had a lot of fun. PC slept on his cot outside. It must have been gorgeous. And the main thing Bucko kept talking about what the snake they saw in the water. I had one word for him--"Eww."

World of Play

I was checking the base newsletter about a month ago and saw that they were going to have a Nickelodeon World of Play day, which happened yesterday. PC and Bucko were camping with the 11-year-old Scouts, so I took the rest of the kids for about an hour. It was a blast! I wish we could have stayed longer, but I had promised one of my YW that I would do her hair for Homecoming, so we had to hurry back.
Goofy had the most fun, I think. He would just try anything and run to stand in line for whatever he wanted to do next. My favorite was watching him jump across the "big balls."

Tink really wanted to do the Hampster Ball, so she and Minnie stood in that line for a long time. They said it was worth it.

I didn't get a really good one of Minnie inside, but that is her pushing that big ball around!

They even had free food and samples from lots of different vendors. Goofy stood in line for the rock climbing wall while we ate.

And FINALLY, at the end Shortcake went onto one of the jumpy castles. This is the entire reason we all wanted to go. She talks about jumpy castles all.the.time. But lately she has been too scared to get on one! She finally got the courage and went on right before we left. Of course, it was a chore trying to get her off, but she finally came.

It really was a lot of fun, and I hope we can go again next year.
And here is the finished hair of my young woman. :)

Backsplash DONE

PC finished the backsplash in our kitchen. It looks amazing! We are so happy with it. If you would like to see a "before" picture, click here.
It took several months to finish, due to life, weather, etc. Once the backsplash was all finished and caulked, we took off the old faucet because Nana and Papa had given us a brand new one to put in. However, the rubber gasket that should go on it was not in the box. After two wrong parts were sent, we finally had luck on the the third time. I think it is beautiful.

We were really wanting to put in some lighting underneath the cabinets as well, so we looked at some rope lighting, but while we were at Costco one day we found these awesome LED lights that were peel and stick, came with a remote, and has sixteen different colors. I love them! The kids love them even more and are always asking for the "rainbow lights." Here is a picture with the lights set on purple. (The lights look much cooler at night, but I took this picture during the day.)