Spencer Fishing ...

I just love this picture of Spencer fishing ..... he looks so small compared to the landscape ....

Horseback Riding in the Aspen Trees

Katy and Erica did a two hour horseback ride in Vail through the Aspen trees and forest. They said it was beautiful and the views were amazing. Erica's horse's name was Chief. Katy's was Herman! We thought that was pretty odd but okay, Herman he is!! This morning, they are both sore and complaining! While they did this, we took the boys back to Vail Village to play on the Pirateship Park. We got down there and they were having their annual BBQ cookoff. So instead, we walked around and the boys got cowboy hats, faces painted, stickers, balloons, tattoos, and all sorts of free stuff. They even panned for gold and found some! That worked out perfectly for everyone!

Dinner and a Date

You aren't even going to believe this when I tell you. Scott and I had a date last night and we went into Beaver Creek to eat at the Chophouse. On the way in, we noticed some undercover police cars and thought that was weird. Then it got worse the higher up the hill we went. We went into a parking garage and couldn't find a spot so we headed back out and got stopped and could go no farther. We were still wondering what in the world was going on .... drug bust??? Nah ... suddenly a police car with his lights on goes by....then two black limousines ... a black Suburban SUV ... more police cars ... we looked at each other and thought, "holy cow, somebody is up here!!!" We parked the car and headed up the escalator to meet a couple coming down and they let us in on the secret. We went up to the restaurant and asked to sit on the patio since it was absolutely beautiful. We got this outside table right on the corner overlooking Beaver Creek and this beautiful lodge-like clubhouse. We are looking around and secret service are everywhere ... people are getting scanned .... and about fifteen minutes in, we look over and fifty feet away, here comes Dick Chaney and his wife with a group being escorted to a limo!!! It was absolutely hysterical! Apparently, Beaver Creek hosts a World Trade Forum and there were so many suits and people from other countries and it was so cool!!! They had just finished dinner and we watched all of them be escorted to Expedition after Expedition! What are the chances!!! LOL!!!

Hiking to the Falls ... Flesh Wound

Wouldn't you know .... someone other than Spencer needed the neosporin and bandaid before him! Katy and I climbed to the top of this hill and a little ways further to get the picture of the waterfall. Katy climbed on a log and slipped off cutting her leg through her jeans. She was more bothered that she got blood on the inside of her jeans. We had to apply medicine and clean her up!! She was a pretty good sport about it. She cried for about an hour and we finally had to tell her enough drama already :) LOL! I'm kidding.... but I did take her picture on some rocks and she had this really fake smile and she was faking it because her leg hurt! Poor thing!! To top it off, she ran back down the hill and all I could think was, "she is going to fall, she is going to fall, oh she is going to fall into that rock ... OMGosh ... stop!!!" She thought it was funny ...... I wasn't laughing. :)

View from Bighorn Park

This was the view from the park. It overlooked a small lake and then the mountain with snow was in the background. I think all of us could have just sat here for hours and enjoyed the views......

Bighorn Park

Yesterday, we went to Bighorn Park to play and picnic before Katy and Erica went on a 2 hour horseback ride. We found another great place to play and hang out. The view of the mountain behind was so pretty and again, there were dogs running, playing and swimming. Erica decided to sail off her swing and see how far she could go. Scott got in on the action with the seesaw and ended up falling off at one point! The boys loved this park, too. It is so relaxing out here and the weather continues to be amazing. We have had only one hour of rain this week. The rest of the time has been blue skies and warm! Yesterday and today has been a little cooler but it sure beats the humidity we experience in Florida! It really has been drop dead gorgeous!

Whitewater CHAOS!!!!

We stopped for lunch half way through our trip to thaw out and dry out! The water was 47 degrees and luckily, Jack was in a complete wetsuit - it was the only way he would go - and the rest of us had on booties and spray jackets. But we were still freezing on the first leg of the trip. I mean, we were rafting in melting snow! So after lunch, we headed back up the Colorado to do the lower Shoshone rapids. We put in and were all settled in our boat. Gus put Scott and Matt, another guy, in the front and Katy, Erica and Elena (Matt's 16 yr old daughter) behind them. Then it was me, Jack and Spencer and Gus was in the very back. It was great and the scenery was beautiful!!!! Then we approached the first rapid of this second leg. Gus was giving instructions and said paddle hard through this; no problem. Well, Gus was wrong even though he had done this rapid a thousand times with no issues!!! We went down into the first rapid deep and it was then that Scott and Matt got thrown together as the float sort of crumpled them like a taco! Katy, Erica and Elena kind of folded on top of them. The boys landed on top of them and I got thrown to the left off balance and completely fell out of the boat!!! Gus flew about 6 feet in the air completely out of the boat!!! Paddles and people were flying everywhere!!! It was absolutely hysterical! I lost my paddle reaching back for the rope on the side of the raft and I was trying to climb back in but couldn't until I realized Scott had a hold of my bootie and wouldn't let go!! Erica and Jack are screaming "Mom, Mom" and crying and Katy is looking me square in the face holding on to my life jacket saying, "I've got you" but she can't pull me into the boat!! I'm yelling at Scott "let go of my foot!" and he finally realized what he was holding laughing! I'm flutter kicking in 47 degree water and Gus finally comes down and lands where we were sitting. He grabs my vest and 1,2,3, I am in the boat!! However, we are floating downstream with four paddles instead of 8!!!! And more rapids are coming and Gus has no paddle! So he grabbed Elena's and we grabbed an extra out of the water and another boat gave us an extra one and we were good to go!!! It was absolutely hysterical and chaos all at the same time for about 30 seconds!!!! Erica and Jack calmed down ... Erica thought I had gone under the boat because she couldn't see me so once she realized I was there she was fine. We have laughed the rest of the day and today about this! And poor Gus said he was going to be the laughing stock for a couple days! We finished rafting and went through a bunch more that were equally as bad or worse but we definitely held on tight and stayed in the boat! Gus said he has never hit that rapid like that and couldn't believe it happened! Even he was laughing by the end of the day! So again, we had an adventure and great memories to laugh about! Scott bought me a shirt that has a skeleton arm holding a paddle that says, "I survived the Colorado River!" He thought it was only appropriate for me to have that shirt!!!!! LOL!!!!! We can't wait to do it again!!!! On one part, we slowed into an "Eddy" and the kids got to jump out willingly into a calm part and swim. Katy and Elena jumped in head first and Spencer and Erica jumped in after and they have rights to say they willingly swam in the Colorado River!!! They said you were numb as soon as you jumped in!!!

Whitewater Rafting Trip ... AWESOME!!

On Thursday, we did a full day of whitewater rafting. We rafted the Crystal River into Roaring Fork and then into the Colorado River. What made this trip so spectacular was the height of the river. They had over 400" of snow this year so the rivers were extremely high. Some of the houses along the river are even threatened as these rivers continue to crest. For us, this meant very, very fast moving water and great rapids! They said we would experience high Class III rapids. I swear I think some of them were a IV! The pictures above are as we loaded into our raft with our guide, Gus. Erica affectionately named him GUS GUS from Cinderella! He had just graduated from high school and is headed to the University of Denver in the fall. He was a really nice guy. The last picture he told us was Bonnie and Clyde's car that is riddled with bullet holes. Scott doesn't believe it but I do. It simply made the trip more fun to think they left their car along the river. And besides, it looks just like one of those old cars from their pictures!!!

Last but Not Least to Our Day ....

As we were leaving Vail Village, the boys found this water spot where the kids can literally play in the water and climb on rocks. First, we said "don't get wet, you don't have dry clothes." Then it was try not to get your underwear wet. Okay, don't get your shirt wet ... okay, take the shirt off but don't complain when you ride home wet ... don't fall off the rocks!!!!! Okay, just go and have some fun!!! They had the best time doing this while Erica and Katy wrapped up shopping and Scott and I sat in the sun and watched the boys climb for at least 3o minutes. What a great place in the middle of the shops to have for kids to do on a hot summer day!!!

A Friend to Hug

While Spencer was navigating the "ship," Erica has spotted a golden lab to give a great big hug to! While she didn't have the nerve to go over to it, later in the day we met the owners and asked if we could pet and hug the dog! Boy, was this dog ever glad to have met our kids! He just sat there and loved on them and let them pet him and hug him! It was soooo cute!!! Now they want another dog .... please can we have a dog for Christmas????!!!!!!

Pirateship Park, Vail Village

Our next park we visited today was a pirate ship! It was awesome! The boys loved it and while they played, Erica, Katy and I did some shopping in the village. Vail kind of looks like pictures of a Swiss Alps village. It was very pretty, too.

Scott to the Rescue!!!

So, tonight we are walking home from the Avon Rec Center from swimming. As we are all cutting across the grass to jump over the small creek, Scott spots a baby bird next to a tall pine tree. He calls all of us over to see and of course, the kids are so excited to find this baby bird. Can we keep it? Can we take care of it? Can we take him home? So this bird flies a few feet from us and we are following him. He flies again and continues to get closer and closer ... oh no, the bird has flown and landed right into the fast running creek!! AAAAHHHH!!!! The baby bird is flapping hard ... he makes it to the edge of the grass but he can't get away from the creek. Scott runs to the rescue! He takes a magazine that we had picked up and carefully places it under the bird and picks him up and puts him up in the grass where he can fly. We stand back and convince the kids to back up as well. The baby bird flies again ... closer, closer AGAIN he flies right back into the creek! AT THIS POINT, we are all dying laughing ... well, Scott, Katy and I are laughing because Scott is yelling at this bird saying it has a death wish - he's a suicide bomber -- the baby bird is over the edge -- again, Scott catches the bird downstream with his handy dandy bird catcher magazine as we are all cheering him on ... Erica is near tears at this point. Scott rescues him and moves him back to where he first found him by the pine tree. We again back away and give him space and the mommy bird space to come rescue him. We wait a minute or two .. the bird hops, flies, hops and lands right on this huge pile of rocks .. right on the ledge ... right at the creek. Okay, you aren't even going to believe this but that darn baby bird flew right into the water AGAIN!!!! Scott goes after the bird again ... this time, the magazine is slightly flimsy and wet. Scott catches him again and we move him very far away from the creek. Like the bird actually had a death wish!!! It was hysterical! So we all file upstairs, lips sagging because we didn't keep the bird and come back upstairs. Katy can't stand it because we don't see the bird so she gets my camera and zips back downstairs to check on it and take these pictures!!!! Scott is pretty sure there is a meaning behind this ... he just hasn't had time to process it :)!!! LOL!!! What a way to end the day! Now we are having hot chocolate chip cookies and milk to recuperate from our strenuous activities!!!

Funny moments .....

I caught Jack skipping down the path back to the park. Don't you just love him? I do!! I just love catching him being himself .... just a happy little boy having fun without a care in the world.... and I made Katy stand by this tree with her dandelions that she just picked!!!

The Flowers ...

I find it amazing that you really can talk boys into throwing their faces into a patch of flowers and posing for a picture! You just have to catch them at the right moment!!!! And the boys wanted to have a picture with Katy for their room!!!! :)

The Rock ...

The kids found this rock at the park down by the Eagle River to climb up on. We convinced Katy to climb up and she kind of got caught in the pine needles in the tree but she worked it all out after we made fun of her! You don't find a lot of pictures of Erica and Spencer looking so sweet ..... together!!! LOL!!! This morning, Katy and I went to a bakery to get breakfast for everyone and we got stuck in the round-about again. I think Katy actually yelled at me when I went back into the same wrong street the second time!!!! She yelled, "What are you doing?" And then I started to cry and couldn't drive any further and I'm just kidding .... we laughed and turned around and tried it again!!! We keep blaming all our stupidity on the altitude!!! We still laugh every time we talk about it!! We have determined tonight that our three most unfavorite words to use are crusty, pus, throw up and scab. Why we are talking about this we aren't sure ... but Spencer is absolutely cracking himself up using all three words in one sentence!!! We are really bored and getting ready to go down to the pool .... LOL!!!

Two Prettiest Girls ....

I got some pictures of the kids at the park. Don't they look so beautiful?? I got a bunch of great pictures of Katy and then got some of her and Erica together. This trip has been so great having Katy along. For me, it has been like having an adult sister and a big sister to Erica! This morning, Jack crawled into Katy's lap and layed there for a minute and then I hear him say, "I love you, Katy." I thought Katy was going to cry!!!! Katy's parents should be very, very proud of the young woman she is. We feel very blessed to know her and have her in our lives and the lives of our kids!!!

Hanging at the Park

After we left Beaver Creek this afternoon, we drove over to Vail to see their village and they have really nice public parks. This one is called Donovan Park and it was absolutely beautiful! I think every town in the US needs to have parks like this for the kids!! They all had so much fun climbing and scaling walls, nets, ladders, slides and ropes! It was really an awesome place to hang out for a while. I got some of the best pictures of the kids playing. And we just layed in the grassy field and watched!!!! Colorado is very careful to use the natural resources around them in order to not detract from the views (I read this in a magazine!). Also in Beaver Creek, it is completely operated under wind power. That is pretty cool .....

More Like Upside Down ....

Beaver Creek upside down was way more fun today. Jack was able to do two flips and then stop because he just couldn't get his bounce going ... kid really needs to gain some weight! Spencer finally, FINALLY accomplished a triple flip and double back flip. Erica was only into doing one back flip at a time! She was not into the whole spinning as many times as possible!!! It was so fun to watch :) Much more fun to do this outside with mountains in the background than inside a smelly sweaty gym! 1. Jack 2. Spencer and 3. Erica

Today in Beaver Creek

The first picture is pre-flight ..... what this means is this is the picture before the kids strapped themselves into the bungee trampoline gear!!! They were so excited to do this! We were cracking up!! Katy refused to do this .... something about her insides might come flying out. Scott was afraid the bungee band might break and well, I knew I didn't have any extra bottoms with me when I peed my pants. So for those of that decided "not" to do this, we took the pictures!! Spencer watched the older kids before they got on. He didn't really watch them as much as he STUDIED them and their techniques. He was DETERMINED to make this three minutes as fun and upside down as possible!!!! The next round of pictures are the best!!!