August Ten on the Tenth

August Tenth landed us on a Sunday after a pretty busy week/weekend... I actually forgot what day it was so my first picture was with my iPhone outside of church...



We go to the church that services the college students at CU... it's pretty neat.

Max cracking up over something... and can you spot Leo? yeah, he is so not supposed to be up there...


With school approaching we wanted to finish up the kids study area, so Ross was busy working on that.


Leo played with his racquetball that he found... he loves this thing.... I don't even know why we buy other toys.


onto the chairs... and I didn't notice Zoey until just now.



On Sunday nights this summer, we watched Food Network Star. We usually plan a carpet picnic and eat our dinner in a big bowl! This night we made a "june bowl". At a bbq joint (KT's) they make said June bowls. It is a bbq parfait basically with layers of meats, beans, mash potatoes, you get the idea. They are yummy. Ours were too.


Selfie, I do not have the right lens or long enough arms to get us both in and in focus, but this will do!


And a look at Ross's hard work:


Doing research.


and gettin' clean...



wishing you a happy August...

Leo is 1

Grandma and Papa came to visit for Leo's first birthday!!!

That's not exactly true. They came to escape the heat of the Arizona summer and to see Zoey in a soccer tournament, and lucky for them, it all coincided with Leo's first birthday!

Zoey had planned this day for a month. Picking out a present, and some treats to make (both dog cookies and dog cake).

He loved all the treats...

Here he is as we sang to him. I think we did this more for Zoey than anyone...but it really made her day.







Happy Birthday Leo!

ps, you are no longer a puppy, stop chewing things up.

along I-70

We knew our trip home from Vail on Sunday would be a long one, but thinking it was summer, I didn't realize it would be quite as bad as it was... just creeping along...

I tried to occupy my time a little with the pretty view...







we took this train once when the kids were younger...




I think Ross said this was in Idaho Springs and they shoot fireworks here every Fourth of July.



We raced the clock in order to pick up Leo in time and the kids were excited to see him! It was a nice weekend away, and I could appreciate the mountain morning coolness that Ross said smelled like "mountain air!"

Vail Mountain

The tournament eased you in slowly, as there was only one game on the first day. The games are only 24 minutes total, so it left us with a lot of time that afternoon. We decided to ride the gondola up to see what was there.

riding in the gondola


The kids hadn't been in anything like it, so that was fun. Oh, and I forgot to mention Max got braces... here he is sporting his new smile:)



We got out at the top and walked around a little bit. Although Ross would have loved to done a hike a little more substantial, we didn't want to tire Zoey's legs out too much for the next day...



everyone looks so happy to be here;)


And then a kind stranger offered to take our picture, but he was all confused and thought my camera was broken (no zoom, prime lens). Anyway, not too bad... and Zoey and I do not look like we are related at all! (plus, i think she just eeked past me on height)


Ski slopes in the summer.


Lots of people were bringing bikes up the gondola to ride down. That looked like fun!



it's different to be so high in the mountains without snow. I kept thinking I needed to be singing, "the hills are alive!" from the Sound of Music, because it totally felt like that last scene in the movie.





















Max was too busy walking to stop for pictures and zoey just didn't want to take many that day, so there's always Ross.


but, he's a native, so that's fitting.



Oh, and this is cool... I took this picture mostly for the clouds. We went ziplining after this, and then it was lightening and you can see the clouds building in the picture. Anyway, I also just learned some photoshop stuff to turn a picture into a painting... so I wanted to show that too. Fun.

Vail Village

So, yesterday I wrote my 1000th post! It sort of went unnoticed, as I knew it was coming and then totally forgot until I saw it this morning. That isn't a lot by big blogging standards, but it seems a little crazy to me. As kids get older and social media changes, I think a change may be on the horizon, but for now... I will keep chugging along... as nothing compares to the blog in terms of displaying both words and pictures in the way you want...

So, we had an opportunity to head to Vail for a soccer tournament at the end of July. We decided to make a little vacation out of it. The first night we walked around Vail Village. It is supposed to be fashioned after Bavarian Villages! Imagine my excitement when I learned that little tidbit, as I grew up in Germany. The village did bring back lots of memories in that respect, although there was a hint of Las Vegas in there as you sense it is a little bit of a tourist trap with t-shirt shops galore under pretty buildings! Still it was pretty and the weather was lovely.

Mostly hotels and shops to deal with the ski season, but the summer is lovely as well.








I had been to Vail only once before, skiing in college, so to see the ski slopes all green was interesting.


I was double excited to find a German restaurant with good reviews right in the village. Here we are headed to it... the umbrellas with the beer label ahead.








Max took a picture of us while moving the camera all around...




it was horrible food, by the way... such a disappointment.


So after dinner, we walked around some more. This is typical of places in my memory... words on building like this.


Since I grew up in Germany, versus visiting, I didn't pay attention as a young kid to what made it different from the US, so I thought that was interesting walking around up there. Just small things like the words on the building or pictures and flower pots like this struck something in me...











And for the sake of keeping it real, everyone was actually super grumpy this evening. So we headed back to our hotel early. blah, I blame the schnitzel.