Planes, trains, and automobiles.....at least plane and automobile

Today was the sadest day of all. Tim had to get on an airplane and head back home this morning. The kids were crying before we even left the house for the airport. Tim's back to work on Monday and the kids and I begin our 3 week Colorado adventure without the man of the house...........what oh what are we to do??? Due to the weather we sat around today watching the clock and betting on where daddy is right now. We were all wrong in the end. Poor Tim arrived home to Ohio 1 hour late.......explain that one to me when he only left his midway stop (Atlanta) 20 minutes late. The amazing technology, we were able to watch his plane the whole flight. This was definitely a hard day for the kids. They've been complaining of being bored without daddy all day. It doesn't help that due to the weather we were unable to make our trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It'll now have to wait until Thursday when Grandma is off work and has had a chance to catch up on sleep. The picture above was taken right after leaving daddy at the security check point.

Farewell Bar-B-Que

Day 8 of our family vacation! Tim was able to get the patio roof completed for mom and dad and so they now have a nice, dry place to hang out while outside. It looks GREAT Tim and you did and awesome job! Thanks for being the wonderful person that you are.

Anyways, we had a farewell bar-b-que with our friends and some of our family since it is Tim's last night in Colorado. The kids were already crying before bed because they were going to miss Daddy. During the BarBQue, we celebrated Tim's birthday with cake and the famous Chavetta's Chicken. (Tim, don't forget to pick up a case of it when you visit your parents in New York).

The above pictures. Picture 1 - the cityfied way of making S'mores, Picture 2- Friends for life, Picture -3 kids on the playset in Grandma's backyard, Picture -4 Courtney and Bruce, our good friends even though they are Boston Red Sox Fans, and finally Picture -5 Tim blowing out the candles on his cake. Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to Tim!!!! Tim turned 31 years old today. In celebration of his birthday Tom's family, dad and all of us made a visit to the Flying W Ranch. Thirteen years I lived in Colorado and never once took the opportunity to visit here. The kids had so much fun!! They rode on a train, add dinner outside under the open sky on metal plates and drank out of metal cups just like in the old west. The ranch was so cool, all I can say is that if you ever get to Colorado Springs, you have to make a reservation at the Flying W Ranch. It was amazing!!! To top it off, there was a band to complete the evenings entertainment. They are the longest existing picking group in the Nation. A few of the members are national champs on their instrument. The best song they played was the Possum song. Their new CD comes out the end of summer and we will definitely be purchasing it. The kids on Lookout Point - Aren't they all so very cute!
All of us preparing for dinner. Tim was shocked when the band announced his birthday. He's so shy, but he took it in stride.
The Flying W Wranglers

Precious and Few

On June 25th, our 6th day of vacation we made a visit to very good friends of ours. Visiting with them again after 3 years brought back many memories and the realization that old friends are the dearest of all. The boys had a blast playing video games with the other kids and Kaity loved playing with Pedro the Rat, who is really a hamster. Thanks Mario and Darlene for being amazing friends and wonderful examples for the last 11 years. A little visitor on the road to visit friends. She was hanging out at the end of mom and dad's street. The kids were so excited to see a deer up close and personal. Tim and Mario - two peas in a pod! So much alike it's amazing they aren't related.


Half of the kids. Three more were upstairs playing Guitar Hero

Remember When

On Day 5 we went to Pueblo West to visit our Church home, friends, Pueblo Resevoir, and our old house. Kaitlyn was so upset that she wasn't able to see her old bedroom. Unfortunately, the house is back up for sale again. I'm thinking we aren't the only ones that out grew before we moved in.
Our old Home - with some minor changes! Grass doesn't like to grow in the desert.
Prairie Dogs in the backyard - they're everywhere!
Pueblo Resevoir
You don't see these in Ohio!
You definitely don't see these in Ohio - Lizards!! The kids were freaked out at first. I guess they forgot that they used to run around the backyard trying to catch them just 3yrs ago.

Garden of the Gods

On Day 4 we visited Garden of the Gods. It was pretty cool. They've added a lookout point and an education center at the entrance to the park now. It only being our second day in Colorado, we weren't completely adjusted to the altitude. We tired quickly. The weather turned south halfway through our visit so we weren't able to visit everything. The last place you want to be in a lightning storm is at Garden of the Gods.

After we left the park, cousins came over to Grandma's house to play. Lots of fun with the best friends a kid could have.

The girls were having a blast doing each other's hair. They looked pretty silly and the boys thought so too. Notice Matthew's bunny ears.

WHOO! WHOO!!! Chug a Chug a!

I believe this was the first one he complete a few years back. It's so good, they still have him diplay it at all of the expos

Notice dad's modules in the back
Okay, these were just too cool not to show more. Here are the kids at the expo with Papa and the trains. It's a pretty big deal!!! Dad is so talented and he now writes an article for a national train magazine. He's very inventive and finally decided to give in and share is amazing knowledge with others.

Home, Home on the Range!

One of my dad's amazing train modules - Great Talent!

Colorado Here We Come, Right back where we started from!

Papa and kids panning for gold and minerals
Nathan, Matthew, and Owen eating push-ups "Back together Again"

Wow! You never really realize how much you miss a place until you return after 3 years. As soon as we all caught the first view of the good ole Rockies, we realized how much we missed the mountains. The first thing we saw after the mountains were antelope, dry brush, and no one else on the road for miles. Once in Colorado Springs, we visited the mineral expo where the kids participated in Gold and Mineral panning, hammering for dinosaurs and the best part of all.........they were able to finally see Papa's modular trains that he builds himself. After that, we visited Uncle Tom and his family. It was amazing to see how big Jillian and Owen had gotten. Three years definitely changed ALL the kids.

We're here finally

It's taken awhile to finally get the opportunity to sit down and add some updates to our site. The kids did amazing the first day of our trip. Not too much arguing or complaining. Kaitlyn wasn't psyched about using a carseat though. In Colorado, thanks mom for reminding us, the car seat law is more stringent than in Ohio. Since Kaity turned 5 and passed the 40lb mark, she hasn't been in a carseat or booster seat for that matter. Needless to say, it took some convincing to get her into that booster. About 2 hrs into the drive, the kids became bored and asked if we were almost to Colorado yet. Nope, still have 20 hours left. Anyways, to the kids' delight, after 3 days and a few stops, we finally made it to Colorado. They couldn't have been happier. Picture is of our first night on the road. We stopped in Tuscola, Illinois to visit Uncle Jay and Aunt Shelley and their families. Notice the kids' faces. They were excited to finally be off the road. Day two brought lots of fun at Aunt Shelley's home.

The following pitures are from day two of our trip. We had lots of fun with our family swimming and eating yummy bar-b-que.

Jenny - Cute as a Button

Jordan - Future Cinematographer
Family makes the best friends

End of Day 2 - On the road again!

Apparently I like this picture because it's on here 2x's

Uncle Jay, Aunt Cheri, and little Jacob

We're almost on our way!

OKAY, help me out here. I'm not sure what we're going to do. We leave for Colorado in 2 days (AHHHHHHH!! the house isn't clean yet). I've begun getting things together for our trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa and am noticing the kids' entertainment items are not working or broken. Stress Time!!!! The DVD babysitter has a plug that isn't working any longer..HELP!! The games are missing pieces or missing altogether. I'm beginning to worry about my sanity on this trip. What did we do in the "old" days? You know, back when there weren't DVD players or board games for the car? I'm growing weary already thinking of the many times we will hear "are we there yet", "I'm bored", "when can we stop", "MOMMMM ______ is touching me". OH MY!!!! I think that by the time we get to Colorado someone is going to have a temper tantrum and it won't be the kids. So, if you have any suggestions please pass them on!!!! We haven't done this in so long. Our last trip home to Colorado was when we still lived there and were returning home from visiting New York (about 4 years ago). PLEEEEEEAZ HELP!!! Oh yeah, and there goes my new car smell.

They gave their All!!

Well, tonight was the last baseball game for the season. Tonight was a tournament game. In the fourth inning the boys team was down by 7 runs. Then in the bottom of the fifth the Carey Blue Devils were up to bat. Thanks to my genes, the short ones that is, the pitcher was unable to throw strikes to my boys and they both were walked. So, bases loaded and my cousin's son was up to bat next. Smack!!!!! He hit the ball clear past third base. All four boys were able to make it home. By the end of the fifth inning we were only down by 2 runs. The sixth inning (they only play 6 in the junior league) ended with Carey 7 runs and Cory Rawson 9 runs. The boys did awesome!! What a comeback!!! AND they had so much fun and learned how to work as a team. The season started out rough, but ended strong. Look out for these boys next year Hancock County, they're coming back stronger than ever.

Best Referral

A very good friend of mine recently referred this website. It's awesome! I never knew the many things that you can do with little a girl's hair. Having a little girl with lots of Native American blood, her hair is iron board straight and very thick. Up until now, I considered cutting her hair even shorter (it was to her waist until an unfortunate gum incident). Here's the website, hope you all enjoy it.

www.shedoeshair.blogspot.com

We Won!!!!!!!

Hooray!!!!!!!!! The boys' baseball team won their first game of the season tonight!!!! They've had some close games, but tonight was finally the one (there are only 2 games of the season left and then tournament). Nathan was sooooooooo excited to have made the winning run. We were worried there for a moment when Nathan had to bat after one of his fellow players was pelted on the helmet with the baseball. It's pretty serious stuff this year...no more coach pitch and they keep score. Good Job Boys!!! We recorded the game, however, in my excitement I'm not sure I caught the final win of the game on video. Between jumping up and down and cheering, I think I recorded more of the ground than the boys.

YEAH!! Schools out for summer!!!

Whew!! School is finally out for the summer. The boys unfortunately had an extended school year due to weather. The floods were horrible this year and caused school to start a week late. On top of that, we had lots of snow this winter, which finally used up the remaining "calamity" days that we had left plus some. Lo and behold, the school year has ended and the boys are finally ready to enjoy their break. Matthew and Nathan both ended the school year with scholarships for honor roll for all 36 weeks. Matthew had perfect attendence and was also on green (behavior color code) the whole year, so received awards for that also. Unfortunately, Nathan has my gift of tongue and never stops is lips long enough to stay out of trouble. Sometimes I think he talks just to hear his own voice. Maybe he entertains himself. HMMMMM, sounds like something I once heard from my own mom. Well, hope everyone enjoys their summer vacation. We will be leaving for Colorado to visit Grandma and Grandpa in a couple weeks and that will be the topper to the kids' awesome summer.