J&J's Kindergarten Fieldtrip

 We had a fun outing to Anderson Farms with the kindergarteners!

 Here's my group out hunting for their pumpkins.

 Jacob's perfect pumpkin

 John's find

 The ride back...no pumpkins went rolling:-)

 The mine car ride--Jacob was brave and lifted his hands the entire time:-)

The entire class (I only lost Jacob for 5 minutes!?)

Celebrating Grandma's Birthday!

 We had a great time at the YMCA camp in Estes Park.  There were so many fun activities and it was next door to Rocky Mountain National Park (where this picture was taken).

 Grandpa distracted Grandma while the boys made cards and decorated the house to celebrate Grandma's birthday.

The birthday party in full swing:-)

Sarah and Darin: the concert goers!

We've had a fun late-summer concert season! 

 This picture is Ray LaMontagne at Red Rocks.  Our favorite was Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats a month earlier.  We saw Greg Almann play a week later!

 We came home to these notes from Kenny.  Darin challenged Kenny to doing 100 math problems in 5 minutes.  He spent the majority of his night on the ipad trying to conquer the challenge.....which conquered his spirit by the looks of it!?  Darin and I couldn't stop laughing:-)

Our last concert of the summer.....Mumford and Sons at Fiddler's Green Ampitheater.  Not our favorite venue, but we LOVED the concert:-)

Fall at Piney Lake

We found our favorite fall hike!  Piney Lake north of Vail was breathtaking!

 These boys "shot" things with their fingers and sticks for the entire 3-mile hike to the falls:-)

First one to the aspen forest wins!

 Our payoff.....a little trickle of water with lots of opportunities to play:-)

 We hung out here for 30 minutes before making the trek back.

 Sweet John was playing with moss and red leaves.....so I wasn't too surprised when his tummy broke out in a bumpy rash on the walk back.  He was a trooper, and survived without incident:-)

The bonus of the day was seeing two moose!  What majestic creatures.  God certainly has a vivid imagination!

Labor Day Camping at Dinosaur National Monument

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend camping with friends at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. 

 We spent our first full day hiking!  Kid Picture.....

 Adult Picture....

 Fun spot on the trail!

 Beautiful spot on the trail:-)

 The big boys ended up way ahead....

 .....and found this awesome, steep rock formation!  First one to the top wins!

 After the hike we took in the dinosaur "dump".  It was amazing....hundreds of bones from about 6 different types of dinos that lived in this area.

 This one had the skull and vertebrae all intact!

 Our happy campers were busy with projects the entire weekend.  They found a little ditch area and spent hours playing and building forts!

John and friend Carter getting their Junior Park Ranger badges.

Day 2 was spent floating down the river on rafts.  It turned into quite the adventure when a big storm blew through while we were on the water.  It covered us in black soot from a recent fire in a grassy area.  We made it to a bridge and took cover just before the hail hit.  I've never seen so many crying children at one time!

August Camping at Steamboat Lake

Our favorite camping trip of the year didn't disappoint!  The weather was milder this year, and it was a new moon.  We sat around the campfire and soaked up views of the Milky Way and shooting stars. 

Darin and the boys spent more time on the boat this year (thanks to a larger rechargeable battery that made long trips around the lake possible:-)

Dare I say that Kenny has embraced reading?  Say a prayer....he did this day!

The boys' favorite fishing spot....this stump sits out in the lake.

Our fearless Captain!

John caught all sorts of minnows and crawdads with this net they found while out on the boat.  (And mommy couldn't get enough of that sweet behind:-)