Mexico 2012

For my 33 birthday, Steve took me out to Red Lobster and set up a Price is Right game (one of my favorites) on the iPad in front of me.  Showcase #1 was a $500 shopping spree and Showcase #2 was an REI credit for a timeshare anywhere in the world.  My jaw about hit the table. There was no question what I would choose - and he wasn't surprised either as I talked about traveling somewhere away with him oh, about once a day.  It was a dream come true.  He had done work for a lady who paid him with her REI timeshare points. He mentioned taking the kids to the mountains with the timeshare points, but there was no way we were using the points for that.  I started researching as the world was our travel destination.  I wanted tropical with some place to scuba dive.  After countless hours, weeks, and almost months I narrowed it down to the Caribbean and found a resort that looked amazing - The Grand Mayan.  Our final (and biggest) obstacle was finding someone to love on our little ones while we were gone.  We called Grandma up and she said she'd be able to do it!  We booked a ticket for her, made our reservations for The Grand Mayan, made our reservations on Spirit Airlines (cheap as can be), did some extra work to finance the deal (I am pretty sure Steve was not planning on me choosing somewhere international :) ), got our passports ready and counted down the days.

 Grandma arrived a day early to ease the transition.  The kids had been healthy for months - not a runny nose in the bunch; despite my prayers it would stay that way for her it was not to be :).  We took an overnight flight to FL (had a whole row each to ourselves) , then off to Cancun where we caught a bus down to the Grand Mayan.

We chose a room with a kitchen as we were planning on traveling as frugally as possible.  We got the surprise of a lifetime with a $300 room credit when we arrived.  It took the concierge stating it 3 times for me and putting it in writing before I would believe it.  It changed the trip completely.  We divided it out and had about $50 to spend each day.  We could make that work :).

After we got settled, I couldn't wait to start exploring Mexico.  I had read the cheapest way to travel was on the collectivos.  With kids this would have been tricky to say the least, but with just Steve and I it was an adventure waiting to happen!  It was a good mile from the resort to the main highway, so they golf-carted us to the highway and I looked at Steve and said "Now we cross the highway and wait."  He just stood there.  "Are you serious?"  "Let's try it, it'll be fun."  Lo and behold a collectivo stopped, we hopped on, told him where we wanted to go and thus began Steve's favorite part of the trip.  Being with the Latins :).  It was such an inexpensive way to travel ($1.50 each way) and a great way to step out of the tourist scene, which Steve and I prefer (although the resort did have it's perks I grew quite attached to throughout the week).  Safety may have been questionable, but we had heard very good things about traveling this way.

We got to Playa Del Carmen and were walking the streets avoiding every single person who was trying to sell, peddle, take our $, until we met Dolores.  She was a kick in the pants!  She promised us the moon and the stars to listen to a timeshare presentation and the adventerous side of us kicked in - why not?!  It seemed like it was part of the adventure in Mexico.  She specifically promised us a Tulum tour, a Chichenitza tour, breakfast, a spa service, and a 6 pack of Diet Coke.  We thought that all sounded too good to be true, but why not try it out?  As we were walking away - she said we needed to do one more thing - pay her $50.  What?!  I was ready to wash my hands of the whole thing, then thought - why not try it?  There was no way we would get our $50 back in my mind, but I wanted to see what would happen.  So we did it, walking away thinking we were CRAZY.  We ate at a so-so mexican place in Playa and stocked up on food at Walmart, then took a collectivo home.

Steve's Spanish knowledge was invaluable and it was a delight to see him interact with the Latin people.  He is so smart. And good with people.  And willing to get out of his comfort zone and be adventurous.  I LOVE all that about him!   It was fun watching him re-live many parts of his mission.  I think he was happy to discover there was not quite as much corruption in the police force here and we didn't have to present our 'papers' and be searched randomly :).

On Monday morning we went to the timeshare presentation, had a yummy breakfast (first promise kept) and said no to 3 people over 100 times.  The thing that finally got the big, body-builder, I-thought-he-would-beat-us-up guy off our back was when Steve asked him "Do you have debt?"  "No"  "Well, we're up to our eyeballs in debt so now isn't the time for us to add to it."  That was a "no" he finally accepted.  I then got the $40 spa service for free (second promise kept), we hopped on the collectivo down to Akumal and lived my dream.  We rented a locker and snorkeling gear & snorkeled with the turtles eating sea grass at the bottom of the ocean and the reef covered with tropical fish.  It was pure heaven out there.  We sat up on the beach, in the crystal clear, warm water and were surrounded by white fish, literally swimming thorough our fingers.  It was absolutely amazing, like nothing we had ever experienced before.  We wanted to stay on the beach the whole week, but packed up our stuff and walked back to the main highway to find the people who told us the collectivo's were on strike that far south were correct (I certainly have trust issues in that country)!  But not to fear Taxi's charging $25 were ready to take you home.  Paying $3 vs $25 is a hard pill to swallow, and luckily we found a couple on their honeymoon from Isreal who were just as ticked as we were at the price and offered to pair up with us and split the cab home. $12.50 not so bad.

Tuesday morning bright and early at 7:00 am we made the treck out to the main highway again and to our surprise there was a nice little tour bus waiting for us to take us on our tour to Tulum (third promise kept).  The first thing the tour guide did was hand us $25 (1/2 of the 4th promise kept).  On the way down to Tulum the bus stopped and they bought a 6 pack of Diet Coke with ice just for us (5th promise kept).  Steve and I were cracking up and we saw them pull the tour bus over & walk into the gas station - Steve got what he asked for!  I am so glad we did the tour to Tulum.  It was stunning, the Mayan culture was a delight to learn about and it was very nice being catered to & taught by a tour guide.  That night we ate dinner at the Gong - one of the 5 star restaraunts - and had our first taste of that resort.  Holy cow, the food was amazing, only topped by the excellent service.  I was amazed and in awe of how delightful the $300 room credit made our vacation.  Heaven.

On Wednesday we went to Xplor Park to ride the ziplines.  It was an awesome experience - one zipline must have been 6 stories up.  I was scared to death everytime I jumped off the edge, but it was breathtaking sailing over the Mayan jungle.  We also swam and paddled through the cenotes - underwater caves and went on a jeep ride.  It had an all you can eat buffet, but after being spoiled by the resort's restaurants, we weren't too impressed.  I am glad we did it, but next time I would have spent the money on another day of diving.  I love being underwater in the Carribean.

On Thursday we took a ferry over to Cozumel for our scuba diving trip.  This was the day I wish we would have planned better - we hit some bumps in the road, but all worked out in the end.  We had scheduled a dive with a Dive shop - Dive with Martin, but when we showed up they said they would double the price since they had not reached their optimal # of people to take the boat out.  I was devastated.  We couldn't afford that, but the whole point of us choosing this location was to scuba dive!  We started walking up the street amidst the vendors who were hooting and hollering and I finally marched over to one of them to tell our story thinking 'it couldn't get any worse than this.'  To my embarrassment I started crying while I was talking. 

He got on the phone as I walked away to hide my tears and Steve said he was telling our story to someone (they have an amazing underground network - tourism is their bread and butter).  A truck pulled up and we were told to get in - it was crazy, but I was so upset at that point I didn't care what happened.  A busy little lady named Carla offered to send us out on a dive for half the original price we were prepared to pay - I wiped my tears and didn't believe her (once again - trust issues), but figured why not.  She drove us all over the island getting O2 tanks and setting things up, then dropped us off at a boat with some young looking dive masters in a rickety little boat. 

 My mother would have killed us.  There were some parts of this trip she didn't need to know about. There was no paperwork to fill out, they did not check our diving cards and off we went.  We docked a bit further south on the island and there was Carla, magically waiting for us on a shore (like a drug lord in a movie) with 3 snorkel gals from Michigan, who were at a port on a cruise, who were set to go snorkeling while we dove. These girls were the highlight of my trip!  They were hilarious!

The girls were staring at us getting our scuba gear on and they kept saying how brave I was to go scuba diving.  It was cracking me up.  I finally had to tell them I was very, very nervous every time I dove and I didn't really want to go all the way up to jumping in and getting a few feet down - then I could calm down and enjoy myself. I think it's because I'd been diving so few times.  After these two dives we went on I wanted to just keep diving the rest of the week.  I got really comfortable.  If only it weren't so expensive!  Turns out our divemaster grew up diving that water, like so many people on Cozumel.  The water was his playground and he certainly knew his stuff.  It was a treat being able to go with just Steve and I and him.  We were able to take our time and see so much - lobsters, crabs, sting rays.

I am addicted to diving the Caribbean - the water is simply magical.  Warm, clear, a stunning blue.  Heavenly.  I kept looking down at the water while we were in the boat trying to wrap my mind around how there is something that beautiful on the earth.  I cannot wait to take our children and introduce them to it!

I have never laughed so hard in my life as when one of the Michigan girls hopped in the water to go snorkeling.  She was scared to death of the ocean and the water and it took everything we all had to convince her to get in and snorkel.  She finally hopped in with a float tube, put her face in the water and the capitan of the boat threw some bread in right next to her head.  You can imagine what happened next - hundreds of fish came swimming up at her to get the bread - she screamed and screamed through that snorkel gear.  Steve and I were laughing about it for days!

On the ferry on the way back I started to feel a bladder infection coming on.  I began chugging water as fast as I could as that usually clears it right up.  Not this time.  By the time we got to the resort I was miserable.  A couple of hours later I didn't know what we were going to do - I couldn't stand it.  I asked Steve to call the concierge and ask where the nearest hospital was.  They informed us there was a resort doctor and they'd be by in 5 minutes to pick us up in a golf cart and take us to him.  I have NEVER in my life been so grateful to be in a posh resort.  The visit was $80, he just asked a few questions, did not run labs (odd, but ok), and said there was a pharmacy up the road that would taxi down the prescriptions within the hour.  Better & faster treatment and for less money than in the US!  Amazing!  The ER visit at midnight here alone would have been a minimum of $250 with who knows what deductible!  I started the abx that night and we slept in until about 11 the next day.

We planned a resort day on Friday so it worked out perfectly.  Except I literally could only take a few steps on Steve's arm, I was so sick & weak.  This infection hit hard and fast. We made our way to these delightful cabanas, where I promptly fell right to sleep and Steve kind of explored the resort & tried to find places the internet would work - which he had done all week, so we could stay in touch with my mom, the kids and his work.  There was not much good news coming from the homefront - every single one of the 4 kids managed to get the stomach flu during the week!  My poor mom.  I talked to about 10 families who it had hit during fall break - dang it!  After offering to hire a babysitter, we just had to hang up the phone and go on with our trip as there was nothing we could do :(.

We decided to cancel our trip to Chichenitza on Sat (6 hour bus ride)- I was just too sick.  Which worked out great because it gave us another day at the amazing resort.  Probably the best thing that could have happened to us so we were really able to relax and enjoy just being together with no distractions.  In lieu of the trip, our dear Dolores said she would give us a free ride to the airport and return the money.  The ride did indeed show up but no $25 (promise #6 kept, but 1/2 of promise #4 broken).  Overall the timeshare presentation ABSOLUTELY paid off and we would do it again to get some perks!

One of my favorite parts of the resort was happy hour at the swim up bar.  Really?  Does it get better than that?  Pina colada's with my sweetheart & best friend in the sun and the water - guilt free with our room credit. 

At this point I remember watching a video of the kids on Steve's phone and having flashbacks of how INCREDIBLY MUCH WORK it is at home.  I started to worry that I wouldn't feel ready to go home and that I would miss our little paradise together, but decided to simply enjoy what was left of our trip.

Our last night there we took a walk on the beach and noticed a group of people standing together - we walked up to them and they said they were going to release baby sea turtles that night.  My heart started beating faster.  I adore sea turtles; I feel a special connection to them and have loved all my time spent with them in the ocean.  They are majestic, peaceful, beautiful and never cease to amaze me.  I feel so much peace when I swim with them.  And now to get to watch babies be released.  I almost couldn't stand it.  And then - they said we could hold one and release our own.  My knees literally got weak.  I got to hold a baby?!  I turned into this little school girl, giddy with excitement.  It was so precious (and Steve was shaking his head with a little smile).  They were so little with such big eyes.  I stroked it and watched it practice flapping it's little arms and marveled at the miracle of life, the miracle it would know how to get to the ocean without anyone teaching it. 

I couldn't imagine a better way to end the trip.

 Goodbye Grand Mayan.

We flew home on the very cramped (but cheap) Spirit Airlines and had an 8 hour layover in Ft. Lauderdale.  It was SO, SO good to be back on American soil.  The first thing we did was eat American food!  A salad and a burger.  Ahhhh. We decided to continue the adventures and ride the $10-after-dusk Ft. Lauderdale Water Taxi up and down the waterways looking at the luxury homes and yachts.  It is a complex world I know very little about - I am still in awe that someone (many someones) would pay $10 million dollars for some of these ships!  It was one of my favorite days of our trip.

 The $10 million yacht.  There was a yacht show in town that weekend and there were some amazing yachts lining up. $$$$$

We heard the stories of some of the owners of these mansions, along with the greed, corruption and politics (and politicians serving prison sentences).  It is amazing how money can destroy a person.

We arrived home late that night to find my poor mom with a temp of 103, but the kids happy and the house standing and in great shape with the laundry caught up.  They survived - barely!  It will probably take her 5 years or so to recover and be ready to do it again ;).

I am happy to say the best part of the trip for me was coming home - I was so happy to be home.  I love the life Steve and I have created.  I love our children, our jobs, our home, our friends, neighbors and church and each other.  And I must say that is the mark of a great vacation!

Saying Goodbye

I really dislike saying goodbye - especially to friends that have been with us since we moved to Parker...9 years ago!  She started as my visiting teacher, broke into my house to bring us suitcases at the airport, watched my kiddos while I worked, planned a sweet trip to Chicago, was my therapist at the gym, understood my heart when I lost John, and understood my kids so very well.  She taught me the true meaning of friendship, patience, unconditional love and loyalty.  This was the friend I could call for anything, who would talk me through any situation, who finished my sentences and knew me better than I knew myself.  My kids adore her kids and we lost a lot of 'best friends'.  Little William was so patient and fun with Blake - when Blake went off on a tangent he would always say "Bwakey!!!".  So precious! 

These kind of friendships are rare - this kind of person is rare and I will always cherish her!  Now to figure out how to get to Seattle more often...

Labor Day 2012

 Labor Day 2012 was a blast!  We got together with our good friends and booked some cabins in Grand Lake, CO, right outside of Rocky Mountain National Park.  The cabins had heat and electricity and showers along with a playground, little store and lots of visiting wildlife :).  It was luxury camping - the perfect mix for a long weekend with little ones.  The great outdoors mixed with some conveniences. We made the miracle happen of getting work/callings off for 2 holiday/weekend working dentists & and RN and RS presidency & bishopric members.  But we did it.  And was it ever worth it!

 We divide up the meals so each family had one breakfast and one dinner to cook for everyone & lunches were on our own.  It made it delightfully easy & the food was delicious.

 

We divided up our weekend there to include a day in Rocky Mountain National Park, a day hiking/fishing, time on the Grand Lake beach, an afternoon of crafts & games, and a fishing trip for the daddies.

 

Thanks to some advice from a friend we found an absolutely beautiful fishing spot in the Park.  Absolutely breathtaking.  And boy were the fish biting - there wasn't one person who didn't catch a fish (thanks to Steve's very good baiting of the poles).

  

We had a scare when little Cameron slid into the creek down a slope I couldn't see disguised by long grass.  Luckily I think it was Kali who first realized he'd slid down and the only damage done was a major mud bath.  We cleaned him up the best we could & I took off my outer layer shirt to put on him for a few hours until we were home.

 We went on a lovely hike and packed lunch - these are the kiddos helping Cameron along.

 One morning as we were eating breakfast we saw some visitors in the camp - a beautiful mama elk and her twin babies.  Just a few yards away!  They were just majestic.  We kept the kids a good distance from them and watched them peacefully munch on willow bushes.  Then we watched mama not so peacefully chase a dog, then jump up on her hind legs on the above RV.  Don't mess with mama.  We also had a lovely visitor every night after dark - a bear that (luckily) was only interested in the trashcan.  Man alive -was this thing strong and fast.  We watched it flip over the trashcan like a toy ball for almost hours through the nights.  There is something absolutely surreal seeing an animal that huge and limber just 20 yards away from you with no barrier between you and the bear.  We kept this little secret to the adults in the group.  No one wanted to be awoken by kids having nightmares.  No, thank you very much.

 Each night we had a little devotional, which was a perfect close to the days.  There is something about being outdoors that brings you a bit closer to heaven and the spirit.  We spoke of the creations of Heavenly Father, looked up and the stars and spoke of how He has worlds without end, but He knows each one of us and knows our potential.  We also brought some memory making games and did crafts.  LOVED getting away from electronics and screens.  It is SO good for the kids.  So very good.

 We spent lots of time on the beach and just happened to have these three girls in matching shirts on the last day.  How fun is that?  We also went into the park and the kids did a little workbook and got sworn in as Junior Rangers.  They took their oaths to never feed animals, pick flowers or litter very seriously.  It made Steve and I want to take them to every National Park and earn a junior ranger badge (FREE!) from each park.

 We loved spending this time with our dear friends who are like family - the Shermans.

 And the Lawsons.

  As we were leaving camp we drove under this rainbow and without words everyone shared an understanding of & gratitude for a beautiful ending to a simply beautiful weekend.

Summer 2012

 I wanted to recap the Summer of 2012 before Christmas arrives :).  It was a monumental summer with lots of activities, family, serving and fun. It deserves to be documented!

New Additions

The summer started with a wise, thoughtful super dad moving heaven and earth (literally) to bring a couple additions to our backyard.  He has talked about utilizing the upward slope of our backyard putting a zipline in the backyard.  He spent HOURS digging holes, pouring cement, ordering zipline parts and working his magic to install a zipline across the backyard.  It was a hit and has made our backyard a haven for the neighborhood kids.  So far the biggest injury is a tooth getting knocked out that was due to come out anyway.  We have yet to receive a letter from the HOA, but I watch for one every time I check the mail.  So far, so good.

We have also talked about getting a play-set for years and have been watching Craigslist.  Steve finally found one that looked sturdy and fun, at an incredible price.  We enlisted the help of good friends and home teachers and anyone who offered (or accepted our plea for help) to disassemble this bad boy, transport it and reassemble it.  Whew, what a project! We spent days sanding it as a family before we reassembled it. For the month of July we asked our visiting teachers and home teachers if their visits could include assistance in staining it - thank goodness for their help.  It has been wonderful this summer.  The kids have not tired of it - they love the picnic table, the clubhouse on top and the monkey bars.

 Pinewood Derby

Trenton participated in his first Pinewood Derby.  Steve was great about researching tips and methods of building the car and Trenton was right by his side, sanding, painting, nailing and spinning.  It was a team effort that paid off with a second place finish - first missed only by .002 seconds.  So close!  But Trenton has his trophy proudly displayed and we had a great time.

  

Luke & Mary's Visit and the Hailstorm of the Century

Luke had some business in CO and much to our delight Mary and Max came along for the trip.  How we love this family!!!  Siblings are the best.  The night they drove in happened to be the night our first ever Legend Ward RS Activity that I was in charge of. About 30 minutes before the activity was to start, a storm started that quickly turned from heavy rain to marble, then golf ball sized hail.  It stopped right as the activity was starting as it usually does, but then started again with a vengeance, accompanied by a Tornado Warning.  At this point we had a good 25 sisters and were being instructed to go home d/t the Tornado warning.  We walked out to look outside and it became very apparent that no one was going anywhere.  The little creek with a walking path had a 30 foot high river flooding through it.  The river almost was overflowing into the parking lot - it is a sight I will never forget.  Most of the older ladies just laughed, firmly planted their feet down and said I'm not going anywhere!  So there we sat - quilting, eating crepes and trying to stay in touch with our families as they were losing power and being pummeled by the storm.  Luckily Luke and Mary drove safely into the garage right as the storm started so they sat it out with our children which allowed Steve to go to his Home Teaching family's house (5 kids all alone) while their Mom was stuck at our activity.  

What a night.  

To make a long story short we (along with a majority of Parker) suffered major damage on our car that was at the church ($5,000 worth), our rental home ($13,000 worth), our home ($18,000 worth).  This has led to hours figuring out insurance, claims, repairs, new roofs, decks, paint jobs, etc.  Thank goodness for good insurance coverage.  Between the damage and the high gas prices it also led us to sell the Denali on Craigslist (once again Steve's magic, we got a very good price for it) and purchase our first minivan - a Honda Odessy.  I miss the space in the Denali, especially the trunk, but it is so much nicer on our pocketbooks.  And compared to the Denali, driving the Oddessy feels like driving a sports car.  It just zips around.  It really was the best choice.

So started a very fun week with Luke and Mary.  We loved up on the Max & celebrated his b-day just a bit early, BBQ'd, went to our favorite summer discovery - a free outdoor waterpark/playground, and went to the Parker Days Fair.  We really keep trying to convince them to move to CO.  

Did I mention we adore them?

 

 Youth Conference

The timing worked out so that Mary & Max were able to stay another couple of days and watch the kiddos so that Steve and I could drive up to Lake Wellington and speak at Youth Conference.  The Billats asked us to speak back in Feb and we were happy to.  We love teaching the youth - they are stellar kids.  Our topic was Be True to Yourself & Be True to Others.  We were able to speak with this stunning lake as our backdrop.  As we were preparing, Mary helped us find some great object lessons.  When any of the youth thanked us afterwards for our talks, the thing that was brought up the most were the object lessons.  I'm not sure they remembered a thing we said, but those object lessons were a HIT.

 

 Girls Camp

Last December I got a phone call from a High-Councilman asking to meet with me.  I started to panic thinking it was a call to teach Early Morning Seminary and when he came over and asked if I would be the nurse for Girls Camp I was so relieved I about jumped out of my seat with a resounding yes!  What better thing to do - I love the outdoors, love being a nurse and love the youth.  Perfect combination.  As we closed the door behind him I turned to Steve, realizing I had missed something in my relief, and said "Oh wait.  I might still be nursing Cameron.  Probably will be nursing Cameron."  I called the Camp Director and in her wisdom suggest we call someone to split the week.  Rebecca Sherman was called and we prepared together for the week.  We were a brand new stake, so we had to build our supply list from the ground up.  We were both nervous that something would happen beyond our scope of practice, but we were comforted knowing the Camp Director had been a camp nurse for years.  The Stake Priesthood Leadership almost didn't let me go since I was still nursing and at one camp meeting President Ure turned to me and said "How will you do this?"  I didn't think he wanted all the details, so I tried to discreetly explain I had a great pump, my baby takes a bottle and there was a freezer at camp :).  They let me go.

It was a blast.  I got to know some of the girls so well who hung around my tent with me.  I offered Steve's Oralabs Samples each time they brought me an empty water bottle to try to keep the girls hydrated and I must say I thought it worked very well.  We hardly had any issues with dehydration.  We had a bear sighting in camp, strep throat, a couple of asthma issues (that one was a bit scary) and lots of headaches, bumps and bruises, but the excitement ended there.  I loved getting to know the leaders on the Stake Level and was very grateful to have the experience.

Science Camp

The week of Girls Camp I enrolled Trenton in a camp called Science Rocks with his friend Hayden Sherman.  It was 3 hours a day for 5 days for only $100.  They did some pretty great experiments, brought home a lot of new vocabulary & understanding and seemed to have a blast.  It was good to break up the summer a bit for big-brother-patient-with-his-younger-siblings Trenton, too.

We'll be doing it every summer. 

The Hughes

I was so touched that my college roommate Jeanette and her husband Zack and their precious baby Zander (just a few months younger than Cameron) drove down from Ft Collins to see us while visiting Zack's family.  We had a great time catching up.  I am in awe of how much I love the children of these college roommates of mine who I loved and learned from (and still do) for the years we lived together in college.  Each child is a miracle, but my heart does a special jump for those children of my wonderful roommates.  I love seeing a piece of them in their children and watching them as mothers.  I just adore this girl.

 

 4th of July in Lander

There is nothing like a small town 4th of July.  When you combine it with a family reunion it becomes awesome.  We drove out to Lander the afternoon of the Hughes visit, and arrived at a very excited Aunt Deb's home.  I should add here neither one of my aunts were able to have children (Aunt Deb adopted my cousin Courtney) so I have been blessed to feel love, support and encouragement from those two as second mothers.  I love talking with them, they remember EVERY birthday, holiday and anniversary in our lives and they are just wonderful.  

We had a great week eating, playing games, going to the park, fishing, hiking, watching the wonderful 4th of July Parade, getting sprayed by the fire trucks, swimming and did I mention eating?  We also celebrated every summer birthday, including mine and Mary's on the 7th (more on my favorite gift EVER later).  It was so good to be with  Great-Grandpa Poljanec.  How blessed we all feel to have him and his wisdom with us.  Cameron was just happy to have his walker to waddle around with all week :).

 

 As a little follow up, poor Aunt Deb caught a cold the last couple days we were there (possibly from all the late nights and early mornings!), it spread to her eye, she rubbed of a layer, lost her vision, had to have surgery, missed a bunch of work, and is just gaining her sight back.  

Oh lands - the lot of us did her in!

 Laramie Stop

 On the way home from Lander we asked Grandma if we could stop in and spend a day with her.  We celebrated her birthday a few days early.  We picked up dinner and a chocolate birthday pie and spent a delightful day in her wonderful home as always.

 Across the street from Grandma's house is Laramie High School.  It was set up as a central command center for the firefighters fighting the wildfires in WY.  We were all impressed and enthralled with the comings and goings of the men and women fighting the fires.  The pulled up in busses covered in soot and ashes, use the restroom, shower in the high school, then sleep in shifts in these tents.  No easy life I say.  I've always felt gratitude for the firefighters, but seeing it live certainly made it more real.

 Family Fun & Cousins

As we mapped out the summer I realized things wouldn't calm down until about mid July, which left us 3 weeks before school started to relax and enjoy the summer :).  We decided to go to Water World here in Denver for the first time in years and had a delightful time.  We were able to juggle rides and baby Cameron pretty well, and took him on all the ones we could.  He clung to me during the Pharaoh ride while going through the cave - it was the first time I've seen him really scared of something.  He enjoyed the other rides, and especially the splash park and slides made for kiddos just his size.  My little 12 month old would crawl as fast as he could up the stairs to the top of the slide, climb on mama's lap and clench his little fist in sheer delight as we went down.  It was so precious.  We had a BLAST and will definitely make it a summer tradition. 

 

We had our cousins, Christi and Lyndi, out the last week before school started and knocked off a few things on our summer list.  It was fun, busy and exhausting all at once.  I was amazed what adding two extra children does to the dynamics in the home. We went to the zoo, went to the pool, did Casa Bonita, played at the water park and spent lots of time on the zipline.  It was all worth it when I asked Kali what her favorite part of the summer was and she said "when my cousins stayed at our house."  Poor little Christi got sick with 2 days left and spiked a fever the next day.  We spent lots of time talking to Aunt Tina, hydrating, giving Tylenol and debating what it could be.  Tina took her in when she got home and it was a UTI and strep.  Poor little thing - to be so sick away from home! We gave her lots of TLC, but it's just not the same as home.  She was a trooper and wanted to come to everything - we brought pillows & blankets and the poor little thing spent a day and 1/2 in the double stroller with Cameron (as pictured below at Casa Bonita).

 

I bid farewell to summer, digging my heels in.  The end of summer is always bittersweet - we're ready for routine and structure, but not ready for alarms and homework :).  Which is why amidst the work, arguments, "I'm bored"'s, and lack of down time, I tried to just enjoy every moment.