To say that life has been a little crazy would be an understatement.
Ben had 3 activities at once,   Hockey, Soccer and Marching Band
Ethan had 2 activities,   hockey and soccer
Nadia just had soccer.    Thankfully.  
It was a scheduling nightmare, but thanks to a few car pools, everyone got to their events and back home.   Well, except once, when Ben's carpool forgot to pick him up and Andrew and I were both busy as work, but at least he was forgotten at home and not at the hockey rink or soccer field.     All in all, we had a great time playing.

We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary, Halloween and Ben's first high school hockey game.   Here's a few photos of all our activities.

Soccer girl 

Rock star girl 

Rock Star Girl and her shadow

Crazy Hair Girl

Pioneer Girl

Cymbal crashing

#13 

Hockey boys

ISU football game day

So,   This is the story of my September summed up in a great little comic.  

Since Summer officially ended Yesterday, I am a day late with posting my final photos for the Summer Scavenger Hunt.    We had a little computer virus that Andrew is still working on and I did not have access to my drive for several days.    All my scrapbooking friends should understand how awful that was for me.   No photos, no digital kits, etc...   I repeat....   Awful.

Since we don't drink much coffee in our house,  I took a photo of our donut shop for #18

 As I stated above, I am lost with out my computer.    Here's #21

I had a fun time at the farmer's market a couple Weeks ago.   Here are a few of my favorite ones for  #1.

Since we don't have any birthdays during the summer months,   the candle prompt was actually quite difficult.    So I pulled out an old party-lite candle that I purchased years ago.    I really like it,  I just never burn candles.   

That completes my list.   It was really fun to play along Thanks,   

Here's the list. 
 
1. Open air market
2. Theater for performing arts (not a movie theater)
3. City Hall, Capitol or other similar civic building
4. Airplane
5. A sunset
6. Someone or something taking a nap
7. A sign that is intentionally or unintentionally funny
8. A tower
9. A photo with someone or something that is clearly out of place or doesn't belong
10. A bench that is outside
11. An animal in a zoo, aquarium, nature preserve, etc.
12. A cloud in the shape of something (please specify what you see)
13. A fence
14. A stained glass object or a mosaic
15. A fire truck or police car
16. A windmill
17. Candle(s)
18. Your local pub/bar, coffee house or tea shop
19. A fisherman
20. A dinosaur
21. A photograph of you with an artistic tool or craft suppl

Summer has officially ended here.    The kids and I both went back to school on Thursday, August 22.  It is definitely an adjustment to get back into our routines.    Especially Ethan Bus arrival at 7:20 am.    I faked the boy's photos, they would have nothing to do with their mom and her camera following them to school.    I actually got better photos of them, then I did Nadia.    But here's our back to school photos.

It is hard to believe that August marks the end of summer.    The boys want to believe that summer is not coming to an end.   They would like to believe that they have weeks and weeks left.    Unfortunately,  they are living in a dream world, while school doesn't start until August 22, they have several school meetings, marching Band for Ben and the like starting next week.   So here's what else we have been doing this summer.
Our Garden has been doing very well.    We ate several meals from our green beans and our tomatoes are ripening nicely.We had lots of rain early this summer, but the last several weeks have been almost drought like.   Andrew has been diligently watering.   

 

 The boys each had a week of camp.   Both returned home very tired, but enjoyed their week.

Both boys also participated in the Iowa Games.   Ethan played soccer with a group of kids from school and they both threw in the disc golf competition.   Ethan earned 3rd in both events.   Ben did not fair as well and refused a photo.  

Nadia has been busy riding her bike and scooter.   We have new neighbors with a 2nd grade girl, so she has made a new friends and plays in the park with her almost every day.   She has also taken a couple more art classes.   Here's her newest piece. 

Andrew has been busy painting the house.   I have only been able to help a couple times because of my teaching weekends.    I am not so sure about the green front door.    But I have been told that it is staying.

I hope you are having a great summer. 

 

Day 7-   Today was our tour of Down Town Denver.     We took the RTD (Rapid Transit Denver) into the city.    Most people we talked to recommended this option since we were not sure exactly what we wanted to do.      We meet our friends Shane and Cassie for lunch and were then on our own to explore the city.    After we had walked around for awhile we took a bus out to the Museum of Nature and Science.   We actually only had 3 hours before the Museum closed, and that was really not enough time to see it all.  We started with the dinosaur exhibit, watched a movie in the planetarium in the space exhibit and quickly walked through the rocks and minerals.    

Day 8 -   This morning we packed up our Camp, but before we left the Denver Area we had to tour the Hammond Candy Factory.    Everyone enjoyed this special treat, especially the store at the end of the tour. Our college friend Pam, joined up for the tour.    It was great to see her again.   

Back on the road to Golden, CO for lunch and a tour of the Coors Beer Factory.  He had lunch in a little park along Clear Creek.    It was a pleasant surprise.   We dipped our feet in the cold water and watched people enjoying the rapids in tubes and kayaks.

 

Unfortunately for the adults, we did not have time to tour the beer factory as planned.    We hit the road and headed south to Colorado Springs.   Our first stop in Colorado Springs was the Air Force Academy.  Andrew wanted to see the chapel and Ethan wanted to see the B52.  

Day 9    - July 4.     This is the day that the family had been looking forward to for most of the trip.    Everyone knew that we were going White water Rafting.      We left our campground early to drive about an hour to Canon City to raft on the Arkansas River.     Although we enjoyed the morning, we were expecting a few more crazy rapids.    So we were a little disappointed, but it was a family trip after all.  

We were all feeling pretty tired, so we spent the rest of the day at the KOA.   The campground had a lovely pool and a jumping pillow, but we were never more excited to have air conditioning and a TV!

Day 10     This was our last official vacation day and we still had lots of things on our list.  
First stop was Garden of the Gods.    A park filled with Beautiful red rocks. 

The next stop for the day was the Manitou Cliff Dwellings Museum.   It is an exhibit of  relocated Indian cliff dwellings.  Andrew was not impressed with the relocated part of them, but I convinced him that it was a learning experience either way.  

Our last stop of the day was the Olympic Training Center. 

Our day ended in a Hotel for a swim and early bed.

Day 11 - Spent a long day on the road and arrived home at about 10:30pm.   Tired, but glad to be home.