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.

Day 4   We spent the morning in Estes Park.   We got groceries and bought t-shirts.   We decided to take a Horse back Ride for Dinner.   We booked ourselves for a Steak and Ride with Sombrero Stables.  Nadia was very nervous, but she did great.    In fact, it was her favorite part of the trip.  

Day 5   We decided that we could not leave Estes Park with out seeing the Historic Stanley Hotel. 

 We stopped in Boulder, CO at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.    The building was designed by I.M. Pei, an architect that Ethan wrote about for his biography book report this year.    The museum itself was extremely family friendly.   We spent several hours and enjoyed it very much.

 We ended the day at Chatfield State Park, south of Denver.

Day 6 - Today we explore 2 different parks around Denver.    Dinosaur Ridge and Red Rocks.    We learned so much about the layers of the earth at Dinosaur Ridge.     It was really interesting and they actually have dinosaur track fossils.    Really Cool. 

Red Rocks park  is a park full of red rocks, but the really cool thing is that they built a concert "hall" / amphitheater right in the rock.    It was only about 500 steps up to the stage and at a little higher altitude than our dear Iowa, so we were a little breathless when we got there.  :)     But worth the trek.    We were sorry not to see a concert.