Summer already?

We have continued the fun around here. Now that the weather is nice, there is no stopping us. Fun with family, backyard fun, zoo fun, fun with friends--you name it, we want to do it!

We had some fun getting together with Aunt Lacey and Travis, on the eve of Travis' 30th birthday.

Happy birthday to you!

Who doesn't like cake pops?

Cory enjoys a good cake pop

We had a bit of fun with Dad's new hammock.

The girls had a lot of fun!

Hung between two trees in the backyard

 And Scout's last day of pre-school was last week--hard to believe! We enjoyed the end-of-the-year picnic at City Park and the trolley ride.

Scout and Mrs. Horn

Trolley riders

Scout aboard the trolley

Ruby Jean enjoying the trolley

 We spent some time with our friends Charlotte and Rebecca and their mom Ginger. A princess story-time was involved, and that--as you can imagine--is pretty exciting. We also had a simple get-together the other night and the kids all had fun eating at the same table al fresco (as Scout--or Fancy Nancy--would tell you, "Al fresco is fancy for dining outside.").

With Belle

At Chick Fil-A before meeting Belle

Dining al fresco

Rebecca and Ruby playing really nicely

In the far right of this photo you can see their new puppy, Woodrow, a chocolate lab

 We took a day trip to Denver, complete with zoo and the Old Spaghetti Factory trip. (Plus a trip to Ikea, but that was more for me, less for the kids, and absolutely not at all for Cory, though he tolerated it well.)

Mmm. Spumoni.

Another spumoni lover

Ruby took this photo

In one of the fancy schmancy chairs at the Old Spaghetti Factory

Love the pose... lookin' regal for sure

Aboard the train

A couple of train riders

Playing a big ol' drum

At the zoo, in front of the red river hogs (I believe)

 Some other momentous occasions: Taking down the crib.

 Scout slept outside in the tent with Cory on Sunday, May 27th.

That's the beginning of the fun around here. Can't wait to enjoy another beautiful summer!

Our maiden voyage: first camping trip May 18-20

We set off for Carter Lake, a Larimer County recreation area, around 1:30 pm on Friday. We did so after a busy morning at preschool (Cory's first day in the classroom as a "parent helper"--kind of a big deal!). We got to our campground around 2:30 or 3 pm and it was gorgeous. We lucked out, it was a lovely day and a lovely site.

My manly man messing around with the manly hitch work

The view of our site

The two loungers--just waiting on us to set stuff up

Having a snack, shirtless

The girls' bunks

Dining table converted to our bed

On Friday night, we enjoyed the world's largest marshmallows. I think they're called "Campfire Roasters," and they are about the size of Ruby's head. They are almost as delicious as regular marshmallows, only Cory and I discovered a glitch with the Campfire Roasters straight off: Even with the perfect amount of roasting, and proper proximity to the coals, one thing remained the same--undercooked marshmallow center.

Marshmallow roasting on Friday night

Enjoying the roasting, but not the smoke (thus the sunglasses!)

On Friday night it rained and rained. We woke up to a chilly morning. Fortunately, Cory made us all a delicious breakfast on the grill. When the sun peeked out, we were able to sneak a few trips around--down to the lake and on a short walk around the campground.

Breakfast in the morning indoors

Grumpy face!

On our walk down to the beach... it was chilly!

Brrrrr!

Dad and his girls

We sought refuge in the camper after our brisk walk--and the kids curled up in the upper bunk to watch a movie

Cory and I played cribbage

Scout and I took a walk out on the pier

Another walk on the beach

A walk on a little hiking path around the campground

The view from our trail

After the rain came a rainbow

This is my girl

The fire builder

Here's us doing the dishes on Sunday morning--Scout took this picture

Leading us through the brush by the lake

Follow the leader

Sunday morning's weather was just gorgeous

Such a cute photo!

Just the two of them

Throwing rocks together

We returned home around 12:30 pm today, and I think everyone was pretty beat. Cory and I worked hard to quickly clean out the camper and get stuff organized. After we dropped the camper off at the storage place, we picked up a Papa Murphy's pizza and instituted a movie night. This camping stuff sure is fun, I'm wiped out! Off we go again in three weeks--next time we'll have the additional companion of our Beamer.