Colorado Springs Dirty Dash

Several months back Luke and I signed up for a mud run in Colorado Springs.  Jack has been looking forward to it all summer since he was old enough for the kids mud run. It worked out perfectly that this was the last weekend before Jack started school so it was kind of like his last hoorah. 

Here are the kids all clean before the race

Some of the runners who had finished waiting to wash off

Our friends who were crazy enough to do this with us

The cleanest part of the day

At the beginning of the race they make you jump right into a mud pit ... guess its good to get your shoes muddy right off the bat

The boys had to wait all afternoon for the kids race

Our friends after their race

The boys running through a mud puddle while Luke and I were on our race

Can you recognize us?

Kids race time!

We were even able to take Lily on the race. The kids race was a mile long and included several mud pits to jump in, a mud tunnel to climb through and a huge slide which ended in another mud pit. Needless to say we were all covered in mud:

The kids loved being muddy

It was an awesome way to end our summer vacation!

Weekend in Colorado Springs

The last weekend before school started we drove down to Colorado Springs with Luke. We met up with friends we hadn't seen in 3 years: 

We went to the zoo

Feeding the giraffes is the best part of the zoo:

And we had dinner with our friends we met in Switzerland

Keeping up with the garden

The day has finally come. The garden is producing food and we are trying to keep up with it! 

This is a great day. For months and months, I would go to the garden every day and pick weeks and make sure all the little seeds have enough water. Finally all that work has paid off and now I only go to the garden 2 or 3 times a week and each time we leave with bags full of delicious produce. 

Jack heading to the garden, bag in hand

Lily ready to pick some goodies

Jack picking tomatoes

Eggplant ready to eat

Jack and his bell pepper

Lily and her broccoli 

Jack and his broccoli

Kids with their bags full

 I have been very lucky for my first attempt at gardening. Everything in my garden is producing. We are at the point now where we are eating more veggies than ever just to keep up with the garden. I have basil coming out of my ears. The freezer is filling up with homemade pesto and each week we are trying to figure out new dishes to make with our veggies. So far, the fail proof method has been to saute any and all veggies in garlic and butter and serve them with parmesan cheese. 

Garden green beans, tomatoes and basil
sauteed in garlic and topped with
parmesan cheese

If I've learned anything from having a garden, it's that having a garden forces you to eat more veggies since all that hard work can't go to waste. 

Camping Trip #4: Carter Lake

This past weekend we drove up to Carter Lake which isn't too far from our house, but we had never been there before. We camped at Eagle Campground site E30 and when we first got there I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't on the lake....and our site had a road running right behind it. But it turned out to be a great campground with really clean bathrooms/showers right by our site. And we fell in love with Carter Lake and have already started planning to get a boat next year so we can take the kids out on the lake :)

Lily loves strawberries

Camp food

Camp food

Jack and Lily found a rock that was a perfect chair for them

The only problem with this campground were the cactuses. They were everywhere, so if you weren't on a walking path you had to be really careful. Like when Jack went to pee behind a tree barefoot... not a good idea

Thankfully I had my emergency medical kit with a handy pair of splinter removers so he was all fixed up in no time

We took the kids to play at the Carter Lake swim beach and it was amazing.

I loved the sandy beaches and the water felt pretty clean (unlike some beaches where you feel like you are swimming in stale, murky water)

Jack and Lily love camping and they do a great job of getting along when we are camping

Group picture

We loved this campground and this lake. It was nice that it was fairly close to home too. We will definitely be coming back here.