Sand Dunes Camping Part 1

Our camping trip to the Great Sand Dunes was months in the making. At one point we had 40 people who wanted to camp with us. As the months went by, a few dropped off until we ended up with a final headcount of 27. 

We decided for this trip to do group meals and I was in charge. This meant I had to plan and shop for breakfast and dinners for 27 people. It was a massive undertaking which included several shopping trips: 

We left Monday morning (Memorial Day) for the Sand Dunes. We had to make a couple stops, but made pretty good time arriving at the campsite in the early afternoon. We were in Group site A and it was a great site. 

Not long after we arrived, all the other families started showing up. There was an area for all the tents: 

And then a big group area for eating/cooking

 

There were tons of downed branches... probably from the wet/heavy snowstorm the week before. One of the dads took all the branches and made a fort for the kids.



There were tons of trees for the kids to climb


Jack set off with his metal detector


Lily and her girlfriends were already having drama


One minute they hate each other, and the next minute they are having fun again!

Wasn't long before all the kids were filthy


I was just excited to see all my friends


The adults were outnumbered by all the kids


Enjoying our first camping meal


That night the first task was to start cooking the apple cider. It was an amazingly delicious drink for camping


The campfire cones for the kids weren't such a big hit

After dinner the kids decided to tell campfire stories

Ready for bed!
 

Other May Happenings...

In other news... the kids played in their (clean) underwear:

We had a Mother's "minute" BBQ at our house

The kids and I went to the Environmental Learning Center for a scavenger hunt.


They got to catch creatures in the river:

They bore a hole through a tree to find out how old it was

After spending the whole day scavenging the kids were rewarded with a packed of seeds. The next day we headed to Home Depot to get soil to plant all our new seeds 

And not long after that we got a huge springtime storm. At first, it didn't look so bad... 

But the snow was heavy and it kept falling. We did not think any of our trees would survive. We had to go outside every couple hours to get the snow off the branches

Driving around after the storm looked like the aftermath of a tornado. Tree branches were everywhere. 

It took a few days for all the snow to melt, but then we were back outside again! One weekend we volunteered as a family to pick up trash on the Poudre river. There didn't end up being much trash to pick up...

But we still got to go to the after party at Mountain Whitewater. It was an amazing place and I don't know how we have never been there. But we have plans to visit again ASAP. 

Another day we had our neighbors over for some crafts:

We also tried another escape room....


After we didn't escape we headed over to Weldwerks brewery for some tasty beers

Josie loves the water. One day I took the kids to the indoor pool and Josie decided to put on goggles and go diving for toys. She is amazing!

And here is another video of what it is like talking with a 2 year old...

Field Day and end of school

End of school is such an exciting time! So many fun activities and events... and summer weather!

The kids loved riding their scooters to school every day! Even Josie got super good at riding her little scooter!

A week before school ended, Lily had her Kindergarten graduation. Here is our little graduate ready to perform:

The family after graduation

The post-graduation party!

After graduation, the kids still had another week of school. But it was filled with activities. One of the days Lily's entire class of 20-something kids came to my house to bake bread, it was quite the adventure:





Here is everyone enjoying their fresh baked baguettes in the backyard

Then there was field day at the school. It consisted of all sorts of fun games and relays. Here are Lily and Hazel spinning on baseball bats before having to run a sprint:

And another event where they had to have their legs tied together for a relay race

Another day we took Lily's whole class to the park. We were not there very long before a huge storm rolled in and we had to walk back to the school in pouring rain with all the kindergarteners. Before the rain hit I was able to get this one picture of Josie.

And finally, here are the kids on their LAST day of school!!

After the last day of school we headed to the park with several friends. We were there a long time and Josie was so tired that she just fell asleep while I pushed her on the swing!

And now it is officially summer! I am excited for all the adventures that are coming our way!

Recitals

Music lessons are wrapping up for the year! I am a little relieved to not have to worry about taking them to lessons and doing homework with them.... But I know music is important so we will start again in Fall. Looking forward to enjoying a break this summer though!

Both kids had their year end music recitals. Lily's was first and she was excited about dressing up and wearing makeup :)

Jack's piano recital was next. He spent weeks practicing his song. Originally, his piano teacher wanted him to play a piece of classical music. But Jack really wanted to play something from his favorite band 21 Pilots. His teacher agreed and Jack chose to learn the song "Heathens'

Jack was super excited to see one of his friends at the recital

Jack's presentation of "Heathens"