Steamboat VOC trip

Luke and Jack had their last VOC trip for the year. This time it was up in Steamboat Springs. I'm so thankful that the VOC people take all these photos so I have a glimpse into what the trips are like. They always look like so much fun!

Eclipse

The highly anticipated eclipse was a big deal at our house. We had Luke's grandma fly out to see it, as well as my grandpa and grandma. 

The night before the eclipse, we threw an impromptu eclipse party with the family and the neighbors. 

On the day of the eclipse, Luke, Grandma & Jack left at 4am to drive to Wyoming where they would experience the 100% eclipse. The girls and I stayed behind to see the measly 96% eclipse. We met up with some friends and went to the University for the event

We expected it to get dark, but it only got a little dusky. Meanwhile, Luke, Jack and Grandma had made it to Glendo, Wyoming and were able to see the full eclipse. One of Luke's coworkers and his son joined them on the journey. They ended up setting up camp at a park where the kids could play.





The crescent shadows from the ellipse were amazing

I guess it did get dark for a full 2 minutes where they were. Luke said it was awesome! But then again it took them over 9 hours to get home (should have been a 2 hour drive with no traffic).

Visit from Grandma

Luke's Grandma came to visit us for a week before the kids went back to school. We had so many adventures... like when we found the bat in out patio umbrella

And the one mile fun run at the Peach festival

The kids favorite part of the Peach Festival are the bounce house obstacle courses. They look forward to them every year

Another day we went to Fort Fun to ride the slides

And mini-golf

Mini-golf is not a sport for 2 year olds

After mini-golf, the kids got to play some arcade games. Lily won the a huge jackpot on one of the games

She is ever the generous child, and split her winnings between her siblings. They each got a stuffed snake and a ring pop. They were happy kids

And Josie had a special nap time with Grandma

Last days of summer vacation

Some more random happenings from the last days of summer vacation. The kids participated in a dance glass at the gym. Here are their performances:

The kids found a who bunch of baby bunnies in our backyard. They were so excited and asked if we could keep them. At first I said yes and we started preparing a little place for them, but then I checked in with a friend of mine who has bunnies and she advised me that it was illegal to keep wildlife, and that wild bunnies could not be domesticated. The kids were heartbroken. 

I made them put the bunnies back, but the kids would continually go "check" on the bunnies and I would find them cuddling with them. After a few days the bunnies had relocated their home and we haven't seen them again.

Tiny bunny head in the grass

The kids love to steal my phone and take all sorts of pictures. Here Lily is dressing up her live baby doll





And of course, there is always Jack ready to jump in the picture

Lily also took this pictures of Josie playing with her cheese

Jack went off on his first solo fishing trip with a neighbor boy. They loaded up their bikes and rode about a mile away to a little pond and fished for several hours. Of course, me and the other mom took turns checking in on them... incognito :) 

At Rollerland with friends

At a park with friends

The girls after Nani dolled them up

My grandparents who stopped by on their way back to California

The reason I can never get a good nights rest

Sisters!

Cool video of Luke "surfing" behind his friends boat