Camping Trip 3: Prospector Campground

For the 4th of July weekend we headed up to Breckenridge to go camping with Luke's family and some other friends from Colorado Springs. We chose site 38 randomly on the internet, but it turned out to be a great site with a large open back area and good distance between our neighbors. 

After driving around the entire campground we found that sites around #54 seemed to be even better with a view of the lake

But we had no complaints with our location. Even though all the trees had to be cut down because of pine beetles, the view was still amazing.

There was no water at the campground so we had to pack it in and we also developed a great dishwashing system using the two large buckets, one with soapy water and one with clean water. And having them right under the water spouts was perfect for catching all the extra water.

We also bought two new sleeping bags so that everyone could have their own (except me and Lily who shared one). But this made a huge difference at night and we finally had our first night camping without nearly freezing to death

View from our tent window

The morning of the 4th I had to wake up really early (5am) ish and get ready for 10k 4th of July trail race I had signed up for. It was brutal and I didn't want to get up. But I'm glad I did it. The race started at 7am and we ran uphill for 3 miles (1,200 ft elevation climb) and then back down for another 3 miles. It was much harder then I had anticipated. But I finished 150th out of 400 runners so I guess I did okay considering it was my first race.

I was back at the campsite around 9:00am to find Lily had been crying almost all morning...the little stinker. Jack was still fast asleep in the tent.

Luke's family had a campsite right across from ours so we were able to enjoy breakfast together each morning

Grammie even brought tons of games for the kiddos

After breakfast we got the kids ready for the party (thanks Grandpa Jay and Grandma Marianne for the cute 4th of July clothes)

Then we headed down to the town of Breckenridge for the festivities. The main attraction seemed to be walking through the river

Lily didn't get to enjoy it though as she was exhausted

There was also a water fight on the main street. Firefighters had set up two hoses at opposite ends of the street and they were both trying to squirt a target right in the middle of the street. Hundreds of kids were running underneath the stream of water. At one point, a boy got his finger stuck in the spinning target and he began screaming and then people started freaking out. The firefighters rushed in to help and after they couldn't pull his finger out they had to get a toolkit to pry open the target to get his finger out. Finally he was free and they bandaged him up and an ambulance took him away. Thankfully the water fight wasn't cancelled. They just put some cones around the target so no one else would go near it. Lily was frightened by the whole situation and still talks about how the firefighters pulled the boys finger out.

Later that night we headed back to the campsite to play games

Hang out

Eat lots of tasty food

We even walked down to the lake

And late that evening we were able to watch the fireworks from our campsite. 

Friday morning we decided to take the kids to a local pool. We desperately needed to get clean!!

Friday night we joined up with our other friends who were at the campground and we played some more games

Ate some more food

We tried cooking brownies inside an orange wrapped in tinfoil

They were delicious!

Luke and Grammie played some music

Saturday morning the kids opened presents

We went down to the town of Dillon and played at the park

And walked down to the lake

By Saturday night I was ready to go home, but the trip was going so well that we decided to stay one extra night. So we camped for 4 nights on this trip. I can't remember the last time we were all so dirty.

By Sunday morning everyone was ready to head home!

Being in the great outdoors for 5 days was fun, but exhausting!

Within 30 minutes of driving home both kids were fast asleep

One of the first things we did when we got home was to throw the kids in the bath. They were so dirty that the water was completely brown...and a few bugs even floated to the top. 

T-Ball

Jack had such a fun time playing soccer that we thought we'd enroll him in a summer t-ball team. We have a really nice coach and lots of cute kids on our team, but t-ball is not as fun for Jack as soccer. The kids spend a lot of time standing around waiting to bat or waiting to catch the ball and there is nowhere near as much running as there was in soccer. But he still seems to enjoy himself enough...

Jack's team "The Giants"

Here are some videos of the little T-ball star

Watch closely as Jack hits the ball and then when he gets to first base he picks up the ball and gives it to the first baseman. 

We decided to take the kids to their first professional baseball game to watch the Colorado Rockies against the San Francisco Giants. They had fun for about the first 30 minutes and then it was a struggle to get them to sit still.

We met up with some friends from church so Jack was able to play with his friends for a while.

But Lily was a little wiggle worm and kept knocking into the guy in front of us. He was a real jerk about it and was bent out of shape that this little baby kept bumping into him. I moved chairs to get away from the mean guy but then Lily was bumping into his wife. They were visibly frustrated, but what can you do when you buy the cheap seats... you have to expect some discomfort. But the best part was when Lily took a drink out of a bottle of water and then decided to pour it down the back of the lady's shirt. Oh boy... I didn't know weather to laugh or cry. They were so mad!! I just had to take Lily and move to a different area where the seats were empty so she could run around.

The little wiggle worm and the lady in the pink who was
about to get water dumped down her back

Auntie Amanda trying to help keep the
wiggle worms in their seats

Yay! The kids are happy to be able to run around again

Summertime

We have been enjoying a busy summer. Between swim lessons, t-ball, our garden and trying to find time to run we are going, going, going all day long. 

Whenever we have a spare moment we will hang out at our apartment pool

Jack is quite a good little swimmer. He has officially said goodbye to all floatation devices and can swim solo, even in the deep end

The first week of summer Jack attended a VBS program at our local church. He really enjoyed it and I have to admit I enjoyed having a couple hours each day to spend with Lily alone

Each day of VBS had a different theme. Here Jack is sporting his firefighter hat for "hat day"

 Then there was a crazy hair day.

But alas, VBS was only a week and then we were back to finding ways to keep both kids entertained all day long.

How about picking some weeds in the garden to keep the kids busy:


My garden is actually doing really good and we had an abundance of lettuce. I would cut pieces off each week to use for salads. Then birthday week came and I wasn't able to prune my lettuce and it bolted... aka got flowers and turned bitter. We tried to eat it but we had to throw a good amount away.


With all summertime fun the kids have never went to bed so easily: