80's Day 2011

I put my mad skills to good use again this year and this is what we came up with for 80's day!
I'm also having the urge to sing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!"

Just to make my mom jealous...

Lately I have discovered the fine art of "thrifting". I have found some pretty awesome things--canisters for my kitchen, a ruffler foot for my sewing machine (for $2 might I add! It's a $65 part!), DVDs, ice cream dishes, and stuff to make a cake stand--just to name a few. My mom gets jealous when I tell her about all my finds. In my defense, I DID call and tell her about the ruffler so she could go get one too! I've wanted some apothecary jars for a while now, but I am way to cheap to pay at least fifteen bucks each for them. So I started collecting each time I went to the DI, glass candlesticks and jars. A few minutes and a little epoxy later and I had these beauties...
They are all mine for the low price of $6! Oh, plus a few pennies for the epoxy! Now I just have to decide where to put them!

First Day of School 2010-2011

Hannah went to a new school this year. She is in 8th grade, and was a little nervous for her first day! It was a much bigger school and she was afraid she might get lost! Not to worry, she survived and had no major battle wounds!

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This year Seth is in 5th grade. It's his last year in elementary school. He decided last night that he wanted his hair cut--short--so, I took advantage of it! He now has one kickin' fauxhawk!

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Lyra is in third grade. In fact, her third grade teacher was MY third grade teacher! She is very excited to go back to school!
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This is Pyper's "day before the first day of school picture." She didn't start until the day after everyone else. And this is my cute little Kindergartener on her very first day of school! She had so much fun!

Vacation Time

We needed a vacation and decided that it would be fun to take a jaunt to Denver and see some of the things the area had to offer. We left Uncle Dustin in charge of the carnival and found a KOA (it's the kiddie's favorite campground, they LOVE the funky bikes!). We spent some time swimming in the pool and just hanging out on Thursday. Friday night we decided to try out Chuck E. Cheese. None of us had been there before, except Hannah. We ordered pizza, got some tokens, and let loose. Some of us had to really concentrate while playing the games!
On Saturday we went to the Denver Zoo. We saw lots of animals and even came away with all the kids! We were worried that the zoo would think we were trying to smuggle monkeys out of the exhibit. Can't you see the resemblance...?
Some of our other favorites were penguins~

elephants~

and seeing how we measured up to the polar bear~

Sunday we spent the day at Elitch Gardens.We started the day on the carousel.

Then David, Hannah, and Seth took off for some roller coaster action. So Bugga, Pyper and I headed on over to Startoon Studios where they rode the balloon ride and a bunch of others...

Then I got sick of taking pictures. But there were LOTS more roller coasters, some water slides, a couple runs through the haunted house, and a laser light show to top off the night! We had a blast!

South Park City

In the town of Fairplay Colorado there is a museum of sorts. It is actually a replica of an olden days mining town and is called South Park City. Many of the buildings were purchased and moved in from neighboring areas. Mining was, and still is, a major part of the economics in the area, so South Park City has a lot of mining memorabilia. We took the evening and wandered through the little town. It was pretty neat to be able to see all the old toys, machines, and furniture and to learn a little more about the mining boom of the area!

The smokehouse~

A mining shaft pulley. They backed the carts in and filled them with the pulley, then they used the carts to fill the railroad cars.~
Mining carts~

A great "navigator"

Hannah is my navigator while I drive. She tells the other kids that she has to sit in the front so she can help me find the way. It's a good thing she does, I don't know if I could navigate without her. Evona usually sits up in front with her. Here is a picture of them doing their job...

Oh gee, whatever would I do if I had to navigate alone?

It's July...

...and yes, this is SNOW!! I guess that it can snow any time of year if when the elevation is 10,000 feet or above! This was taken just outside of Frisco, Colorado.