Brown Bag Activity

Cody came home from the first day of school with a homework assignment.  He had to place 5 items in the brown bag that told about him. He said his teacher told them it should be "things that 'present (represent?) us and make us special."

So here's what he picked. First, a Hotwheels car, since he loves cars.

Then, a Lego minifig because he has recently discovered the fun of Legos.

He also included a marker (a green one, his favorite color), because he loves to draw and color.

He put in a drumstick, since he has set up his drums again and has been taking lessons with Daddy.

And finally, he attached a special bandanna to his littlest sock monkey. It represented his love of stuffed animals.

But the bandanna is from the Children's Brain Tumor Foundation, so it also tells something that makes Cody special.

He also decorated the bag a little bit...

First grade is osume (awesome)! 

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for Jackson and Cody. They've been looking forward to this day with equal parts excitement and dread for the last week. Cody was very nervous about how much harder 1st Grade might be, and Jackson was not looking forward to having even MORE homework in 4th Grade.

Well, Cody got in the car after school and said, "Mom, I've got 5 words for you: First. Grade. Is. The. Best!" I'll take that to mean he had a good day! And Jackson conceded that the first day of 4th Grade was better than he'd expected (he was very disappointed at Meet The Teacher on Friday when he learned that none of his friends were in his class), and from him that's a rousing endorsement. 

Of course, Cody told me that the reason 1st Grade is so awesome is that there were no "jobs." (In Kinder, they had "jobs" they did every day...little projects like cutting and gluing to put words together, etc. and Cody did NOT enjoy them. LOL) I tried to break it to him gently that there will be SOME work that he has to do in 1st Grade, but I don't want to ruin his great day. Reality will set in eventually. :)

Yay for a great first day!

Royal Gorge

We began our drive home to Texas today, but stopped for a visit to the Royal Gorge (just after passing through Penrose, CO!). The Royal Gorge Bridge is one of the highest suspension bridges in the world. You can drive across or walk across...and we decided to walk so we could really enjoy the views. 

Cody was pretty nervous at first. His depth perception and balance can still be a little off, so he really didn't like the fact that you could look through the wood slats and see 956 feet down. You can see him insisting on holding my hand here, and he almost never holds my hand. 

But once he got started walking across (and had Daddy to hold on to), Cody relaxed and started to have fun.

He got so comfortable that soon he was just exploring on his own.

Jackson and Luke thought it was pretty awesome being up so high.

And Luke, with his daredevil demeanor, decided he just couldn't see well enough from where he was, and that it might be a good idea to start climbing so he could look over the edge. ACK!

They have an aerial tram, which stretches 2, 200 feet across the gorge and flies 1, 178 feet over the Arkansas River. (See the little red dot in the next pic? That's it.)

Jackson and Luke really wanted to go on it. Cody...not so much. But you know what? He talked himself right into it. Even though Anthony and I were telling him it was absolutely up to him (and even though Anthony really hoped Cody wouldn't go so HE would have an excuse to skip it, too), Cody decided to conquer his fear. 

And I think he actually enjoyed it!

And our laugh for the day...

Have people actually tried that? The boys loved imagining how long their rod and reel would have to be to make that work!

Despite the lovely day, it was HOT out there. I think Lukey's favorite part of the whole day was the Slushee break. 

It is so much fun stopping at random spots on family road trips! I wonder what tomorrow will hold?

Last Night in Vail

Tonight was our last night in Vail. It has been a very different trip this year without Gramma and Grandad, but we had a wonderful time. It's always sad to say good-bye to Vail.

We decided to go up the mountain one last time for dinner (and to give Anthony a chance to get up there). But first, we stopped by a special family landmark.

When Kate and I were little, our Grandma Peg would come with our family to Vail. And she had a very favorite picnic spot by the creek that we would visit regularly. We'd eat lunch, we'd throw rocks in the creek, do a little wading, and just enjoy being outside and surrounded by beauty...like this:

So tonight, we stopped by there for a few moments to look around and take a few pictures.

Then, we hopped on the Gondola one last time. We had so much fun wandering around up on the mountain at such a different time of day (we usually go in the morning). It was colder, the sun was setting...and it was just gorgeous.

 Kate-Kate was nice enough to take a few family shots for us.

And we were able to get a nice couple to take this pic of all of us.

The boys all missed Daddy so much in these last 2 weeks. 

I kinda missed him a little, too. Just a little.

Jackson and Cody go back and forth between being best friends, bonding over Legos, and mortal enemies. Here, they acted out both extremes for me.

Cody took this one.

And Jacks took this one. :)

Luke found about 37,000 more dandelions to blow and took care of them during our brief visit.

And then, as our shadows grew longer, it was time to head home...

Farewell for another year, Vail. Thanks for a wonderful 2 weeks. Thanks to Gramma and Grandad for introducing us to Vail and for lettting us enjoy it for them this year. Thanks to our many visitors who went on adventures with us. We had an amazing time, and though we're glad to be heading home...we hate to say good-bye. 

But we hope to wander back your way again before too long.

Rafting

Today we went on our first white-water rafting trip as a family. It was a Class 1/2 "Family Float" trip, so it was very gentle with a few fun bumps and splashes here and there. The boys were so excited and couldn't wait to get on the boat!

But first, we rode a van to get to the right spot in the river. I think they might have been more excited about the big van than about the boat!

Once we got to our launch site, we had to wait a little bit for our boats to arrive (they came with another van). So we passed the time throwing rocks in the river and enjoying the scenery.

Then, our boats arrived!

We got outfitted with our life vests and water booties (to keep our feet warm even if they got wet).

Lukey's jacket came with a convenient handle for hauling him around. :)

And then, we were off! 

It was just a beautiful day...not a cloud in the sky.

I was worried most about Cody, but he loved every second of our trip. 

 Look at his expression. He's having a BLAST!

Jacks was pretty chill about it all...literally. He was cold for most of the trip, but I think he still had a good time. 

As usual, my little Luke was a daredevil. He started off the trip riding right in front between his brothers, not afraid at all. Then he moved back to sit with Daddy for a while.

I thought he was going back there to get more comfortable. Oh no. He wanted to get closer to Daddy so he could do this:

Yes, that's Luke, sitting on the SIDE of the boat. And he didn't stop there. Soon he started dangling his legs over the side.

Good thing Daddy had that convenient handle to hold on to!

No. Fear. (There's our awesome guide, Jim, in the background.)

Kate and I used to go on these rafting trips with Mom and Dad when we were younger, so it was fun to try it again together, but also to share it with the boys.

And because Jackson, Cody and Luke INSISTED I take a picture of this and put it in the blog...here, a picture of the butt rock they spotted in the middle of the river. Crack and all. 

Boys. :)