Fall Fun

We've been doing a lot this fall! From Garrett & Wyatt's birthdays to starting up the school year, to Friday Outdoor Exploration days, to visiting the local pumpkin patch...plus we started teaching the 2's every other week at church and started going to a small group nearby on most Sunday nights. And then there is Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesdays for me, Wyatt, and Wade (it has been so good; we're studying the life of Moses and the kids study the same thing in a kid version in there excellent kids classes!), while Garrett goes to his Wednesday charter school. Whew!

Plus tomorrow I have an MRI to see the exact location of the mass near my fallopian tube and after the doctor reviews it we have to make a decision about surgery - whether to try taking it out and risking a lot of bleeding or just go for a hysterectomy. Prayers are appreciated for wisdom and not feeling claustrophobic tomorrow in the MRI! Thanks.

So back to the pictures...
On Fridays our curriculum gets us out into local parks and open spaces to observe different parts of nature. It has been fun to have an excuse to see the local beauty and I love the hands-on learning the boys have! Here they're looking at a wasp's nest...

 

Inspecting an ant hill.

 

 

Using the binoculars...

 

 

Garrett had his 7th birthday at Big Dry Creek Park with Aunt Luanne and Uncle Ed (who stayed with us for a few days in September) plus our friends the Malm's there to help celebrate! Afterward we came home for chocolate cake and cards and a big gift - a remote controlled truck!

 

 

He was very happy to get it!

 

Had to stick this one in - Wyatt "mowing the lawn"...so cute.

 

For Wyatt's birthday, we went to the Ya Ya apple orchard in Longmont and had apple cider doughnuts and enjoyed seeing the orchard and animals.

 

Such a blessing - a girl offered to take our family's picture! We hardly ever get our whole family together, and they turned out pretty well!

 

Thumbs up for apple cider doughnuts!

 

It was so precious...that night was the night before his birthday, and I was downstairs and he came down in tears wanting to give me his "last 4 year old hug" and was crying about the poignancy of it all. Grandma Cox was on the phone so she talked to him and chirked him up and he was ready to move onward and  upward to being a 5 year old... :)

 

Waking up to the streamers!

 

And a big present ... a new bike!

 

Happy birthday Wyatt! Red velvet cake and all.

 

We went to the Denver botanical gardens at Chatworth with my friend Jen and her two boys. It was quiet a miserable day, I hate to say. The air conditioning was broken on the van and it was a long drive on a hot day. Then the boys were full of it the whole time and when we went into the visitor center the lady in charge yelled at them for playing with the fireplace metal curtain... Anyway, we did it. ;-)

 

Jim took the boys to the pumpkin patch on the opening day (while I was sidelined on the couch for a couple of days with bad pain). They got the hugest pumpkins! It's worth it to go on the first day! They were all so proud of their $6 huge pumpkins, freshly picked from the field.

 

Happy fall! :)

Camping at Reverend's Ridge

Last Friday through Monday we took a lovely, restful camping trip up to Reverend's Ridge campground about an hour from here. Wade did really well (MUCH better than last year when he woke up multiple times a night crying), and although he fell down a few times and had a bloody nose and bruised lip from one of those falls :(, he was a little trooper and loved the whole experience! Garrett and Wyatt are old pro's at it from their times with Grandpa and Daddy in a cabin over the past few years. The boys found mushrooms galore to stomp on, big sticks to rake up the campsite with, found a treasure-trove of buried cars in the dirt, made some new friends, loved fishing and crawdad hunting with Daddy, and loved the campfire and s'mores time every night. I was expecting it to be more stressful than it was with young kids, but actually had a number of relaxing events like sitting down to sketch some baby aspens (LOVE those aspens!), listening to the wind swish through the pine needles and aspen leaves, see beautiful views on our nature walks, and even got to lay down on a bench to watch the clouds at one point! We were sad to come back down the mountain. Here are some pics:

It was cold and foggy as we left Broomfield, but we wound up above the clouds and into the sunshine quickly.

 

Little Wade SO happy to finally be camping with the big kids!

 

The boys immediately started gathering sticks for the fire pit.

 

Garrett found a big one and loved making lines in the dirt everywhere.

 

Yay - S'more time!

 

Reading before bed.

 

There's Wade in the big bed. He got to sleep next to Daddy in his "mini crib" by the window.

 

There it is....

 

Wyatt loved "mining for jewels" in the ditch leading to the culvert.

 

Pinecones!

 

Garrett enjoyed transplanting some moss.

 

Peek-a-boo! There's the cutie popping out from behind the tree!

 

There was an easy nature trail that led to a bench with a beautiful view of a hill filled with aspens and other beautiful trees.

 

We headed over to Kriliey's Pond for lots of fishing. The guys caught a couple that Jim enjoyed at dinner. Here's Jim's inventive strike indicator - the cheese puffs that can be seen from far away!

 

There's one of the fish!

 

Garrett really wanted to head over to the visitor's center so we could all feed the fish in the pond.

 

Wyatt giving me one of is very expressive faces for fun...love this one!

 

Beautiful.

 

Fishing again the second day! The boys got to have a very rare soda which was probably their favorite part!

 

We served pancakes in the camper on the last morning...a big hit!

 

And...Jim spotted some toy cars peeking out of the dirt across from our campsite and set the boys to work digging for treasure! They were thrilled to find 3 or 4 cars and had the help of another little boy and gave a car to him too.

 

Camping is therapeutic! We'll have to go again soon.