Balloon Festival

The first weekend in August we took a VERY quick trip to Craig, CO. Doug did most of his growing up there, and his mom still lives there. His mom arrived for a visit the last day or so in July on her way home from visiting her siblings in Illinois. We decided to drive her home because Craig was having their annual balloon festival over the weekend.

We took off early Friday afternoon after I finished my work for the day.

The trip turned out MUCH longer than we planned. Mary needed a few stops. She hasn't been carsick in a while, but it came back with a vengeance. So we took a little walk while we waited for her dramamine to work. We walked until we saw roadkill ahead and then turned back.

We finally made it by 8:00 and had dinner. Then it took forever to get the kids settled for bed. Shocking, right? Kid can't settle down on a road trip? I'm sure that never happens to anyone else, right?

We got to bed insanely late and then had to get up early to see the balloons. We missed the actual launch, but we saw some of them in the air.

After the balloons launched they had some other activities at the park. The kids' favorite was the bouncy castle slide. 

Craig has a wood carving festival earlier in the year. Some of the carvers were selling their work and doing a little demo. These welcome bears were ADORABLE.

Of course here's what I want to put out for the sales people who come by the house, especially those pesky siding salesman. No, I can't afford it, and no, I'm not willing to finance it.

The local fire department brought one of the trucks out for kids to "tour." The kids really enjoyed that. 

They also got to do some art. Unfortunately, Mary's the only one we got a picture of. I was frankly surprised Alex even wanted to do it. He's not big on art. Adam as usual painted a picture of angry birds and pigs, his favorite things to draw. He's really getting quite good at it.

So after hanging around the festival for a few hours on Saturday we started the drive home. Fortunately the trip didn't take us as long as the trip to Craig. Mary learned a new trick to take her dramamine. She takes a drink of soda, puts the pill in, and then swallows them together.

It Turns Out

I really don't like camping...

Of course I didn't realize that until AFTER  we attempted to go camping this week.

It was okay the first hour or two while we were getting the tent set up and starting to get our hobo dinners all wrapped up and ready to throw into the fire.

Then a wasp decided he really liked hanging around the picnic table.

After finally getting rid of the wasp (there may or may not have been fire involved and a bag of potato peels) the rain came down

and down

and down

and then turned to hail

and then came down some more

and some more

and some more...

Our fire seemed to be out COMPLETELY.

So as we took shelter in the tent we decided to eat the chips and bagels that were supposed to be part of breakfast and lunch for the next day.

Of course somehow our fire managed to reignite itself after the storm finally stopped. So we roasted some marshmallows and made smores and then went to bed.

After playing around a little the next morning we packed up and came home even though we'd planned to stay another night. I never regretted it, especially when the rain storms hit again that evening after we'd come home.

It's nice to have my own bed and above all my own bathroom. No matter how dirty I let it get, it doesn't hold a candle to the nastiness of an outdoor toilet at a campground...

On the plus side, the sign at the campground said the "host" would come by to collect our camping fee, and he never did so we got to camp for free.

So here are the highlights...

The highlight for the kids was this bridge across the creek. Adam could hardly make it across without holding my hand the first time, but after a while he was running across like a pro. They played the "grumpy old troll" from Dora the Explorer fame and "Temple Run" across the bridge. 

Not sure why the rocks in the creek are orange.

When I woke up in the morning I discovered why the tent was so cold. Alex had gotten up in the middle of the night and opened the window of the tent.

Life Can't Always Be Charming

No lie...

My buddy Alex has always lived a pretty charmed life. He's had many, many, many, many (did I say many?) close calls in his life. And yet, he'd never had a broken bone in his life or had to get stitches.

Did you notice how I said HE'D and not HE'S??

Well the charmed life he was leading hit a big speed bump a couple weeks ago while we were visiting my parents.

My dad uses four-wheelers (or ATVs to city folk...) that he uses on the ranch. (It's much easier to catch than a horse, right??)

So Alex and his cousin Josh were driving them around and decided to race. The race came to a sudden end when Alex crashed into Uncle Jim's Razor (pretty much a dune buggy). On a side note, it took me forever to remember the thing was a Razor and not a Rascal. Although frankly I like Rascal better. I chuckle thinking of my brother driving around on a scooter designed for elderly people.

So a trip to the ER at the hospital where I was born was required. It's a teeny hospital where back in the day my doctor was able to get me a full blown cast. However, times change and Alex just got a splint and we had to take him to get a cast once we were back here in town.

And because he's so cute, here are his photos.

The good news in the whole situation?? WATERPROOF CAST

Pioneer Days!

Every year my home town, Manassa, CO, celebrates July 24th. Why is this a special day? July 24, 1847 is the day the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. It's a state holiday in Utah, and it's a big deal in a really tiny town in Colorado because half the town was settled by Mormons in the late 1800s.

So every year the town puts on a celebration. My kids were begging to go visit this year again after we'd missed two years in a row while my parents were in Mexico being missionaries.

Two days in a row the town has a parade. Here are a few pictures from the parade.

My grandpa was the Grand Marshall of the parade. That means he's the oldest man in town. He turned 94 in April. Adam and Mary got to go for a ride with them on Friday along with their cousins DJ and Julia. Alex got to ride on Saturday, but we didn't get a picture of him.

They borrowed the wagon from a very nice Amish family. Their children were so adorable. Doug and I got to meet them when we picked my Dad up from dropping off the wagon on Saturday.

The dragon flapped his wings. It was pretty impressive. Some of these float builders are EXTREMELY talented.

A person's a person no matter how small! Adorable. This was one of my favorite floats.

Me and my little sis, Dani, plus Adam. Alex told me the other day that Dani was his favorite person in the family. As an after thought he told me that I'm the same as Dani... She is one awesome Aunt though. All the nieces and nephews would agree.

That's my buddy Alex! I think he managed to rake in more candy than anyone this year, which is pretty impressive considering that his cousin Julia has traditionally been a candy MAGNET. She's so darn cute people just can't help but throw her candy. Of course she was in the grand marshall's wagon some of the time...

And last but not least, here's M mountain. They light it up on the Saturday night of the celebration and shoot fireworks off from there. Fortunately, the fire ban in the state was lifted just in time.

Cupcake Wars

This summer we've discovered a new love, cupcakes. 

Mary was somewhat interested in cupcakes when we found (actually given) a cute little mini cupcake kid set at a garage sale last summer. Her first attempt was a big fat failure (WAAAAAY too much baking soda), but the second time with a little parental supervision things turned out well.

Then her excitement waned.

Until...

We discovered Cupcake Wars on Food Network. We're a little slow to discover this. We didn't discover it until season 8 was well under way.

Tonight family time involved decorating cupcakes. A great time was had by all. I think we're actually getting better.

You can see for yourselves.

This turned out really fuzzy, but hopefully some of the cuteness comes through.

This one is my favorite. Love that guy!

Fortunately none of us had to take the walk of shame as we got eliminated from the "war," but feel free to vote for your favorite.