He was so proud of himself. "Mom, I have my helmet on!"
Our favorite Kathleen and Everett came to visit for a few days and we turned it into a month of fun! The boys had so much fun playing together, Dylan and Everett were two little peas in a pod. Kathleen and I went to Moab for a camping and ducky adventure with the boys. As I floated down the river with my two boys, I had the overwhelming feeling of being outnumbered. It was a scary moment, but then I realized we were fine and we continued on. Colter was a great firstmate and paddled with me. Dylan sat in the back and sang "Rubber Ducky, you're the 1!" and "Duck, Rubber Duck, Duck, Rubber Duck" the entire time. The only "boy overboard" incident happened when Dylan leaned too far over to reach a stick. It was a beautiful warm day and I love the freedom of travelling and sharing new adventures with the boys. Colter got a new river hat at the end of the day and we renamed one of the rapids "Hat Eater". We also spent some quality time in Crawdad Canyon and brought Claude the Crawdad home to live in the fish tank. He lived for a long time and enjoyed chasing the tetras. We have a couple of pyromaniacs in training around here and they would love to have a campfire everyday. We are still loving our time with friends in the desert and mountains that we call home.
Next up was a boys camping weekend at Alta lakes with Daddy. They had fun fishing, four wheelin' and running around the old mining town of Alta with Colter the Tour Guide. He had just finished his first Telluride Academy camp called Alpine Detectives and he was full of new stories. It was a great week of camp and he loved exploring the region with his detective kit, new friends and teachers. They went on mine tours, long hikes to old mining cabins and ghost towns. We are looking forward to more camps next year.
As part of the fall birthday season, we went to a party at the secret down valley pond and had a great day playing in the sand and water. The boys were worn out from paddleboating, exploring, swimming and yes--kayaking! One of the boys had a kids kayak, Jackson Fun 1 and all the boys had a great time padding around. I am saving these pics for when my boys are gnarly kayakers doing first descents all over the world.
Ok, I left these two pictures bigger because they were both epic in their own way. We planned a weekend long birthday bash on the Upper Colorado for Trevor and Penelope. As Kathleen and I were driving there we got trapped between two mudslides on McClure pass outside of a little town called Redstone. It was a somewhat funny, mildly traumatic experience that involved many strange looks at the two "crazy" moms in the minivan from Illinois. We had them all fooled, the other vehicles held mildly panicky people from various backgrounds that thought our reaction was a bit mild. We busted out the PB and J's, lifejackets and raincoats and then settled the kids into a DVD of Dinosaur Train. Guess they didn't think we were serious when we said we were fine, we had swiftwater rescue training and would help them, if needed, once our kids were safe. We ended up getting evacuated and spending the first night of our long weekend at a "romantic"' hotel in Redstone. Colter said he was "not impressed" with the whole flash flood thing. We retreived the car around midnight and left the next morning. This is a picture of the smaller mudslide, the big one was about 8 ft tall, covered the entire road and blew the guardrail into the river. Nature always impresses me.
The next picture also has a great story. I would like to say that Tim and I are so cool that we pulled this stunt off and age has not slowed our reflexes at all. Those years of hucking ourselves off the dock at the lake house and the many cliffs since had implanted such a strong muscle memory that we could not fail. Well, it worked for Tim on this jump and he landed straight up and down after a beautiful lay out back flip--I, however, need to practice some more. I over rotated this one by about a third and after Tim pulled me to shore gasping for breath I had the huge bruises to prove it. Still a great pic! Tim got his bruises the next day underrotataing a front one and a half, I guess we both need to practice some more.
The somewhat annual birthday sushi dinner continues, if we can pull it off on Day 13 of the Grand, we can handle a little car camping. Dylan said "Mom, take another picture--wait, here is my fishing face". He had a great time with his Spider Man fishing pole, didnt't catch a thing, but learned how to cast a good bit.
We enjoyed the pyro show that comes with the famous Flaming Rum Cake, this time it was Palisade Peach Upsidedown Cake. In the next one, you can see the trust on my Mom's face. I think this picture is hilarious! She says she has fun rafting.
Kathleen and Everett in their mighty Ducky. John, Melissa, Brooke and Bryce came along for the family fun.
Tim, Tracy and Penel rounded out Team Ducky for the weekend, We also had Steve, Katie and Nicole, Brad, Sandy, Rowan and Dory. Dylan loves to row with Daddy. He is doing really well and should be captain by age 5.
It was a busy weekend full of kid and adult fun, hotsprings, firecrackers and all else river.
We took Colter on his first Shoshone trip and he loved it. He held the rodeo strap in the back and laughed the entire time! Now we can move on to some bigger trips with him, that is so awesome!
Trevor's real birthday was spent camping at a friend's house in Norwood and having some good redneck fun. Gun shooting, motorcycle riding, fire playing and moonlight swordfighting put smiles on all of the boys faces. Colter loved the target shooting.
Whew, tired yet? Up next is Colter's Camo/Hunting 6th Birthday party. Oh yeah, two front teeth fell out in one week, we'll get a pick with both teeth out soon enough. We all went down to Modee and Pappy's house to let the kids run free. Colter got his first real bow and learned to shoot at his target. He and Eli both got the same bow and are very excited boys. Dads and boys also spent some quality time building potato cannons for a little fun competition. The Dad's definately enjoyed themselves as much as the boys. By the end they were shooting corn and any other thing they could stuff down the pipe. That was probably the highlight of the party. We also did a scavanger hunt and built log cabins. It was a beautiful weekend and we are loving post monsoon summer this year. Colter helped me decorate his camo cake and put camo pudding in the middle. He is a creative guy and has been enjoying lots of cooking projects lately.
Next day was Colter's first day of kindergarten. I have to say that I have been a total wreck leading up to this. I am so excited for him and know that he is ready and will do great. At the same time, I can't believe my baby boy is big enough for school! I also can't believe that for the next 20 years or so I will have a kid in school, that seems like something a grown up would be doing. I cried the entire first day. He is loving it and doing so good. He is going to the Telluride Mountain School and I feel so blessed that we have this opportunity. It is an independent school in our region that has a Montesorri focus for early education and believes in hands on learning, community service and family focused learning. They promote travel and real world experience along with physical, nature based programs. All classrooms are multi aged and allow for different learning styles, lots of art, music, languages and of course skiing. In kindergarten they start Spanish and have Ski P.E. once a week. Love it! He also started karate once a week and is enjoying it. It seems to be good for his focus, strength and balance.
I will have to cover all the fun projects we have been doing later. I'm tired from remembering all this activity! It has been an amazing summer of fun.
This is a picture from Finn's birthday party down valley. Colter was showing off his hop scotch skills by crossing up his legs and doing tricks for each square. Fun party on a beautiful day that included snake hunting, pond swimming, dragon fly chasing, fort building and a scavenger hunt. September was a blur of beautiful late summer weather, getting into the new school routines, birthday parties, Blues and Brews, getting in those last sunny, warm days and a bit of travelling. It was one of the best fall leaf shows in memory. Colter is loving his school (and so are we) and learning so much already. He has made many new friends, is starting to read, write and sound out new words, learning Spanish and loving art. He has found his love for singing and performing again and we are enjoying all of the new songs he is learning. One of his favorite things is called the 100 board and teaches counting and math skills. By the end of the first week he had his first girlfriend, Amelia, and professed his love and admiration with rolling eyes and fainting on the couch. The other night he told me how he and Amelia met and that it was one of the "unforgettable" days of his life! Very expressive guy we have here. He is kind to the other children, always saying hello, good bye and calling them all by name. He is very charming and thoughtful and I am hearing from other Moms that their children are talking about him alot at home-makes me smile. Their class pet is a gecko and it is Colter's job to feed it crickets this week. They allow him to learn with his own style and do not require the kids to sit still for long periods of time, he is loving it and thriving in this learning environment. His near constant questioning continues and he remembers so many details of what he is told, google is still a close friend of mine. Blues and Brews was a blast this year. Three days of fun in the sun and a huge kids play area with blow up jumpy houses, slides, a climbing wall and all the running we could handle. Colter and Eli spent an entire morning making necklaces, ankle bracelets and beanbags to sell at the festival. They set up a display, did a great job selling and ended up making enough money to buy a sno-cone each. So great to watch the boys following through on projects, problem solving and accomplishing their goals-and so cute to see them create and sell their own stuff! 
Hike on the Galloping Goose trail after school one day. Colter was exploring "evidence" of a an old train track. 
Dylan can put SuperDad to sleep now too. The green around Trevor's neck is his superhero cape.
Fall leaf piles are the best!
I just got back from my first "girls trip" since Colter was born. I went to the east coast with my good friend Penelope and had a wonderfully relaxing and fun time. We went to Boston and then drove to her mom's place on Mount Desert Island in Maine. We sea kayaked, hiked, leaf hunted (the colors were just starting to change) and ate a ton of seafood! I loved it up there and look forward to taking the boys in a year or two. Their place is surrounded by water on all three sides in Pretty Marsh and has so much to offer, I could easily loose a month or two there.
While I was gone Uncle Dave, Tim, Tracy, Modee, Pappy and Trevor played with the boys. From my little reporter Dylan, I have heard of every infraction of normal rules that occurred and it sounds like they had a great time! It is being referred to as "the boys weekend" and I am thankful to everyone that helped out.
