Our camper's maiden voyage

We found a weekend in July and decided to take our trailer out for a spin. We wanted to go camping for two nights (for the first time). We hoped to go to somewhere like Estes Park or Breckenridge, but were naive and thought we could just find a camp site in one of those places without making a reservation. Luckily, we decided to just check right as we were about to walk out the door and came to find out that almost EVERY camp site in the whole state was full. I don't exactly understand why, it wasn't a holiday weekend or anything. Regardless, I'm glad we checked before we drove 2+ hours just to find out later . We figured we'd go to Woodland Park (just 1/2 hr. away) instead and drive around and hope we could eventually find one spot. We did and it ended up being quite nice, right next to a little lake we didn't know existed. Here was our little set up.

Nate got the kids each a headlight (flashlight you wear on your head) and they were thrilled!

Our camper sleeps 6 snuggly, but we weren't sure where we'd put the baby since I was nervous sleeping with her with all the sleeping bags etc. So Nate with all his ingenuity whipped up a little cradle that could be attached to the little counter (as you see above). Despite it looking precariously perched there, it is actually quite stable because it's bolted with big brackets to the side and back. Nate also made it collapsable with hinges so we could lay it flat when the camper is collapsed. I was really quite impressed, then he painted it white no less so it would be prettier. We just put the mattress from her cradle in it and it worked lovely.

Here's Nate and Kinners enjoying the tin foil dinners we made on the first night. We had a few more "hiccups" the first night as we discovered that the battery in the trailer was dead and that our lantern batteries were dead as well, but with a couple trips back and forth into town, things worked out.

Tyler and (a tired) Colton hanging out by the fire waiting for daddy to come back.

The next day we took a little hike to the nearby lake. This is Colton towards the end of the hike, pouting and "putting his foot down" that he was DONE!

We also drove to the Rampart Resevoir and while the kids and Nate played a bit in the water, McKinley had other plans.......

The resevoir isn't really for swimming, but there were a lot of other people playing in the water so the older kids were anxious to join the fun as well.

Tyler with the lake we discovered in the background

I love Colorado, always such lovely scenery every where you look, like this beautiful meadow...and a cute girl :)

There was this little hut type thing with fire places in it by the lake

McKinley's face summarizes how the whole trip went overall. Everyone had fun and she was an angel! We're crossing our fingers that our next two camping trips go as well. I'll let you know....

Random July pics

Here's just a little of our July.... starting with McKinley's first 4th of July (hence the shirt - that her brothers have worn in the past).

We celebrated starting with our annual 4th of July breakfast at our church. Later in the afternoon we went to our friends the VanWagoners' home and cooked some foil dinners and had s'mores and had our own little version of a fireworks show. Here's Colton enjoying his first s'mores, I believe. This was before the mess! He enjoyed a few more after this:)

Tyler and his buddies Isaiah and Elijah also enjoying the gooey goodness.

Lex and Ty had their faces painted at the breakfast. Ferocious tigers aren't they?

OK, so one of Nate's new hobbies is to see just how "creative" he can make Tyler's hair as he cuts it. I told him he needs to find another outlet for this "creativity" - like play-doh or something and not our child's head! Anyway, his latest creation: devil horns, nice! This lasted an hour or so, then I could stand it no longer. Nate settled for making"sports stripes" on one side of Ty's hair instead (yeah, you know from the late 80's). Luckily, they just grew out right before he started kindergarten.

Here are some photos of Kinners as she turned 3 months...Colton was happy tp help with the celebration.

Isn't this the best expression?! Love it~

These were before her hair turned crazy wavy!

Like her hair here after a bath. Don't let the pictures fool you...she loved it!

Pretty baby, T-ball Tyler & Fun with Family

After we had McKinley's blessing in June, my parents and my niece statyed with us a little longer, like I mentioned earlier. It was so nice to spend time with them and for them to have some extra time with McKinley.

My dad spent a little time coaching Tyler a bit on his T-ball game.

We all attended two of Tyler's T-ball games that week. I think Ty really loved his big cheering section. Here's his St. Louis Cardinals team. They were all so cute to watch. As you can see Tyler was much taller than most of the kids.

Tyler really made a lot of improvement over the season. He ended up getting a REAL bat and baseball and glove and a sweet cardinals hat. He had a blast.

Ty at bat

Don't know if you can see his face in this above picture, but he's being goofy, which we could often find him being in the outfield. There were often times we'd have to yell "Tyler- RUN!" or "Stop lifting your shirt up" or "Stop filling your hat with dirt!" etc. He had a hard time focusing, but he did get better and had a lot of fun:)

Love this action shot (and the dimple)

While my family was here we also spent a lot of time taking countless pictures of the baby.

Kinners is OUT as my dad holds her. I love it when her mouth hangs open when she's sleeping. You can't tell here, but she was totally sleeping with one eye open too - so funnny.

McKinley loved when Alyxe held her too. My niece is really good with babies, it was so nice to have her here.

Having some daily chat time with my favorite baby girl as she tells me all her stories.

Colton is subtly telling us the baby is stinky in this picture. He holds his nose and yells with much enthusiasm..."YUCK!!! GROSS!!!"