For about 3 weeks in a row in July we were lucky enough to have friends and family come to visit. It's always a treat to have Gramma & Grandad Butler stay and play with us :) There were a lot of books read...
Parks visited....
and "Piggy back" rides :) I love that my parents are still kids at heart!
On July 4th, after a lovely breakfast at our church, we came home and daddy set up the ghetto slip and slide. Water + soap + an old tarp = tons of fun!!
Don't forget the bubbles!
Then we were all tuckered out...
but not too tired to get into a lot of mischief when mom and dad thought I was sleeping. Kinners got into Lexi's lip gloss and had a hay-day :)
We then took a drive to check out some of the damage that had been caused by the Waldo Canyon Fire that happened the previous week in Colorado Springs. We found a lot of wildlife that had been dispalced from their homes, like these darling deer.
This next picture I post with hesitation because witnessing some of this horrible destruction was so devastating and humbling, but I wanted to show just a glimpse of what hundreds of homes looked like after the fire. There's just nothing left but skeletons of cars and rubble etc. It was so strange how there would be a dozen homes destroyed and then one in the middle of them all would be untouched. Or the opposite would happen, where all the homes on one street were fine and among them one would randomly be destroyed. It made us all stop and think of how blessed we were for all we had and that we were all safe. It was also a good lesson for the kids to see what they have to be thankful for and how we can be more charitable and help those in need. It gave them a visual when we prayed for all the families affected by the fire.
Another day we took my parents to the Cliff Dwelings in Manitou Springs which was a place we'd always wanted to check out but never have. It was a small place, but really fascinating to see how these people lived and how much smaller they must have been :)
Gramma & Grandad & Lexi
The whole fam
While we were there Gramma picked up a little souvenir. It really suits her don't you think?
A view of most of the dwellings
There was also a tee-pee there, so our kids were so excited to say they've been in a tee-pee. This picture cracks me up because apparently they all went in there to meditate. Check out Colton & Lexi - ha! (or should I say "Omm")
A week or so later, my brother Aaron and his family came for a visit. Although they weren't able to stay nearly long enough, it was so great to have them here. We went on walks, the girls & I did some shopping (can't complain about that). There was playing in the park, firing off rockets, games etc. We also took them to the penny arcade in Manitou with the antique arcade games. Some of the best moments, though, were spent just hanging out at home.
I love this picture of Aaron & Colton bonding over legos.
Kymble & Kinners are twinners - kinda. They're both super cute!
Precious!
Playing at the park, waiting for daddy to launch the rocket.
