Douglas County Parade

The parade is one of the highlights of our summer! Melissa and the girls spent the night with us last night since Austin is at scout camp (he's the Young Men's President). 

Lincoln was so excited to see everything. Even before the parade started he kept saying, "Look, look!" and pointing at whatever caught his attention.

I'm thankful to live in America. I'm thankful for the veterans who have done so much for us. I'm thankful that parades and sport events start with the National Anthem and flag ceremonies.

There is a business here in town that always dresses up like the founding fathers and plays patriotic music.It's one of my favorite parade entries.

Every parade needs a fire engine. I think this was Lincoln's favorite thing.

Beautiful rodeo royalty on their horses. Camille loved this part because she loves horses.

Kids get a lot of candy at this parade, and of course they eat some while they watch.

More horses for Camille. She wondered why the horses were wearing sunglasses, I think she talking about the blinders, so cute!

Something was celebrating 100 years. When I got home I couldn't remember who, haha!

I love the DC school band, even though Ryan isn't in it this year. They play such peppy, upbeat music. Too much drama last year on the drum line made him decide to stop participating. I was a little sad at first, but it's such a big time commitment, and if you're not having fun, it's a lot of time to be miserable. 

They looked and sounded good! Go DC!

The football team always follows the band. I'm not a fan of any football team, but I do have a soft spot for DC because it's been our school for so many years.

Popsicles are always a bit hit at the parade, even though the last two years the weather has been pleasant and not too hot. The people who come along the parade route handing them out are pretty popular!

Happy parade watchers!

Maddie slept during most of the parade and woke up near the end. What a good baby! That pack must be pretty comfortable. 

Thank you Castle Rock, for a fun morning! We love the parade and are so glad we live here!

Hiking at Lair of the Bear

Melissa and I have been wanting to take the kids hiking. We even made a list of places we wanted to go, and since Denya's flight isn't until late tonight, we decided to give it a try today. Lincoln was so excited to be in the stroller and Claire pushed him quite a bit of the time.

We started out with a picnic lunch and the kids loved eating outside. Food just tastes better outside, right?

There were some big rocks perfect for sitting on near the picnic area. I am one lucky Grandma to have such cute girls in my life!

This is Lair of the Bear trail head near Morrison. There are a lot of trails and most of them run near Bear Creek. We chose a short one, just over half a mile.

This bridge gave the girls a perfect view of the Creek.

Heading up the trail! This part was narrow, but most of the time we could walk together instead of single file.

The girls had to stop and look at every flower, rock, and stick.

We tried to teach them not to pick the flowers, but they are so young and were so excited, they couldn't help but pick a few.

Dagny was so proud and wanted everyone to see the flower she chose.

It is really pretty and green here. It was quite warm, warmer that I expected for being so close to the mountains.

The water was brown and not so pretty, but the massive rocks are impressive and there are lots of trees and greenery.

The happy hikers!

There was a place on the trail that was covered by water. The girls loved throwing rocks and poking sticks into it.

You can't really see the water in this picture, but the log went across like a little bridge. 

Claire loved this log! She walked back and forth several times and even sat down on it.

There were some rocks to use as steps to get to across the water and back on the trail. 

After about a half mile, we came to this tree that had fallen down. It made a perfect bench!

They had so much fun swinging their legs. And their happy laughter was just adorable!

Maddie was a happy camper in Melissa's backpack. She loved looking around at everything.

Denya decided to walk on the tree trunk.

She has good balance! I bet it comes from all those years of dancing.

Ta Da! She made it! 

Such a fun log to play on.

The girls were pretending this was a horse.

Everyone was so happy, I just couldn't stop taking pictures of their cuteness. After playing around on the log for awhile, we decided to head back. Since we haven't been here before, we didn't know how much farther the trail went.The girls were hot and starting to get tired. 

Lincoln was so happy to be in the stroller. He never cried or wanted out.

 

Hiking makes a baby tired, don't you know? Maddie had a nap in the backpack and slept just as well as if she had been home in her crib.

Our first hike with the kids was a success! They all did great! No one got too hot or too tired. We enjoyed being out in nature together. I hope this is just the first of many hikes for us.

Denya's Visit

July 24 is Pioneer Day in Utah, the day Brigham Young declared, "This is the place!" It is a holiday and falls on Tuesday this  year, so by taking Monday off, Denya gets a four day weekend. She decided to come home and visit us. Yay!! I was so happy and excited to see her! She has started her career as a writer and editor for the church in the welfare department. She has a talent for writing and editing and I am so proud of her! We are going to make every minute count while she is here. I love you, Denya!

Paddleboarding

Melissa has been wanting to go Paddle Boarding and Denya is here for the 24th of July holiday in Utah, so we loaded up the boards and the kayaks and went to the Aurora Reservior. Austin brought his sports umbrella and we claimed a spot on the beach.

There is a swimming area roped off and they even have lifeguards! But it isn't very big and it was very crowded! We didn't dare take our eyes off the kids for even a second. We were glad we had life jackets for them.

The reservoir was fabulous for paddle boarding and kayaking! It is big and roomy and pretty smooth.This was Landon's first time and it didn't take long before he loved it as much as I do.

See that smile of joy? I'm going to have everyone in the family hooked on paddle boarding!

Landon and Megan took their kids for little ride, and of course they loved it! We are going to have a family of water lovers if I have anything to do with it.

We had a picnic lunch that included puppy chow of course! When the kids were younger and we went to the pool, we always took puppy chow. Yum!

Dagny and Lincoln loved the wagon! 

Claire and Camille wanted to go along on the paddleboards, so Denya took Claire

and Melissa took Millie. They were brave enough to stand up and they had such good balance they didn't even tip the paddleboards!

I'm not sure what happened to Austin here. Maybe he lost his balance or maybe Melissa had something to do with it. Maybe he joked her one too many times, and she needed revenge.

Either way he managed to get himself back on. He insists this isn't his first time to paddleboard. When the Collins reunion used to be at Granita Park, there were surf boards that the kids would play on. Austin says it's the same thing, they just didn't stand up with an oar, so he considers himself a practiced paddleboarder.

Austin and Melissa were considering going out together when, true to Colorado summers when the weather changes on a dime, a big wind came up and some storm clouds were blowing in and that ended our day on the water. It was a super fun day and we're already talking about when we can go again.