Britta's Foot Surgery

 Britta has a soft tissue mass on her pinky toe and she is having surgery to remove it. Denya had this same thing about 5 years ago, so I was pretty sure Britta would need surgery also. I am surprised the girls went to a surgery center and had general anesthesia for such a small bump. One of the staff told me there are a lot of nerves in our feet and it's really painful to have procedures done on your feet. That made sense when I thought about how much it hurts when you stub your toe. Plus they said the doctor goes pretty deep to try and make sure they get it all. So here is Britta, prepped and ready to go.

It took about 30 minutes and then she was done! The nurses gave her apple juice and graham crackers. Britta was a little loopy and very happy. She kept saying it was the best apple juice she had ever had. She also raved about some nurse with dark hair. It was quite funny.

Britta showing off her pulse ox monitor.

What a big bandage for a little incision!! Plus she has to wear a boot for a couple of weeks and can't get it wet.

She even got a wheelchair ride to the car!!

Britta needs to keep her foot elevated today and spent most of the day on the couch. She got up for a  few minutes to get something to eat and a drink and when she came back, this is what she found. Cute Dagny pretending to be Britta! How adorable!

Dagny and Lincoln Start Preschool

These kids are SO, SO  excited for preschool! They are both going to Castle Rock Elementary and I am SO, SO excited about that since it is so close.

Dagny will be going Monday through Thursday from 12:45 to 3:30 and Lincoln will be in the Monday and Wednesday morning class from 8:30 to 11:15. They are both in classroom C and will have the same teacher, Miss Wendy.

Backpacks are so fancy these days. Dagny's has soft, fluffy fur and Lincoln's has dinosaur spikes. They will have a great year!

North Pole

I have been wanting to take the grandkids to the North Pole for quite some time. Camille, Dagny, and Lincoln are the perfect ages, Claire is getting close to the time when she will be too tall. Even today there were a couple of rides she couldn't go on. I have some great memories of taking my kids here and I was so excited to take the grandkids and continue the tradition.

This is one of the first attractions when you get inside. You carry a gunny sack up a big flight of stairs, sit on it, and slide down. The slide curves around the outside. You can see it's the red part in the picture. The kids loved it and we did it several times before we could convince them to go do something else.

Most of the rides at the North Pole are geared to kids that are about 10 or younger. These little carts were super fun.

This sled is a cute place to take pictures. The kids were too busy checking out each row of seats and trying to decide where they wanted to sit to get a very good picture.

Of course the kids wanted to climb all over the bear. Thank goodness he's a big bear and has a big lap!

Because the North Pole is located at the base of Pike's Peak, there are afternoon thunderstorms almost every day, and today was no exception. It got a little chilly and rained for about 30 minutes. We got snow cones and found a covered picnic area to eat them.

Maddie wasn't too sure about her snow cone. Maybe it was because she was already cold and a cold treat wasn't very appealing. Melissa bought some hot chocolate for the kids after we ate the snow cones. Who would have thought we would want hot chocolate in the middle of the summer?

After the little rain storm, we went to area especially for smaller kids. This ride is kind of like a ferris wheel with baskets.

I loved watching the kids get so excited and smile and laugh.

So many fun rides!

I think you can make these baskets spin if you turn the wheel around and around, but the kids didn't quite get how to do it.

Kid sized cars are so much fun!

Go Lincoln!

These boats were one of our favorite things.

Lincoln loved to ring the bell.

Maddie thought steering by herself was great fun.

This ride was a western themed ride and the kids thought it was so fun to choose which hat they wanted to sit under. It went up in the air and then came down. One great thing about the North Pole is that it isn't very crowded and depending on the operator of the ride, they will let you go several times in a row if no one is waiting. The kids rode this about 5 times.

More fun!

The kids all ran to a cart and jumped in. 

Lots of smiles!

Millie and Maddie take an airplane ride.

The merry go round was another favorite that we rode several times in a row without getting off. I love the reindeer with their names painted on. Dagny was on Rudolph this time and she loved it.

Lincoln rode on Dasher.

Maddie chose a horse instead of a reindeer.

The motorcycles are what I remember most from taking my kids to the North Pole. Probably because motorcycles were a big part of my kid's childhood and they loved to ride them when we went to the farm. Little motorcycles are so cute!

Dagny loved this one because it is pink!!  Her favorite color!

Dagny and I rode went on a go cart ride and I was able to get this cute selfie. I was surprised it turned out so cute because I'm not very good at taking them. I sure love being a Grandma!

Melissa and Maddie speed around the track. 

We had so much fun!! I think this will be a yearly tradition!

Ryan is a Senior

I can't believe Ryan is a senior!!  When he was born, Austin was just finishing up his junior year of high school and we were talking about how Austin would graduate the next year in 2003. We figured out that Ryan would graduate in 2020 and that sounded so far away. We were barely starting the 2000's and now it's almost here!

This is actually the second day of school. The high school started a new tradition a couple of years ago where the seniors do a sunrise hike of the Castle Rock on the first day of their senior year and a sunset hike on the last day of their senior year. So yesterday Ryan left home at 4:45 am since the hike was starting at 5:00 am. I wasn't getting up that early to take a picture, plus it would be dark. Haha. Ryan wasn't too keen on getting his picture taken and he told me to just hurry up so he could go to school.

I guess it is now a thing for high school kids to get a kid backpack, so this is the one Ryan got. It is nice when kids are big enough to go to the store and buy their own school supplies. I thought this backpack was quite cute and so did Dagny. When she saw it on the table she asked if it was for her and was quite disappointed when I said, "No." Have a great senior year Ryan!!