vacation reflections

i think one of the best parts about going on vacation is having it be somewhere you return in your mind for years and years to come. even if it only lasts a few days-it burns images into your thoughts and changes your inner landscape.
i still go back to hawaii-quite often and remember how i felt while i was there-how it smelled.
 one of the wonders of it all is that vacations are often stressful, but your memories are always  sweeter and the stressful situations get edited out.  the memory of emily running away from the beach, screaming, 'i don't like how my swimsuit feels' has faded a bit and now i mostly remember the kids running and playing in the waves and sitting in the sand with anneliese.
our last trip to colorado had moments that haven't disappeared yet-like driving from fort collins back to denver on a 100 degree day without air conditioning, passing an ice pack back and forth between the kids as anneliese threw up. but even as terrible as that was-the picture we have of emily and grant standing and pointing to a gigantic rainbow over the kansas prairie and grant at 4 1/2 singing all the words to "rocky mountain high"-will be what i remember.

last year we had to forego any real destination vacation because the construction, renovation, and moving that happened. we needed a vacation this year. nana and papa came through with a house in estes park, next to the river and very close to the national park entrance. but the most beautiful part about it was that we were ALL there.

we loaded up the prius with pipe cleaners, clothes pins, popsicle sticks and some john denver and headed west. the kids made all sorts of wondrous creations-i unfortunately packed my camera in the way back to make room for all the snacks in the front. we stayed the first night at a hotel in long mont. it was still daylight and they spied the mountains as we walked to a brewery 'oskar blues' that was across the street. there was live music, there was good beer, it felt like vacation.

the kids swam in the pool when we got back to the hotel. bobby declared that the lifeguard stand was located in the hottub and we talked about how cool it was that the kids were all able to swim on their own.

the next day we drove up to estes and arrived before we could check in to the house. we drove up to the national park and did a walk around sprague lake. we then went down to morraine park and i fell in love with the scenery. seriously i would have just spent the whole vacation there if everyone else would have agreed with me.

 we did lots of hiking-the kids were troopers. they all found a walking stick that was just their size.

anneliese found 'elkie' at the gift shop at the top of trail ridge road. she accompanied us on all our adventures.

on our hike up to dream lake-anneliese said 'my legs are too tired to walk anymore' and had to hitch a ride.

glaciar lodge managed the house we rented-so we were able to go use the facilities there. the kids were so excited to swim, but spent more time 'getting warm' on the concrete.

we may need to get a tether ball-these guys could have played all day

what a fantastic vacation-both in the time we were there and in the memories we will have for years to come. thank you nana and papa for making it happen-

the party

the art party was a success. we are moving very slowly today in recovery from the festivities. the kids are playing with all the new toys and i made myself get the pictures done-so they wouldn't get lost in the fall picture extravaganza that will happen very soon.

emily's birthday slideshow
and i forgot to list the songs-
technicolor-by tim myers
you make me happy-by lindsey ray

fleeting

so i have been looking to pandora a lot lately..for inspiration for new music (mostly to use in the slideshows i put together for my families). however, on this first day at a new school for grant and the first day of kindergarten for emily i turned to pandora for comfort. and she gave me ingrid michaelson's breakable. not the most comforting song. but it made me reflect on the fleetingness of things-and how these moments of high emotion are an amazing gift. driving and crying about how blessed we are sounds pretty sappy, but it feels difficult and intense and joyful. 

it has been an emotional summer- one that has taught us that you really do need to live completely, remembering that moments are fragile. and i promise i had all these thoughts BEFORE i read kelle's blog. I sat down and started to download pictures-clicked on her blog and thought-this is crazy! 

i'm too tired to get these arranged in photobucket...and i felt like if i waited it may be halloween before they get posted.

emily trying to figure out how to maneuver her backpack...

 the walk in-

 lockwood secrets.

 grant's desk

emily-bounding off ahead of me into her classroom

her teacher-ms. anaya

we know this is a perfect class for emily-because the class pet is a FROG!

 anneliese's favorite toy these days is 'chompers'

 the super nice bus driver who called me to introduce herself and personally let me know about the times for the bus drop off and pick up-
they said the bus was "hot" but other than that everything about school was positive. grant said he has a "great class" "they are all good listeners"
emily is hard to pin down about details-but it seems like she had a good day. she said she "didn't talk to anyone because i felt shy" and her favorite part was "PE" :)

grant's piano recital

grant had his recital a month or so ago- watch it here

emily's party invitation

keeping up with 2 blogs is proving difficult-but i will keep trying. business is busy, which is good, and although i am taking lots of pictures of our family times-the editing is often too much. it took 4 hours just to download the pictures from our colorado trip-will have them up here as soon as i finish 4-5 other photo jobs :)

meanwhile, we are planning an art party for emily-i think it will be fun and perfect for her. i've been wanting to take them to the nelson art museum all summer and it finally happened. monet's water lilies was on exhibit. at one point i thought we might be kicked out, because anneliese went on a hyper rampage when we entered the room with the velvet viewing couches, but we pulled it together. the roxy paine sculptures were a highlight. especially after the fun the kids had with pipe cleaners on the way to colorado. i think sculpture might be the perfect profession choice for emily :) 

thanks for continuing to read this blog even though i'm horribly inconsistent!

simple magic

the wyandotte county fair moved this year-to K-7 and Polfer. so every time we drove past that intersection on the way to the pool we saw the signs.
we have never taken the kids to the fair. it always seemed in my mind to be a crowded, dirty, chaotic and hot activity.
but, this year it some how called to us-the proximity the 4-H component and i've been seeing cool pictures with ferris wheels.
the kids were beyond excited. but it was 104 degrees and i was rethinking our decision. we decided it would be better to make it a late night than to try and deal with the heat.
they were in the backseat jumping up and down talking about ferris wheels and balloons. anneliese was shouting about everything-even the flags used to designate the parking.
i've been pondering traveling these days-especially since i love blue lily. they give their kids this amazing world traveling experience and have such a real and positive outlook.
but going to the fair was simply magic for the kids-and although i still feel like giving them a world outlook and taking them to australia and italy, i also have to remember that a ferris wheel and lights and a petting zoo bring them high amounts of joy-
watching them enjoy it was a huge thrill.

puddles, parades and pools

a good rain is an amazing thing in july in kansas and needs to be celebrated by drenching yourself in puddles, because you know tomorrow they will be replaced by dust.

we stayed in kansas this year for the fourth of july-so we were able to join grandma for the lenexa parade.  it is a classic scene of community to watch babies sitting on laps clapping for the fire trucks as the older kids clamor for candy and hi fives from clowns.

  one of the best moments was when the kids were handed small flags-but not enough for all of them. grant started to get upset because he didn't have a flag. aunt beth, being the perfect aunt that she is, had one in her bag. so all seemed to be ok. then he began to be sad that his wasn't the same. emily chimed in that his was the 'most special flag' ' grant, you are like a king, because your flag has a special little ball on the top'. oh emily...the middle child is developing some wonderful peace making strategies already :)

 and the pool...
we discovered the aquatic park in bonner springs and have declared it 'our pool' for this summer. i love the pool because it is really gives a chance for some undivided attention for play. no laundry or dishes at the pool. becky and dale came up for grandma's birthday and we had fun sharing our pool with them. anneliese easily transferred her crazy jumping onto becky (even when she wasn't ready :)) the boys had a great time going off the diving board and becky helped emily go across the lily pads for the first time.