Mom's Day Weekend

What could be better than a weekend camping in the rain, the sun and the wind with your family? Okay, I'm sure a million things unless you are in our family! :) Yes, we are half crazy but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Climbing is top priority for Spring time weekend but we did take a little time to go explore the Red River Gorge Natural Arches.

Little ones...
and big ones!
As you can see, Lucas just sees puddles. He didn't really understand that splashing puddles on top of an arch is a little dangerous to say the least. Good thing Daddy is so strong!
Have no fear, Daddy remained calm and got everyone across. I love this photo!
The trail led to the bottom so we could get a great view of what we just walked over. Pretty cool.
Does a little boy poop in the woods?! Wouldn't be a real Mom's Day Weekend without some real Mom's work. :)
After taking care of business, it was off to the races. Mr. Do-It-By-Myself is now crossing streams...so Big!
We even let him cross the river by himself.
Axel needed a little help, thank goodness! I'm not ready to have two runners just yet.
All the excitement wore this boy out!
We really like camping at Lago Linda's. Here are a few photos to show what it looks like. The covered areas are for eating and sleeping which are wonderful in the rain. It rains a ton in the Spring! I was able to capture some non-rainy photos of the place.

Here's the view in the rain. This is no little Colorado rain, this is tropical rain forest rain.




It's all the same to the boys...FUN!
Fun?!
Popcorn is a pretty big deal in our house after dinner. So, when Mike pulled out popcorn while camping it was HUGE!
Lucas was so excited and amazed how it worked.
Look at this! A photo of the WHOLE family...now that's a great Mom's Day gift!
The next day brought sun and fun in the dirt, of course.

Lucas & Mommy & a Little Dirt
Axel & Mommy & a Little Chub
Lucas made me a beautiful card and photo frame. Mike took us all out for dinner and ice cream on Monday night after a busy weekend of rain and sun, hikes and climbs, love and laughs...IT WAS AWESOME! I love being a Mom and I love my family so much. I thank God everyday for the life He has given us and the daily treasures we find together as a family. Thank you Mike, Lucas & Axel...I LOVE YOU ALWAYS & FOREVER!

My Favorite Girls House

Lucas was SOOOO excited to hear that we were going over to his new "favorite girls house" for dinner. These are the 6 year old triplets we met climbing the weekend before, I think Lucas is in love times three! Charmagne and Kevin invited us over for an evening of margaritas and a tasty Cuban/Mexican dinner.

Here's our little cowboy with "his favorite girls!"
Emily, Madison, Chloe & Lucas...boy I hope I got that right! :)
Hannah (6 months), Kevin and Axel (3 months). Can you tell Kevin is a pro at holding multiple kids?!
Charmagne and Hannah, what a doll! (both of them)
Emily, Mike and Axel enjoying the evening.
Janelle & Axel doing the same. Look at those cheeks! No, not on Axel...on Mommy! :) Still have a little baby chub to lose or at least hand over to Axel. Then again, it looks like Lucas needs it more than any of us.
It was wonderful to visit and such a treat to meet another climbing family. We had a wonderful time and look forward to many trips together in the future. Thank you Charmagne & Kevin!!

Daddy's Day

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Daddy's birthday preparations started the day before with making a BIG card and attempting to make an ice cream cake. Lucas loves airplanes and decided to make one all by himself for Daddy. He did eventually let me help write a birthday message. Serious business.
Axel watched intently. (Check out those cheeks!)
Lucas cut and glued everything all by himself...I was very proud! He even decorated with stickers and some hearts for the final touch. Here is the final product.
Then we "wrapped" Daddy's big present and decorated that too.
As soon as Daddy got home, Lucas was ready to help unveil the surprise...reclining lawn chair!
Lucas stashed all the other gifts under the chair for extra surprises.
Mommy wrapped all Daddy's presents with catalog pages from Athleta...beautiful swimming scenery. :)
Big Birthday hugs!
Oh yeah, Mommy was there too. I have a wonderful cold so I was looking about as good as I felt. :) Good thing there are two good looking boys to enhance the photo.
We were then off to Cliffton Gorge for a run and hike.
Lucas' favorite sign!
Here is the actual gorge. I love all the fresh green leaves on everything.
Lucas hiking and collecting dandelion seed puffs.
Daddy checking out the rock...of course. :)
Mommy & Axel enjoying the waterfall.
Axel just started to really laugh and giggle and it's so much fun. Here he is at dinner practicing. Mmmm...BBQ for the whole family.Daddy was the birthday boy for sure and boy is he loved!.
After dinner, it was biking riding time. Lucas was given a real bike from one of our friends here in town. Thank you Katie! It came with training wheels and a new helmet too! So big!
And sooo fast!
Daddy even got a special C-5 flyby right over our neighborhood.
They fly right over our house on occasion...special occasions! Our house is in the background on the right side. Nice and close to the park which is wonderful for potty time!
Axel was awake and enjoying the beautiful evening too.
Riding bikes to the park is a must, just like swinging!
Daddy's birthday would not be complete without birthday cake! This was my first attempt at a real ice cream cake. It definitely lost points in the beautiful category and my homemade chocolate ice cream looked more like cookies-n-cream (separating issues with the melted chocolate in the ice cream mixture???). By the time it was all frozen enough to fully frost, I decided that the layer look would be just fine. As for how it tasted? I have no idea, with a cold I can't taste anything! :) I'm sure Cold Stone would have been a bigger hit but there was no complaints and this one truly was made with love.
Close up!
Must not be too bad! :)
After cake, Lucas was bouncing off he walls! We sent him outside for some fresh air. He decided to finished off the evening with a quick trip to his new sand box. It was getting dark but not as dark as the photos make it look.

Phew! What a wonderful day. Daddy, we all love you so, so much and had a great time with you. We hope you had a very Happy Birthday! Thanks for being such a great husband and father (Daddy).

Happy Birthday! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Rain Rain Rain

We had rain all week and all weekend. I do love rain and after living in Utah and Colorado, it sure is nice to have so much moisture. We haven't had to turn on a sprinkler and we have the greenest grass ever! Amazing!

Last Friday was Girls Night Out...with the exception of Axel. He was the ladies man that evening at the Cheesecake Factory. It was pouring rain and we felt bad for all the Prom Goers. It was delicious and we had a great time.

I "borrowed" this group photo from my friend Dana's blog. Thanks Dana!

From Left to Right: Dana, Susie, Kristina, Janelle (and Axel), Some Random Guy, Christine, Susy, and Janice.Susie & Dana

Janelle, Axel, Kristina...oops, waiter came and I didn't get photos of the others...sorry.

What else do you do in the rain? Take your family climbing and camping...of course! :)

I know a few of you have asked how we climb while it's raining? The rock is so steep, it creates a nice covered area to hang out and climb under...or sleep, if you are Axel. He loves his climbing tent! It rained a bunch but we stayed dry until it was time to hike.

After climbing we headed to a new camping area called Lago Linda's. They have covered camping and great bath houses. Axel discovered his car bug so we had a chance to get everything set up. He was starring so intently buy caught my eye when I took the photo.
This weekend was an exception for sure. Lucas made lots of friends and so did Mom & Dad. We met another Air Force couple climbing, but get this...the have TRIPLET GIRLS who are 6 years old and they have a 6 month old girl too!!!! Yes, they were out in the rain and dirt climbing too! Boy, we have nothing to complain about with only two boys. Lucas was instantly greeted with 3 smiling faces and ran around with the girls all afternoon. They told jokes, played hide-n-seek, talked, ran and got super dirty. I forgot my camera...shooters...but was able to track down one of the girls later that evening. She loved Lucas. So did the others but trying to get them all together at once for a photo would have been nearly impossible. They are not afraid of dirt either! So fun!!! Oh, did I mention they all live in Dayton too! We are not the only crazys out here!
Here's Daddy and Axel. You can see the covered camping in the back. This was wonderful because it rained most of the night.
Lucas even got to test out the shower in the bath house. Here he is, already for bed.
Axel was already in bed! :)
Lucas getting all snuggled up!
Here's a photo of Lucas' Keen shoes...they are great and water proof too. If only they were dirt and mud proof?!