rocky mountain high

We're flying to Colorado this afternoon. Back in April we found a smokin' deal, and I couldn't resist the trip. But here's the insane part: I'm going BY MYSELF with all 4 kids. I think the great price in tickets skewed my judgment here!!!

So, we leave this afternoon and we're hoping that James can escort us to the gate. The rules for "special circumstances" are pretty vague. I think an insane mother traveling alone with four children ages 8 and under qualify me as "special". LOL!

So...that's what we'll be up to for a week. James heads out on the High Adventure with the scouts tomorrow, and the rest of us will head to Colorado. Aaah...it'll be good to see mountain peaks and visit with friends. I can't wait until we're landing...should be quite a ride until then.

Wish me luck!

Plain White T's

I just can't play this song too many times! The kids are getting sick of it, but I LOVE it! James called me one afternoon and serenaded me with this song. It's a keeper!

new smile!

Seth lost one of his front teeth yesterday! Doesn't he look cute?

it's been too long...

I have not been carrying my camera around with me, so I haven't blogged. Funny how you think you MUST have pictures or it's not worth blogging...

So, I guess I can document only one thing: I finished Marci's quilt!!! Yay! I've been in kind of a quilt rut since Carrie was born (finding time to start a quilt and finding time to finish a quilt are two separate challenges, esp. with 4 kids now). So it was a major accomplishment to start this quilt after the Peterson Reunion at the end of May...and finish it just a few weeks ago!

Sadly, that's the end of my pictures...but not the end of my blog! ;)

The 3rd of July: After packing up the entire household (it seemed), we headed up into the Shenandoah Mountains for one night of camping. As we weaved our way up and up, we decided (okay, I did) that these "mountains" looked more like rolling hills of broccoli. Much different than those in Colorado. We had a fun night roasting marshmallows and grilling burgers (not in that order, but the kids wished it were) and Eliza told us a great ghost story to end the night. Very FUN!

The 4th of July: We woke up...and it was WARM. Really warm. I didn't need my sweatshirt kind of warm. True, I have only camped in mile-high altitudes before, but regardless....I woke up HAPPY, in a tent!! (My past experiences have shown that there's nothing like a rotten night's sleep with a baby in your sleeping bag and waking up to frigid temperatures to make for a grumpy mom.) But this was different...Caroline only woke up for a minute in the night and James only had to go rearrange E, S, and R once. Those temperatures made a HUGE difference...I think we'll be going camping again this summer!

After an amazing camp breakfast, we broke down camp, and hiked down to a waterfall. I kept telling James on the way hiking down that I really enjoyed the uphill part of hiking better. Not that I was complaining,--I wasn't--just expressing how I don't particularly relish the feeling on my knees of stopping inertia. (Am I getting old??) So, after stopping and skipping rocks into the waterfall's pool, we had a lovely hike back UP to our car, cooled off with perfectly ripe nectarines--YUM!--and headed home.

Early afternoon we left for the 4th of July celebration at Great Meadows. This means nothing to most of you reading, but it's a GREAT location on the local polo fields. This year, though we did see more of a crowd and ran into a few tipsy men, we enjoyed our time there SO much! The fireworks were AMAZING--we sat RIGHT beneath them--and the kids enjoyed the entertainment and air show. The setting was just gorgeous, the weather was cool and windy. Just perfect!
You could sum up the two days in a word: magical. We wish James had more time off like this!