Home Again, Home Again Lickety Split

On our way home, we did a travel stop at a Sonic fast food restaurant. We all needed the restrooms, and were slightly alarmed that these were closed to the public. The NICEST fast food lady ever said she'd send her husband out shortly with keys. We were so grateful! Then she saw the puppy. Oh man did she spoil that puppy :) Puppy got ice cream, little meatballs, some sort of puppy cookies, she just came out with more and more! Muriel now has a best friend forever somewhere along interstate 80 :)

Brennen is our comedian lately. He observed ruefully from the backseat, "Guess what. She gets ice cream and we don't. For some reason they give ice cream to dogs and not people." Lol, jelly of a pup ;)



Our trip home was otherwise uneventful. I made some progress in one of the girls' school books . . . A Tale of Two Cities. This was a reading option for me in 11th grade English. I chose Old Man and the Sea because it was shorter. I would say, TTC was a ton of build up for a very interesting last couple of chapters. But violent, and kind of depressing. Oh, I finished it btw! It took me another two weeks, but I have conquered the Two Cities! (well, you know what I mean :)


So you've seen a handful of our activities since we've returned. I didn't get any good pictures of the day our pastor's son came over to hang out for like six hours. I finally sent the kids on a walk with Muri and to the ice cream shop (they've never done this before, but I figured *safety in numbers*). They had a good time, and I got to talk to my friend when she picked her son up (and he got a bonus hour at our house while we did :)

You saw the post about helping the older couple move and all those donations to local non-profits, well on that same day, the grandson-in-law asked Caelan to lead worship on Sunday at church. Normally he does it, but he was the preacher/teacher :) He also asked Gabby to make her worship team debut as a vocalist. In just three days, the girls chose the songs, wrote the call to worship, rehearsed, and were ready to lead. They did a great job!



Our neighborhood is already lighting off the fireworks, but they can't compare to the fireflies. I love fireflies! I tried to capture a picture of them with the cute solar lanterns by our "barn." Chauncey prefers the bugs to the bombs. I said offhand last night, "We should give him drugs!" as he was whimpering and slobbering all over the house. Turns out, you can give dogs melatonin to help reduce anxiety! We did a test run last night, mostly to check for adverse effects. He had none, just snored more loudly in his sleep. Seriously hoping this helps him, because this is his, by far, most dreaded time of year :(



Next we have Brennen and Caelan demonstrating teamwork in getting the three upgraded karate uniforms sewn. The collars are soooo thick, that even with a heavy duty needle they are incredibly hard to attach the ribbon to. Caelan didn't want to damage her "faulty contraption" by burning up the motor, so she used Brennen as the motor :) He hand cranked the machine while she guided the presser foot along the ribbon edge. Brennen even had to backstitch a bit. Good effort to get the job done!

Gabby found a different style of black belt to go with her new red stripe she said it's "high fashion, low function." Ha! They were really funny last night :)





Muriel is glad to be reunited with her favorite toy--Chauncey's wagging tail. He growls and snaps at her, but she just smiles back with a mouth full of tail fur :)



Graysen keeps adding to this epic LEGO creation. It's got ports for more vehicles and space ships than the entire Star Wars Resistance! I mean, probably :) Somehow he pushes it under the bunkbed at night, and reassembles it the next day. It is seriously huge! I should have gotten an eye-level, rather than an aerial view. Pretty cool ongoing project!

A Lovely Day at the Lake

After packing out our garbage (and amazingly not getting yelled at at the campground dumpster 20 minutes up the road) we continued north in our very crowded van. Again, we weren't sure how Buck's family would react to a visit, because we know people are being cautious. Their response in the weeks before, "We're not worried. We want to see you." Aww, so nice to be loved! All we bring is hungry mouths, gasoline usage for the boats, and an exhausting sheets and towels load for the washing machine. But no laundry this time! I carefully planned my daily allotment of loads at the rental house, so we brought home more clean clothes than dirty :)

Well, enough about that, ha! Muriel was delighted with the lake. She made sure to bark at every wave that attacked the beach. She ran back and forth and back and forth, barking, barking, barking . . . until a wave would smack her in the face and then she sounded like a kid blowing bubbles in the swimming pool :) I think she looks like a bear cub when she's wet. Amazing how much energy such a small animal contains!



Uncle L and Aunt S have lots of fun lake toys. The rainbow unicorn was new to us, but of course got a couple chances to set sail ;) The kids all paddled the kayaks--even Muri went for a ride. We had to remind the boys that  the big boats reign in the middle of the lake, so they needed to paddle closer to shore. Caelan tried paddleboarding on a windsail board, but that proved very challenging.

When the cousins arrived, water fights and lots of goofing around ensued! It didn't take long for Uncle L to get the speedboat in the water for tube rides. Graysen gave it a couple of tries, but preferred riding in the boat. Uncle L did his best to dump the older boys on the second time out, but from what I saw, they hung on tight despite all the waves in their faces.

The girls also had fun on the tube! Gabby only went on the first run, because the coarse fabric rubbed all her hiking scabs open . . . and there were a lot. She was the flag girl in the boat for the subsequent rounds :)

We all had fun on the pontoon boat (yes, this was all in one day!) The kids stopped for a swim, and Brennen's legs started cramping up. Lots of exercise in the mountain air and sunburn, so probably some dehydration going on. He was glad he got back in the boat when he did. And of course Muriel got to try out this form of aqueous transportation, too. I think she liked it better than the speedboat :)

We had lunch and dinner together, and then moved into marshmallow mode. Buck's cousin W kept catching glimpses of herself and Buck (known as the twins when they were little) in our kids and hers. It was funny watching Brennen and C--sometimes they even moved the same or stood the same. W wanted pictures of them all together--first generation "twins" and second generation "twins." They played football and talked and popped in and out of the water all day. So fun that our kids can connect with their cousins!

We wanted some group pics on the dock, too. Right at sunset--so pretty! We did serious, then silly. I utilized my NGF's "look at each other and pretend to laugh" trick, which of course the kids took way too far. Except Cody. He did the opposite, and  his sorrowful stares into the distance made the pictures even funnier :)

Silhouettes of Caelan and Muriel and a picture of the pontoon in the sunset photographed by Buck :)

We had a really good day catching up on days we've missed and discussing plans for the future. With another round of kids getting ready to launch in fast-approaching years, it is amazing to compare notes and recognize the different gifts, talents, and interests they have and the directions they are aiming. A day on the lake is a good day; we're grateful we got to enjoy one this summer :)

Pizza and a Visit

We arranged to have lunch with Buck's dad. He's been nervous about the virus, so hasn't been out much. We wanted him to feel as comfortable as possible, but still wanted to say hi (since it's been five years, I think, since we've seen  him?) And of course, if we're driving more than an hour anyway . . . we're going to want to go to BeauJo's, the best pizza in the mountains! There aren't many of these restaurants left either, which I found surprising (when I was looking for one that might be closer). We were also surprised that we couldn't be seated, even with our masks, without a reservation. Drat! Instead, we ordered a couple of pizzas to go and then ate them at a nearby park. 





Isn't that red brick background great for Gabby and Brennen and their sun-kissed, vacation complexions?




We did encounter another mountain sprinkle, but it didn't put a damper on our lunch. We found an open picnic table . . . with minimal caution tape. Most of them were fully wrapped. So we decided we could "probably" sit there (maybe?) and did :) Right as we were finishing lunch, a park worker came by and said the tables were closed. Oops! Pizza was great either way, so good.

Our next move was undetermined. Since we were in the area, I wanted to do some sightseeing that we hadn't done before. Unfortunately pretty much everything was still closed. There was a 20-some room log cabin mansion that looked super cool, but you could only visit the outside. And there was a hiking trail that led to a waterfall that was supposed to be pretty neat, but judging from the endless lines of cars parked alongside the roads at every other trailhead in Colorado, we were guessing this popular hike would be pretty crowded as well.

We were surprised when Buck's dad invited us back to his house, but decided it would be nice to see the work they'd done on the expansive/magazine-like backyard they've been designing for years. Two new boxer dogs to play with Muriel and lick Graysen's face (ew), and the hand off of the gun Buck has been hoping to get back for, like a decade or two. It was the gun his parents gave him when he was 16, and he wanted to carry on the tradition. Unfortunately, we discovered (back at the rental house) that a switch had been made--apparently Buck's gun was sold years ago. Buck was pretty sad about that :( Now we're trying to figure out how to return the wrong gun to its rightful owner. 

A minor surgery distracted us temporarily. For whatever reason, I got to giggling so hard that Buck had to take over. Good thing I brought my trusty tweezers along! This was the second time they came in handy. The lighting was terrible, so we had Gabby on spotlight (from a cell phone). I think we eventually got Brennen's splinter out, but I don't think he would have told us if it was still in his finger, ha! I was probably laughing so hard because Buck insisted on taking pictures. And I guess since he did, I get to share them with you . . . you're welcome?? 



The next morning we were scouring the house and trying to follow the four pages of (contradicting) exit instructions. Give me strength. One that was very clear was that no food could be left in the fridge. With our cereal bowls drained and a bunch of milk left over, I asked for a volunteer. Brennen looked at me with big eyes, "You mean I can drink out of the carton? I've always wanted to do this!" Lol! We had to hand wash and return all dishes to the cupboards before we could leave, so darn tootin' no drinking glass for you! :) That's us, making dreams come true on vacation. We're such good parents ;)