Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

Jesse and I went mountain biking on the Allegrippis Trails at Raystown Lake.  My parents were very generous to keep both kids for the night so that we could go out. View of Raystown Lake.  Unfortunately, there wasn't anywhere to set up my camera for both Jesse and I to get in the picture! It had been raining quite a bit, so I was worried that we would not get to go after all.  I was not complaining about the rain at all, don't get me wrong!  My garden needs it, but I wanted to go biking! It stopped raining enough for us to go.  One good thing was that nobody else was there!  We just had to be cautious going over some wet tree roots, leaves, and rocks.  It was a beautiful ride.  It made me reminisce of my days mountain biking through blackberry patches in Washington State.  Except this time, it was overgrown red raspberries.  One good perk-- we got to stop by the side of the trail and eat some of the delicious red raspberries! Tw...

It was raining in the evening, so we stayed inside to play Chutes and Ladders.  Natalee just got this game for her birthday, so we were teaching the kids how to play. Any guesses who won the game? Yes, that's right-- Brady won!  The player who had the least clue what was going on won.  And, he was quite proud of his win!!!

We met Lily and Ang at Greenwood to go swimming.  It was our first trip to Greenwood this summer.  It was still chilly there in early June (then again, when is it not cold water at Greenwood?) and then we left on vacation.  Between swimming at Seven Points Tuesday night and swimming at Greenwood Wednesday morning, the kids were overjoyed! We picked a gorgeous morning to go.  In fact, it was so nice that it felt kind of cold that early in the morning.  Natalee's lips were turning blue in the water and she admitted she was cold (although not cold enough to get out :)  It finally started to feel good when we had to leave for lunch! Brady did this ALL morning long! Natalee tried to catch the little minnows in her bucket. She's still trying to catch minnows while enjoying her floaty.

We went to Seven Points at Raystown Lake tonight.  After swimming, we made a fire and cooked hot dogs and S'mores.  The kids roasted some marshmallows for us, too.  They were patient enough to actually roast their marshmallows tonight instead of immediately eating them out of the bag.  I guess they realize now how good S'mores are!  Actually, I guess Brady roasted the marshmallow but as I was trying to get his chocolate piece out, he took a bite off of the graham cracker.  So, he almost waited until his S'more was made! WHAT.   A.  STICKY.  MESS!!! YUM! Then, they got to play at the playground for a while.  What a fun evening out with my family!

This evening we had to get out for a while.  It has been incredibly hot here.  As in it was over 100 degrees (with high humidity for most of it) for about 4 straight days.  This evenings 95 degrees did not feel as bad :)  Plus, we rode along the river in the shade, so that felt a bit cooler.  We'll be thankful this next week when the weather is not quite so warm and we can go outside more often (hopefully).  We were really thankful that we are able to live in a house with air conditioning and we are not too stubborn to use it!  We are also extremely thankful for the two big shade trees out back that shaded our play area when we could go outside.  Ice cream has been good, too.  Now, if the garden could get some rain, that would be good!  I cannot complain, though because it was really the first hot stretch we've had all summer long.  And, it still was not as bad as when we were in St. Louis two weeks ago!!! After I took this pict...

This afternoon, we had Natalee's birthday party.  A day before we left for Colorado she insisted we needed to have a birthday party with all of her friends (not just a small gathering of relatives). All of the kids eating pie and ice cream.  We were nontraditional and had pie instead of cake!  Lily Breon was sitting down, too, but she bolted as soon as we started singing happy birthday.  She said, "I'm outta here!" The best present:  The gift that came with bubble wrap! Will demonstrated the most effective way to pop the bubbles!  Of course, the kids really enjoyed the bouncy house!  My kids used this for most of the afternoon.  We haven't had it out as much since we have a trampoline next door.  After the party was over and all cleaned up, we came in the house a little before 6.  Brady was playing with his train in the dining room and laid down and went to sleep.  We at least moved him to a slightly softer spot-- Meg'...

This morning, Natalee woke up with a "stiff neck".  It appeared to hurt her quite a bit.  So, she did not enjoy quite a bit of her birthday.  Later in the morning, I found some Tylenol to give her and it at least was enough that she could play outside for a while.  I wanted her enjoy the day since it was her birthday and it was really nice weather. After naps, we went to the Allensville Fireman's Festival and Parade.  The kids got LOTS of candy at the parade.  I guess that made up for their disappointment of not getting candy at the huge parade in Greeley, Colorado!  Then, we ate supper and played some games at the festival. When we got home, we went out to the gazebo to eat Natalee's birthday cake. We had a hard time convincing Brady that this was not his birthday.  It was just Natalee's birthday.  Here's how things were going when we were making the cake on Friday and during the anticipation of eating the cake: Brady:  "My bi...

We are finally home after our long drive back from Colorado.  It was a fun trip and I'm glad we had the opportunity to return to Colorado.  After all, in a little less than one month (August 9th) it will be 10 years since Jesse asked me if I would consider dating him.  All because of Peaceful Valley Ranch. First, the kids and I journeyed to Iowa.  Of course, there was the saga of the forgotten wallet (and ID).  Once we finally got to Iowa, we had a lot of fun and it was fun to visit with "old" friends again.  We had fun at the Pella Waterpark even though it was cold. Then, we continued on to Colorado by stopping in Brady, Nebraska, and having fun at the Colorado Welcome Center in Julesburg, Colorado, and a park in Greeley. We took a day to recoup from our travels.  I took the kids to Peaceful Valley one night.  We did some smaller things with Shannon and her kids (this is who we stayed with for this part of our trip).  Of course, the ...

On our drive back home from Colorado Springs, we paused to explore a few things in St. Louis.  We wanted to see the arch and go in the museums in the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial . When we first got out of our car, we walked to see the Mississippi River.  It was still running very high.  In fact, part of the road was still blocked off.  Even the part of the road that you could drive on again was very dirty.  You could tell that it had water and debris on it at one time. The steps at the bottom right hand corner were really close to the water-- you only had to go down two steps to actually be standing in the river. The Arch The Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott case took place when he sued for his freedom.  The courthouse had a few restored rooms and a few rooms displaying some area history.  Brady did not want to leave the train :) I thought this looked cool. Jesse forgot to take off his sunglasses. Waiting in line to ...

After Pikes Peak, we drove a bit further to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument .  Since we took the 8am cog railroad ride, we were back in Manitou Springs by 11:30.  (Now you know why the kids fell asleep coming down off of Pikes Peak.  At the fossil beds, we started off by eating our lunch.  The kids loved this little Prairie Dog.  He was really hoping we would share our lunch! A lot of fossils have been taken from these fields.  Over 8,000 fossils are at Harvard University alone.  Over 20 other universities have Florissant fossils, too. This is where they think at one time was a body of water, such as a lake.  In the distance is the homestead that remains on this property.  The lady that homesteaded this property collected a lot of fossils. We went on a hike where we saw quite a few petrified trees.  These stumps were once Redwoods. When we went to look around the homestead, Brady was really upset that he w...

Our day in Colorado Springs started out doing a very touristy thing:  The Manitou Springs and Pikes Peak Cog Railroad.  When the kids and I first reached Colorado a week and a half ago, we stopped at the Colorado Welcome Center in Julesburg.  The one thing the kids saw (and liked) were the brochures for this railroad. You can see that Brady was completely loving this ride. We were very lucky to be seated in the very first seat at the front of the train.  We had the best views by far. Above the treeline now. Almost to the top of Pikes Peak! Being at the front of the train had one disadvantage.  Look at the drop off at the front of the train where we parked.  Yikes!  I sure was hoping the brakes were working! We had to try the "world famous Pikes Peak donuts" The kids at the summit.  Of course, it was cold and windy! Jesse and the kids by our cog railroad car. The kids were so tired that they fell asleep during the ...