First Days

Late Monday afternoon, my plane touched down in Colorado. I successfully navigated the Denver airport and within a few minutes, I was with Heather and the kids headed for their new home! Yeah! They all made me feel very welcome as I entered the car as I heard all about what they were up to. During our drive north to Greeley, Heather informed me that early the same morning, she received a phone call informing her that the kids had gotten into their first choice school -- a charter school -- that required uniforms. She had spent her "leisure" time that am purchasing clothes, moving school supplies and records from the public school and driving the 45 minutes to the airport to get me! School started next morning for Eliza. They had only moved into the new house three weeks ago!

Eliza was a trooper and went with the flow as best as she could. Here she is on her first day of second grade. I was honored to be asked to french braid her hair for her big day. She looks good with the new windows in her face too! Originally the kids were going to ride the school bus to public school, but the charter school doesn't have buses....so I stayed home with the younger kids while Ethan and Heather took Eliza in and got her settled. So glad I was there!

A friend told Heather about this kids science activity going on down at the local park/shopping center in Loveland (?) so we decided it would be fun to go and see.

They had this huge tower, bubble machine. Afton was mesmerized. So while Liam and Ethan made a rubber ball from crystals and water using a mold, the girls played in the bubbles.

It was tricky to get close enough to catch bubbles. It was hot out, so the bubbles popped easily and moved erratically in the breeze. But Afton kept trying!

Eventually there was success, thanks to some intervention by Heather!

It was a fun moment. There was a lot going on everywhere:

There was a storm tropper and a working R2D2--totally cool...

Liam and Ethan took in a presentation on rockets using alka-selter fuel and watched a larger version get launched into the air. 5-4-3-2-1...

up it went, way up! Totally cool. You can see it in his eyes, ...

Ethan wanted one, bad...:)

Another part of the park had piles of hula hoops for kids to play with. Liam thought it looked like fun so, with tongue in place, he gave it a try...

We all gave it a try...

Liam totally thought it was great that his Dad was doing it....you can't see but, Ethan's tongue is in the concentrated positioned too...

Afton even decided to participate. She liked all of the bright colors and kept changing hoops.

Behind Afton is the music guy that played all kinds of fun kid friendly music that gave the afternoon a festive feel. As I mentioned earlier, it was hot. While we stood in line for balloon sculptures Liam noticed the kids playing in the pop-up fountain. He was off! It didn't take him long to jump into the spray:

At first he just walked through the waterfall...

Look at the joy on his face...

Then he figured he could stop in the middle. He is actually sitting on the fountain blast. I am amazed it didn't pick him up off of his feet!

That is one very happy little boy. I was glad that he had something to entertain him...the balloon line was long!

Afton gave some thought to participating, catching drops in her cup, but gladly she did not get too close. There were smaller fountains for the littler kids, but they were far from our que.

When it was about our turn to make a request for our balloon shapes, Liam took a break from the fountain and laid down on the warm cement to get warm.

Here's what we were waiting for! The kids made simple shape requests of a light saber and a flower. This lady was a true artist, she had been making octopus' and spider hats, a gecko...anything the kids wanted. There were also opportunities to pot a plant, get your face painted (amazing designs), learn about your brain and probably more that I didn't notice. Oh, and did I mention that everything, including the cotton candy was absolutely free! Amazing! We left tired, wet, sunburned, but happy! Great first day of school for Eliza too.

Next day was Liam's first day of Kindergarten. Doesn't he look so handsome? He was excited!

Turned out that Liam and Eliza were twins that day! Liam came home from his first, all-day, venture into formal education and said it was gggrrreeaaatt! Tony (the tiger) would have been proud.

Turns out, Liam has kindergarten all day Wednesdays and Fridays and half a day on Mondays (everyday for Eliza). So next day was no school for him. It was library day so Heather took us to their awesome local library. Wow, high-tech sorters (we got a tour) and an entire separate wing for the children. They had puzzles and giant Lego type building blocks that Liam and Afton decided to sit inside of. A fabulous, wish-I-had-one-like-this, library. You don't even have to scan your book bar codes at the check-out, you just set your pile on the pad and it "knows" which books you have checked out! Amazing, very star trek...

All too soon it was time to leave and head back to my lonesome hubby. Marc and Jes had also abandoned him during the week I was gone. They spent their week in Yellowstone with the Wayman family.

I was missed...which feels nice. I had a great visit. It will be a while before I see them again....probably December....:)

Tim met me at the airport in Seattle, we rode the train back into the city and walked right on the boat. There were 3 cruise ships in town that Saturday; it made the city look very festive. On the way out we saw this being towed back out to sea:

It was warm enough to sit up on top of the boat in the shade and not be cold! It was fun listening to the tourists speculate what this thing was! It was huge! (Doplar Radar)

Tomorrow, I am in charge of sharing time in Primary, then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Tim has time-off from work and has promised me a wifenapping! I don't get to know where we are going...it is a surprize! Yeah!

I'm so excited!

Love you all, miss you all, be good you all!