Summer's End

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Summer in the Springs

As many of you may already know, we left our glamorous caretaking job in Brooklyn Park, MN to spend the summer in Colorado Springs. What a beautiful place!

The kids and I feel like we're on a really long vacation...spending every warm day by the pool.
Savannah turned half amphibian this summer. With the pool only a stone's throw distance from our apartment we've been able to spend quite a bit of time there. The deepest part of the pool is only 5ft which has been nice for Savannah. She basically taught herself how to do the doggy paddle. (What are parents for anyway?) Just yesterday she showed me that she knows how to do a flip under water! It's hard to believe she's only 4!
Kaleb has taken leaps and bounds--litteraly--into the pool this summer. His first attempt into the pool here was a very timid one. For the first few weeks he spent most of his time on the steps. But look at him now! Confident and independent. I'll have to say...None are prouder than the parents!


If we weren't at the pool, we were probably at the park down the street. Sure, the kids loved climbing the trees and playground equipment. I'll have to say I think they really went to the park to feed treats to the dogs. Savannah had the great idea to get some dog treats at the store: "If they cost a dollar, we can get them, but if they're 600 dollars, then we probably can't get them, right mom?", is what Savannah said when presenting her bright idea. Every day she would pack a snack bag full of dog treats and bring them with us wherever we went. When we were in the car she would ask, "MOM! I see a dog, can I throw a dog treat out the window to him?!! In fear of actually hurting the dog, I declined. But we would take lots of walks in our neighborhood and in the park to feed those hungry dogs!

At the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo the kids and their friend Brigham got to feed special crackers to the Giraffes! ...And of course, get their picture taken on a mountain lion. Proud Peacock! He spread his tail feathers right when we asked him to.

During one of our last Sundays together as a family in Colorado Springs, we took a trip up to Pikes Peak to ride the Cog Railway to the top of the mountain. The pictures we took while we were there turned out a bit blurred and foggy. But it wasn't the camera...we were up in the clouds! The ride up the mountain took an hour and a half as well as the ride down. At the bottom of the mountain it was 89 degrees. But at the top...35! BRRRRR! It was a beautiful view out both sides of the train with streams, boulders, wildlife and 14,000ft cliffs!!! Of course, that's what we came to see. At the top of Pikes Peak we had high altitude donuts...mmmm greasy, and hot chocolate. That's probably the only place people have hot chocolate in the summer. Good times were had by all.