June is worse than May ;)

I know that I apologized in May that I hadn't been posting, so here I am on nearly the last day in June saying the same thing. I have some pictures to better explain why I don't post - along with the caveat that we are still in a 900 sq ft apartment with 5 people and a dog. The renovations are coming a long, but we are weary. The house is definitely shaping up into what it will be, and inspections begin on Monday. Dry wall will be soon after that (plan is Tues/Wednesday). 

 Here is a picture of our current kitchen/den and dining room. 

 Close-up of the dining room. This used to be our porch. 

 This is the new LARGE window in our bedroom which makes me happy by just existing. 

 Coo loved his soccer camp. 

 H-P can't wait to go next year (not so handy in flip flops) 

 Even though soccer isn't exactly Buck's favorite sport, he loved playing around with Coo after camp. 

 The oldest son of 2 of our closest friends came with his best friend to a conference at DU (J is in blue)

 Our crazy family took them on a short trip around Denver and into the mountains. 

 We went to Red Rocks to watch about 1000 people work out ;) 

 The oldest and the youngest of ours and our friends' off-spring (only 15 years difference!) 

 Can't forget the tornados going on ALL OVER the city this summer (nightmare) 

And the First Communion Kids led the Corpus Christi procession at our Parish…that's Buck in the blue and beige with one of his best friends to the left. 

Our family is off to New York tomorrow to visit the aforementioned friends at their Lake House (capital letters just seem right here). I can't wait to see them - OR to get out of this little space we call home :) 

Soccer Camp

Coo is attending a 1/2 day soccer camp all week. It's amazing how much this adds to our world cup fever. Coo loves the camp and H-P and Buck love playing around on the beautiful (and costly) DU (Univ of Denver) fields. Coo won a soccer bag because the camp voted him "best jersey" on jersey day. USA, baby! But only because Canada didn't have a jersey to choose.

I hope you're having a great start - middle - of summer. We're gearing up to get out of dodge in a week or so. It will be nice to see some old faces (and some young faces too).

Lazy Days of Summer

Summer has been a full-time activity around here for the last three weeks (yes, CO schools are out at the end of May!) Mourning the loss of our pool at home -well, the boys mourn it and RKZ and I mourn how tired it made the boys- we have joined a local Athletic center in order to enjoy the pool there. The favorites are the giant inflatables they bring out every afternoon and the 3 foot pool for H-P to cruise in safety. 

 The big boys enjoying one of the inflatables

And we've also been spending a ton of time at local parks with friends. I just love the "summer-ness" of these shots on the tire swing.

RKZ is on a trip for work until Friday, so stay tuned for some "What I do with them on my own" posts!

Denver Kid's Museum

This summer has already been so incredibly busy. The random posts are just another sign of the crazy. Wait till I have a house and an office. You'll be sick of me...

We have a medium-sized Children's museum here in Denver. It's downtown and only took about a 30 minute drive from our apartment.

H-P is in a fireman phase. He wants to climb on every fire truck he sees. Also, he loves the outfit :) Who doesn't?

Bucks' amazing flip flop slide down the fireman pole.

One of my favorite sections of the museum is the "make it yourself" section. There are real tools and a bunch of recycled materials for the kids to make things. It seems innately dangerous, but fun too. Coo just wanted to hammer nails into little pieces of wood.

Buck making a telescope out of toilet paper rolls.

H-P loved using the most dangerous, obscure (to me) things.

We moved on to the ball chamber where the kids made tracks to keep balls moving through vacuum powered pipes. I think we were there for over an hour.

Coo especially loved the ball space. He made a lot of friends as they worked on their tracks.

 Lastly, we hit the bubble room. The big boys made giant bubbles out of bubble fluid.

H-P found the train room next to the bubble space. He was so happy! 

There are even more happenings around the house with the renovation. We are prepping for a big trip back East and a few weeks away from our apartment. Happy Days ahead!!

Altar and Rosary Society Spring Tea

You know you're getting older when you spend an entire weekend working for the "Altar and Rosary Society" Spring tea. You know that and the fact that ladies in their 70's (plus) aren't normally the most time-efficient planners. A girlfriend and I have offered to take over the spring tea for next year, so this year we shadowed the current planners - ladies who have been organizing the event for 7 years or so. I get myself into the most interesting situations. 

 The AR president and one of the co-cordinators organizing the kids' gift bags. This year, the ladies were disappointed with the 80-woman turn out. Last year, they had 179ish.

 O-E will be my co-cooridnator next year. Here, she pretends to sample the 200 scones hand baked by one of the ladies.

 I will be in charge of the food and O-E will be in charge of the space/decor. The ladies have fairly high standards and only use real china and silver for the tea…of course. ;)

All proceeds and donations currently go to the woman's shelter nearest the parish. The quilt-maker arm of the AR makes all the quilts to be donated.

Did I mention that I LOVE elderly ladies? This event made me feel like I was living a novel, somehow.
Because it's not at all thrilling, I will have more pictures tomorrow of the actual day.

Tennis Camp 1

There is something really special about the ages of 3, 5 and 8. What is it? The fact that most summer camps and activities are for kids either 3-5 years old or 5-8. This magical summer, that means that Coo can attend different things every week with one brother or the other. Coo needs to move every day of every week. He does not like anything but sports and watching a 15-minute show called "Peppa Pig".

 This week, it was "Little Lobbers tennis camp" for Coo and H-P

 Monday was learning forehand

 Tuesday was overhead

 I took a lot of pictures of HP because it was his first summer camp.

I'm sad that I only took one shot of Coo. He is a very natural tennis player and loved every second of the camp. Good thing because he has a second week of tennis with Buck next week (Smash and Splash).

May in pictures - a recap minus Renovations

H-P turned 3

We celebrated with the "Rat" and all our newest friends

The kid's school held their annual amusement park rental/fundraiser for the end of the year. 

H-P rode his first roller coaster. 

Our family has begun invading Grandma and Grandpa's cabin in the mountains (love it!)

Coo "graduated" from preschool

H-P got glasses (which he refuses to wear)

Renovation news tomorrow!