Good-Bye Kindergarten...

Hannah had her last day of Kindergarten today! It was mixed with emotions, at least for Mom and Dad. As Tami hugged Hannah's teacher and thanked her for all her angelic patience and effort, she couldn't help but get choked up. Teachers are amazing!

Hannah is so excited to start 1st grade in three weeks. We can't believe she's going to be gone all day. We will miss her energy around the house during the day! Congratulations Hannah Banana!

Happy Birthday Janessa!

Janessa turned 4 yrs old on June 16th and was so excited to get her own "big girl bike." We had her party a week early because her #1 request was to have Grandma McIlnay in attendance. When I told her she would not be coming she said,"Tell her to take a plane then." I informed her airplane tickets were expensive and she said, as if I was missing plain old common sense, "Well, tell her take a helicopter then!"

So we called Grandma. She was out here a week early for Rachael's baby shower and said she could spare some time on Sunday. As an added bonus,it turned out Shelby and Mason were coming with her too! Just about everyone in the family showed up and a wonderful and silly time was had by all and we had one happy princess!

Shaving With Daddy

All of the girls have been fascinated with Daddy's shaving. We have photos of each girl, at around 2 years old, shaving with him! Addie is of course, the most recent addtition to our shaving fan club!

Pardon my mess

I am new to blogging so I didn't realize I needed to do all the pictures and comments at once in order to have the story flow. Hence, the beginning is at the bottom and the end is at the top, so have fun with this one. I promise to make it better in the future!

Water Baby

Addie was happy to be back on the ATV after all the hiking. Her favorite part of the trip was the plethora of puddles we drove through. After every puddle,from the back of the ATV, eveyone could hear,"Mo wata pease" (For those of you not savvy to toddler talk that's, "More water please"). As we would drive through she would scream, "Splash! Splash!" It soon became a symphony of little girl voices as her sisters joined in the song. Just to humor her we stopped to let Addie ride through a huge puddle alone with Daddy. Pure joy shone on her little face!








We made it down the trail and as you can see, the girls were still all smiles after a day on the bumpy, rough trail...






Except for Addie, who fell asleep not two minutes down the road! It was a wonderful day with new memories made and new adventures to share.

The crash site

After lots of potty breaks, snack stops and MINIMAL navigational error, we finally made it to the crash site. We had to hike up and down and very steep mountain to see the wreckage as it was scattered all over the face. Hannah kept saying how sad it was that these men died. But then, as if to comfort us all, she said, "They'll come alive again someday with us." There was debris everywhere. BJ knew what each part was and the big hunt was for the engine which had been thrown to the bottom of the steep hill. The girls were so excited that we finally found it (so was I to be perfectly honest--it was exhausting!) and were listening intently as BJ explained how all the pieces fit together.

Packed like sardines

Here we are all packed on the ATV, minus Daddy. Now imagine us all bumping down the hill over rocks and through puddles...it must have been a real sight!

It's ATV Season in the Rockies

We woke up to a beautiful Colorado day and the mountains started to call. BJ took a paid day off, we excused Hannah from school and off we went to Boulder County to an ATV trail that would lead to a 1965 crash site of an air force major and his co-pilot. We were quite a sight: Two adults and three kids on one ATV, and we had to take turns riding and walking through the tough spots, but it was a fun time had by all. Even little Addie never complained once on the 5 mile trip! When we first arrived, the girls were shocked at how "huge" the dandelions were and had to pick them!