Game

Tully had his first soccer game this weekend. It was so fun and very cute! He scored a goal and is very proud of himself!

Soccer!

We had our first soccer practice yesterday and Tully LOVED it! Look like it's going to be a fun year!

Kindergarten :-/

For the last year I have been anticipating Tully starting kindergarten with large amounts of fear, sadness and some excitement.  Tully on the other hand has been counting down the days until kindergarten starts, always eager to be a 'big kid' and independent.  Well, the big day finally happened and even though I had spent the previous nights losing sleep about my happy, bald headed baby going off to kindergarten, he awoke as always with a big smile on his face and ready to go. After pancakes, pictures and a lot of first day jitters (only on my part) we were off. We arrived at the playground and Tully was in his element, saying hi to Nathan, finding Bryan and Spencer and playing happily. The bell rang and the kids were off to their classrooms.  Tully lined up on his blue line and after the teacher gave a short, exciting speech, she told the kids to wave goodbye to their parents. Tully turned, looked at us and smiled the biggest smile. He waved goodbye and all of the sudden they were walking into the classroom. I had promised myself that I wouldn't cry and yet I couldn't help it as I watched my little boy's back dissapear into the unknown world of "that other person with my kid for 5 hours."
Anyway, I felt confident that he was going to have a great day, love his teacher and have a fun time. He did. It was awesome :)
The next 2 days have been more of the same. Tully LOVING going to school and me feeling a mix of pride, happiness and loss every time I watch him smile and wave at me as he walks through that door. Today I got to work in his class and it was a ton of fun! He was so cute and proud to have me in there and I can't wait for next week.

Pictures!

It's been a long time since we took all 4 of the kids to get pictures taken but Ama is in town so decided to be brave and go for it. It was SO much easier than the last time we went. Somehow dealing with a 7,6,5, and 4 year old is much easier than dealing with a 18 month old, 2,3 and 4 year old! The kids did great. Here is a preview :)

BINGO!

We left Ouray and started heading over to Mammoth (practically home!) We really didn't want to set up the tent again so we decided to stay the night in Mesquite, NV at the Virgin River Hotel and Casino. Rooms are $24.99. No, I'm not kidding. We were in the middle of nowhere when Mesquite rose up in front of us, looking exactly like the type of place you could get a $24.99 hotel room. Our first stop was the towns grocery store where you can buy your groceries and then hit the slot machines on your way out. They even have a special place you can park your shopping cart while you gamble and smoke. Seriously.
From there we went to check into the hotel. We entered through a haze of smoke and the blaring sound of ding! ding! ding! We dropped our stuff off in our depressing and somewhat clean hotel room and went to let the kids play in the arcade. Matt discovered that he had "always wanted to play bingo" so while he anxiously awaited the next game the kids and I went bowling.

We made it back to our room around 10pm and Matt left again to play some more bingo. The kids smelled like campfire but it felt worse to put them in the shower in our room so I decided to grit my teeth and wait until we got to Mammoth the next day and I could put them in a clean shower. We slept through the night with the air conditioning blasting and that, at least was a relief. In the morning Matt took the kids to get the free breakfast that came with our room (see what $24.99 can get you?!) he ordered them a plain belgium waffle. Imagine his disgust  surprise when the kids where served a large whipped cream and strawberry syrup pie with a little bit of waffle underneath. They were in heaven and we were in for a major sugar crash in the car later. We packed up, said goodbye to Mesquite and headed off looking forward to the mountains in Mammoth and the cooler air. Another travel experience that we aren't likely to forget anytime soon!

Whirlwind

We have spent 7 days in Ouray, camping first at the KOA for 2 nights and then at the Amphitheater campground. We have hiked in waterfalls, spent a lot of time at the hot springs, played in a lot of mud, had ice cream shakes every day at 'Mouse's' (well some of us just had apple cider), walked in the rain and devised some creative ways to cook dinner in the rain. Speaking of rain, we have had TONS of it. I was counting today and I realized that out of 6 nights of camping we were only able to have 2 campfires because of rain. We ended up eating out 2 nights also which wasn't in the budget but what can you do when it's pouring rain and you have already used up every creative idea? 

When we were leaving the KOA I talked to my mom and she reminded me that my birthday was the next day. I was immediately excited. What could I arrange? Dinner out? A shower? Antiquing? Anyone who knows me, knows that I like to take advantage of my birthday (something I learned from my Dad) so the wheels were spinning. When I woke up though I  knew that the cold I had been carrying around had taken a new direction. I felt horrible, I tried to deal with it but after a couple of hours of doing a bad job of faking it, I spent the rest of the day sleeping in the car. Everyone went to Telluride (I slept in the car), rode the gondola (I slept in the car), had a BBQ at a park (I slept in the car) and eventually drove back to our campsite in the pouring rain (I slept in the car). Luckily I think that rest was exactly what I needed, I have been getting better the past 2 days, although I still sound like I have a frog in my throat.

 Today we packed up a wet camp and drove to Gerard's parents house. It is so fun to see the giant house that he built and get to stay here for a couple of days. I have already taken a nap and a shower and I am getting ready to start our 2 garbage bags full of dirty laundry.  Also, although it is raining, we have been able to make dinner inside and are going to eat it without fear of being struck by lightning! Bliss.