Keeping up with Cameron and Ashley: June 2013

Kindergarten Graduation 2013

My baby is now a big 1st grader!! Ashley had such a wonderful year in Kindergarten! It continues to amaze me how fast each year is going as just when I think they will always be little, another school year ends! This year was bittersweet for me; I am realizing that Ashley will no longer be home with me for most of the day as she is headed off to school full-time. I still remember the day she came into this world like it was yesterday and now she is almost 7 - wow!

This year I was very lucky to have had the chance to volunteer each week in Ashley's classroom. It gave me a special perspective in which I got to watch her learn, interact with her classmates and watch her grow in so many ways. I am so proud of all she has accomplished this year, she is full of life and enjoys school! I can't wait to see how much fun she has next year!

Ashley's graduation day was so special and yes, I did cry like a baby:)

Ashley is 4th from the right, bottom row!

Getting her Kindergarten diploma:)

Last circle time outside for the year!

Mrs. Leeper, the best Kindergarten teacher ever!!

Ashley and her buddy, Ben.

Checking out her Kindergarten picture book!

We love you Ashley!!!

Mt. Evans!

We decided over the Memorial weekend that we would tackle Mt. Evans! Mt. Evans is one of the 14ers in Colorado and is home to the highest road in North America! It was quite an adventure on the way up and on the way down, at points the road was right on the side of a cliff:) The top was breathtaking and we could even see downtown Denver, and just about anything else for quite a while!! Pretty amazing to be on top of the world!

We stopped at a visitor center on the way up and took a hike among the Bristlecone Pine trees. They are the oldest living thing on earth and some of them live up to 2,000-4,000 years old!!

Cameron checking out the sites

Getting further up the mountain!

Ok, this was the start of some of the crazy parts of the road! The photo does not do it justice:)

At the top!

Even Jack made it to 14,000!! He loved the snow and got lots of attention from everyone!

To get to the real tippy top of the mountain you need to go about 200 more feet. It was still pretty snowy so I stayed with the kids and Jeff hiked up to the top!

What a view!! On the way down we all got altitude sickness; even Jack! Let's just say we all felt better after we got down and had some ice cream!!

Cougar Run Spring Fun Run 2013

At the end of each year Cougar Run Elementary School holds a big Fun Run Fundrasier for the school. The kids get to train for about a month in P.E. and then spend about an hour or so running as many laps as they can. It is a big highlight of the school year and Cameron and Ashley had a blast! We were lucky with the weather this year as the run was on a Thursday and we had snow just that Monday, yikes!

Cameron always takes the run very seriously and tries to outdo himself each year, this year he ran 17 laps!! That is over 5 miles!!!! I can't even do that:) Ashley was amazing as well and did 11 laps, wow maybe I have some distance runners in my family:)

It was a great day and the school raised a huge amount of money that will go to some good things for next year!

Cameron during the race! It was hard to get him to stop and take a picture:)

On the move!

Ashley warming up and ready to go!

Cooling down after lap 17!!

Ashley stretching after 11 laps!

So proud of both my babies!!

Boy Scout Jamboree!

This year Cameron's Boy Scout Pack had a booth at the Denver Boy Scout Jamboree! We all went up to support the booth and check out all the other great activities! This year Jeff was the Assistant Den Leader so it was so fun to see them having a great time together! I know that these are memories they will both treasure!!

Cameron in his new Webelos outfit! Checking out the Jamboree:)

Ashley had just as much fun

Cameron's Den put on a balloon toss.

Cameron and some of his buddies

Cameron and Ashley both got to try out Archery and B.B. Gun shooting. Ashley's motto is "if Cameron can do it, I can as well" I love that she will try just about anything:)

Cameron was a pretty good shot, with a little help from Jeff!

Miss A on the shooting range:)

CU Spring Football game

We are die hard Duck football fans but each year we have been in Colorado we head up to Boulder to catch the CU Spring football game. We love taking Cameron up to catch some college football since he is just a little addicted to the game:) Ashley loves football but really loves watching the cheerleaders instead! We even get to watch CU's mascot Ralphie (a huge buffalo) get let loose and run the field; pretty amazing. This gives us all a little taste of college football in the spring; now if fall would just get here now so we could watch our Ducks!!!!!

Ashley and Daddy checking out Ralphie!

It is hard to see but Ralphie is staring us down:)

Each year I have been able to track down this quarterback and get a picture of him with Cameron! It was pretty cool for Mr. C:) After we left he kept saying it was the best day ever!!:)

On the field in Boulder, just after the game!

Papa, Nana and Uncle Ross!

We were so lucky to see my parents and my brother twice this spring. My parents went on a trip to Europe so they visited us before and after they got back. My brother had come in to celebrate a great birthday weekend in April but then took another trip out to Denver again in May for a writing week! It was so great to seem them all!!

We decided to take my brother down to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It is a great park with some amazing rock formations. There were even some crazy people climbing up the tallest ones!!:) I was happy to just walk around on the paths and look at the beauty from ground level!

You can't see it in this picture but people were climbing this one, yikes!!

Taking in the sites!

Car picnicking:)

Finding some cool spots!

We had a great birthday dinner out! My brother, mom and dad all have birthdays in March and April so we got everyone in! What a great dinner!!!! Lots of laughs, wine, food and more wine:)