Crested Butte in July

As usual, we were in charge of the climbing element on project (ok, what I really mean is Mark was in charge of climbing).  I ended up only going out twice with the groups and even then I was only there for a short little while.  So, I only got one climb in all summer!  This was much different than last year.  We did do a 'family climbing day' however, which was really fun with all of our 15 kids!!  It was fun to watch them all attacking the rock with their youthful zeal!

Then, we had some visitors...My parents came to stay for 4 days and brought my Grandma.  It's been so fun to have them come each year (except when we were in Maine).  This year it was a treat to have my spunky 85 year old 'Granny'.  She and I took the boys for a hike on the 'Lower Loop' trail one day.  Looking back, that was an act of bravery on my part...especially realizing that her glaucoma inhibits her vision in a pretty extreme way.  The three boys made for an exciting trek!  It was a really fun day though and is a fond memory.

Then my parents caught up to us on their bikes.....

The next big adventure....Jack lost his first tooth!!  The day before his 6th birthday...

Birthday #6 was shared with another Jack on project.  The other Jack (also known as Johnny) turned 6 on July 2nd so we combined birthdady efforts. 

For some reason I volunteered to make the cakes.  And of course I waited until 10pm the night before the party to start...becuase it overwhelmed me.  I had to make a submarine cake and a Buzz Lightyear cake!  Luckily the boys were pleased with my effort..the party was a success!

And this is the crew of kids we had this summer (two are missing from the picture).  They made a great party!

As part of his birthday, Mark took Jack for a backpacking trip.  They went fishing and ate fish that night and had a blast!!

Then on the 4th we volunteered as a project to help put on the Fourth of July fest downtown.  The staff got to be parade marshalls on Elk Ave. for the main event! 

The boys spent their parade morning fighting for candy in the street...it definatly pays off to have a mom who's a parade marshall, especially when there are big kids snatching up each peice of candy that touches the ground!  It was a dog eat dog situation....

And some of the paraders made it look like some sort of hippy peace march....I'm imagining Adam and Eve here...

After the parade, we got to put on some games in town for the locals.  Our family was in charge of the egg toss (who knew that throwing eggs could be so fun?!  People were running home to bring more so that we could do it over and over again!).  We also helped out with the pie eating contest after the egg toss was done.  I don't think I've ever seen a pie eating contest with real pies before!  And the most disgusting part was that they did it in teams of 3....imagine sticking your face into a pie that had been slobbered on by two other people...GROSS!

Then of course the fireworks....this was our view off our deck. 

As a project fun night, we got to take over the 'Adventure Park' area at the ski hill.  They had a bungee jump trampoline thing (whatever it's called??)...it was a hit!  We all had some good bungee jumping time. 

Noah was a little tentative...

Jack did flips.....and went back for at least two more turns....

I felt sick....and finally was able to do a few back flips after I stopped laughing....

And Mark was the last to go....he did a triple front flip and everyone cheered!  I was dealing with two screeming kids and another one who was running away so didn't get a picture of him.  He was the grand finale though.

And this is Katie.  She has been with us for 4 summers now..and watched our kids since Jack was 1 1/2 when we were in Maine!  This was our last summer with her becuase she just graduated from high school and is going to college next year! 

And that is our Crested Butte summer in a nutshell!  More to come on the student/ministry side of things....