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....

Crested Butte in June

Ok, so I totally slacked off while on project...no blogging happened at all!  But that doesn't mean that we just sat around...now that we're home I've decided to give some updates by the month.  These are some of the things that happened in June..

We sat out on our deck and drank tea with our puffy jackets on...after it snowed.

I just liked these pictures since I hardly ever get a picture of myself with my boys these days...I'm usually the one with the camera in hand!

Mark took Noah on his first backpacking trip.  They hiked up the ski hill and spent the night.  Noah insisted on carrying his own sleeping bag and the stove.  They had a blast and came back really excited!  He's such a trooper...

The 'Chainless Bike Race' in Crested Butte is a crazy fest!  People dress up in wild costumes and deck their bikes out, then take the chain off their bikes and ride down a huge hill (Kebler Pass).  It was one of our outreaches in the community and some of the staff men and even a student decided to participate! 

Just an example of some of the craziness...I decided I would spare you a photo of the naked man and just go with the super hero speedo guy instead. 

Some 'Towney's'...there are probably more bikes in Crested Butte than there are cars.  People ride these 'cruisers' around and call them 'Towneys'.  Finally a place that appreciates our old schwinn cruisers!  I felt right at home. 

The Columbines bloomed...

We ate overpriced ice cream in town....

And one of my personal highlights of the summer...mountain biking the Snodgrass trail with my friend Laura.  During the 'Fat Tire' bike festival week we got to demo these ridiculous bikes for free!!!  So, this is me, mountain biking single track for the first time EVER on a $4,000 bike!  It was quite the experience!

The aspens made it breathtaking!! 

And this is my favorite shot...do you see the guy in the background taking a photo of me?  That's a guy from Mountain Biking magazine taking my picture...in a feild of Lupine on a worldclass mountain biking trail....don't forget the amazing bike I'm riding and that it's my first time...ya..this experience pretty much secured my position as the world's BIGGEST poser!!  We laughed all summer long about this!

I'm alive!

I'm not dead!  I am still alive and kickin'...my poor neglected blog wonders from time to time.  Here are some of the highlights from this past month...

We went down to Moab and Mark took his climbing assessment so that he could continue to guide the climbing outings on our summer project.  He is an official AMGA top-rope instructor again!  We got a day of climbing in as a family before he had to go to class.  While he was there I got to hang out with some of our good friends who came down with us for the weekend.  We had a BLAST!  The boys were covered in dirt and sand from head to toe.  I made my first dutch oven dinner and it was amazing!  We were contemplating using the dutch oven at home after that meal...I'm sure it wouldn't be the same though.  Somehow when you're camping things taste really good...it must be the extra sprinkle of dirt and bugs. 

Jasper hung out in his jumparoo most of the time at camp.  He loves that thing (it's my $8 yard sale find - yippee for yard sales!).  It's amazing to watch a 6 month old flying up and down in one of those.  Sometimes I worry that he might launch himself out!

On the way to the beach we found some awesome roadkill....a 5' long snake curled up in the middle of the road.  Of course I made a comment about how gross it was and at the same time our friend Jason promply stopped his truck, turned around and retrieved it.  It turned out to be the most talked about moment of the trip! 

Ok, so next Jasper got started on solid foods (yes, like a smart mom I waited until we were done camping:).

And then he ate some oatmeal too....

And finally, we ended the month with a graduation.  Jack is now officially in Kindergarten!  Ok, yes, it's cheesy and yes, I did get choked up...but can you blame me?  I mean there was a slideshow with baby pictures and everything!  And look at those gowns...I mean really, how do you keep a straight face?!  They even had a 2010 tassle for the scrapbooks!

And so now, after three days of packing and a 9 hour car ride, we are at our summer project in Crested Butte for the summer!