June Album part II: Road trip!

Matthew and I were really taking a chance with this 3-day road trip to get to Colorado Springs.  Everyone thought we were a little crazy, and we probably were.  We had two strategies: lots of new movies to watch in the van and overnight stays at state parks where the kids could run around in the mornings and evenings.  These pictures remind me of how much fun it all was.  And look how relaxed we are!  We would actually do this again.

Our first stop was Three Island Crossing State Park in Idaho.

It had a small museum and interpretive center just a short bike ride from our cabin.

And this lovely river was in our front yard!

One silly night here, and the next morning we were off again with our destination set to the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal, Utah.

This is Matthew’s moment of glee when he was able to pack it all back up in the van again the next morning.

The dinosaur museum was a hit the next morning after a restful night in Utah.  Leo still talks about this place. 

   

Next stop: Farish Recreation Center in Colorado Springs.  The kiddos were going nuts every time we hit a large tunnel on our way there.

Onward!

June Album: pre-vacay

Summer is over in real-time (blogging in September), so I’m a little sad to be reflecting on what an awesome time we had anticipating it… plus we were looking forward to our big road trip in late June!  So  here it is: June before the vacay…

 

 

The biggest news before we left was that my wish finally came true: after 7 years of staring at this old, ugly siding, we finally got it removed!  Hallelujah!  Underneath is a beautiful original wood siding that was covered longer than it wasn’t covered. 

BEORE:

  

AFTER:

And the BEST news is that we found a surprise window that had been covered up for 60 years. 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Here’s Matthew, revealing it from the inside once we figured out where it was.  Who would cover such a beautiful window?  What a fantastic treasure, waiting to be discovered.

   

 

(This month of September, we’ve finally added trim to the inside, and it completely changes the living room orientation.  Trim was also added to the outside, and I have been selecting exterior paint colors!  Yippee!)

In other news, Dean graduated from kindergarten!  I treated him to ice cream on that last day.  We were both so proud.

  

Oh, and we got head lice.  Right before we left for vacation.  Father’s Day arrived sometime between the the combing of Fiona’s hair for lice from 11pm on Saturday and the combing of my hair until 2am.  Yes….  Colorado and New Mexico, here we come.