1st Day of School (5th, 3rd and 2nd)

First Day of school! Aug 16, 2021!!! Hunter is in 5th grade, Trent is in 3rd, and FaithAnn is in 2nd. What a BIG year. Last year to all be in elementary together. Another wave of covid has hit, so we weren't so sure what back to school would look like. We are thankful things start as normal, lets hope it continues that way.

Hunter has Mrs. Tacker, which he actually goes to all the 5th grade teachers this year. One teacher per subject, which is pretty cool. It also helps them get ready to be in middle school! Crazy. Trent has the same 3rd grade teachers that Hunter did (Ms. Gandolfo/Ms. Cristy.) Trent still wants to be a football player when he grows up. And FaithAnn has who Trent had last year!! Ms. Little and Ms. Grothues. I love that these teachers know all of my children, and have loved on them too!

FaithAnn says she wants to be a "Sports Doctor" when she grows up. The ones that help the athletes when they get injured. I figured she was talking about a Sports PT, so she's now sticking to it. That would be a fantastic goal, and I could totally see her doing that. We shall see!! For now, they are still my babies. And I am loving watching them all ride off together on their bikes each day. These are the good ole days!  

Colorado (Pagosa Springs)

The summer of MOMMY TIME continues. Scott can't take off the entire summer, lol! But I love to travel....so, I just take the kids all over for summer. While Scott is jealous, he is in full support of our adventures because it makes childhood so fun and memorable! 

I've never been in to Colorado in the summer, so that is where we headed. 15 hour drive...with 5 kids! We went with Haley Green and her kids. Back to the same place we went skiing over spring break. Pagosa Springs. Her parents have a house there, and it is BEAUTIFUL! We are so grateful and had the best week of summer. 

Haley is 7 months pregnant and is such a trooper. We went tubing, ziplining, hiking, sand dune sledding! We did it all and had a literal blast! We cooked all our meals at the house, packed lunches, and stayed on the go. The kids did great in the car ride. We stopped overnight to stay in a hotel, but they did amazing. Very little fussing!  And on the way back home, we stopped at the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. The car ride, the outings, the adventure...the entire vacation was seriously one of the best I've ever been on. 

We found a reptile place that was so cool. The kids got to hold the animals. Such an experience. The sand dune sledding was so unique. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. What a hard workout...walking up those dunes. I've checked that off my bucket list, lol. We were covered in sand for days! 

We swam in the Hot Springs too, which mixed in with the river. So there were spots that were freezing, spots that were hot. Cool to experience nature in that way. We did kid friendly hiking, which was perfect for them to experience. We hiked waterfalls, and that was so fun and pretty. I can tell that we have a lot of hiking in our future. 

It was also my birthday while we were there, so Scott got a special birthday delivery sent. Warm cookies!! A fun birthday treat. Haley made a yummy breakfast and the kids decorated for me. So sweet! We also had a litter of puppies find their way to the house. We ended up finding the owner, and spend a lot of time playing with the puppies. A favorite memory for the kids. 

I have to say that ziplining was maybe my favorite. It was a far hike to get to the top. Haley didn't do this, so I had all the kids behind me like ducklings. They had THE best time! Loved every second. The ziplines were long with amazing views. We flew across them. Hunter had decided that he wants to live in Colorado one summer and be a zipline tour guide! He actually loved Colorado the most out of my kids. The hiking, the tubing! He wanted to stay forever. 

This was the last trip of the summer, and we ended with bang. Such a fantastic summer! Summer 2021...you were one to remember. I soaked up every second. Every adventure. Every ounce of love and laughter! 

New Orleans!!

 We headed to New Orleans with the Millers. Just the moms and kids. Katie and I are good friends, and we have been talking about taking the kids somewhere. We loaded my car and went to New Orleans, for the kids first time ever. New Orleans is full of culture, so we wanted to be tourists.

We went to Bourbon Street right when we got there. We decided to dive straight into New Orleans culture, and they were shocked. It was so funny. We took a long walk up and down the street, and we stopped into a seafood restaurant. The kids have never had oysters, so we decided to make that a first too. They were not a fan of Bourbon street or oysters. But we sure laughed a lot. 

The next morning, we went to Cafe DuMonde for their famous bignets. They were delicious. We ate them in the park, which led us to a day of exploring. We went into the oldest Catholic church and saw some historic monuments. The kids were actually really interested. 

We swam a lot in the hotel pool. The hotel was just outside the French Quarter, so we walked everywhere. We walked to get ice cream and all the other fun attractions...trained birds, horse rides, and street magic shows. We had the best time on our Ghost Tour. The kids were obsessed with the stories and history. We walked the French Quarter and heard all the stories and about the "ghost" that still live there. What a fun memory!  

Then, we headed to the zoo!! New Orleans zoo is a must. It is small and so family friendly. We loved it. We found a waterfall that we played in, which really cooled everyone off. Then, they stayed wet the rest of the day! We went to a random pizza place after the zoo, and it ended up being our best meal. So delicious! 

It was a simple trip. Lots of treats, culture, and tons of walking. We so enjoy our time with the Miller family, so we definitely have a lot of trip ahead together. Such sweet friends and sweet memories.