First half of vacation....

On Monday we headed off to the Garden of the Gods to do a little sightseeing. While walking around the park a thunderstorm rolled in and cut our sightseeing a little short. So short we just made Conner get out in the rain so I could take a photo of the balancing rock. The beauty of this place always amazes me. I appreciate it so much more now that I am an adult and live away from here then when I did as a kid living here.

Kissing Camels

Balancing Rock

Tuesday my mom took Caitlin and myself to get manicures and pedicures and afterwards we went and had lunch. They boys stayed home and napped! The kids went to the local pool to have a swim workout and got to experience working out in high altitude.

And today we had our big adventure...white water rafting on the Arkansas River. Our guide was wonderful, he made the trip fun and exciting and he was so knowledgeable. We decided that next time we come out (which will hopefully be next summer) we will do a 2 day rafting trip where you camp out in the canyons.

Brian is front left, Conner is behind him, Caitlin is next to Conner on the right side (2nd back on right) and I'm in the back with the guide. There was another family on our raft....but they were not as fun as us!!!

And this..... this was a one of the motorcycle riders we came accross on Sunday. They were having a motorcycle shin-dig downtown and we came accross this guy and just had to get a shot....only in Colorado!

Things that you see from Indiana to Colorado

Things you may see when driving 1100 miles from Indiana to Colorado with two teenagers, a chocolate lab, and a husband.......

While driving in Indiana, you may come across this unusually large cross. Conner's comment... "Yes, we are open!"

Driving in Missouri we past a set of "CHIPS"as we called them...this one looked just as I was taking the photo....good timing.

Yes....they do have cops in Kansas... Brian got to meet one up close and personal. Lucky for Brian the copper felt sorry for him having to drive with a wife, two kids, and a dog from Indiana to Colorado and just gave him a written warning....with the instructions that if he was pulled over again it would show up that he was given a warning. Well......I didn't have any warnings so we were good to go.....and if worse came to worse, Caitlin had her license with her......
Besides cops....this is the one other thing you see in Kansas...

And of course, if you grow that you would need one of these.... You could also see a field of windmills to power the state when the tornado's come through! Once in Colorado, the motorcycle riders become a lot more interesting.

And of course in Colorado you would find where the antelope play.

You wouldn't find these things on a trip from Indiana to Colorado unless they were in the car with you. The ride was long, but enjoyable with these guys. Barcleigh was a trooper and the kids were great. BUT, we were very glad to arrive!

Sleep Over Party

Saturday night I emailed The Happy Lab Rescue man, Mike, and asked if he would be available for us to come over and see the puppy. Brian and Caitlin had not yet met the girl. He called me back and said that they would not be home, they were going to their son's for a fathers day outing. BUT...would we like to come pick Waffle up for the night and bring her back on Sunday night. Well...Yes we would. So off Conner and I went to pick Waffle up for our "sleep over".

Barcleigh, who didn't care about any of the pups when we took her to look at them, was THRILLED to have a pup at her home. Her own personal play thing. Waffle was not sure what to think of ole' Barcleigh at first (she can get a bit excited) but Barcleigh let her know that she was not a threat, she just wanted to play. So play they did....they wore themselves out.

Waffle did pretty well sleeping. We set up the old baby play pen in Conner's room (his request). She slept until about 2:30, then she started to whine. I took her out to potty and she did...both...and promtly went back to sleep....until 4:30 when she was up and ready to rock-n-roll. So Caitlin got up an played with her for a few mintues to help wear her out. Then at 6:30 Conner got up with her and fed her and took her outside then played with her to try and wear her out AGAIN. At 8:30 I took her out and fed her and she's be up and down all day.

She has great spunk and chases Barcleigh around with her mouth open as if she thinks she can actually catch her and drag her around. Barc is a good sport, even when Waffle grabed her tail and wouldn't let go while Barc went in circles to try and get away. She's pretty smart, she found that cold air comes from the vents and has been napping on top of them.

Conner's only request is that we actually let her sleep in our room when she is ready to move in full time......Well Mr. 59 fly, I don't think so...she's your dog, you won her fair and square!

The Great Flood of 2008

We have survived the great flood of 2008! We were lucky ones, we don't have any flooding or damage to our home. Sadly, we can't say that about the rest of our town. We have several friends that have a long road to recovery ahead, and we will be there to help them any way we can.

The term "Flash Flood" means just that...it happens in a FLASH! We had a swim meet Saturday morning that was called off for the morning session because the rain and lightning. By noon the weather cleared up and they were able to run the afternoon session. Who knew that just north of us had 10" of rain and a broken dam? When the water started, it didn't stop, it just kept coming. I ran to Caitlin's work because I didn't want her driving in flooded conditions and no one there realized that they wouldn't make it home if they didn't leave right then. She and I didn't make it home either.....we drove around town trying to find a road that was open to cross the overflowing river, we didn't find one. The scene was like a bunch of rats trying to flee a flooding city....cars everywhere and people everywhere...but no place to go. We found our way to a Seymour and Brian got us a hotel room for the night. I65 was closed north bound from Seymour to Indy.

The pictures on the news were surreal, this town was not recognizable to me under water. The devastation is beyond belief. It is something that I won't ever forget. We pray that all our friends and our community will recover from this quickly and without great loss.

This last photo taken from my car was just the beginning of the flooding, while I was trying to get to Caitlin. It got much worse in the hours that followed.

Meet Waffle

Last swim season Conner made a "deal" with Brian (deals are now outlawed in this house...it's costing me too much money and now this!). The deal was that if Conner broke a minute in the 100 fly we would get a new puppy. Mind you...this "deal" was made while Caitlin and I were in Ohio for the Big Ten swim championship. To be honest, I was not too worried since Conner was swimming a 100 fly in about 1:06.00 minutes. Well....the last meet of the season came, Age Group State, and Conner swam the 100 fly in 1: 00.51. The top 16 swimmers would come back for the finals in the evening. Conner slipped in on the 16th spot!!! By now the whole place knows that if Conner breaks a minute he gets a puppy. The team was there to cheer him on and when he came to the finish he didn't even look at the board....he said to his friend Sam, "Do I get a puppy?" and Sam said "YES!". Conner swam the 100 fly in a 59.98! He beat it by a whole .02 SECONDS!

So.....today Conner and I went to the Happy Labs Rescue to look at the litter of rescue labs they have for adoption. These pups were left at a shelter within hours of being born, they still had their umbilical cords on them. The staff called the Happy Lab Rescue and they went over and picked them up asap. They have been bottle fed and cared for by the Happy Lab folks for the past few weeks. We originally wanted to look for a yellow lab and name her "Waffle". But we decided that giving a home to a dog in need was more important than the color of their fur.

So, without further adieu.... meet Waffle, our black lab pup that will join our family in July. (she needs to be 8 weeks before they can release her to us)

The Graduate

Here is a photo that was on the schools web site. A friend emailed it to me and I'm so glad she did. It's a wonderful photo of Caitlin after receiving her diploma and walking off the stage.

Class of 2008

Graduation day was Saturday! Here are a few photo's of the big day.....
Caitlin's Nan & Pop came from Colorado.
And Grandma and Auntie Jen came from New York. The ceremony took about 1 1/2 hours for around 490 graduates.
The Open House was a HUGE success. Special thanks to my best friend Diana for all her help and all her cooking!!! And thank you to my mom, mother-in-law and sister in-law for help in getting everything ready and cleaning it all up!

The night was A LOT of fun! Thank you to all who came and shared in our celebration of Caitlin's Graduation!!! It means the world to us. :)