Cody and Tyler get their Art on

Tyler wanted to paint a box last night, so I had to find one for him, and then make one for Cody so they could paint. Cody seems to be much more into art these days which has to be a good thing?

Cody squeezing out the paint

Tyler creates another Monet

Camping at Gould

Our friends, Diana and Greg invited us to go camping in Gould. We've never been there so i thought, it'd probably be our last chance to camp this summer, so why not?

Besides, they camp in style with their fancy RV. So i thought the kids might enjoy the experience of checking out a camper. So, we told them we'd tent camp beside them. :)

To get to Gould, we drove through the beautiful Poudre Canyon that curves with the river that provided some really gorgeous views. We also went past an area that was devastated by the massive forest fire earlier this summer.

As we wind our way up to Cameron Pass, we found that Cody had inherited my car sickness genes. But it was Alan's ingenious plan of giving Cody a bucket to hold that saved us from travelling in a pukey car for the rest of the journey! Can't believe it actually worked! hehehehe..

It turned out Gould was a little further than we had anticipated and didn't get there till 9 pm. We had to sit through hours of the kids whining about it being too far. Bunch of whiny pants!! The Prossers were fortunately still up and helped us out with setting up before we retired to our tents for our much needed sleep and besides it was too cold to be standing around!!!

The kids having their night time books

Tyler trying out the porta potty that the Prossers were kind enough to lend us since we are usually camp ground campers. This is our first trip with the kids to venture out to the wild with no campsite!!! :)

Kids spending time by a nearby stream

Practicing our balance beams

A lesson from the engineer mom on how to build dams

Rare brotherly love!

Cody was quite eager to make friends with Jara

Taking Jara for a walk..

More streams..

There were lots of free roaming cows about to make up for the lack of other wild life. Even though i did spot some dears and the Prossers saw many mooses

Alan and his incessant need to pile rocks and change the flow of the stream. This is what a river bank looks like after Alan's been there..

This is how rocks naturally exist

Another treat - riding the ATVs

We usually do not buy the kids any sort of motorized toys. So, they really got a kick out of riding the ATV. 

What is Tyler doing on top of the trailer!!!!

We finally did break down and went to a nearby campsite after the Prossers had left!! hehehehe..

Family portrait on a tree

Tyler balancing and walking across the stream

Cody just balancing.. hehehe

The joys of nature.. calls... 

The kids really enjoyed their trailer experience. And said they "love being in the camper van"!! We were served a really nice lasagna dinner which was a luxury compared to our usual camping food! I tell you, once you've seen people camp in style and comfort, you do question why you choose to freeze your buns off in 30 degree nights!!

On our way home we broke up the drive a little by having a short stop at one of the picnic spots along Poudre Canyon. Unfortunately this was downstream from the fire, so, we were completely covered in black soot from just sitting on one of the riverside rocks!

Tyler all covered in black soot!!!

The river stream was surprisingly clear despite the black soil/soot/sand all around it

Ooohh.. fishies!!!

All in all, another nice trip for the boys though i wished we had gone for some hikes. It was also nice to "discover" the Poudre Canyon which we found very beautiful. Will probably try to come back next time. The comfort of having an RV did not go unnoticed but we might have to freeze a few more times to be convinced!!!

And since this is our 3rd camping trip this summer, the boys have really grown quite fond of camping and Alan has become quite the expert when it comes to packing for camping and i have learned to sleep early!!

As promised, Cody's cycling video

We've been trying to work on Cody's cycling. And here's a video of him in the park.

Tyler is Tarzan

Tyler has been wanting to try the rope swing at Westminster Rec center for a long time. This Sunday we had a chance to go to the pool, and while Siew Gin took the pictures and video Tyler got to try the rope swing, the diving board and the water slide (until they told him to stop as he wasn't tall enough !!)

Dinner at the Lutz's

We were invited to the Lutz's for dinner this weekend and we finally got to see their whole deck setup and were truly impressed. Anne made some yummy food and we had a nice time.

The kids only managed to open and close Steffen's backdoor 3502 times and we managed to get out of the house without breaking anything. I call it a success! :)

Alan's dream come true to dine on the Lutz's deck

Diet Coke experiment at home

The kids like to see things explode and they like volcano, so Alan decided that we'll do a little experiment. And who's the Muggins selected to execute it?? Mommy!!

The kids had a great time!!

p.s. yuck, i'm so fat!!

Second Annual International Geocaching Day

Second cache in 2 days, this time the whole family took part in the hunt for treasure on the second international geocaching day.

We found this one pretty quickly so had time to walk around the lake which has improved a lot since they first built it.

For once we put back more than we took !!

First week of school for the boys

The boys were back in school this week and Cody finally joins his big brother in the "big boys school"! He seemed quite excited about it and was in high spirits.

Tyler was also quite excited that Cody was in his school and he will tell me that he saw him in the Den or near the fence. 

Our little kindergartener

Cody with his big bag!! hehe..

The only picture i got of both of them

Tyler carrying Cody's bag too because he is Superman

School assembly to say the pledge of allegiance

Was surprised that Tyler could recite it and Cody was like "huh??"

Cody seemed to settle well in his class. Yeah.. only 3 students!! hehehe...

Ah.. they grow up so fast! 

Sunflower Farm again

Cody really did enjoy his trip to the farm and since Tyler didn't get to go, we decided to go to the farm again.  It was interesting to note that the interests of the boys are completely different apart from their love for tractors and anything with big wheels.

Cody was more interested in the animals and was feeding the goats and spent the rest of the time waiting his turn to ride the horse whereas Tyler was more interested in climbing and explore hay stacks, riding the zipline(like 20 times), riding the huge swings and climbing all over the tree fort.

As usual, we brought some food to picnic while watching the farm activities around us.

Cody feeding the goat.. he's so gentle, said Cody

The only common interest between the boys

These hay stacks are so fun to jump and walk the planks

Oooh.. big swing..

I want to climb the tree

I don't know what this is, but it swings, so i'll ride it!!!

And here are some videos of Tyler on this exciting rides!!

Crawfish?

We drove to Sunflower farm after Kumon, but on the way we stopped off at Erie Lake to see what the fishermen were catching.  They were using chicken for bait on a large stick and seemed to be catching Crawfish..

See if you can tell what they were catching, it certainly isn't a fish !!

Crawfish?

Cody Finds Treasure

Now that Cody and Tyler finish school at the same time, Cody has to come along to Kumon with Tyler.  In order to keep him entertained we try and find treasure..

This week we managed to find some..

Cody got the skateboard from his prize box at school

Swimming with the Marker boys

Since the Marker boys had started on their swimming classes, I've been trying to get all the boys to swim together so that they get to play together and maybe encourage each other's swimming ability.

Took a few weeks to finally get our schedule to work but we finally had a date! And i was happy to hear that the Marker boys have been to the pool a ton and loved it when their guests were in town. But come 5 o'clock, the wind picked up and when i arrived at the pool, i found 4 shivering boys and their parents braving it out!

Tyler showing the Marker boys how to do a canon ball

Kick kick...

Hanging monkeys

Anyways, the Millsers boys didn't last as long as the Marker boys and secretly sneaked out to get change while the twins were snacking. We called it a day and promised to maybe try again on a hotter day.

To make up for the extra time we had, we let them go to the park. The kids had a better time in the playground when they had their clothes on!!!

What do you do when you got 1 see saw but you have 4 kids???

Cody finally cracked pedaling

Cody has finally figured out how to pedal. Not sure how as he's been on his strider bike for the last few weeks. But from my sneaky suggestions, he climbed on the bike one day and pedaled! :) He was so pleased to tell me about it when i got home from work.

This weekend, i took him for a short ride and though still some ways from catching up with his brother, he's doing quite well. Needs a little more practice and strength. Will try to get a picture of it soon!

Camping at Aspen Glen

Alan who's always looking for adventures for the kids managed to snag a campsite when somebody else cancelled. Even though the site did not look too good, we figured camping is still camping!

Anyways, the weather was once again pretty nice to us and was not too hot. It was in fact a nice break from the heat. We managed to get 1 hike in and the kids found a new favorite activity - playing in the river. We also found that Alan really liked building dams, though he claims the kids like it!!

The kids(esp Tyler) really likes helping out

He also likes to catch grasshoppers

I still like making fires even though i cook on the stove.. hehehehe

Alan and Cody all cozy in their sleeping bags

On the way to hiking

Somebody feeling a little chilly

On the trail

Down the trail

Family pic

We had a picnic lunch by the river

A dip in the water to chill our feet

Alan building dams

Cody perched on a rock

Yummy and colorful breakfast

What i felt really pleased with is Tyler is really enjoying doing all these activities. He and i shared a nice little moment when Cody and Alan were snoozing warming ourselves in the fire and just lying down to look at all the beautiful sky filled with stars. And the boys surprised us by sitting thru a Ranger talk at the amphitheater!

Tyler also managed to earn his Junior Ranger badge on this trip. He had to write something down on his little Junior Ranger book and talk to the Ranger. I have to say, the rangers were very lenient!!! :)

I taught Tyler how to make a fire and we enjoyed a few quiet moments looking at the stars

Tyler doing his pledge

The proud little Junior Ranger!

All in all, another fun trip for the Millsers!