Boo at the Zoo

Brandon was able to work during the day one Friday and since he got home early we decided to take the kids to the zoo for Boo at the Zoo.
First we saw the storm troopers.

 Boys

 Girls

 Then we got to feed giraffes.  You heard me, giraffes.

 It took some work getting leaves to the little one, the tall ones kept reaching over the fence.

 We also saw hippos.  What!? Hippos, I say.

The kids really liked this statue also.  We are looking forward to going to the zoo when it is day time and to see the areas that weren't open during the trick or treating and a lot of the animals were asleep.

Stay Weird Manitou Springs

The other day Marybeth had a strange question for me (yes this is Brandon actually blogging, can you believe it?).  She asked if Manitou Springs held coffin races.  Coffin races?  Who ever heard of such a thing?  She said she had read it in a book based in Manitou/Colorado Springs area.

I forgot about her question until I saw an email at work about.... the 17th Annual Emma Crawford Coffin Races.  Emma Crawford lived in the 1800s and had tuberculosis.  She died when she was just 19.  She had asked her husband to bury her at the top of Red Mountain.  He obliged.  But years later a railroad was built on the hill and her remains were moved.  Apparently they weren't buried very well because they eventually washed down the side of the mountain and into town.

In 1994 the town started the coffin races as a strange tribute to this woman.  We decided to check them out and make a day of it.  The radio personalities MCing the event kept saying, "Stay weird Manitou."  I don't think that will be a problem.

Before the actual races there was a parade complete with the Hearse Club.  Uncle Garth, I hope you're reading this.

Don't let their blue skin fool you.  These guys are firefighters.

This is the one I think the family should consider.

This is the team William wanted to win.

If I had to estimate, I would say there were about a bajillion people there.

These guys never finished the race.  They were slow, the team they ran against actually fell over, but they detoured to a bar.

In the Garden

The last Saturday of William's break we thought we would do a little exploring.  So since we are within driving distance, and it is the perfect price of free, we thought we would go check out Garden of the Gods.  We didn't spend a lot of time there.  We basically just walked around the middle but there were a lot of hiking and biking trails throughout.

This is a picture of Kissing Camels.  If you look at the top of the picture there is a rock formation that looks like camels kissing.

 We broke out the backpack for the bubs, he doesn't look really happy about it does he.  Proof we were here.

 Kids with camels.

If you look really carefully you can see some rock climbers in this picture.  There were a bunch of groups climbing the rocks.

 Aren't we so cool?  Power pose.

Has anyone seen Britton?  I con't seem to find her.

The kids really wanted to climb in this crack in the rock.    It was really popular so we had to wait our turn.  We hope to go back and explore some more but it was fun to have a quick little trip out and about.

We Made It and End of Summer

I have just realized, okay not really but work with me here, that I missed some important events from the end of our summer.

 Brandon had a birthday.  We celebrated with Brent and Cami because they let us stay at their house while we tried to find a place to live.  Cami was nice enough to make Brandon a cake.

 William had a birthday.  Not that long after Brandon's actually.  So right after we got back from Brent and Cami's.  It was an eventful week.

William was nice enough to share a cookie cake with Brandon for their birthdays.  William also had cupcakes at a party so I don't think he felt like he missed out.  If you attempt this, under cook the cookies a bit so it is easier to cut.  It made a bit of a mess.

 William started school.  He was excited to start even though it was just for three weeks.

 William had a birthday party. I was crazy enough to tell him I would make super hero capes for it.  So that was what I did for a week.  He was pretty excited with the results.

 The sparkly letters was the best part.

 Bradley showed us his skills.  We had packed up all the books and some of the toys but he was able to get to what he wanted.

 My mom took me down to Clarice's so we could have a last get together before the move.  One of the things that I have taken advantage of, being so close to my parents, is being able to see everyone when they come home to visit.  I'm really going to miss it.

Bradley enjoying a pear.  One of the last pictures I took in Idaho Falls.  We crammed everything into the moving van, with help from Dad and Ian and some guys from our ward.  Mom, Becky, and Haley helped me clean the house.  The kids were excited to sleep on the floor.  Ian drove with Brandon in the moving van.  I drove with the kids.  I would love to show you pictures but I didn't take any.  Ian and Brandon beat us to Brent and Cami's, even with a governor on the moving truck.  I'm convinced that it is because I had to take more bathroom breaks and all bathroom breaks take longer when there is only one adult with four kids.  Brent and Cami were good enough to let us stay the night, they helped us figure out that we are in Dana and Amber's ward, and then we drove the rest of the way the next day.  William was in charge of movies on the drive and passing out treats.  He was pretty good at his job.  The kids were excited to get to our new place, check out the rooms, and I promptly took them to a park to get them out of the way of boxes.  Dana and Amber helped us unpack, fed us, and let our kids play with their kids.  A couple of days after we got everything unpacked Bradley got a fever and a slight cough.  Caitlyn got a really bad cough, lost her voice just for her birthday.  Britton got it even worse a couple days later.  We got William back into school within a week.  It sounds like a really good school.  William is really excited about school and his teacher seems really nice.  I think that it is a really long school day, 8:30 to 3:40, but he gets a two week fall break.  Of course that is because they started school the second of August.

 It did snow a week after we got here.  But it was just for the morning, not like the two days Idaho Falls had.

 Proof I keep my promises.  I said that I would feed anyone who helped get Brandon a job.  Alyssa is reaping the benefits of getting Brandon a job.

We had the one day with snow but it has mostly been warm.  We finally broke down and got out the long sleeves and pants out for the cooler days.  But we have been going on a lot of walks to enjoy the weather.  There are a couple of parks within walking distance, one right next to William's school.

 Follow the leader.

 Monkey bars.

 Bradley got brave enough to go down this slide, he couldn't quite get his legs around to go down backwards so he went head first.  The first time he wasn't too sure, but ever since he has just loved it.

 Swinging.  Every park we have been to so far has a couple of baby swings, if they have swings.  I love it.

 Pretty girl.

Such a goof.  Must be from Brandon's side of the family.  Couldn't be from me at all.  At all.  So far we are enjoying ourselves.  Brandon is busy at work.  Brandon and William enjoyed church, I stayed home with sick kids, but we did get a visit from the Bishop and his family between conference sessions.  Sorry for the long post, I'll try not to be such a slacker from now on.  But I'm not going to make any promises.

Birthday Princess

Caitlyn had a birthday shortly after we moved, Brandon's first day at the new station in fact.  William's second day of school.  But she had a pretty happy birthday.

 She had asked for a unicorn pillowpet at the beginning of the year but we saw some generic ones at Sam's club and she told me she liked the hippo.  She was very happy about it and promptly named it Swirl.

 Grandma Isle sent a princess costume, she loved it.  Unfortunately the picture of the lights on the skirt didn't turn out, but it does light up.

 She was pretty excited about her cake, it is supposed to be a castle.  And of course it is pink.

Lucky girl that she is she also got fairy wings, a wand, and a Tangled doll.  She had a nice day for a birthday. Really nice weather, so we walked to a park, monkey bread for breakfast which of course I didn't get a picture of, and ribs for dinner.  You're going to have to take my word for it.  It would have been better if she hadn't been sick, but there you have it.