A few days later we spent the day at the Labor Day Liftoff, the balloon show that takes place right here in Colorado Springs. It was really awesome, and I probably had just as much fun as the kids. We drove to the park at 6 AM (hence the tired faces) and got to stand right in the field while the balloons blew up all around us. Once upright, they would take off and new ones would get blown up and take off after. You could touch the balloons, talk to the people who owned them, and even take a balloon ride if you wanted to pay hundreds of dollars. The balloons were all colors and shapes, even cartoon characters. We went home for lunch and a rest (Ezra rocked himself to sleep after being woken up so early) before heading back to the park for the Balloon Glow. As it got dark, the balloons would blow up and light their torches to light up the field. Unfortunately, due to wind, few of the balloons actually got up, but many of the balloon owners put up their baskets and turned on their torches for the light. The kids thought it was great and there was a lot of jumping in excitement. The balloon show goes on all weekend so we were able to watch from our deck on other days, which was a cool view to see them all go up from afar. With binoculars we were even able to find our favorite balloons. This is definitely going to become an annual event (it's free to attend!) so get your reservations in early for the Rodgers B&B if you want to join us next year!
We had some big adventures to ring in September. We spent a day at the zoo with both Nana and Grandad so we could see the baby animals again and show Grandad around the zoo. We rode the merry-go-round for the first time and explored the farmyard, an area that usually gets missed when we make our zoo round. The kids got to help feed the koi fish which they thought was awesome. A few days later we spent the day at the Labor Day Liftoff, the balloon show that takes place right here in Colorado Springs. It was really awesome, and I probably had just as much fun as the kids. We drove to the park at 6 AM (hence the tired faces) and got to stand right in the field while the balloons blew up all around us. Once upright, they would take off and new ones would get blown up and take off after. You could touch the balloons, talk to the people who owned them, and even take a balloon ride if you wanted to pay hundreds of dollars. The balloons were all colors and shapes, even cartoon characters. We went home for lunch and a rest (Ezra rocked himself to sleep after being woken up so early) before heading back to the park for the Balloon Glow. As it got dark, the balloons would blow up and light their torches to light up the field. Unfortunately, due to wind, few of the balloons actually got up, but many of the balloon owners put up their baskets and turned on their torches for the light. The kids thought it was great and there was a lot of jumping in excitement. The balloon show goes on all weekend so we were able to watch from our deck on other days, which was a cool view to see them all go up from afar. With binoculars we were even able to find our favorite balloons. This is definitely going to become an annual event (it's free to attend!) so get your reservations in early for the Rodgers B&B if you want to join us next year!
1 Comment
It seems there are no end to our little adventures with our kiddos as they get older! Matt took each of the boys out separately for a little one-on-one time this week while I enjoyed some time with whichever son was staying home and Ruth napped. They each had a good time getting ice cream and going on a short hike, and I played board games of their choice with them. The kids and I also enjoyed some creek days with Wild and Free and on our own, as there are several great creeks to play in close by. The boys also like to hunt for wild raspberries along the creeks where they often grow. And when we get tired of the creeks we head over to our friend's backyard and play in their little blow up pool and water table. The kiddos adore their distant cousin and love to play with her, and I enjoy the mom company!
Not to be outdone with fun time, Matt and I also took a day to go on one last long day hike together before my belly gets too big for me to enjoy it. We hiked a total of 12 miles up to Bison Mountain and back and found a new favorite mountain region in Colorado. The views and terrain were breathtaking and we both have plans to go back again next year, and perhaps backpack there in the future. Micah, Ezra, and Ruth have all settled into our new home (after some objections from Ezra who did not appreciate the change) and now enjoy watching the wildlife that we see daily, namely the birds, turkeys, deer, and the occasional bear we catch on our cameras in the middle of the night. The much improved backyard is a big hit and Micah taught himself to cross the monkey bars the week we moved in and just keeps getting better and better. Ezra more recently taught himself to swing on his own by pumping his legs, and Ruth is determined to climb after her brothers whenever possible. Micah is slowly learning to read and excels at his math work. He also loves to look at and read maps and invent his own imaginative games to play. Ezra is quickly picking up on a lot of Micah's schoolwork just by listening in, and just wants someone to play with him at all times. He is also always hungry, even if he just ate an hour ago, and it is proving quite the feat to keep him fed, lol. It's hard to tell what Ruth really likes, as she mostly just wants to do whatever Micah and Ezra are doing. However, she loves to help me in the kitchen and likes things put away and neat, so she is often cleaning up after her brothers. She is also quickly becoming much more chatty and growing her vocabulary immensely. Of course, with this her opinions are also becoming much stronger, and we have now entered the tantrum stage! With all the company headed home, the kiddos all came down with colds so we spent the week resting on the couch watching the Olympics, much to the excitement of Micah and Ezra who thoroughly enjoyed learning all about the many sports we watched on TV and cheering for the US! I somehow avoided getting ill and spent some time each day working on my backyard project, constructing a stone path through the trees for the kids to use to access their mud kitchen. The kids were excited for it to be complete!
With summer winding down it was time for more hiking and to finally start our school lessons again. We took the kiddos on their first jeep trip to a trailhead, Grayback Peak, and hiked 2 miles up to the summit where the kiddos discovered many ladybug colonies, enjoyed their snack, and were glad to be walking down for the second half of the hike. Ezra hiked the entire 4 miles with no complaint and is becoming quite the hiker these days. It was also time to start our school lessons after a long break for moving and settling in. Micah is excited, and though Ruth and Ezra do not have to participate, Ezra is perturbed that Micah is not playing with him for a time each day while we do lessons and likes to vocalize his displeasure each day. Fortunately with lessons only taking 90-120 minutes there is still plenty of time in the day for fun, including harvesting our choke cherries that are found in the backyard. We attempted to make jelly out of harvest which turned out edible after some tweaking but we will try to do better next year! The last week of July brought some excitement in the Rodgers' house because we had Grandma and Krista come to visit, plus Ruth turned 2! Ruth is all about birthdays and cake now, so she was quite excited for her day of being the center of attention. She got to pick out her cake, the boys helped me decorate, and she had a blast opening her presents. The day after her birthday we took Grandma up to Denver to visit the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We had heard great things and it did not disappoint. We spent the entire day there and still only saw about half of the museum. No worries though, we bought a membership so we can keep going back! Back in Colorado Springs, Krista and I found an airplane restaurant that is literally an old plane turned into seating with the old cockpit still intact for kids to play in. So everyone trooped to have lunch there one day, much to the kids excitement. Before Grandma left we had to take her to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and Nana joined us for the excursion because we have a new baby hippo that everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of. It was quite a day for the kids with both grandmas and an ice cream snack!
The middle of July brought our first camping trip of the season. We traveled high into the mountains to the Angel of Shavano Campground that sits close to the base of Mt. Shavano, a 14er Matt and I hiked while we were there. We were fortunate enough to get a campsite right on the stream that runs along one side of the campground and proved to be a wonderful spot for the kids to play. We waited to go to this campground in mid-July because it sits at just over 9,000 ft. elevation, meaning the nights still get down in the 50's in mid-July. The kids spent one day with Nana and Grandad, who joined us, exploring the creek and the Colorado Trail that runs by the campground while Matt and I hiked Mt. Shavano. It was a taxing hike but an absolutely gorgeous day. We managed to get off the summit before the afternoon thunderstorms hit but did end up hiking down in the rain and a storm (once we were below tree line). I'd love to go back to this campground for longer than 2 nights, as it really was gorgeous and the kids loved it.
The rest of mid-July was spent with friends, grilling out, and doing local hikes, like hiking to Monument Rock. Matt and I took another date day hike to the summit of Mt. Herman, and the kids and I enjoyed a sleepover night with Nana and Grandad at their new house while Matt worked a night shift. We also had our anatomy ultrasound and got to see Baby #4. Everything looks great! Finally, Matt got his much anticipated new jeep, which he and the kids are all very excited about. They had to drive it off the lot with him! After a year and a half we finally got to see our cousins as they made the trek out to see us for a week! The kids were so excited and had so much fun together. We had outings planned for most days, but they also had a blast playing together at our house. We bought tickets to go up Pike's Peak on the cog railroad on their first full day here. It was the highest any of the kids had ever been, so that was a hit for the boys especially. We took them hiking at Garden of the Gods another day, and to play and have a picnic at Bear Creek Park on yet another day. We wrapped up their visit with science class, dissecting owl pellets, which was really interesting as we tried to figure out what animals the owl had eaten, and a trip to The Royal Gorge. We took the gondola across the gorge, played, enjoyed a bird program, had a picnic lunch, and then walked back on the Royal Gorge Bridge, which is the tallest suspension bridge in the U.S. It was a sad day to have to send our cousins on their way, but we were so happy to have this special time with them!
June was a bit of a blur, but here are a few pictures to summarize it. We flew to Cincinnati for the first weekend of June to attend Meredith and Spencer's wedding; we all had a blast. We got to fly (always a highlight, especially for the kids), stay in a hotel (so cool), and have lots of treats and dancing (who knew my kids liked to dance so much?). We got to see so many family members and take the kids back to Entertrainment Junction for a quick walk down memory lane too. Definitely a very busy but fun weekend. We even got to see the cicadas!
The rest of June was spent trying to finish unpacking and getting the yard set up for the kids to play in. We also threw in a birthday/Father's Day celebration for Daddy (he's loving his new grill!) and started to learn our way around our new neighborhood. Nana and Grandad moved into their new house about 30 minutes away at the end of June, so we helped a little there too, and of course went to check it out. Lots of changes this month, but we're finally settling in! The month of May quickly got away from us as we finished packing, moved, and started the unpacking process in our new home in Colorado Springs. Between packing and cleaning we did try to visit our favorite places around Pueblo one last time. This includes Pueblo Mountain Park where we will miss the creek and quiet hiking trails, and of course Hobbitville. We also launched our rocket with our neighbors one last time over the open desert. And then in a whirlwind day our things were packed into two moving trucks, driven to the new house, and unpacked again.
Micah instantly loved the new house with it's similar layout but much larger yard and lots of trees. Ezra does not appreciate change and asks daily to go back to the old house. Ruth is perfectly content to be where her family is, and get to play outside a bunch while I work on unpacking the house. I'm just happy to own a house again, and Matt can't stop gawking at the views from all the windows. We have a lot of plans for this house over the next few years to really make it our own, so we're excited to get settled and get started. Mid-April brought about what may be our last snow of the season in Pueblo so we took full advantage before it melted to play and sled. We also made ice cream from snow for the first time ever, which was mostly a hit. The cold weather seemed to have brought in a visitor as well, which I found under a book and we observed him before returning him outdoors.
Once things did warm up a bit, we headed to the creek to play and have lunch one day, while spending most of our days in the backyard enjoying the last month in this house as we did close on a house and are now homeowners! We move in Memorial Day weekend, which has brought mixed emotions among the kids. Micah is excited, as we took the kids to the house to give them a tour and he was a fan. Ezra is struggling with changes currently (Micah had similar feelings at age 4) and is not excited (or so he says). Ruth has no idea but I'm sure will be very happy wherever the rest of us are. I haven't done a kid update in a while, but Micah is loving learning and school, and has started to read on his own. His favorite topic is definitely math, as evidenced by how much he uses math in his play; it is definitely fun for him. He prefers to be at home and enjoys playing alone often. He can create whole worlds in his mind and happily play for hours. Ezra is the social butterfly of the family and largely is opposite to Micah. He much prefers to play with someone and absolutely loves to go anywhere (the grocery store, recycle center, post office, he doesn't care). His current fascination is puzzles, and he will happily work 200-300 piece puzzles for hours at a time. Ruth just wants to do whatever her brothers are doing. She will occasionally play in her kitchen alone or look at books alone, but largely she follows her brothers around playing cars, stomp rockets, coloring, literally whatever they are doing she is right by them mimicking their every move. She has also started talking more and can get very animated when trying to tell you something. Her current fascination is bugs, and she will insist I come look at every bug she finds while playing outside, no matter if dinner will burn or not, lol. I don't know how this happened already, but apparently Micah is SIX! We let the kids pick what they want to do on their birthdays and Micah (our child who loves to stay at home as much as possible) wanted to stay home and play games all morning and go to the the playground when it warmed up in the afternoon. So that's what we did, along with a birthday lunch and 3 layer cake to complete the day. Micah was also special in that he got to have 3 of his 4 grandparents here to celebrate today because Grandma came into town on Thursday for a week! (We missed you Grandpa!) With Grandma here the kids did a lot of fun crafts and played a lot of games while I got started on packing a bit (we are in the process of buying a house but haven't closed yet!)
We also have an exciting announcement that Baby #4 is on the way and we got to see him or her on an ultrasound on Wednesday. We came home and told the kids afterward to predictable results: the boys are excited and Ruth has no clue, lol. Surprising results were that both boys said they wanted a baby brother this time, so apparently one sister is enough, lol. We'll see if that stays consistent throughout the pregnancy. |
AuthorWe are a father and a mother doing our best to raise our children with God's guidance. Archives
April 2020
Categories |