Wednesday: High Ropes

Big John and Grant did the high ropes course and they said it was great fun and we should all do it together next year.

Tuesday: Bishop's Castle

This place will make a Mama's heart skip a beat! The whole thing looks like it is about to topple over and there are wires and tools everywhere and most ledges are completed unprotected. The kids loved it, of course. I assigned Big John to watch Cadie, Grant to Jack Ranger and DD and I tracked Colton. The big kids went to the very top and Colton, DD and I explored the ground floor and the 1st floor and that was enough for us! It was pretty cool to get a pic of the kids with crazy Mr. Bishop!

Monday: Hanging around Camp

Monday we did some bowling with DD and Big John at the rec center; Cadie did rock climbing at the rec center and made it all the way to the top!; Cadie, Grant, Big John and Papa went on a hike; and we had fun playing around at camp. Cadie hiked almost 3 miles and had a great time. Although she said she did get frustrated because Papa kept saying, "I just spotted a wild panda bear!"

After round-up, the kids enjoyed log night! I am not sure who won.

Sunday: Creek Adventure

On Sunday we decided to go with Sheryl and her granddaughters (Maya, Hailey, Carley) on a leisurely stroll to the nearby creek. Except it did not turn out to be leisurely! Barbed wire, tons of fallen trees and brush made it almost impassable. There were multiple times that we should have turned back, but pushed on and made it to the creek. I decided to cross the creek by just wading through with the kids on my back, Big John crossed on a fallen log and the rest stayed by the edge and didn't venture across. It turned out to be very exciting and included plenty of wet clothes and shoes. Once we got back to camp, the girls built quite the fort!

Saturday: Happy Birthday

I woke up on my birthday at the Hampton Inn with 3 of my most favorite people. They even had a surprise for me! Grant had a special necklace that I have been wanting for quite a while and I was so surprised when he pulled it out of his bag on my birthday morning.

Another easy day with the kiddos. They are good roadtrippers! We pulled in Westcliffe within 20 minutes of my Mom and Dad and of DD, Big John and Colton. We met at a local Mexican food restaurant for dinner. Texas has much better Mexican food than Westcliffe CO. The food took awhile so my Mom and I took the kids to a park and they had fun playing in the cool weather while we waited for the food. My mom surprised me with birthday cupcakes! I was glad that my birthday included cake! Thanks Mom!

We had a small issue when we checked into camp because they had all 5 of us in a very small room with only 3 beds. We worked it out eventually though and all was fine in the end.

It was a good birthday.

Friday: Colorado or Bust

How in the world am I going to dig myself out of this blog hole!? It is Aug. 28 and I haven't blogged since July 12 (I am going to back date the blogs, but the reality is that this is Aug. 28). It has been a busy and a bit emotional 6 weeks and I haven't had the energy or spirit to blog. I honestly don't feel all that great even still, but I need to start somewhere. I am going to try to blog every day until I am caught up. Wish me luck!
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On Friday, July 17, Grant and I loaded up the kids and headed to Colorado! Colton stayed with DD and Big John to fly with them to Colorado and then meet up with us at camp. We borrowed my parent's Honda Pilot and packed it all the way up. The kids were so much better than I expected. I had to scramble a bit because I thought we were leaving Friday evening and Grant had planned to leave Friday around lunch so we could get to Amarillo for dinner. I was glad we left earlier because eating at The Big Texan was quite the experience! We were starving and we all cleaned our plates.

Grant booked us a room at the Hampton Inn and it was so nice. By the time we got settled it at the hotel we were all pretty tired so we went to sleep quickly. The next morning we had a huge breakfast and the kids and I swam in the indoor pool for about an hour and a half while Grant went to the doctor because he wasn't feeling great and didn't want to get to camp without meds.

Long Weekend in Branson, MO

Grant, the kids and I drove up to Branson on Thursday and then back to Dallas on Sunday. We packed a lot into our visit including Friday at Silver Dollar City, Friday evening at Steve Wyrick's magic show, Saturday morning swimming at the hotel, Saturday afternoon Jonah show at the Sight and Sounds theater and Saturday evening playing at the hotel with the Riley family.

We stayed on the Chateau On The Lake resort and it was a beautiful setting with a large room, comfy bed, swimming pool, playground for the kids and even some kids activities that we enjoyed such as a water balloon fight and smores. I wasn't good about taking pics during the weekend, but I did get one of our kids and the Riley kids making smores on Saturday evening.

The trip was fun and the kids did much better on the drive than I expected, but it was also a bit of a stressful trip. Grant is partnering with James Riley to manage and produce Steve Wyrick's magic show in Branson and getting a show of that magnitude off the ground is a huge endevour. Grant had to work at the show over the weekend and Grant is very stretched thin right now between Culhane Meadows, the Branson show, managing our rental properties, etc. I was glad we got to see the show and all the hard work that Steve, James and Grant have put into it and the kids loved the show. It features airplanes, motocycles and "blades of death" which are all right up Ranger's alley.

Now, we have just enough time to unpack, do laundry and repack so we can leave for Colorado on Friday!