Fun in Fort Collins

Playing on the golf cart while Daddy plays softball

Shooting hoops with some of my friends

A day a the pool

Chloe loving the water

Making a splash!

All smiles at the park

Caedmon playing at the library

Caedmon's first attempt at pool. Daddy is a great teacher!

Ridin' the rhino

Breakfast on the balcony

I think she might be posing here

Daydreaming about her future

Both of our kids have a thing for anything round

She thinks she's ready to swim underwater

"Just one of those days that a girl goes through"

I wonder what she's thinking about here

I love the kids' teeth in this one

Chloe loves her brother!

Funny

It's hard work taking care of my baby

After "Peek-a-boo Time" at the library

Chloe wants to do whatever big brother does

Daddy's Day

For Father's Day Caedmon decided to make Daniel a card. He used watercolors, construction paper and his new scissors to make a really cool card. It was a special card since it was Caedmon's first time painting with watercolors and using scissors. We went to a church here in Fort Collins with some friends, went out to lunch and grilled out at the pool that night. Daniel got a mini frisbee golf target and discs - lots of fun for everyone.

Caedmon and Chloe love their daddy!

Here are some other cute pics. of the kids on father's Day

Celebration Time

On June 19, Daniel and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! We spent the day together as a family and the evening together, just the two of us. Craig and Bryn (our roommates for the summer) watched the kids for us so we could enjoy some time together. We decided to go to Old Town here in Fort Collins. Old Town is the fun downtown experience of Fort Collins with lots of little shops, food, live bands, art and beautiful landscaping! Cool fact about this area - Harper Goff, who created Disneyland's Main Street USA with Walt Disney, grew up in Fort Collins. Harper came back to Fort Collins in the 1950s to photograph the buildings of his youth to use as the model for the buildings along Disneyland's Main Street. It was neat to spend our evening surrounded by the feel of Disney! We started off with dinner at a 5 star Italian restaurant, Bisetti's. We had dinner in what they call the "cubby room" A little room just for 2 with candlelight, adjustable temperature, lighting, and music - pretty cool! Our dinner was delicious and it was the perfect time for us to talk about some of our favorite memories from our past year of marriage and to dream about our future together. I love Daniel more today than I ever have - it seems that our love grows for one another with each passing year. What will it be like when we're celebrating 30 years together, or even just 10?!

After dinner we went to a little place called The Chocolate Cafe, voted best dessert in Fort Collins. We sat at a romantic table out on the patio - it felt like we were in a movie! Daniel had chocolate peanut butter pie and I had the harvest apple creme brulee - so yummy!

After our taste buds were completely satisfied, Daniel took me to pick out some flowers (those of you that know me well know that I love flowers and to me, a celebration without flowers is no celebration at all). Later we took a walk through Old Town and ended our date night with a visit to Colorado State University's huge flower garden - yes, Daniel knows what I enjoy! We had an amazing time together. I love my hubby!

Colorado!

We arrived in Fort Collins, Colorado on June 11! We were so glad to finally make it after being in the car for many many hours. The kids did really well actually. We made lots of stops to rest and have some fun! We stopped halfway in Nebraska and stayed with some friends for a day and then hit the road again. It was nice to break the trip up like that, especially with little ones. Daniel headed out on the 13th for our summer conference, Getaway, which was held at the YMCA conference center in Estes Park this year. The kids and I stayed in Fort Collins to cut cost and keep the kids from having to adjust to another new place and schedule.

We love our apartment for the summer. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a balcony, full kitchen, dining area and living room. It also has a washer and dryer! We are sharing the apartment with some of our friends, Craig and Bryn, that we met at Crusade new staff training in '04. They have a little guy, Keenen, whom Caedmon has become best buddies with! They have spent lots of time swimming together, taking baths together (they like water a lot:)), shooting basketball together, and sitting on the balcony in their matching Buzz Lightyear chairs that we found at a yard sale. Caedmon has also been learning how to watercolor, how to use scissors, and he has been spending lots of time riding his new scooter that Nana and Papaw got him for learning to use the potty! Chloe is now crawling on her knees (she graduated from the army crawl) and she is pulling up on anything she can. She is getting 4 new teeth all at once so she is a little cranky these days.

Daniel starts IBS courses today. The kids and I plan to swim a lot, go to the library, and get some exercise while Daniel is taking classes. In 2 weeks I will join him and take a class as well. The kids will be in childcare during that time. I'm a little anxious about that (being away from the kids more than ever, them being in childcare with LOTS of other kids, etc.) Good thing God is faithful and cares more about our family than I ever could. I know that I have nothing to worry about! After our courses we have Crusade staff conference and then we will head home the end of July. We are excited to be here and look forward to all that God is going to do in our lives this summer!

Chloe is such a big girl! She started eating Gerber puffs, wagon wheels, and teething biscuits about a month ago. I think she would eat an entire package of puffs if I let her. She also is learning to crawl, trying to pull up on furniture, and grabbing for everything in sight! Chloe turned 9 months on May 27th. We went to the doctor last week and she weighed 16 lbs. - quite a bit smaller than Caedmon was at this age.
Lately she does this cute head shake (I'll have to get it on video so I can show you) - when you interact with her she'll shake her head right to left as if she's saying no with a big smile on her face. It's one of my favorite things she does right now. This morning I went to get Chloe out of her crib and to my surprise she was standing up. Daniel and I took that as our warning that it's time to lower her mattress. Chloe is also teething. She has 2 teeth on the bottom and we are certain that a couple more teeth are about to pop through (there has to be a reason for the fussiness, drooling and chewing on everything, right?) We are so thankful for the joy and laughter Chloe brings to our family!