Whoa! Where went 6 weeks??

Okay, I promise that we are safe and sound and have some great photos to share with you all soon!  How can we have gone from a post every 3 days to no post in 6 weeks???  Yikes!  Well, we've been busy! 

The kids are growing and are awesome- Maya is already 5 months old!
Erin's still getting her masters and has been doing her "internship" this summer, including a trip to London through a tornado
Gran Jen came out to visit and help with the kids while Erin was away
Jake has been training hard for a half ironman (really, just a half?) which is coming up next weekend!
Jake has been traveling a bit for work
Erin  has started a business instead of getting a job, but of course isn't paying herself yet (really?  in this economy?)
Kids have started daycare, but only last week, after we realized that even with money tight, Erin really can not maintain this pace and stay healthy- 3 full time jobs is too many.

Okay- each of those is a post, or two, and we owe it to you!  We know!  In the meantime, just know that things here are great and we are blessed with a glut of opportunity and blessing, and that is the reason we haven't had time for our dear readers!

Summer is Play Time

 Summer is time to play, and Xander has had a great time this summer.  There's nothing like hanging out with your buddy eating watermelon on a hot day!

It wouldn't be summer in Boulder without hot air balloons.  We had one right over the house recently.  Xander is quite fond of balloons and thought it was great to be able to wave to the people in the basket.

Of course, playing on the slide and climbing in and out of the toy box are favorite activities too!

Watering the garden is lots of fun, but it can be thirsty work .  It is so hard to get the spray just right!

 

The good news is that you can always play in the sprinklers too!

Xander has also been really enjoying the neighborhood pool this summer. He is fearless jumping in (I'm afraid of when I won't be there to catch him!) and he loves to hold onto the noodle and kick in the big pool. He is getting pretty good at swimming around the big pool that way. The kids pool is also always fun, with friends to play with. 

Xander likes to ride his strider bike and is getting quite quick on that little bike.  His balance is getting very good and he is starting to really coast on it for some distance now.  Of course with all the miles he's putting on that bike these days it needs a tuneup every once in a while, and Xander is excited to do that too!

Xander doesn't get to have all the fun though, Maya has been enjoying her summer as well, although admittedly it is a bit less active!  At 5 1/2 months she isn't crawling yet, but manages to roll and wiggle enough that she can move around pretty well.  She is curious about everything and loves to pick things up, and then typically sticks them in her mouth.

 After all the playing is done, it is time to clean up.  Xander is quite fond of washing his hands, sometimes with LOTS of soap, and Maya loves her baths.

Of course all this activity is enough to wear these kids out.

 

 Once the kids are off to bed I get a chance to sneak in workout number two for the day on the trainer.  Then it's off to bed for me too! 

4th of July in Crested Butte

We managed to escape to Crested Butte for the 4th of July holiday this year. We have been so busy that a little bit of down time was greatly needed. Of course, down time means something different these days then it used to. I am still ironman training so I'm working out many hours each day, we still have 2 kids to look after, and Erin can never quite be rid of homework and working on her business plan. Oh, we hadn't mentioned that yet have we. More to come on Erin's business venture. Anyway (see how easily that happens, I was talking about vacation...) it was still great to get away and enjoy the beauty of the mountains in the summer.

 

Turns out that the town has a 4th of July run from Gothic over Mt Crested Butte down into town.  It is a 1/3 marathon, and although I had done a really tough bike ride the day before, I needed to run that morning anyway, so decided to do the race.  It was fun, although the amount of downhill was brutal!

Of course it wouldn't be 4th of July in Crested Butte without the kooky town parade.  Always a must see.

It was time to leave way too soon of course.  Sadly it looks like this may be the only trip we get to CB this summer, given busy schedules.  Oh well, we certaintly did our best to make the most of it.