first day of school

 Last week Grayson and Carter had their first day of school.

4th grade and Kindergarten

I can hardly believe it. I mean, wasn't Carter just born a few months ago? ;)

 one of the weirdest/sad/emotional things for me was seeing Carter in a uniform... oh my

 Grayson with his teacher, Mrs. Busenitz

 Carter with his teacher, Mrs. Wilson

and just one more of these two :)

Here's to a great year!!

academy affiliate weekend

Grayson's new team, the Sporting Wichita Rojos, played in the Academy Affiliate weekend in Kansas City. It was for all the clubs who are affiliated with Sporting KC.

 Here's the team next to the MLS Cup that Sporting KC won last December!!

(G is on the top row, 2nd from the left -- the sun was crazy!)

 later that afternoon there was a club BBQ, and the players could meet a Sporting KC player... goalie Jon Kempin

 he was so nice to the boys and talked with them and gave them his autograph!

he was featured as ESPN's "save of the week" this week :)

 Grayson decided that he would try to lift the MLS Cup -- it's pretty heavy!

 highlights from G's second game... he scored a goal -- yay!!

 header!!

 stay on the ground, Grayson!!

after the game... G is 2nd from the right

Good job, Rojos!!

sporting kc game

We left Silverthorne, CO before the sun was coming up on a Friday morning, so we could drive the 700 (!) miles east to Kansas City. Grayson's soccer club was playing in some "friendlies" in KC as well as the teams were going to the Sporting KC game that night. We made it just in time and we were so glad to get out of the car to stretch our legs!!

 the boys were pumped to be there!

 practicing their shot on goal...

 inside Sporting Park -- they had just given Grayson his new jersey!

 there's our guy, Graham Zusi! remember him from the World Cup? :)

Sporting KC ended up tying the game with the Philadelphia Union. We had a great night!

we {heart} the alpine slide!

Finally it stopped raining and they opened the Alpine Slide. We were all so excited!

 heading up on the lift

 we could see the slide below us -- it's always so weird to ride a ski lift and not have SNOW underneath you ;)

 Grayson getting ready to head down on his sled!

 But, his speedy mom caught him and had to use her brakes! Boo-yah!

 the boys rode it a second time and I stayed down to take pictures and video

 here's Grayson!

 and here's Jerry and Carter!

 Winter Park had some beautiful planters of flowers...

 one last game of checkers before heading out :)

and a quick pic with the Coca-Cola bear!

rainy ol' winter park

Our last full day in Colorado was spent in Winter Park. We had looked forward to riding their alpine slide ALL DAY, but it was rainy and cold when we got there.

Major bummer.

But we tried to make the best of it while we waited for the rain to stop!

 we rode these tin-can looking gondolas into the village

 we were freezing!!

 there were lots of "larger than life" games spread out... we played Connect Four...

 spelled out our names and Winter Park in Scrabble...

 played at the little train park...

 made a huge tower with Jenga blocks...

 and warmed ourselves up with a yummy bowl of soup for lunch!

 After lunch, the sum started to peek out, so the boys did the Bungee Trampoline and had a ball! 

 Grayson working hard to flip!

 Carter working on his flip as well...

Yay for the sun coming out! Next up, the Alpine Slide!! :)

hike around cataract lake

We decided to go on a family hike around Cataract Lake with several of Jerry's siblings, spouses, and kids. But, before we hiked, we had some breakfast at Einstein's... where you can enjoy your bagel and iced coffee with a beautiful view! :)

 this is the road leading down from our cabin into Silverthorne... you can see I-70 headed east into the mountains, back towards Denver... we never got sick of this view!!

 my sister-in-law Jacey found this trail, and we were all excited to give it a try!

 the trail started about 20 minutes north of Silverthorne... and the halfway point was a waterfall

 the guys: Jon, Grayson, Jerry, Carter, Darren carrying Kyler, James

 Grayson and me

 the base of the waterfall

 looking back across the lake where we started the hike... it was a little over 2 miles total

 Grayson, Carter, and Brennan all did amazing on the hike!

 Carter and I were surprised by this young buck!

 he was so pretty :)

playing in the lake after the hike! if you look closely back at the mountain, you can see the white water of the waterfall where we hiked to! and then... all of a sudden... it started to rain!