one of the boys' favorite pastimes...

From our previous times in Steamboat, one of the boys' favorite pastimes has been simply throwing rocks into the river. They absolutely love it! So, on our way out of Vail, we stopped so ALL the boys (Jerry included!) could get their fill of rock-throwing!

"one", vail village, hiking, and more!

Vail Village has some amazing flowers... gorgeous colors and they are huge!!

 Here we are -- getting ready to get on Vail's newest gondola, named "One".

 Now, at mid-Vail where we got off for lunch and hiking...

 we decided to hike across the ski mountain (at over 10,000 feet -- gasp!) to the other gondola

 by the other gondola were a few activities... the boys rode the magic carpet up and then ran down the tubing hill

 we enjoyed watching the zipline

the newest animal we've learned about on this trip is the marmot -- they look like tall, chubby chipmunks! the Marmot store in Vail had a big ol' marmot outside, and the boys wanted to pose with it :)

our day in vail

Can I just start by saying I love Vail? It might just be one of my favorite places ever! That's saying something. :)

 we went to the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens first

 it was so pretty and the boys loved running around!

 such an answer to prayer... Carter had woken up in the middle of the night puking... and he was feeling better.. we were so thankful!

 the boys found a fun park next to the gardens

 

next up, headed to ride the gondola to the top of Vail Mountain!

an alligator snapping turtle crossed the road...

Last week, the boys and I were driving by one of our favorite areas in Wichita, Bradley Fair. I slowed down in the car, thinking that there was a large dead animal in the middle of the road.

Boy, was I wrong!!

It was a live, humongous alligator snapping turtle.

Wow!

I've never seen a turtle this ginormous... except for in a zoo!

 this was the large fella -- attempting the cross the road

his tail AND head remind me sooooo much of an alligator!

his size is deceiving here... I'm guessing he weighed more than 30 lbs... we were just scared to get any closer!

 look at the size of those back legs -- and he had huge long claws for toenails :)

he finally made it back into the other pond, across the road! what a crazy morning! :)

city-wide swim meet 2014

Grayson finished out his summer swim team season by swimming at the City-wide Swim Meet held at the Wichita Swim Club. He swam in two relays, a 50 meter breaststroke, and an 100 meter IM.

 Grayson, in the yellow cap, waiting for his breaststroke race to begin

 Grayson's sweet swim coach, Shelly, was cheering him on at the end of the lane!

 And would you look at that?? He won his heat!! Woo-hoo! He swam his 50 breast in a great time of 55.22 seconds. He LOVED seeing his name on the scoreboard! :)

 smiles from our sweet swimmer :)

(I love me some alliteration...)

G doing the backstroke in his IM -- the last race of the day!

a fabulous fourth {part 2}

I enjoyed making two festive desserts to celebrate the USA...

 a flag-themed brownie with almond cream and fruit on top

 and a Berry Cheesecake Trifle recipe that I found on one of my favorite blogs!

 brothers in their matching Old Navy t-shirts

Grayson is getting close to being too old to match... he wore his Brazil soccer jersey when we weren't taking pictures!! :)

 some snuggles with sweet Isla

 all the cousins hanging out with Uncle Dave

 the boys dyed their hair again this year!

 the entire Buchanan extended family

l-r: David, Olive, Kristen, Claire, Aunt Laura, Isla, Brett, Mom, Dad, Jerry, Grayson, me, Carter

 our family of four :)

Nana and Gramps with their grandkids! They were fabulous hosts the entire weekend!

a fabulous fourth {part 1}

We had a wonderful long weekend celebrating the Fourth of July with Nana, Gramps, aunts, uncles, and cousins!

 Grayson and Isla

 Nana got the boys new drivers, so the uncles were standing by to give a few pointers!

 Olive was taking some notes from Carter's lesson with Uncle Brentley

 Uncle Dave perfecting Carter's shot

 Olive and I went to decorate Nana's front gardens with a few flags ;)

 we lit off a few fireworks -- this was a fan favorite from last year -- the Pooping Puppy

 Uncle Brett and Claire-bear brought goodies for the cousins, autographed by our own KU basketball star, Brandon Rush

Dave requested one of Jerry's famous back-rubs and popping treatment to get his weekend started off right!