Lewicki... Anderson Lewicki

I was pretty impressed with his penmanship! Especially since he is just now learning how to spell his "real" name!

Kindergarten Photo!

Breckenridge Summer Fun!

This weekend we all headed up to the mountains to enjoy the Breckenridge Summer Fun Park. You may remember that AJ and I did this last year and had a blast!

This year we were so happy to have Jason join us :)

We went up Friday night and met up with a friend/customer of Jason's and his family. The kids have hung out together a few times and were excited to see each other. We met them for dinner and ice cream.

Lucy, AJ and Max after dinner being silly



After a swim in the river (with their clothes on), we found this SUPER nice cello player on the sidewalk. He was so kind to the kids. Gave them each a mini lesson and let them play his cello.

AJ had this great idea to get James some ice cream. He appreciated it so much and remembered AJ when we saw him the next evening.

On Saturday we all woke up exhausted. I mean, just super tired. We went to bed late on Friday night, but thats not too out of the norm. We all were dragging all day, but still had a great day.


We went to Starbucks for breakfast and then headed up the gondola to the Summer Fun Park. Just like last year, there are so many fun things to do!

On the gondola~

AJ and Daddy on the Alpine Slide. They both loved it!



We also did some minature golf. I think this was AJ's first time. It was super cute!

 

Of course we did the rollercoaster. SUPER FUN! AJ and I love that thing! We go as fast as we can- NO BRAKES!

It was a wonderful, quick weekend away!

 

 

On Saturday night, after naps for all of us, we went for pizza at Downstairs at Erics- our favorite hang out. Then Sunday we got up, went for breakfast and then walked around town. We got AJ new ski gear for the upcoming season. He is super excited and we're talking about a ski weekend in Breck this Spring.

Kindie Day 1 Con't...

I had to post this..

Tonight, around 5pm, Mrs. Hayden sent all the parents an email telling us about how today went and just a few things that we need to tweak. Nothing major at all, and the day went great. So, I email her back and tell her thank you so much and that AJ had a great day.

She returns my email (which really, she didn't need to do because she should be home with her own 2 kids and husband) and the first thing she writes is, "What a GREAT kid you have!" Then she goes on to answer some of my questions and ends with "I adore your boy!"

How sweet is she?? I have talked to many other moms of kids who are starting at different schools and their kids love their teachers but the teachers aren't really reaching out or conversing with the parents. I feel so lucky that AJ's teacher is such a great communicator and so kind! I also love that only one day in, she sees what a great boy he is :) I love him!

Here's AJ today after school. He had this whole new confident look to him. Stood up taller, wanted to wear his backpack (with all the buckles done), walked me out of class, held the door for me ("ladies first!") and played at the playground for 30 minutes with friends. He grew up today :)

First Day of KINDERGARTEN!!!!!!!

Today is a BIG day for AJ! It's the first day of Kindergarten! He is so ready! On Monday we had a "practice recess" where we met his teacher and classmates and saw his classroom. He also got to play on the playground with his new friends while we met the teacher and went over some information. I think this was very helpful because it made today a much easier transition.

 

 His teacher is Mrs. Hayden and she is AMAZING. She's funny, quirky, full of energy and so fun. I'm thrilled that she's AJ's teacher. She calls the kids her "little friends" which I think is adorable.

 

I wasn't sure how today was going to go. Honestly, I was more worried about how I would be, sad as that is. I expected to be an emotional wreck, as I was already emotional on Monday's practice recess! But it went great! I met AJ and Jason in the parking lot and he was all dressed in his uniform with his cool Star Wars backpack on. He wasn't nervous one bit! Seeing him brought a tear to my eyes, but I pulled it together quickly.  I made him a little card he could keep in his pocket in case he got scared or missed me. We took some pictures, and walked in. He found the place to hang his backpack and then we took a few more pics, said hi to his teacher and then he sat down with his friends and listened to the teachers aide read books. He gave us hugs and kisses and that was that! He was champ!

 

Tonight we'll take him out to dinner to celebrate. I can't wait to hear about how his day goes! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of this guy!

 

First day! Such a big guy!

AJ and Daddy

AJ and Mommy

Us 3

In his classroom

All the kids sitting together reading books.

July Randomness

It should come as no surprise when I say we've had a very busy July! I don't have time to write about it all, so I'll give you pictures instead :)

Our friends Heather and Domenic had a Fiesta at their house. It was PACKED full of people and food. It was a blast!

 

The kids had a great time together!

These two are so cute! Kellyn and AJ..

We also went to the pool one day with Ki, Dax and Skylar and then AJ wanted to swing by Gemstone park to play. This is where AJ had his 3rd birthday party and it's really close to where Grandma and Papa used to live.

We also went to Red Rocks to see John Mayer with our friends Summer and Guido



We had a great time at Red Rocks! (and thanks Guido for ruining this picture...)

I played hookie one afternoon, picked AJ up early and hit the pool. Fun times!

One weekend AJ and Jason went camping and I stayed home with Jazz. She and I had a great time together- here we are going on a run together. She's a great running parter and can easily outrun me!

AJ and Jason went camping and did some fishing. You can see here that they caught one!

We also went to the Lego store and played a bit. AJ really wanted me to take a pic with his creation

We went to dinner at our friends house. Here's AJ and Kelan eating (and goofing off)

AJ got this awesome new Dinosaur lego and it took us some time to get it together, but we did it! I took this picture and sent it in to the Lego Club magazine and hopefully it'll make it in there!

Cheyenne Frontier Days!

Jason, AJ and I took a long weekend and went to Cheyenne Frontier Days. It's something I've wanted to do for a few years and we finally made it happen.

I expected this fair to be similar-but much bigger- to the Orange County fair- the fair I grew up going to growing up. I was surprised to find that it was very similar in size, rides, food and people to the OC fair.

We stayed at the Terry Bison Ranch, which is about 10 miles south of Cheyenne and about 2 hours from our home. The ranch was amazing! Jason and AJ have stayed there a few times in the past, but this was my first time. AJ was super excited to show me all around. They have 2 great parks within walking distance, tons of bison, a train which takes you to feed the bison, 5 camels, 2 restaurants and a little General Store. Our campsite was directly across a small road from a park so AJ and his buddies could play.

On Thursday when we got there, we unpacked and then went straight to the fair. AJ was able to ride on some rides and we got some dinner. Then we went to the Rascal Flatts concert. The concert was a lot of fun, but we learned a big lesson (one that we should have known). Bringing a 5 year old to a concert where the opening act starts at 8 and the main event starts at 10pm is not the best idea. He enjoyed the opening act, The Band Perry, and we had fun and danced around a bit. But when Rascal Flatts came on, he was exhausted and even giving him my phone or candy didn't work. We only stayed for about 5 of their songs. I was sad, but totally understood.

Friday we went to the carnival with our friends and bought the kids wrist bands which allowed them to ride as many rides as they wanted all day long. We ate a ton of bad food and junk and rode rides, walked around and just hung out. The kids had a blast on all the rides. Then we went back to our campsite and the kids played at the park while the adults made dinner.

Saturday we got up and went to breakfast at the little restaurant at the campground, then took the train ride to feed the bison. It was about an hour ride and it was super fun seeing the bison and their babies.  After the train, we went back to the fair for a short time to ride more rides. Then, back to the campsite to rest for a bit and then back (again!) to the fair for another concert. We had plans to see Tony Keith and this concert would have been AMAZING! Once again, we weren't able to see much of it. What a huge bummer tho, cause he was awesome! We got thru 2 song and AJ was crying and "so so so tired" he said. I can't blame him. We had a number of 10pm nights or later, prior to the concert.

Here are some pics:

Cheyenne Frontier Days!

Playing at the park in the campground

Ready for Rascal Flatts

Riding with Daddy!

The view from our campsite

The BIG park

I thought this was a funny pic.. This is "Truck Hill"- we parked at a park and ride and all the trucks got to park here.

Surfer, Bronco, Cowboy.. he's got it all going on



Can't go to the fair and not get cotton candy

Meet the newest member of our family.. Flames the snake

On the train!

Feeding the bison!

A baby :)

Trouble makers!

AJ and Todd riding the Caterpiller

Wating for Toby Keith