Outdoor Adventure

Soon after moving here we learned that students in Colorado spend many years waiting for 6th grade.  That's the year they get to spend 3 days in the Mountains having lessons and attending workshops during Outdoor Adventure.  I was leery of sending her at first.  We had only lived here a month, it was in September, and her spending the night with kids and adults we didn't know didn't sound good.  But Sam was able to take a few days off work and go as a volunteer.  It eased my fears, and was a great time for Shaye to spend with her dad.  He got to know some of the girls she hung out with at school, and they got to do some of the activities together.  

Shaye's group of 6th graders had their Outdoor Adventure at the YMCA facility in Winter Park, CO.

New Team, Same Game

Football practice started for Jaxson the day we moved in.  He played with the Parker Hawks.  He played safety quite a bit this year and did a great job!  Their team went 5-5.  Much better record than when he played with the Texans, he was happy to win a game.  ;-)

Go Wildcats!

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that school sports started here in 6th grade.  Shaye chose to participate in cross country, volleyball, and basketball at Sagewood this year.  It was much easier to have practice right after school and a good way to get to meet people as she started in a new place.  She did a great job, even making the B team for basketball.

Recap - First Day of School 2013

My big girl started middle school this year.  Eek!  She is attending Sagewood Middle School here in Parker, CO.  She was very excited to start 6th grade.  Thankfully, Nora was here visiting on the first day of school so Shaye was able to have a super cool hairdo for her first day!  

Jaxson is in 3rd grade this year at Northeast Elementary School.  His teacher's name is Ms. Reini.

And my little Syd started kindergarten this year at Mountain View Elementary School.  It's not the same as what she was expecting in Texas.  Colorado does half day kindergarten.  So she goes to school all day on Mondays and Wednesdays, and half a day on Fridays.  Her teacher's name is Ms. Himpenstall.

So that left Paigey Poo!  She was going to be bored without Sydnee around, so luckily she was able to get into preschool at Little Blessings Preschools.  She goes Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays from 9-12. She has 2 teachers and they are both named Ms. Lisa.  I had to include all these silly pictures of her first day because it shows her personality so perfectly.  She's my love bug!

Recap - Kids Summer Time

The thing I was dreading most was taking Shaye away from her friends.  She had the perfect set up friends in Katy.  There were 4 girls who were all best friends and they were all friends of our best friends.  They were all great girls and had fun while being good for each other.  That alone may have kept us from moving if we had more of an option.  

We had a huge group of kids between all our close families.  They all got along and even if their ages varied, they played well together.  It was a fun summer for everyone!

Shaye and Lexi Peterson.

Brooklyn Robinson, Shaye, and Olivia Boyer at Nora's house celebrating Shaye's birthday.  The girls got to throw her a little party all by themselves.

Lexi Peterson, Shaye, Olivia Boyer, and Brooklyn Robinson

Paige was always the little fish.  She would be in the backyard swimming anytime somebody would watch her.  On this day she went out and was just putting her hands in and feeling the water.  It didn't take long before she just said forget it and got on the big step with her pajamas and laid in the water and played!

Emmy and Uncle Kyle came up on our last day to have dinner and say goodbye.   We definitely enjoyed being close to our families!

Brazos Bend was always fun for the kids.  It's a nature reserve that is famous for alligators.  The kids got to see several each time we went and on this trip they even got to touch babies alligators in the museum area.

Isaac Hudson, Isaac Peterson, and Jax

Recap - Summer Fun

We didn't have long, so we enjoyed our summer!  Summer in Texas meant swimming in the backyard, a few trips to the beach, and some exciting date nights.  

Jared Taggart, Sam, and Lance Boyer at the Robert Earl Keen concert in Houston.

Lazy days at the beach were the best!  The kids would swim or build in the sand for hours.  We would all sit and talk, swim a little, or take the paddle boards out.

Melissa Callaway, Kim Peterson, Me, Nora Robinson, Esther Boyer, Kim Taggart

Sam and Mark Peterson.

In the last weeks, we had a going away party.  Brian and Melissa Callaway were also moving at the same time as us.  We had a fun night of games and food and getting to reminisce a little.

Nora, Kim Peterson and I always went to Mario's yoga class together, so of course we had to get a picture with him!  In his class I learned to love yoga.  It was so challenging and I was finally able to get the mental focus that use to always make me laugh.  Working out with these girls was going to be one of the things I missed most.

Lance's famous olympics!  This was the last one we got to participate in and we came in 1st place.   Wahoo.
Lance and Esther Boyer, Sam and I, Jared and Kim Taggart, Brian and Melissa Callaway, Mark and Kim Peterson.