Here is the chapel at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The smoke in the background is from the Waldo Canyon fire.

Shade

Summer's haven from the sweltering heat of the sun.

Amphibians

We brought our tent trailer to the dairy yesterday. It's always a fun time. We get to have coffee with Opa and experience rural life. I can tell though that my kids have not grown up on or near a dairy. At our arrival they were turning up their nose at the smell and asking if they were walking on cow poop (mud and rice hulls). First, let me just say that I can't believe they can be squeamish about it. Second, they don't know the difference between cow excrement and muddy rice hulls. Hmmmm, you may NOT be a redneck if. . . Anyway, after coffee time they got to catch some frogs. We brought 3 frogs home with us and put them in our abandoned fish aquarium. It is now an amphibian terrarium. Maybe living in the "city" produces rapid, resourceful thinking. Anyway, I think this frog is comforting the remaining frog, yes, I said remaining. The other has gladly escaped from our children's clutches. But not before consuming his fair share of baby crickets.

Family Jamboree

Our annual family trip to the coast was a nice, cool breeze in the midst of very hot temperatures at home. We enjoyed ice cream, swimming, and lots of family time. The annual golf outing ended up with Blake arriving and leaving with the family trophy. The yearly scavenger hunt for the kids was another success. The prize was a candy bar for all the participants. We had successful bike rides and yummy s'mores. What great memories!

Toothless

It's been a long time coming. Kenna has seen many classmates and younger, lose their teeth, one by one or two by two. She is finally starting to lose some. For the longest time she has only lost 2 teeth, up until this past week. The "tooth fairy" forgot to give her money, which is a shocker since she's been waiting so long for her to make her appearance. We were all happy to see the tooth fairy goes on vacation with us. She's just days away from losing another. She's going to get fitted for her second apparatus tomorrow at the orthodontist. Her first one wasn't working. I think it had more to do with her not remembering to wear her retainer which is suppose to work together alongside of her apparatus. I think the tooth fairy should dole out more money for the teeth because she's an extortionist in the name of dentistry.