Balloon! Balloon!

 

 The balloon landed near the empty house at the end of my parents' street.

 Lainey, Anna, Cate

I think we'll fondly remember this summer as the one where Walker refused to take off his train pajama top.

 a pretty view of Emmy and Tuck's house

Anna was saying, "Come on, Big Boy. You can do it, Big Boy!" Hilarious. Cate and Lainey were already "exploring" in the woods. :)

Sweet

Whenever I see Lainey asleep, I am reminded of how she looked when she was a baby. I think she still looks the same.

Dining Outside

One of the best things about Colorado is being able to eat dinner outside. It's perfect and something we do not get to do at home...in Texas...in July. ;)

Walker had his first experience with corn on the cob. He liked it! If only Grandfather could see him...he'd be proud! :)

VBS

Lainey attended VBS last week. She loved it and had a blast with all of her friends. This is a picture that a church staff member took and graciously sent to Yiyia...who then passed it along to me! Thanks, Robyn! :)

Texas Friends in Colorado

We love the Young girls and we're so glad that we're here in Colorado at the same time!

Cate telling Lainey something important

Walker thought the water was too cold. He didn't swim for long.

Nonnie, the Young girls' grandmother and my mom's friend, found this wonderful log truck for Walker to play with. He loved it. In a house full of girls, there aren't many boy toys!

struggling to put all those logs back on there

I love this picture.

a true, genuine smile from the boy

Wildlife Park

So, I think this was our fourth time to visit the wildlife park. And, finally, I think we saw all of the animals. Ironically, I didn't take my camera because I didn't think that we'd see anything new this year. :) Go figure! We got to see an employee feed grapes to an elk and a black bear, we saw a sleeping bobcat, we fed some goats and donkey, saw Princess the big grizzly bear, played with the house cats, and waved to the horses. 

Lainey's favorite part of the wildlife park was petting the cats. House cats. Apparently, our kids haven't seen too many cats, so this was a big thing for them. I'm sure several bystanders were chuckling as our kids yelled "CATS!" as if they'd never seen them before. :)

Evening Entertainment

After eating dinner outside, the kids entertained us with some rocking of the rocking chairs. :) Beautiful evening, delicious dinner, lovely view, and funny kids. A pretty great evening. :)

We love these little stinkers. Messy, dirty, happy kids!

Rock Friends

And, it's another year in Pagosa, meaning we have new rock friends! Many of Lainey's friends from class made it into this year's collection. Lainey took it upon herself to make a few of them. She did a good job! 

Bottom Row: Nora and Asher, Gage and Ainsley, Clayton and Connor, Gavin, and Haven

Middle Row: Kaitlyn and Brayden, Emerson, John and Grace

Top Row: Lainey and Walker, Keegan and Audrey, Jake and Gracie, and Mommy and Daddy (Abby and Ben)

Annual River Pictures

We like to do these every year...take pictures down by the river. :) I should have probably dressed Lainey in something other than her $7 Hello Kitty dress from Wal-Mart. ;)

This "posing" phase that Lainey is going through is driving me bonkers.

And someone is terrified of bugs. (If I were to say that sentence out loud in Lainey's presence, she would say, "That would be me.")

Thunder Dog

This afternoon we were all a bit too busy to comfort sweet Lucy who is absolutely terrified of thunder. As the saying goes, "Any old port in the storm will work." So therefore Lucy found comfort in Lainey's presence. :) 

First Day

 Walker LOVES these airplanes. They kept taking off and flying around for a second and then landing in "Cah-yado." I think Walker thinks that airplanes only go to Colorado since that is about ALL he's talked about for the past week. "Take aypane Cah-yado! EmmyTuck take fissing pole Cah-yado." (This translates to: "We will take an airplane to Colorado! Emmy and Tuck took my fishing pole to Colorado!") All true statements.

 To me, he looks EXACTLY like his cousin Collin in this picture. 

"Look aypane! It's YOU!" ("Look Airplane! It's you!" A real airplane was in the sky.)

 "Bumpity bump! Smash crash!"

 running with Daddy

 "Reh-yie, seh, GO!" ("Ready, set, go!") I love the position of his arms. Ready for take off.

 Walker must have run back and forth across the driveway 42 times.

 Still not tired.

 He kept wiping his brow and saying, "Whew."

Walker obviously got his pose from Lainey. Sillies.