Nash Climbing

Last year we introduced Nash to rock climbing and he seemed to like it as long as the hand and foot holds looked like stairs. This year he has climbed more and more and last night he made it all the way up his first full climb. It was about 50 feet tall and he went all the way up. We were super impressed with his ability and fearlessness. Here are some links to video of him climbing. enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEbW6ygR-BE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJbbTErK604

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayjh4pSK0_k

Marilyn's Visit

Marilyn came to Durango for her yearly visit over the 4th of July weekend. It is always so much fun when she comes. Along with the Silverton 4th of July activites we went to the Bar-D chuckwagon show and dinner, went hiking, and basically hung out with the staff. Here are some pics of her visit.

On another note Marilyn took Lance and I out to eat at Season's in Durango and it was so good. Everything I ate was excellent, but the ice cream crepe for dessert was divine. It was two crepes filled with homeade ice cream covered in all kinds of berries in their own sauce. I could have eaten another serving of it. Yummy!!

4th of July - Silverton Edition

I love the fourth of July. It really is one of my favorite holidays. This year though takes the cake for fun. We again spent the Fourth of July in Silverton, CO which is about 30 minutes from our condos. Our day started at 7:30 with a 5K run benefitting the Silverton Youth Association. First of all Silverton only has about 1 - 2 graduating seniors each year so I am sure the youth association is in high demand. Second of all when they went to describe the 5K route to all the participants I about fell over when they said we had to run up the beginner ski slope on the ski mountain. I really thought they were kidding, but no - they were serious. Only 4 of our staff did the run: Will, Emily (a fellow ACU'er), Lance, and I. Will came in 1st in the whole race and Emily came in 3rd for the whole race. Yeah - they are way more serious runners than Lance and I.

Next up was the fourth of July parade. This parade consisted of a lot of ATV's, jeeps, and old fire engines. Apparently the town of Silverton went on ebay and bought all the old mardi gras beads b/c that is what they threw out to the crowd. Here is Nash giving the thumbs up for the fourth of July.

Being a small town with only a volunteer fire department at the end of the parade they had a water fight. The fire department divides into two and they turn on all the fire hoses and try and fight the other side back. It was awesome to watch. Directly after the water fight is the "rhubarb festival". Apparently all the people in town bake rhubarb pies, rhubarb crumble, and rhubarb bread for the festival and we get to eat it. Next came the ducky derby. The ducky derby is when they release a bunch of rubber duckies down the river and whoever's ducky comes in first gets a prize. The river banks were crowded with people and we just had a good time hanging out watching the happenings.

The last event of the day before fireworks is the old west gunfight show. I am sorry to say that I did not get to see the gunfight show b/c Beck was scared to death of the guns going off that we had to walk away.

As our normal tradition we tried to get family pictures made on the fourth by one of our staffers. This year's lucky winner was Brian who spent time trying to get us all to look in the same direction. Those pictures will have to come later due to the fact that they are still on Brian's camera.

While waiting for fireworks to start some of the staff worked on our yoga out in the baseball field. I just love the fact that it is July and we have to wear fleece. Here's to another great fourth of July.

Guys Backpack

Sorry for the long delay in posts. I have a lot of catching up to do. This summer we have had a couple of breaks without groups so we decided to do boys and girls backpacks to scout routes for next year. The boys went first which left all of the girl staff at home with the little boys. I am sure Lance had a great time on his boys backpack but that is up to him to post about. The first day the boys were gone we went on a picnic to Haviland Lake which was going well until Beck threw up all over his clothes. Instead of leaving and going home we just stripped him down to his diaper and let him run around.

I felt a little like a bad mom but what the heck we are in Colorado.

The next day we went on a hike to Potato Lake. This was the first time that I had to carry Beck in the backpack carrier and it is heavier than I thought. Here is me with the boys hiking along.

We had a blast at the lake throwing rocks and hanging out. Nash had so much fun that he sat in the water and soaked his shorts. Follow the progression of pictures for how it turned out.

After potato lake we went out for a girls dinner at Cuckoo's Chicken House which is one of my favorite places in Durango to eat though Lance does not love it.

We had a great couple of days even with all of the boys craziness. I have to say I love the girls on my staff. There is never any drama and everyone gets along really well. Also they act like Nash and Beck's surrogate mothers. I love all of them.