Evan supports Lena on her first day of 1st grade.

NEW! Family Climbing Day
The whole family went down to Castlewood Canyon to do a little climbing on a beautiful summer evening. Lena and Evan got a little pair of climbing shoes, so it was time to put them to the test on some real rocks. They have been climbing more on the climbing wall in the garage, so we thought we'd get them outdoors for some real vertical adventure. Delana did some climbing too!

NEW! Brian turns 39...the gateway to geezerdom
July 11 marked Brian's 39th year in existence. The party was a small, intimate affair with Delana, Lena, and Evan in attendance. The celebration started with a rousing version of "Happy Birthday to Daddy", then segued nicely into gift presentation, and concluded with the quintessential "blowing out of the candles" and a round of hugs and kisses from the family.

NEW! Lena starts 1st grade
Lena started the 1st grade on Thursday, July 10th. She was very excited to see all her old pals from kindergarten again. She even gets to take the bus to and from school and the bus stop is right in front of our house! Evan already misses her big sis quite a bit while she's at school, but he's been getting Mom all to himself...at least until he goes back to preschool next month.

Tiny Town, CO
Evan loves the Lightrail. In fact, he loves it so much, he is constantly asking us to go on the "train". Instead of the Lightrail, Delana took the kids back to Tiny Town, CO where they have...you guessed it...a tiny town, complete with tiny buildings and a tiny coal burning train. Lena and Evan had fun in all the little buildings, although I hope they don't find themselves in jail too often in the furture. Then it was time for the train ride. All aboard...toot, toot! Apparantly, the train whistle was really loud.

Camping at Homestake Creek
Brian took the kids camping on June 28-29 near the Holy Cross Wilderness between Minturn and Leadville. It was Evan's first ever camping trip. Joining us were the Shofler clan. The kids had a great time, although it took us a lot longer than expected to find a suitable camping spot. Overall, our site provided many opportunities for the kids to seek out adventure. To check out all the photos from the trip, click here.