Fire Station Tour

This morning we enjoyed a special treat touring a fire station. Last night before bed I informed Oliver of our plans and this morning he woke up and exclaimed that he was ready to see a big fire truck.

First we took a quick tour inside the fire house and Oliver enjoyed getting to know their dog Spot!!



Then we made it to the garage for which Oliver had awaited excitedly.



The fireman showed us all the parts and equipment on the fire truck.





Oliver took a turn holding the giant sprayer on the hose.



He attempted to climb into the truck but it was a bit too much to make it up the steps.



The fireman showed us his fire suit and put everything on...



...just in time for a call and then they all had to rush off with lights flashing.



Fortunately it wasn't a real emergency and they came back shortly to finish up the tour.



It ended with a group picture aboard the fire truck.

Our New Place

After finding out in Sept that our apartment rent would be going up significantly if we renewed our lease, we started looking around at other options. We found the perfect place, an older rent house with twice as much space for less than what our renewed monthly rent would be at our apartment. After much prayer and thought we put in an application and after being approved we promptly paid the deposit and signed our new lease. Three weeks later on Oct 1st we officially moved in and now a little over two weeks later everything is finally in place and all the pictures hung and we are just loving our new place. So now for a picture tour:

Here's the front door:



The Kitchen/Dining area:





Hallway:



Master Bedroom:



Oliver's room:





Owen's room:





Downstairs:





Play Area:



Living Room:





Music Room:



Office/sewing room:



And here is a video tour by Nathan and Oliver:

New Adventures Part 2

This past weekend Rachel's family came to visit, all the way from Henderson, TX. We took a drive to Colorado Springs to visit Garden of the gods park.



Rachel snapped a lot of pictures while Nathan took video.





And Benj used his tripod and self timer to capture all of us for group pictures.





Papa Doc and Nana enjoyed walking together and pointing out interesting landmarks.





Kevin and I posed in front of the Siamese twins rock formation and you can glimpse Pikes Peak behind us in the distance.



Meanwhile Nathan climbed around exploring...



and soon found a cool spot to try out for a break from the sun!!



Oliver tried out his rock climbing skills, always careful to hold tight to Nana's hand.





Later while the guys played disc golf, Oliver ran around a playground and had fun with Nana while Rachel rested in the shade.





And after all the excitement Oliver and Nathan promptly fell asleep on the ride home.

New Adventures Part 1

Nathan's family came to visit and really enjoyed a break from the hot temps of Oklahoma. We enjoyed treating them with special home cooked meals.



It turned out to be an exciting weekend with new adventures, the biggest one being a drive up to Mt. Evans, on the highest paved road in North America. The road up the mountain is steep at times, but not a bad drive and the views just spectacular.





Mountain goats roamed freely and we had fun chasing them for pictures and videos.





Oliver had a rough time in the car but once at the top he calmed down and enjoyed hiking with Granddaddy and Grandma.





Even though it's August, on top of Mt Evans it hardly ever gets above 40 degrees so we all donned coats and hats. Thursday morning around 11am the clouds were definitely rolling in since it usually rains in the afternoons.



Nathan and I drove up again even earlier Sat morning around 8am and it felt even colder with pretty intense winds. But the sky was clear and it was a beautiful morning to be on top of the world.