Linkin Park

Tickets to the Linkin Park concert for Jeff's birthday were pure genius on my part... especially because he didn't even realize they were coming to town again.  We had taken the boys to see them a few years ago when they were in Colorado and it was a great show!  Josh was bummed that he wasn't able to go this time, but since it was on a school night, Jeff and I had date night while the kids stayed home, attacked their chore list and did homework.  We got all decked out in our Linkin Park t-shirts and went to the Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre for the concert.

30 Seconds to Mars was the opening band.  Their lead singer is Jared Leto who is also an actor.  We aren't huge fans, so we were anxious for LP to hit the stage.

From the minute LP came on stage, they sang and played their hearts out.  The crowd was engaged and totally rocking out from beginning to end.  It's obvious that the band has been around for 20+ years because they absolutely know how to put on an epic show!!!  They played for almost 2 hours and it was hands-down one of the best concerts we have ever attended.  Jeff said his ears were ringing when we left, so that is always a good sign since he likes his music loud! 

Camping/Jeff's Birthday

*****WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!*****

Without Jeff knowing, I booked a campsite so we could spend his birthday camping.  We hadn't been camping since our trip to the Royal Gorge over the 4th of July and we were all anxious to get out a couple more times before the weather turned cold.  We went to Colorado Springs and had such an amazing weekend!  We made it to the Springs around dinner time on Friday night, so we got the camper hooked up, had some dinner and watched a movie.  (No, we don't really rough it when we camp!) 

On Saturday, we were up early and since I had bought Jeff's birthday present at least 3 months prior, I was super excited for him to open it.  I am pretty sure he opened his card around 7:30am (I had waited long enough!).  His present was 2 tickets to see his most favorite band, Linkin Park.  The beautiful parts of the gift were that 1 - he was surprised and hadn't seen the charge come through and 2 - the concert was only 2 days away!!!  He loved the gift and I got major cool wife points.  Woot woot!

After breakfast, we wanted to go exploring or hiking or something.  We had planned to go to Seven Falls, but it was closed due to the wildfires from last year, so we ended up at the Cliff Dwellings.  The kids were excited to go back since they had a great time there a few years ago with Grandpa Pete and Grandma Carol.  It was a cool place!

 

After exploring the cliff dwellings for awhile, we headed back to the camper for a quick lunch.  Alex ended up with a headache, so he stayed at the camper while the rest of us headed to Cheyenne Mountain State Park for a hike.  Since it was Jeff's birthday, he picked our hiking trail.  We did a 3.5 mile loop, but in order to get to that trail we had to hike over 1 mile to get there and then another mile to get back afterwards.  It ended up being a really great 5+ mile hike, but somehow we didn't manage to wear the kids out.  There was a little grumbling along the way about being hungry or this hurts, but other than that, it was the perfect hike!  Josh was a total trooper, too.  Before we even started on our hike, the kids wanted to play for a couple minutes at the playground near the restrooms.  Josh took off running and scaled this curved ladder to get to the top of the playground, but didn't notice the horizontal bar that was in his way and he about concussed himself.  Poor thing.  He powered through the hike with a big goose egg on top of his head! 

After a busy day, it was time to cool down.  Everyone enjoyed the pool and hot tub.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize the pool would be so warm so I hadn't even reminded the kids to pack swimsuits.  The boys were fine, but Mattea had to make do with her tank top and shorts. 

After swimming, we enjoyed dinner at the camper followed by yummy homemade cupcakes in the flavor of Jeff's choice... yellow cake w/ chocolate frosting... just like always!  For fun, I brought along some candy eyeballs and lips and we decorated the cupcakes with funny faces!

After dinner, we spent some time at the arcade at the campground.  They had tons of great games, old school pinball machines and a pool table.  We had a great time doing what Jeff loves to do!  What a fun weekend!!!

 

Student Council

I would like to introduce the newest member of the fourth grade student council...

Practice makes perfect

Mattea has been working really hard on some new skills so that she can move to the optional level for gymnastics. Check it out...

Round-off, back handspring, back tuck

Back walkover on beam

And I saved the best for last...

Press handstand

First Day of School

All of the kids went back to school on August 18, 2014.  Alex is a sophomore at Grandview High School, Josh is in 8th grade at Falcon Creek Middle School and Mattea is in 4th grade at Rolling Hills Elementary School.  Here are the pictures I took before each of them left for school.  There are a few extras of Josh and Mattea since I drove them both to school.