First Day of School!!!

All three of the kiddos started school today... two of the three were looking forward to it! 

Mattea was ecstatic to start 2nd grade.  We went in last week for a Meet & Greet with her teacher, Mrs. Pearl, and they were both excited to meet each other.  Josh had Mrs. Pearl when he was in 2nd grade, so we were thrilled for Mattea to get her this year!!! 

Josh was excited to start 6th grade.  He is looking forward to going to a new school, having a locker (once he gets the hang of opening the lock!!!), switching classes and having multiple teachers.  He totally lucked out and got his top two elective choices (call it Dolan luck) -- PE and Applied Tech.  Alex took him around at the Open House to meet his teachers since some of them have previously had Alex in class.

Alex wasn't too thrilled to go back to school.  I tried to convince him that it's cool to be "king of the school", but he wasn't buying it.  8th graders don't get their schedules until the first day of school, so I am anxious to hear about his schedule.  I have a feeling that he is going to get choir for an elective and that won't make him happy. 

Anyway, I was thrilled that the boys didn't give me too much grief about taking my first day of school pictures this morning.  They posed for a few and then took off on their bikes.  Mattea, of course, let me take as many pictures of her as I wanted!!!  I'm looking forward to a great school year with all of the kids on the same schedule!

Some Kid-Less Adventures

While the kids are busy having fun with family and friends in Iowa, we have been taking advantage of being kid-less and have gone on a few adventures ourselves!  The day the kids left for Iowa, Jeff called me on his way home from work and told me to pack a bag for the weekend.  We took a totally spontaneous trip to Estes Park.  It was awesome! 

We drove Trail Ridge Road, stopped several times for pictures and short hikes and then went on one of our favorite hikes to Alberta Falls.  It's very different hiking without kids.  We had no worries about the boys getting too far ahead or someone falling off a big rock they had climbed on.  Jeff and I both got a little cray-zay and ventured onto large rocks, teetered on logs that had fallen across the falls and did handstands in some interesting places.  When you don't have to be a good example, you can revert back into being an adventurous kid... it was pretty fun!

Last weekend, we took a trip to Keystone to visit Terry and do some downhill mountain biking.  We met up with Terry for breakfast and then headed over to the ski resort.  Terry got the bikes all tuned up and made sure we were comfortable with the brakes and shifters.  Once we were all set, we went over to the ski lift where they loaded our bikes and we hopped on as well for a ride to the top.  The boys rode with Kelley and I for awhile to make sure we were feeling confident.  I was finally able to assure them we would be fine and that they would have a much better time if they took off ahead of us.  So, they left for the more adventurous trails and Kelley & I made our way down the easy trails.  But, let me tell you... EASY is not what I would call those trails!  I crashed a couple times ending up with some minors scratches and bruises, but I was definitely scared during some parts of that downhill biking adventure.  I can't imagine how fast the boys were flying through it and I was just grateful that we all made it down safe & sound!  It was a really fun time and a great workout!

And then there were 6...

On Friday, June 29th, Kelley Semens arrived in Aurora, Colorado.  Kelley is a graduate from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL where she played volleyball and was coached by a wonderful volunteer named Jeff Dolan!  : )  After Kelley graduated, she got her master's in Occupational Therapy from Washington University in St. Louis and chose to do her clinicals in Aurora.  We were happy to agree to let her live with us during her 3-month rotation.  Kelley got settled in quickly and we have kept her busy since she got here.  We have already taken her for mountain high pizza in Idaho Springs, a hike at Golden Gate Canyon State Park, bouncing on trampolines at JumpStreet, a weekend in Estes Park and a fun (but rainy) night at a Rockies game! 

She blends in well with our family and totally just rolls with whatever is going on.  She bonded with the kids before they left for Iowa and is a total dog-lover, so Cody is quite happy with all the extra attention.  While the kids are on vacation, Jeff and I are using her as a good excuse to do lots of fun things on the weekends to show her around.  This weekend, we are headed to Dillon to visit Terry and to go downhill mountain biking at Keystone!

JumpStreet

We took the kids to JumpStreet twice this week and Mattea was brave enough to try some of her more advanced moves. She made a ton of progress in just a few hours. I love watching her... she pretty much rocks!!!

Jeff gave Josh some helpful tips on tucking while he does his flips and he went from some erratic looking flips to looking like a gymnast!

Alex was busy creaming other kids in trampoline dodgeball!

A Visit from the Jacobsen's

The Jacobsen's came to visit over the 4th of July holiday.  We (minus Jeff) took a trip to Glenwood Springs where we went to a zipline/adventure course, played in the river, swam in the hotel pool and did the Hanging Lake Trail hike.

After we got back from Glenwood Springs, the Jacobsen's took some day trips while Jeff and I were working.  The boys were able to tag along when they went to WaterWorld which was a fun trip for everyone.  We made a couple trips to JumpStreet as well and that worked perfectly... it wore the kids out!  It was so nice having them visit and we all had a great time!

Gymnastics

After taking a year off, we put Mattea back into gymnastics and she picked back up without missing a beat!  She is in private lessons with two of her friends and they are really excelling.  Mattea just recently learned the front walkover and she did so well at the last practice that her coach suggested that she try a cartwheel right after she does her walkover.  Not a problem for this girl... check it out!

She can also do a round-off dismount from the beam...

She is also working on her back handspring and a front handspring off the vault, but I will show you that when she's got it.  Enjoy!

Let's get caught up!

I haven't posted too often lately and, believe it or not, I haven't taken as many pictures lately as I normally do either.  I know that there has been a lot going on, so I thought I would just share any recent happenings and pictures to get all caught up.  Please excuse the randomness of this post.

Mattea's soccer team had a great season!

Josh was a much stonger batter this year!

As always, he was an AMAZING catcher!!!

He also pitched this year and did a spectacular job!

Cody has been super depressed after losing his best friend.



 The pool opened on Memorial Day weekend and the kids have been enjoying it immensely!

 Josh & Mattea attended the Sock Hop and had a blast!