Thanksgiving 2013

Today we went on a beautiful sunny Thanksgiving hike. We are missing our family but are thankful for each other and thinking of you all from a far.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2013

Hey, that rhymes.

Another fun (but chilly) Estes Halloween in the books. Coop dressed up as "Aladar", a dinosaur from a movie released in the early 2000's. He discovered the flick when we went to WA and stayed with Aunt Jennifer over 2 years ago. Not many kids know who Aladar is. I think the movie went straight to video when it was released ;). Thanks to EBay, the costume was easier to come by then I would have thought.

Cruz was "Super Hero Tuxedo Man" with his best buddy, Rocco. They were actually Harry and Lloyd from the movie, Dumb and Dumber. They of course, didn't know this but their Mother's sure ate it up. An added bonus is that Rocco's mom majored in costume design! This is probably the last year I can have any type of influence in what either of our kid's costumes will be and I went with it. Before you question my motives, I'll have you know that Cruz LOVED his costume and still wants to wear it daily. They had quite the fan club too. Numerous people wanted to take the duo's picture. Coop jumped in several of the pictures too. Cruz and Rocco quickly learned that people could take their picture but they wanted candy in return. Smart kids!

Coop also had a super fun class Halloween party that we all got to be a part of. I've included a few pics of his kindergarten parade as well.





























"Ninja Turtle" fan club. These girls asked to take their picture and shrieked like giddy High School girls that D & D is one of their favorite movies. Who knew? I don't think they were even born when the movie came out. It just goes to show that classic potty humor knows no age. The boys were just as star struck to be surrounded by TMNT's. Totally win-win.

Hello There

Well hello there blog, it's been awhile. There has been quite a bit going on since my last post. Enough stuff that I just don't have the energy to catch up in full detail. A quick synopsis doesn't do any of these events justice but perhaps one day, I might have the desire to dedicate more time to some of these events. Until then, here's a recap (in chronological order NOT in order of importance;

-Coop lost his first tooth.
-We put an offer on a house.
-We said farewell to our sweet boy, Targhee (after a month of waiting for him to tell us 'it was time').
-We witnessed a '1000 yr flood of Biblical proportions'.
-I got involved in a t-shirt fundraiser for flood relief.
-We proceeded with the purchase of our home.
-We moved into said home.
-Both boys completed a season of soccer.
-We eagerly await the moment when we can finally flush our toilet like civilized human beings in our new home.




































That's pretty much it.....

Kindergarten Coop

Coop started Kindergarten last Weds. We've made it through 5 whole days already. So far, it has been nothing but good. He loves his teacher and is on an Elementary School high! Every day I pick him up he asks when he gets to go back and tonight after soccer practice he wanted to go back to Kindergarten right then and there. We're off to a good start I'd say.

On day 3 he asked if he could walk to his classroom by himself. I asked him if he'd humor me a little longer so that Cruz and I could walk the halls with him and be a part of his day. Both yesterday and today I took a chance and walked in with him again. He didn't say anything but I'm sure he's going to kick me to the Kindergarten curb very soon.

I'll have you know that I did not shed a tear the first morning I dropped him off. He was excited and I was at peace. I did feel a little guilty because numerous Moms have told me how distraught they were and how the cried for days!?!? Coop is happy and I am proud!

Mark missed his first week but luckily was home for Coop's open house the week before so he at least got to meet Coop's teacher and see his classroom. We'll catch him up to speed once fire season is over. Only six more weeks!!!!!!

Our First-Morning-of-Kindergarten pics didn't start off very well. Coop was not happy with the shirt I chose for him to wear. I was panicked because every shot I took looked like this;




Does that look like a Happy Kindergartner or what? Luckily, he came around when I told him he didn't want to start his first day boo-hoo'ing about a SHIRT. Kindergarteners don't fuss about such nonsense ;)

His eyes are still a little puffy here but he's slowly coming around........



Targ did his best to tell him how proud he was of him.










Welcome to Kindergarten, Coop!!

Camp Farewell

Last week was our final week of summer camp. The boys enjoyed it and SO DID I! It was a wonderful break for all of us. Coop made some new friends that he will be going to ELEMENTARY school (still seems weird to say) with and Cruz gained a whole bunch of confidence and independence. I gained some sanity.

The boys are always humming and singing various camp fire songs that they learned and come to find out, Coop was even enrolled in Dance class. Luckily, I made it to his final performance. Here's a little farewell to camp video.....

During the dance portion, Coop is front and center in the green shirt.

My Project from A Mendonca on Vimeo.

Camping Trip #3

Daddy made it home this past weekend. And he's such a sport that he even went camping with us. Just what he wanted to do after camping in the dirt for 2 weeks. That's true love.

Our camping was a little more luxurious then the camping Mark does for work. We even had a tent.

Cruz was delighted to finally get his birthday cake and celebrate with his Dad. He didn't even notice that it got smashed in the cooler. Best of all, the doggies came with us. It was a pretty special trip for our first overnight trip together as a family.

Camping Trip #2

On the weekend prior to Cruz's birthday, the boys and I went on another overnight camping trip. This time, we drove over trail ridge road to Grand Lake. The drive over trail ridge road is gorgeous. We stopped along the way and did some exploring with the kids at the top amongst the tundra.

Once we arrived on the other side, it rained HARD. It didn't seem to bother the kids though. We slapped on some rain gear and were ready to play. Luckily, the rain let up long enough to pitch our tents.

*Speaking of tents...after our last trip, I decided we needed a bigger tent so I bought a new one. Coop was so excited that he could stand in it.

Our campsite was right on the water and we lucked out with an amazing group campsite. One of the moms brought an inflatable boat which we all enjoyed. We danced, enjoyed the fire and played and played in the water. Luckily, we woke up the next morning to sunshine. So the last several hours we were there was spent soaking up the sun on the beach. We even jumped off the boat and swam in the COLD water.