Everything since way back when, errrr July 15...

Yikes, Nick and I knew it had been a long time - too long - since we had last blogged. But then Lindsey made a threat - "if you don't update the blog w/ something soon (and not some stupid crap) i will be deleting it from my favorites pages." Sooooo, here I sit, finally committed to updating the blog. One would think hey, it's summer, they both have plenty of time to update the blog. But for some reason, summer is the time of year that all structure vacates our lives and we find ourselves going weeks without updating the blog (or doing other productive things!). So, to Lindsey and our other faithful readers, I apologize for the lack of updates :) Here's the nitty gritty of Nick, Natalie and Cayle as of late...

Go back a few weeks...July 8-July 19 we were in Illinois. The first stop was Effingham to visit with the Brummers, and then we headed up to L-P to visit with the Hammers. On our way from Effingham to L-P, we stopped in Chatham for a few hours and picnicked at a park with a lot of our friends from that area.

Highlights of the trip:
* Cayle did awesome on the drives.
* We left the dogs in CO with our friend Mary, which made the trip a lot less stressful!
* Cayle went swimming (and boating) in the lake and loved it!

Cayle loved floating on his back. He'd squeeze his eyes shut (no clue why??)!

* Nick and Nat got a chance to paddle board together...lots of fun!

Nick & I had fun working out on the paddle boards. We were both able to stay upright
even with a few waves!

* Cayle enjoyed many wagon rides at grandma and grandpa Brummer's house!

No matter how tired Cayle was, he was always up for a wagon ride. He loved this!

* Emma was Cayle's best friend from the trip. I'm pretty sure he would have brought her back to CO with us if he could have!

Emma did such a great job with Cayle. He loved the attention he got from her!

* Cayle got to spend some fun time swimming and playing with his cousins Finley and Sophie!

Finley brought her swimming pool to share with Cayle. They also went to the
LaSalle Pool together!

Poor Sophie...in this pic, Cayle had just stolen the cell phone she was playing with :(

* Cayle got to enjoy hanging out with grandma and grandpa Hammers!

Cayle was obviously not in a reading time mood, but grandma did her best!

Grandpa introduced Cayle to cars. We brought 4 cars home with us :)

Other summer highlights:
* Cayle got a new swing set for the backyard. He loves this thing and uses it pretty much everyday!

This swing set turned out to be a lot bigger and sturdier than we expected. It's really high
quality and will last for many years. We even joked about Cayle being able to bring his
dates to his backyard and swing on his swing set!

* On our way home from a concert in the park in Eagle, Nick and I came across some people on bikes. Turns out they were Biking Across America to raise awareness of disabled and homeless veterans. The folks (Erick and Monica) ended up staying at our house for two nights. The crazy part of the story is that I had seen them featured in the News-Trib in the middle of June.

These concerts are so much fun. Basically you bring some snacks and drinks, plop
down on a blanket in the park, and hang out while listening to some great music. It's
an awesome family event!
Erick and Monica taking off from Glenwood Springs after their rest day at our house!

* Nick, Cayle, and I got to spend a few days camping at Steamboat Lake, about 26 miles north of Steamboat Springs. We got to try out our new tent. Cayle loved his experience: the dirt, the lake, the fire...all of it.

Cayle loved sitting out by the fire with us at night!Reflection images seen on one of our morning walks.
Our new 6-man tent fits our air mattress, Cayle's pack-and-play, the dog cage, and more!

* We had a visit from two friends from Springfield. Nick got to spend some quality time biking with Andy and Trevor, and we all went on some hikes together.

Trevor, Andy, Nick, and Cayle at Hanging Lake (about 20 minutes from our house).
Family photo at Nolan Lake, at the end of a 3-mile hike each way!

What's next:
* I start back to work August 9. Boo!
* Nick will be working part-time this year (12-4 each day) in order to give Cayle more time at home. Nick will not be teaching special education anymore. His classes this year are study skills, tutoring, health/nutrition, and media productions. Nick starts back to work August 22.
* Nick has been doing awesome in the local mountain bike race series. With two races left to go, he is in 2nd place in the overall standings. The final 2 races are Aug 3 and Aug 17.
* We are planning a local camping trip (explore somewhere close to us - up Coffee Pot Road?) with our family, Torrey and Alana, and Jess and Jeff for the weekend of August 12-14.

Pretty sure I've missed tons of details...but that's the overall picture. Hopefully we'll keep things more up-to-date in the future :)