Happy Halloween

The only picture we got of all four kids. Adria was thrilled to be here. PS Kanyon was a Milk Monster because he drinks so much milk. He got the most comments of the night for "creativity" although some people thought he was the milk man. And we never had to worry about losing him...he made quite a bit of noise as he walked.

Our Outrageously Orange Dinner

Happy Halloween

Anyone else eat sloppy joes and other orange things tonight?

Thanks for the cookies Mom!

A DVR is a wonderful thing

As you all know, we recently moved down to the basement. Upon moving in, our new upstairs expressed an interest in sharing internet and tv services. They signed us up for some kind of Dish tv and as of yesterday we now have about a bazillion channels and a brand new DVR. I've already set it to record some movies in the middle of the night and I'm currently wathing Saved by the Bell and skipping all of the commercials. Not a bad set up for $25/month. I don't think we'll watch much more tv than we did before but I'm positive I wont miss the commercials.

Fun Times

Last night Kevin's work hosted a party at the Hockey Game. We were treated to the suite with food to eat all night, plus money to spend at the gift shop. We had a blast! Braxton actually enjoyed watching the game. He's getting old enough for that kind of stuff.

Each year our ward supports a "Make a difference day" where we sort, name, and hug over 3600 stuffed animals. Can you find Adria in the picture? This is a great service project for the kids. The boys enjoyed it even more this year because they could write names on the tags instead of just telling us. Kanyon tried to name a stuffed animal "pukey" thinking it was really "pumkey". That was my favorite moment of the day.

Friday we went to a museum where they had these hide and seek camo's that the kids had fun dressing up in. Fall Break officially starts Monday. I'm hoping to have one activity for each day. It's supposed to be great weather, maybe one last trip to the zoo, raking leaves, playing at the parks.

Backyard Party

"Gettin' a little thin in the back"

"Good Times, Good Times."

Friday night was our backyard Halloween Party. Les invited a bunch of families from the ward over and we had dinner and then carved pumpkins. I was the talk of the night when I pulled out my jig saw and started cutting pumpkins. It was a little breezy that night and I was worried that people would get cold, so I borrowed a page from Erik's book and had a fire. The barrel was left over from ones I made for the pioneer trek. It turned out that was the hit of the night. We brought out the mallows and everyone had fun roasting around the fire. Wives had to drag their husbands away at the end. There is something about fall nights and a good fire. The weather ended up being beautiful -- windy up until the party started, and nothing again until people stared to go home. (The weather prayers do work)

Saturday night, we attended an adults only party with other couples from the ward. We had dinner and then sat around and played games and visited. It was fun, but after two nights of parties, I was ready to come home early.

Today was our Primary Program. The program was great and Tyler and Aimee did a great job. Katie even got to go up and sing a song with them. The highlight was a full primary singing "Called to Serve" at the top of their lungs. We've got some great future missionaries. The best part of the whole thing- I got to sit with Leslie!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Brant

where is everyone?

The highlights of our week...
I purchased a merchant site through Yahoo! for strawberrypearl.com. This means that you can now add things to your shopping cart and pay online. It is a fabulous idea, just more work than I expected. When I purchased the site, it annihilated everything I already had on there, so I'm starting from ground zero and trying to work on it without neglecting my kids.
Seth's costume for the Ward Halloween Party arrived and the battery pack for it was broken. We fiddled around with it for awhile and then I googled it and learned how to spell solder. I checked out heathkit.com but that didn't help and then I found something at Radio Shack. Seth went down to the store to see if they could help him and he ended up buying the parts for a new battery pack. We went to the parent's and Dad was able to solder the new pack to the connection on Seth's costume. Brant, we were wishing that you lived closer because we figured you would already have had the missing piece for the battery pack that came with the costume and could have fixed it in five minutes. I'm just glad it's fixed.
Seth made waffle cookies tonight and he and Weston are home teaching right now.
Hope all is well.

And My Next Project.....

What do you think?
From the inside

I don't know what I'd do if there wasn't one more thing to fix or replace. Mom and I spent about 6 hours tearing out the old door and installing this one. I still have to paint the trim the same color as the trim on the house. We really like it except that you can see right into the house. The glass is sort of antiquish but you can still see pretty clearly. It lights up the stairway a lot more from the natural light. Next week we install the new glass door in front of this one.

Not much to report. The weather is getting colder but the days are still nice. Lots of leaves to rake.

Today was Ward Conference. It's nice because the stake brings the whole program and we just sit and listen (we also get out 1/2 hour early).

Mom has parent-teacher conferences this week so she is busy getting ready.

Our ward Halloween Party is Thursday night. It has become a tradition with good food, a costume contest for kids and parents (this gets pretty intense), and trick-or-treating from classroom to classroom in the stake center. Each family decorates a classroom door and then the kids go from room to room down the hallway.

Enjoy the week and watch out for those little goblins.

0 For 1

Today was my first trip out for the Deer Hunt of 2008. I went with another deputy and one of my Sergeants. We went about 20+ miles up into the mountains north of the Kellogg area. As is often the case, we saw a lot of fresh sign (poop) of deer/elk, but had no luck. We had to cut it short around noon because I had to get back to the local area for a court case. I did learn one thing: I make a lot of noise when I walk through the woods.

Here is a shot of the area from the top. Don't believe the liberals we're not running out of trees.



Here we have an elk rub. The bull elk scrape their antlers against little sapling trees to get rid of the velvet covering. These were all over and a lot of them were quite fresh.

We're Home!!!

Well we finally decided to come home. Our day trip to Seattle turned into a big week trip. Seth's dad is home from the hospital and recovering. He is in a hospital bed in his living room for the next six weeks. Imagine that you have two broken legs and that's about how Dale is feeling. We were a little reluctant to leave as Dale can not move in and out of bed on his own, but Seth needs to get back to school and work. I made up a sign-up sheet for the brethren in their ward to help Dale move around, so hopefully they can get help when they need it.
Weston and Koper loved the trip. We had to bribe Weston into coming home by telling him we were going to Grammy and Grampy Zirker's house. He wasn't too thrilled to go to our house. A couple of our neighbors were outside "waiting" for us when we got home, so we had a nice welcoming committee.
While in Seattle I decided that I don't like Seattle and that I'm having all of my babies at Gritman. Many people have said it before, but I finally experienced the longing for that small town feel. While Dale was in the hospital, he had 20 different nurses and 10 different doctors. Each time they have a question, they talk to a new doctor. Dr. Shupe has finally retired from Moscow Family Medicine, so I have to find a new doctor for the kiddos, but that's okay, Moscow Family Medicine is small and I have a couple of other doctors that I already like. So, sorry Seth, but I'm staying here, even if we don't ever get a Target. (Yeah, I know, we'll probably still end up in Seattle, but at least I can state my opinion.)

Our Family needs some variety...

-Kevin and Dad have the same tree
-Dad and I have both been painting
-Erik, Kevin and I have been doing sprinkler blowouts
-Yesterday, we took our kids to a farm just like Kevin's family

We need to mix it up a little!!!

As I stated, this weeekend we took the family up to Fort Collins. The Von Forell's have sold their house and will be moving by the end of the year to a new home in Johnstown (much closer to us!!!) Tina's family and Lindsay came over from Utah and the girls spent Friday and Saturday morning packing boxes. Saturday after side work of pulling bushes with Tyler, we met them in FC and toured the farm. It has become a yearly tradition and the kids have fun. There is a petting zoo, hay ride and of course a corn maze. This year they even added pig races!

Friday night is party night! We have some families from the ward coming over to carve pumpkins and hang out. By "some," I mean about 50 people. The Zirker's never do anything small. I'll let you know how it goes.

Brant

Do we have the same kind of tree?

It's Done!!!!!!! (almost)

One more little spot Signs of fall

Closer up

Even the patina of the fountain matches the new paint

It was a good week. I painted every night after work and finally on Thursday evening I finished everything but a little spot above and around the kitchen window that I can't reach with a ladder, my arm, or anything else. I guess I'm going to have to have Mom hold the ladder while I climb it and do this last piece. I hope my life insurance is paid up. Everything has turned out great. We love the color, the new roof, the light fixtures, windows and window trim. Now Tracey wants Shane to put in new windows, Sandi wants new light fixtures, and Dan wants to paint his house. Isn't it nice to be a trend setter? I took Saturday off and now this week we will tackle the new door and screen door. I've never done one before so we'll see what happens.

Saturday, Seth and Lacey (actually Weston and Koper) were invited to Scott Billy's daughter's first birthday party at the East Side Market Place. Since they were still in Seattle, Mom and I went down. It was nice. Several friends and family were there. We ended up staying for almost an hour talking to Joe, Scott, Scott's father-in-law, and Dana Rand.

Today was Stake Conference. We took Grandpa since Uncle Chuck and Aunt Brenda are still on their church history tour. Grandpa said he enjoyed it. There were good speakers and much to think about. When we got home Joe was dressing out a deer in his garage. Shane and Zack aren't home yet but they went hunting too. I just don't think I could do it. I would have to be pretty hungry.

The leaves are all turning colors. The drive up 3rd and along Hayes is really pretty. Lots of reds, yellows, and oranges. Yesterday I cut of all the ground cover in front and peonies in back and hauled them to the recycling center. I also cleanup up in the garage and hauled a load to the dump. It's amazing how much accumulates while you are painting (cans, rollers, paper towels, rags, plastic liners, etc.). I checked all the fluids in the cars and fertilized the lawn. I think we're ready for winter.

Keep those blogs and pictures coming.

Recommendation of the Month: May Farms

Sitting on goat heads

'em are some big punkins

End of the Day

"Crack Kills"

Eating My Knees. Adria loved the cart rides.

Did anyone bring water?

Homecoming Royalty '08

Kanyon as a Scarecrow

There was plenty to do at the farm. We first rode in a train of small carts pulled behind a tractor (Case IH). The carts were made out of the same plastic barrels as Tyler's go-kart and spaceship. My knees didn't fit too well. After the cart ride we went through a corn maze. Then we went on a hay ride. They put some straw bales on a flatbed trailer, just like the one grandpa used to have. I told Lisa they used that trailer for homecoming parades, etc. After the hay ride we had a look at the farm animals (a few chickens, four goats, two sheep, two calves, and a piggy we stole from the shed). We then had lunch.

After another ride on the carts we visited the pumpkin patch. Their pumpkin prices were a little higher than Wal-Mart's, so we had to settle for the baby-sized pumpkins. Despite the goats-head thorns that Adria picked up on her bottom when she sat in the field it was a great day. The kids didn't quarrel once. I asked Lisa if she would let me work on the weekends at the farm. I'm sure they pay about $5/hour. One of the kids driving a tractor for the hay rides must have been no older than eleven. Oh, to be raised on a farm!

New Family Search

I was just wondering if anyone has had a chance to check out the new family search website from the church. I have been doing some geneology work, and there are quite a few missing links in our family. For instance-Erik is Kent and Martha's only child listed and Grandpa and Grandma Zirker were married two times to each other and only have two children.

The website is new.familysearch.org and to log-on you need your membership number (from your recommend) and your confirmation date. As more of us log on and link our information the site will update itself.

So far we have several family names to take to the temple from the Walkers, Evansons and Zirker lines. I love being able to go with names that have a little more meaning to me personally. It is a really user-friendly site and helps to eliminate duplicate work being done...So just a plug from this end to encourage your participation.

Jamie

Update on Seth's Dad

They did an MRI yesterday and found that Dale has torn the tendons that attach his muscles to his knees, in both knees... So, he is having surgery on Wednesday and they will reattach everything. Everyone is too busy to do it today. He will probably come home on Thursday. It is a routine surgery they've done many times before, just never on both knees at the same time. They are doing more tests to see if there is an underlying cause to all of this. He will be out for six weeks. The big concern is what to do with the Deli. Teeny's sister has helped to run it before and she has owned a restaurant so she may come up from California, that's the best solution for now. We will stay until Dale comes home and probably leave this weekend. We are going to get the house ready for him. They will be bringing in a hospital bed and a nurse will come check on him for the first couple of weeks. That's it for now.

Andra's 6th Birthday

Here are a couple of pictures taken just before the camera took a little swim in the river.

Unfortunately we do not have any pictures to post for her big day. Our Camera is official dead. It will turn on and it pretends to work, right up until you take a picture. The screen stays black and the pictures are just little black squares on the computer when I download them.

Andra had a great day though. After church we had her favorite meal of broccoli cheese soup and fresh rolls. Then we opened presents, our home teachers came over, we sang and then had a little chocolate cake.

She got a Hannah Montana barbie doll set for her birthday, along with all of the fun tinker-bell things from Grandma and Grandpa Z. She loves the locking diary! Thanks Martha. Your gifts are always so perfect. Hallee and Trent gave her some lip gloss and cards. She had "the best birthday ever" (in her own words.)

It was a nice day! The kids have one more week off of school. We have had a lot of fun but I am ready to get back into the school schedule. We have been swimming, to the park, on bike rides, picnics, and had sewing class, cooking class and music class. They will be off again in December and January for 6 weeks.

Hope that all of you are doing great and that Seth's dad is feeling better soon.

What ever happened to...?

In checking the lists of old blog posts, we haven't posted since July 22. Brant gave me a call tonight and told me to get with it and let everyone know we're still alive.

Our home hunting endeavors continue. We talked to Wells Fargo last week and put in our paperwork to get pre-approved. We continue to cruise through neighborhoods and pick up a lot of fliers and talk with a few agents in the ward. As the markets continue to tumble were foolish enough to jump on the sinking ship.

Last Monday we made the 90 mile voyage to Moscow and enjoyed a visit with family and Seth's birthday. Kimbre did Lacey's hair and I made a trip to Tri-State (CDA Tri-State just doesn't cut it) and Wally World. I also paid a visit to the Richard's household and picked up Uncle Chuck's .30-06. Some of my co-workers have talked me into going deer hunting. We'll see how it goes...

As for work, I've had my share of crazy nutty people. Travis and I exchanged a few emails this week and I made mention of growing up in a home with stable working parents, the gospel, and positive outlook. It certainly makes a lifelong difference. Another deputy told me early on in my career that 5% of the people commit 95% of the crimes. Well we get to babysit and deal with that 5% over and over. I'm a 27 year old kid telling adults how to play nice in the sandbox.

Kimbre is doing great and loving work. She feels bad she never has anything to post on the Zirker blog, but she has done a great job of trying to jump start her family with a blog of their own. See http://steveandsuemeyers.blogspot.com/ for a glimpse at the other half.

sponteneity

Yes, we are in Seattle. Seth's dad is doing fine. He was making bagel deliveries yesterday morning and as he was going into his last store, his legs collapsed and he was unable to get up. It was 5 am, so not a lot of people around to help. He tried for 20 minutes to get up before some morning cleaners came out of the store and found him. He is at the University of Washington Medical Center. We're not real sure what happened, they said something about a lactic acid build up which tears apart the muscles. It's something that is common for athletes and marathoners, so they're not real sure why it happened to him. He was supposed to come home today (and so were we) but they have more tests to do tomorrow. We'll leave tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday morning. Seth would like to stay until his dad comes home.
Earlier this week I was feeling like my life was finally coming under control and that as soon as Kimbre finished chopping my hair off, life would be pretty chill...never think that. On Tuesday, as Kimbre was getting ready to start on my hair, my cute little neighbor came to me with a major crisis and needed guidance. She's not a member and didn't know where to turn and my name popped into her head. I was glad she came to me. My fabulous relief society neighbors have helped bring her family meals and are quietly surrounding her with support. The whole situation has made me grateful for the church and every aspect of organization we have to deal with crisis - priesthood blessings, LDS social services, fast offerings, relief society meals, mini enrichments, the whole system works! (Imagine that...)
Saturday afternoon while Seth was home between softball games, his mom called with news about his dad, so after Seth's last game we decided to drive to Seattle. We left at 6pm and arrived a little before 11pm. The kids slept the whole way and it was dark enough that we didn't have to stare at the great nothingness around Othello and Royal City.
So that's what's up with us. Hope all is well with your families, be grateful for every aspect of the gospel!!!
Kimbre, thanks again for the fabulous hair cut, I have received many a compliment about it and have requests for you to do hair in Moscow.

Peace out.

I SPY...

a sand dome.

Happy Pumpkin Day!!!

Tonight Aimee and Tyler dug out the old Lite Brite. Aimee created this pumpkin and then Kori had fun pulling out the pieces and trying to put them back in.

Last night a friend from the ward got married at the neighboring stake center in Golden. The building is just like the Moscow stake center. The wedding was nice and then it was fun to visit with friends during the reception. They asked me to help decorate and hang two parachute halves from the ceiling. (Think of two trapezoids with their long ends joined at center court.) The only problem- they do not allow any hooks or holes. I solved the problem by reaching up through a crack and tying on to the bolts which hold the track for the dividing curtains. Sure enough the local building Nazi came and started looking around for new holes. I wish I could have seen his face when he didn't find a single hook or hole. They said he looked pretty puzzled as he left.

Dad, the house sure looks great! Keep sending the updated pictures.

Brant

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY ANDRA!

I'm just glad to say last week is over. At the start of the week we found out the house we had the offer on, actually accepted our offer. We were amazed and in panic mode because we still have our house, and of course my realtor went out of town. After a few tears we came to the realization that we couldn't have it, due to a time crunch. The bank had to close by Nov 4 or the house went to auction and we lost our money. So it was out of our hands unfortunately. I was sad but obviously it wasn't meant to be, even though I had convinced myself that it was. Oh well...so now what are we doing with our house? We still don't know. We'll keep you posted. We have started pulling our "stuff" out of the storage unit and realized we have a storage unit attached to our house. The garage is free and a lot closer if we ever need to pull something out. Hooray for that. I've been missing a few things.

Wednesday I got a flat tire on the way to pick up the boys from school. I had forgotten my cell phone so I called Kevin from the local pizza joint that I stopped in front of. Three times, he ignored my call to get the boys. I was a panicky mother by this point. I asked several people to help but no one could. I was going to start doing it myself. Kevin's showed me how to do it, but it's different when you really HAVE to. Eventually, the truck stop next to the pizza joint helped me out. But alas I was still 15 minutes late to get the boys. As I pulled into the school, there was Kevin sitting with the boys. I couldn't believe he was there. I had forgotten he was volunteering at the school that day. Phew!

Besides all that, Kevin's been sick with the nasty cold he gets every 6 months so things here haven't been the most exciting. We're builidng shelves in the closets so we can have more food storage. SO that's fun to do home improvements. Ta ta for now.

Ta Da !!!

What the neighbors have been seeing
What they see now (the front and side are actually the same color - they just look different)

The south end

It is now a race between me and the weather. Saturday was nice (55 degrees and sunny) so I painted, mowed, hauled trash, shut off the drinking fountain, etc. Last night the temperature dropped to 20 degrees so I don't have much time left. I figure this week ought to complete the painting and then all I have to do is install the new front door (last weeks picture was planned so you couldn't see the door. It is the anticipation that makes it fun) and storm door and put the casings around the inside of the new windows (that is my winter project). I could hear a collective sigh of relief from the neighborhood as I finished painting the south side of the house. Now I just have the back and north end.

Joe and Scott went hunting this morning - no word on any success. The dear hunt is big here but nothing like in Utah.

Seth and Lacey are in Seattle. They were going to a dinner/dance/speaker thing put on by the town stake but yesterday afternoon they got a phone call that Seth's dad had collapsed and was in the hospital. The collapse seems to be from something in his legs. Something to do with acid buildup or something (Lacey and Seth, please give more enlightenment and straighten us out on what is going on). They plan to return home on Monday. As of this afternoon they still weren't sure of the exact cause.

That's it for now.

random thoughts

T-rav requested that I put something up on the blog. Something interesting. Something to cause a ruckus. Something with pictures. Something everyone will comment on, in hopes that the slight blogging lull we've been experiencing will go away.

Alas, I have nothing noteworthy to write about.

Instead, I'm just going to give you the highlights of our week:

• We're almost finished arranging our stuff into our new dungeonous apartment. We bought some shelves for the kitchen, realized that we keep a pitiful amount of food on hand (if a disaster happens, we'll be good for a few days...and then I'll have to run to Smith's to grab a few things...), and hung some pictures.
• We had our first freeze of the season.
  
• The leaves are finally changing, albeit to a brownish shade of red, orange, and yellow. Pretty, but no east coast. ("You east coasters are so uppity about your autumns!" -T-rav)
  
• Our rotten Honda broke down again (while en route to IKEA) and a new water pump, which will cost 60$ or 600$ depending on if you ask the dealership or do it yourself.
  
• I made delicious whole wheat bread yesterday because it was cold, cloudy, and rainy- a perfect day for baking.
• Our furnace has now been on for 7 hours straight, which the new landlord doesn't seem to have noticed. But at least I'm toasty warm.
  
• T-rav gets the day off tomorrow. Thanks Columbus!!
• Tonight I have my 3rd Christmas Chorus rehearsal. Yes, Christmas music already! (We need all the practice we can get, so we start early).

Hope you're all having a nice eve.

Oh, and here are some random pictures for you.

Me and me mum by Edinburg Castle.


Bet you didn't know your brother was a drinker now, did you?


Ah, Disneyland. Let's have our next family reunion there!!

We just pulled in from Denver and we are poaching wireless internet from someone named "candicepc" right now because our internet connection is upstairs and we are now downs stairs. We had a great time in Denver. We felt bad that we didn't get to see our fam more but it was good to spend a lot of time with Kelly's dad and Gramps. Kelly's grandpa has recovered pretty well from his stroke. He sometimes forgets which word he wants to say but other than that nothing seems to have changed.

The fall colors through the Vail valley were splendid. It looked almost like parts of the valley were on fire with the bright yellow aspens. As usual we had a wide range of weather on the trip. Rain, snow, sushine and graupel all withing five minutes on the road. We also saw a huge double rainbow along I-70, somewhere between Grand Junction and Green River. Did you know that the color sequence is opposite on the two bands of a double rainbow?

Thanks Erik and Jaime for the hospitality and meals.

DAM Trip

Yesterday was free day at the Denver Art Museum (what did you think my title meant???) The kids got little artist smocks and got to make their own drawings. We wandered around and looked at everything form pre-columbian art, to native american art, to contempary art. Each room had a little "I Spy" game that the kids could play to keep them entertained.

I also discovered this week that you can only push your tires so far. I knew that I needed new tires on the focus, but kept putting it off. On Friday, as I pulled away from a red light, something felt weird. Sure enough, a blowout on the front tire. Luckily there was room on the shoulder and I got it changed pretty quick. Yesterday, I got a new set put on. It might be just me, but it seems to float along now.

Friday we got together at Erik's to visit with Travis and Kelly. Les had a play to attend, so it was me and four kids. Not a lot of visiting with adults, but the kids had fun. I hope you made it home safe Travis, I know it was snowing in the mountains.

Tuesday, the YM/YW played "Where's Wardo." I was one of six people hiding in an outdoor shopping area. I put on a mullet wig and some sunglasses. I then found a bench and sat down to read an Auto-Trader. Two girls walked right by me and I heard them say, "I think it is just a homeless guy." No one ever found me and they had a good laugh when I walked up to the group at the end.

Conference was good as usual. I especially enjoyed the Priesthood Session and Pres. Uchtdorf's talk- Stand close together and lift where you stand.

Have a great week!

Brant

I spy the Shop Smith

Chapter 17 - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

The new lights on the garage and by the doors.
The new lock set for the front door

The new front door

We got a little carried away on phase two and haven't even finished phase one. If the weather holds and I take a day off this week I hope to finish painting the house. The whole neighborhood will breath a sigh of relief.

Mom and I went to Home Depot yesterday and spent all our money. We had been looking at brochures on doors and had some ideas in mind but when the sales guy pulled out the first door, Mom said, "we'll take it" (see picture above). We'll show you what it looks like when we get it installed. It was fun shopping and buying new stuff to make the house look "nicer". After all those years we like how it is turning out. We also bought a storm door for the front. It has full length glass with two lines of etching around the outer edge. It should be here is a couple of weeks.

We watched conference today. The video stream was terrible so we mostly listened to it. We enjoyed the talks. Several of them had to seep into my mind past my eyelids.

Fall is here. The weather has been rainy and the highs are in the 50's. Hope the paint will dry.

Travis and Kelly, we are anxious to see your new apartment. Hope you like it.

We envy you Zirker kids in Denver that are in your vacation time. Looks like you are enjoying exploring and having fun.

I need to rest up for painting this week so I better sign off.

It's official...

We are now basement dwellers. Our computer is the last thing we are taking downstairs. Everything else is in and a bunch of friends came over to help us clean. So tonight we'll wade through the boxes and we'll start unpacking when we get back from Denver on Sunday.

Our address is now 368 North 100 East and everything else is the same.

Golden

Last friday the kids were out of school and Erik took the day off. We decided to go for a family bike ride and picnic in Golden. We were having a great time riding along the river, fishing with string and rocks (We didn't catch anything but an old shoe) and playing on the shore...
Right up until I dropped our digital camera into the river. Luckily Erik is quick and cameras do not float. We recovered the camera, pulled out the SD card and are anxiously waiting to see if the camera will dry out and still work. We'll see! We actually did have a lot of fun. We just were not able to get any pictures at the city park where we ate, the kids piled up leaves, climbed trees and played a little frisbee.