We are back from our extended camping trip to Leadville.  We have been going for the last few years, so even though there was a fire burning near Leadville and a total fire ban was enacted just days before we left, we decided to go anyway.  We rented a pop-up again, which just makes it all the easier to stay for a longer period of time.  Usually we get a day or two of heavy rain at some point, but we didn't get that this time.  It is still nice to sleep up off the ground and to have a place inside to sit and relax.  If we had somewhere to store it at the house we probably would buy one, but not sure it's worth it to buy one and pay to store it somewhere when we only use it once or twice a summer.  It seems that we never have as many free weekends as it seems we should during camping season.  Scot's only on-call twice this summer, which is a nice change since sometimes it has been as often as every 4-5 weeks, depending on how many employees there are.  Anyway, it seemed to go well.  The boys and I drove the trailer up on Friday afternoon, and then Scot drove up after work with the bikes.  The kids mostly played around the camp with their friends, riding bikes or playing frisbee, but we also walked down to the lake a few times for fishing.  Scot got to take a couple bike rides, with and without the kids, and then one day we all went on a trail around Leadville called the Mineral Belt trail.  It has lots of information and artifacts posted along the trail, so it was fun.  It was a 3-mile climb to the summit, so the kids were not too thrilled with that part, but they made it and were rewarded with a 6-mile downhill.  They probably did about 10 miles total of the trail.  Scot rode the last couple miles to get the car because it was all uphill again once we got into town, and we just waited at the park for him to come with the car.  We had pizza in town one night, which was nice.  There is a really good pizza place there, which we usually order on 4th of July before the fireworks, but since they were cancelled this year, we just went to the parade in the morning and then headed back to Denver to see fireworks here at the Rapids game.  It turned out to be a really good fireworks show, but it took us forever to get out of the parking lot afterwwards.  It was a long day!  Now we are back to our regular summer schedule, which is just the track and field class 3X a week.  Declan is really enjoying it, and Owen is putting up with it.  His friend from soccer is taking it also, so at least he knows someone.  We are trying to get some trips in to Elitch's, but this week the weather is a bit cool for the water park. 

Owen has all his new furniture in his room now, but is still working on getting things put back in.  I am just as happy if most of it stays out to get rid of, but he needs to decide soon so it's not all sitting down here in a big pile!  I see a yard sale in our future, if I can get my act together to organize it.  Now the kids are more willing to get rid of things if they can get a little money for it, but I would rather just donate it most of the time.

Well, I have to say that it's been so long since I've posted anything, Blogger is all different now.  I did a little updating of my scrapbook site so I think I figured out how to do the things I usually do with the new format.

I have no good excuse for not writing, so I'm trying to force myself to join the world again.  I spend a lot of time by myself during the school year, and it just seems to make me more melancholy, so I'm trying to perk up for summer.  I am proud of myself for finishing Owen's room, which included getting everything out of there so I could paint all walls and clean the carpet.  Owen helped a lot, which was nice.  It's easy for him to do the roller parts with the paint, so I focused more on the trickier spots.  It has been way too hot for painting lately, so I think I finished just in time!

My friend that I've known since 2nd grade just came through town on her cross-country journey.  She is moving from Washington, D.C. to a town near Ashland, Oregon.  She is traveling with her boyfriend who decided to make the move with her, and they seem very happy.  They were unable to find a hotel room here, which was surprising, but I guess there are a lot of fire evacuees staying in rooms, and there is also a big sports tournament in town right now.  They stayed here, which worked out just fine.  Scot and I just slept downstairs in my craft room.  They were worried about the U-haul, but there is parking for that on the main road next to our house.  The only small issue was that her dog was even more alpha than Tobey wants to be, so fur was flying.  We were able to keep them apart most of the time, but it was kind of funny seeing Tobey scared of another dog.  Usually he is the one with the bullying tendencies.  I found a babysitter so we went out to dinner for a couple hours, which was a nice treat.  The kids just don't seem to like sitting around listening to adults talk while eating slowly for some strange reason...I think they were happy to get to stay at home!

We're getting ready for camping and I'm picking up the pop-up rental tomorrow.  The kids and I will leave Friday afternoon and then Scot will drive up after work with the bikes.  It's not really a surprise, but fires were totally banned a couple days ago, so that was kind of a disappointment.  It's a small part of camping, so hopefully we can still have fun and get away from the heat.  Since fireworks are cancelled we'll come back on 4th of July instead of having to get up early and rush out of there on Thursday morning to get the rental back by noon.  I am wondering if there will be any fireworks anywhere since one county has banned the commercial displays so I'm guessing the others will follow.  Also a disappointment but completely understandable and probably the best plan for our state right now!