More fun in June

Naomi's been begging, and finally got her own library card. She's probably already lost it. And all the books she checked out on it. But that bill's on her, right? I don't think I let her put my name on the "parent" line. I'm not telling you which of your names I wrote. You'll know it when you get the bill.

The annual G'Knight ride, a bicycle ride through the streets of Longmont. These guys took on the three mile course and no one cried, so that's good.

Amelia and Naomi are ready to go. Next year we'll get them on a tandem bike.

I stayed back with Suzi, and I cannot give Clifton enough credit for taking all three kids, one of whom had never ridden further than our cul-de-sac, on a 3 mile ride.

Steve took this one for us during the ride.

Amelia finished first, got off her bike, and ran back to run the finish with Naomi. You can see in the distance that Asher is doing the same for Annika. Such great friends.

Annika came in right after. With tires that small she has to pedal about 7 times for every one rotation of an adult tire. It's pretty funny to watch.

Clifton finishing up with Sarah.

After the guys finished with the kids we had our girls' night out with friends from church to celebrate with Suzi.

We drank some beer, ate good food, talked a lot...

... and Suzi and Catie cannot pass up a chance to do-si-do to live music. 

A couple days later we got to meet sweet Atticus James Parsons

The girls were enamored with him.

At the end of the week we headed to Telluride for the annual Bluegrass Festival. We stayed in Placerville this year, about 20 miles outside Telluride. This is the house we rented with the Clarks and Eurys.

This is the tent we threatened to make kids sleep in...

...but decided to let them sleep in this bunk-train instead. See Neve and Annika poking their heads out of their bunk? We have yet to prove that sleep actually occurred in these bunks at any point in the trip, but they were far enough way from the rest of us that we kindof just gave up. Poor Silas was in that milddle bunk and had no idea what he was in for.

There were hiking trails on the property (because nothing says hiking like dresses and flip flops)...

... and lots of hammocks.

This is the sunset from the deck.

To get to the festival you park in Mountain Village and take a 15 minute gondola ride...

...which drops you right down into Telluride (seen in the distance in this pic).

At the festival with the stage in the background. It was beautiful but hot, maybe too hot. Apparently kids don't just like to sit and be hot and drink beer and listen to music for twelve hours the way adults do.

This venue is amazing.

 

Sarah's ready for some bluegrass.

But only for three seconds. Then she just wanted to steal Silas's trains. Because *his* parents actually thought to bring things for him to do.

Annika did get up and dance. For one song. But it was worth it.

We love these friends!

This is what Sarah looks like after playing in dirt for a day.

It gives you a nice idea of what she'd look like if she started penciling in some eyebrows, with terrible accuracy.

We got some pizza for dinner and sat down next to some random dude sleeping in a hammock. 'Cause that's how the festival rolls.

Back at the house we took turns with the master bedroom. Because the bed was on a track, that rolled out on a deck, so you could sleep outside under the stars. It was amazing.

This was our sunrise. Waking at 5:30 doesn't feel so bad when you wake up to this.

The kids greeted Clifton with some Father's Day cards.

And we had a special Father's Day breakfast with the whole gang.

After breakfast the guys explored the property while playing a round of frisbee golf.

...while Naomi and Audrey rested in a hammock.

Mark hauled out his slack line. This is how you are supposed to look. 

This is how we looked... falling...

...getting hands all splintered when you desperately grab back for the tree. But I'm hooked. I want to get one of these. And also a yard with some trees. And if we could get that view in our backyard that would be great too.

Naomi just laying back in the hammock.

 

There was a fun little zip line which could not go fast enough for Sarah.

Father's Day dinner... This place had so many great views.

Mark built this fire. There may or may not have been an insane number of dead pine needles in his kindling.

And every campfire needs some smores.

...which always starts like this...

...and ends like this.

  

Happy Father's Day to this guy. So thankful that we have him.

One last hammock shot before we put the kids to bed. Or at least in the room where they could, in theory, sleep.

Then we hit the volleyball court again. As it turns out, we suck more when the sun is setting.

And this was our drive home. Or at least 20 minutes of the nine hour drive. But what a great 20 minutes that was. Until next year, Telluride!