fun on the run

so we went to elitch's amusement park on saturday, and the day started out cold. but we stuck it out and everyone (especially the boys) had a good time. adam liked the ball guns so he

could shoot complete strangers. sam liked the little roller coaster, especially the turns. and joey liked the train that went smoothly in a circle. what fun! mom and dad rode the mind eraser, and now my voice hurts. it also wasn't too cool to get off and have a bunch of scott's middle school students watching our pictures. those little stinkers.

adam also had his denver public schools shakespeare festival this week at the denver center for the performing arts. here he is as a fairy in a midsummer night's dream. he skipped very well. he was also a good sport as a clod of dirt in macbeth. i swear he looked like he would passout after being under that sheet for eight minutes in the full sun. it was pretty funny to watch.

this is erik helping...he is good company to have around the house.

water and dinosaurs

adam and scott went with their cub scout pack to dinosaur ridge for scout day...they learned a lot about rocks and dinosaurs...and putting sun screen on one's neck. they had a good time and i was very jealous...i wanted to go too.

dinosaur footprints... adam climbing the dinosaur footprints...



chrissy, spencer, mckay, joey, erik and i went to a fountain park...it was supposed to be hot, but the sun never came out. we (and especially joey) still had a good time.

next week...field day, grandma ridge's visit, shakespeare festival, band day at eliche's

future scientists

these past two weeks were the archuleta and denver northeast science fairs. sam's kindergarten class and adam entered projects. and both won grandprize(1st) at archuleta's fair. there was one winner per grade. so both got to go to the regional (denver northeast) fair. there adam took 1st place! sam's class received 3rd place! we were very proud of all the hard work these two boys put into their projects. adam learned about lift and gravity and paper airplanes. sam learned about growing crystals. both knew their stuff. we may never have any sports trophys, but we've got one with a beaker and an atom. we rock!

please see sam's picture next week since i didn't have his board for him to pose in front of.

ode to forms of transportation

this week the graves did many things. it was our spring break.

we started the week picking up our new van. it is very nice, drives well, the stereo works and has no duck-tape(yet). we were very excited.

next adam participated in his pinewood derby. we headed to the church and hoped the glue would dry quickly. adam and scott had a good time making their car and they did a good job. adam's a-wing (modeled after the star wars edition) didn't lose any races...until it started to fall apart. he was in first place until the final tournament--things went downhill (ha, ha) from there. but he had a great time. only 11 more derby cars for scott to go!

we also went to the park and took the boys' bikes. adam kinda knows how to ride a bike, but we decided to make sure. the other boys took advantage of the sun and climbed to their hearts' content.

and finally we took a little trip to southwest colorado to a small town called hotchkiss. we played and talked and ate and slept and tried to sleep. there were trains everywhere! the area is beautiful, the people friendly and we had a good time but were very glad to come home.

and now it's back to school...see you next sunday.

easter piano recital

sam had his first piano recital on saturday. adam participated, too. both played primary songs and both did a great job. i can't believe they can play the piano! thank you aunt chrissy for being a fun teacher. enjoy their performances below.

now we (Scott and the boys) have spring break. i wish the weather was warmer so we could spend more of it outside. we're going to the park tomorrow so adam can finally learn to ride a bike...and he's going to do it! maybe we'll take our kite too. oh--and the pinewood derby is tomorrow night. i hope adam is pleased with his car. he and scott have spent a lot of time together making it look like an a-wing from star wars. the pilot is a lego man. i hope he drives fast tomorrow.

We're back!

i know it's been a long time...but life is busy. Here's what's been going on: We now have two boys in school all day. Adam is in 2nd grade and Sam is in Kindergarten. Joey and Erik and i hang out at home and scott works at columbia ms. this is the boys under the blanket grandma gayla made for us.

in october adam was baptized by his dad. can you believe it!?! he got legos, a pokemon movie, ties and new scriptures -- who could ask for more?

then we went to utah and spent halloween there with grandma and grandpa ridge. link, stegosaurus and batman went trick or treating, but the scarecrow stayed home in the warm house.

since then we've been home, going through the routine of school, homework, dinner, piano lessons, prayer and sleep...and then start all over again the next day. we are looking forward to the holiday break...christmas here we come!

Our family vacation

for our family vacation we camped for a week at four different national parks. we had a lot of fun and made good memories. and it was a little crazy, but the boys were very patient and everyone slept well--two very important ingredients.

we first went to arches n.p. and met gma and gpa ridge. we hiked to a few arches but got very hot and tired...and the hike went on and on. we found out later that it was 105 degrees while we were hiking on red slick rock. not to be recommended. afterward we cooled off in gma and gpa's new trailer. we took baths in their tub and left a good ring around it.

next we went to the grand canyon in arizona. that is one big hole! adam was very nervous the whole time that one of his younger brothers would fall in. but we all somehow survived. we also met some new friends (7 and 4 year-old girls) at the campground and they entertained us a lot with tree houses and learning the ways of girls. very different!

we were all now ready for a shower and some clean laundry so we headed to mesa verde n.p. where there were facilities we could use. we enjoyed climbing around the ruins there and pretending we lived there 1500 years ago. and being clean. at least mom did.

and finally we arrived at the great sand dunes n.p. but by now we were pretty travel weary. after erik spewed all over amy and we ran out of formula and clean clothes, we were getting a little tired of vacation. but the final straw was when amy carried joey on her back for half a mile back to camp to get the van and then found out that she didn't have keys. she then hiked another mile and a half over the desert to catch back up to the rest of the boys. dad took the keys back, threw everything in the van and we were out of there. but we did have some fun there and decided that we want to go back sometime soon. the boys quickly fell asleep in the car and we arrived home at 1:00 in the morning a day early. we were very excited to sleep in our beds and to not to have to put up the tent again.

we'd like to give a special thanks to all those who made this trip possible:

dennis and linda, bob and carol, angie and tom, chrissy and pete, the mechanic who fixed the van air conditioning and mostly to scott who put up and took down the tent eight times in one week. thank you! (and no thank you to the stupid ravens at the grand canyon who ate half our supply of formula)