Cousin Wade

We drove right from the Maker Faire to meet the girls' newest cousin and our only nephew, Wade Isaac Prewitt.  Hannah and Olive weren't thrilled to have a boy cousin, but they got more excited when they saw him.  Hannah couldn't believe how tiny he was because he "looked bigger in pictures."  He was due on July 9, but arrived early on June 17 (Father's Day.)  Since June 18 would be 37 weeks (full-term) and he was born just before midnight, he was technically a preemie!  We visited him when he was one week old since the girls both had camp the week after he was born.

playing on the new equipment at the park

Hannah found a baby toad!

Wade reminded me so much of Hannah as a newborn.  She was 2.5 weeks early and had similar coloring and long skinny legs.  They just don't have much fat when they come out early!

We brought the pipeworks for Wade when he is older.  But until then it is something big girls can do when we visit Omaha.  They designed and built this three story cart.

The girls made Wade some onesies.  Marissa sent pictures of him in them.  We bought him a walrus towel for bath time and Olive thought he needed a matching shirt.  She drew the walrus herself by looking at a bath toy!  I helped her with the letters.

Hannah thought he needed some formal wear...with pockets!

Maker Faire

We went to the Maker Faire for the first time.  I could have stayed much longer, but we were on our way to Omaha so we just stayed a couple of hours.

When you hit the paddle it made the fire flare up.

First virtual reality experience

flying drones

Drama Camp

Since Hannah was doing girl scout camp, I signed up Olive for drama camp the same week.  Her camp was only 2:00-6:00 so she still spent two hours without Hannah.  This was torture.  I'm not sure what we would have done if Olive had to be with us all afternoon!  The camp was mostly games, songs, and dances, although they performed a small Wizard of Oz skit on the last day.  Olive was a scarecrow and she had one line.  She enjoyed doing something on her own and meeting new people.  There is NO WAY I would have done a camp like that at her age (or even older).  We are proud of her for trying something new!

This was on superhero day

On 80's day she wore a real outfit from the 80's.

Girl Scout Camp

We got back from vacation so Hannah could go to girl scout camp.  Girls K-6 go to the camp, but her troop had never gone before.  I remember loving girl scout day camp when I was a kid so I thought it would be a great idea for Hannah.  I'm not quite ready for her to do sleep-away camp.  Day camp from 1:00-8:30pm seemed like a good first step.  She loved it!  They went swimming, zip-lining, had a camp out, and did lots of crafts.

She made 100 "swaps" before camp to trade with the other campers.  She pinned them on her backpack.

The camp had a star wars theme and they got to "meet" some of the characters.  Darth Vader even made an appearance.  

All the girl scouts.

She had so much fun she wants to go every year and then be a teen leader!  I'm not sure we'll make it that many years in girl scouts, but I'm glad she had such a good experience.

Road Trip- Part 3

We backtracked to Glen Canyon/Lake Powell and spent the afternoon swimming.  Steve said he could see down 10 feet in the lake!

Time to cross something off the bucket list: Antelope Slot Canyon.  We went to Lower Antelope Canyon which is more "adventurous" with ladders and tighter spaces (and also cheaper).  You have to go with a Native American guide because it is on Navajo land.  It is probably the coolest place I've ever been.  The sandstone was breathtaking.  It is hard to believe it was all carved by water.

The old footholds are on the left.

exiting the canyon

Four Corners

 Next stop: Mesa Verde.  We camped one night here and did a tour of Cliff Palace the next day.

Steve wanted to go through mining towns in Colorado on our way back.  First stop was Durango.

We started to head north to our campsite, but then we saw the road was closed because of the 416 Fire.  It turns out the campsite was evacuated.  We turned back and stayed at a site south of Durango.  The highway opened up at 8:00am and when we drove through the town again everything was covered in smoke.

 We drove on the Million Dollar Highway, but the views were a little hazy because of the fire.  Next stop was Ouray.  I was surprised at how cute all the old mining towns were.

We ate lunch on a rooftop.

Next stop: Rocky Mountain National Park.  The picture doesn't capture how amazing this looked in the middle of the forest.  

We saw lots of female elk at the Grand Canyon, but this was our first male with antlers.

Then we saw a bear!!

 Estes Park- I wish we could have stayed here longer.  It is one of my favorite towns.  We just did the Riverwalk and ate dinner because we were trying to get to Fort Collins that night.

We stayed with Walter in Fort Collins for a few days.  The girls were amazed that he lived in a regular house in a subdivision.  I asked where they thought he lived and they said, "I don't know.  On a rock?"  Although Water stays at our house at least once a year, the last time we visited him the girls were super little.  The only thing Hannah remembered was doughnuts.  

Horsetooth Falls

We saw lots of mule deer on vacation.  This one was the closest.

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.  I'd been missing museums on our mostly nature vacation.  This one was mostly about sound.  The coolest thing was making your own instruments.

Twin Silos Park in Fort Collins was one of the coolest parks we've ever been to.  They repurposed a silo into a big slide.

Walter was kind enough to babysit for us so we could have a date night for our 14th anniversary.

saying goodbyes

We figured out on the road that we had all packed a KC shirt for the trip, so we decided to wear them on the same day.

 Colorado's state flower

One mile high at the Denver capitol building

Denver Museum of Nature and Science 

She is making her neck as long as possible

Fort Hays

Milford Nature Center in Junction City, KS was surprisingly pretty cool.

Back home in Kansas City we discovered this giant slide.

We did it!  What an amazing experience to spend 3 weeks on the road with my family!  I realize this was not everyone's idea of a vacation; it was a far cry from a beach resort!  I love seeing new sights and being in nature, and I'm so happy my kids do too.  And it is way more fun now that they are little older and are able to do more things like hike.  It was also very special since Steve and I both remember family road trips growing up and now we get to make those same memories with our own kids...and some in the exact same places like Four Corners and Grand Canyon!  I can't wait until our next family adventure!