Summer Begins

Spring and Summer have started with lots of action. Max celebrated his first birthday at the end of April. Gigi and Diddy Swihart joined in the fun with a trip from Michigan. Our friends Jenn, Nate, and Breck also made the trek to Colorado. We had lots of fun with the two little men and a Circus themed birthday party. At the end of the visit, Max started walking. Over the last few weeks he has worked on perfecting his steps. My brother Fred married Emily at a beautiful wedding in Iowa. We loved being part of their celebration. They have a huge yard and we were impressed by all the green grass. Max enjoyed showing off his moves at the reception. Once the music started, we couldn't get him off the dance floor. He even participated in the dance off circle. We knew it was time to go when he crawled off the floor and layed his head on my lap. Our summer camping kicked off with a family trip to the National Sand Dunes in Southern Colorado. Andy's sister and her family joined us for some water and sand. In the early summer, the mountain snow run off creates a shallow river that runs through the dunes. We had quite the adventure getting to the dunes. We followed the directions of our GPS and ended up on a 3 hour detour in the middle of the mountains on a road/nature trail. The 3 kids handled it well and Andy practiced his manuevering of our camper on the crazy terrain. Grammie and Granpa Gary were also able to join us for a picnic at the dunes. Max loved playing with his cousins in the sand and water. We couldn't keep him clean and he would only stop to eat and have his diaper changed. He loved going into the quickest and deepest part of the river with Andy. We are all looking forward to more summer adventure. Andy is headed to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. Max and I are headed to Michigan for some family time and Florida with some of our WP friends. We are also planning another trip to Iowa for the big Mississippi Valley fair and horse show.