Random Summer Fun

This little cowboy is killing us with his cuteness. Some days, I think he will kill us with his lack of useful language skills. The boy can make animal sounds with the best of them. And will sing all the livelong day. But words like more, up, down, all done, off, milk etc. are not to be found. It's coming soon, I know. But I feel sorry for the little guy in the meantime.
Eating watermelon at the river.
Isabel and Milo did 6 weeks worth of intensive swim lessons and are actual swimmers these days. It's pretty sweet and a pretty relief. AND it pretty much wore them out every day. And that was pretty sweet too.

If he could be outside all day, every day that would be great. Thank you very much.

Cute neighbor Amanda (with her own Ergo) and her cute baby, Thane, at the beautiful river with us.

Throwing giant rocks in the river. Watch out for kayakers. They were out in droves.

Isabel and her "friend since I was practically born", Maycee at the river.

Milo played in a 3v3 tournament this summer and took part in the awesome Soccer and Scouting program. He had a blast and is getting better and better. At bossing his teammates around (see above). Kind of kidding on that one. He really is getting better. And he really is a little bossy sometimes. But not usually.

Cuteness.

This guy got his first haircut. I was sweating profusely, trying to hold him steady in the little car/chair. Good thing they have dum-dums there. He held it with white knuckles and looked completely freaked out the entire time. Now, he is just cute. And all business. Get the kid a briefcase.

Colorado Springs: Take Two

Last weekend, we went camping with Grandma Kim, Grandpa Manuel, Kiana, Grandma Cathryn, and Kurt (Grandma Cathryn's booooooyyyyfriend). It was so, so, so much fun. We could spend weeks in CoSprings and not run out of things to do. Mucho memories.

Kiana and Isabel scrambling around on some rocks at Lake Manitou.
Ha ha. Funniest and most awkward situation ever. See above.
Milo: taking care of business in the outhouse FOREVER.
Spencer: standing outside the outhouse offering moral support/keeping away the knockers-who-stress Milo out FOREVER.
That Guy: standing in what he thinks is a line behind Spencer FOREVER.
That Guy: not going into the vacant-the-entire-time women's bathroom or going to one of the six other bathrooms in the campground FOREVER.
The Rest of Us: laughing hysterically at the campground, taking distance shots like this one.

Running around like a wild baby for days. Loved it. Every stinking second of it.

At the top of Pike's Peak eating one of their "world famous donuts". He medium liked them.

Again, at the top eating a "world famous donut". She did not like them and she was not pleased that she didn't get a second option.

Kiana liking her "world famous donut". A lot. The adults like them a lot too. Yum.

4/5ths of the Mestas grandchildren at the summit. A storm rolled in (not a blurry pic--a cloudy pic) just as we reached the top. Bummer but so cool to be walking around in the clouds.

Spencer ruins a cute picture. Isabel takes pretty decent pictures.

If you've camped with Spencer, you know that he spends much time perfecting (read: obsessing over) the perfect s'mores fire and the perfect s'mores. The kids had a few lessons.

Cutie. Not so cutie the next day when she was high on sugar and low on sleep. Day two of camping is always the toughest no?

Working their technique.

Hot dogs (barf), cousins, and cowgirl hats. Doesn't get much better than that. Except for maybe when the grouchy campground host comes by to tell you stories about the bear in the campground and scares your children to tears. Nice. Real nice.

Cathryn doing her Vanna as she shows off the view from Pike's Peak Highway. Does she look peaked? Because we were. That highway is no joke. Switchbacks and sheer dropoffs=nausea for many of us. The grade is also so steep that they check your brake temps on the way down to be sure they aren't going to fail on the way down.

Exploring Garden of the Gods with Grandma Cathryn.

Coming back from a hike around the lake with Grandma. That Grandma Cathryn is always up for a story and an adventure. Milo and Isabel were so sad when she left. They wanted to know if she could come back next weekend and go camping in Colorado Springs AGAIN.

On top of a big boulder with Kiana.