Kindergarten Christmas program

Nothing much to report, just a few pictures and a couple videos from the girls Kindergarten Christmas program... enjoy!

Madison after the concert. 

The beginnings of a dog pile.

Cookie time for Audrey!

Zoie saying stinky cheese.

All worn out after the big performance! 

2013 Wrap-up

It has been a blur of a year and it appears that 2014 is almost here. 

Things have been rolling along smoothly here in Casper. Our jobs are good and the kids are having a great time in Kindergarten. We have explored the area a bit and found a couple of interesting places within 20 minutes of our doorstep. The 1st one is a place called Crimson Dawn  http://www.crimsondawnpark.org/ . It is a piece of land homesteaded by the Forsling family. The mother apparently entertained the kids with tales of fairies and other mystical creatures that lived among them on the mountain. She donated the land posthumously to the state to be used as a park. There are trails that take you along to the shrine of different creatures and the plaques tell the tale of each one. There was one shrine called the Dog Graveyard that is supposedly the resting place for numerous pets. The sign says that "the most famous being Sherpa, a Japanese war dog from Korea", and includes a "Tribute to the Dog" by former Senator George Graham Vest which is quite moving. The girls had a blast looking for the Topaz Witch or the Woodsman, and other creatures. 

The next spot we hit later on is the Braille Trail http://www.casperwyoming.info/specmerchant.php?id=10771 . It is maintained by the Lion's Club and is a easy hike and quite fascinating. There is a fence that runs along the trail which has a rope rung to hold on to. You can grab a pair of "blackout" wraparound sunglasses at the trail head to mimic walking the trail blind. Each stop along the trail has a plaque that describes (in braille and in written word) the scenery and what the landscape is made up of. Excuse the pun, but it was an eye opening hike. 

 Ahhhhhhh, what a nice summer. Symphony in the park, riding our bikes, bbq... then there's fall. October 4th we hit a high of 31 degrees (record coldest high) and received 16.2 inches of snow (record daily snowfall) http://www.crh.noaa.gov/riw/?n=cpr_snow_record . We spent most of the rest of October cleaning up all the broken limbs from our yard. 

The girls went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with Krista and they made off with quite the haul. This Thanksgiving was the first one for us to be away from family. We threw together a good feast and made the most of it in our new place. Now Christmas is upon us and we are mostly prepared... mostly. The house is decorated and yes, even the stockings have been hung by the chimney with care. 

Grabbing a snack and some water along the way.

The Dog Graveyard

The girls at the site of the Star Witch 

Zero and Baxter working closely as a team. MUSH!

General silliness! 

Entering the Braille Trail. 

Audrey looks like quite the explorer (not Dora).

Madison down by the creek.

Audrey leading Grammy.

Audrey splashing in the creek.

October snow.

Zoie and Audrey stomping around.

There was more than enough snow to make snow angels.

Having a ball.

O-Christmas tree!

Zoie tenderizing a pork chop (note the Christmas Story apron).

The girls with Christiane Noll http://www.christycat.com/Christiane/ after the Wyoming Symphony Christmas concert. 

Playing games with Grammy.

Camping and Kindergarten!

We're all getting settled in down here in Casper. The boxes are unpacked and this house is looking more like our home. We decided to sneak in a camping trip before the kiddos started Kindergarten.

I took a Friday off and we headed north to Buffalo, WY. I found out the morning we left that this was the "Longmire Days" weekend in Buffalo aptly named after the Longmire books (and TV show) by author Craig Johnson. For that weekend the town is known by its fictional name of Durant, WY. The stars of the TV show were going to be on hand and it was supposedly quite a "to-do". We bypassed all that and headed to up into the mountains for a relaxing weekend in the woods. We had another uneventful camping trip, we all came back with all our appendages and no mechanical failures... I'm starting to get spoiled! I remember growing up the camping trips would almost always have some sort of excitement (brakes failing, truck vapor-locking, dad just about drowning) you know... the usual.

The next week was the beginning of Kindergarten. We took turns taking the girls to a initial orientation session on Monday where they each spent an hour in their new classrooms with their peers and teacher. I took Madison and she wouldn't let me get beyond arms length from her. Audrey fared a bit better with Krista a bit later and Zoie did okay in the afternoon session. Tuesday they each had about a 1 hour one-on-one with their teacher then Wednesday off. Thursday and Friday they attended school for a half-day. My mom came down Wednesday night and was able to partake in the girls first days of Kindergarten. They took right to it, they are making friends, participating in the classroom activities and absolutely love the playground time before school starts in the morning.

We are all enjoying our new surroundings but miss our families. Hope all is well this Labor Day weekend with everyone out there!

Playing ponies, princesses and trucks!

Zoie assisting with gathering the wood I was splitting.

Our little rock climbers...

Amazingly enough, the only injury sustained was a little scraped knee.

Madison with a "peek-a-boo"

Zoie says, "stick a fork in it... make it two"

Chef Krista and Chez la Campeur

Audrey pointing the way

Zero joined us up on the rock pile.

Madison hitting the S'mores.

Zoie showing off her S'more skills.

Audrey enjoying her creation.

Madison roasting a 'smarshmallow'

Toasting pop-tarts in the morning.

Breakfast in the woods.

Hello deer.

Looking back thru the pines.

Madison found a nose ring...

Audrey playing camping ponies.

A collection of pine cones for Merida

Waffles for breakfast... yeah, we got that.

Audrey on her 1st day.

Zoie

Madison

Grammy leading Audrey over the pedestrian bridge to school.

The girls finding their way to their classroom lines on the playground.

Madison hanging up her backpack.

Audrey getting ready to say goodbye.

Zoie saying goodbye.

Audrey finding mom after school.

A picnic in the park after school.

Reading books with dad at bedtime.

Reading books with Grammy at bedtime.

1st full day of school for the girls, I wanted to play too!

An 'overhead' view of their school and playground.