August 27, 2008: A day of firsts...

Today was Nolan's 1st day of 1st Grade!

On the front porch before leaving for school.

Our traditional picture in front of school.

In the hall.

With Mrs. Powers.

One day down, many to come...

Tables are marked by the continents, and Nolan is starting the year at the Australia table.

Nolan at his seat, taken the night before school started at open house.

Barrett starts pre-school on Sept. 3rd, and he is excited to get started too!

August 26, 2008: Poppies! And More!

After two springs without poppies of our own to take the boys picture with, Kelly planted some in one of our flower beds, and here they are blooming in August!!



The boys and Scott also planted a garden in another area of the back yard. Zucchinis, Strawberries, Jalapenos, Cherry tomatoes, and Cucumbers. The cucumber plants went away very quickly, but everything else is growing well. We've so far harvested one zucchini, about 8 cherry tomatoes (with at least a dozen more almost ready) and two jalapenos. Strawberries are green and starting to ripen, so it won't be long!

August 16th, 2008: Lotsa Rain!

3.5 inches of rain in our gage in the backyard from Thursday Evening until the clouds broke up late Saturday afternoon!!!!

At the end of July at our airport, we had 6.31 inches for the entire year (4.04 inches below normal!), but then:

August 1st: 0.0
August 2nd: T
August 3rd: 0.22
August 4th: T
August 5th: 2.02
August 6th: 0.40
August 7th: 0.00
August 8th: 0.16
August 9th: 0
August 10th: 0.36
August 11th: 0.05
August 12th: 0
August 13th: 0
August 14th: 0.32
August 15th: 2.07
August 16th: 0.85 through 6pm!

That is 6.45 inches for the month, ranking 3rd for Augusts all-time...
behind 6.64 in 1985 and 6.73 in 1930!!!!!

We're now more than 1 inch above normal for precipitation, with 12.76 inches of precipitation for the year!

What a difference a few weeks makes...

August 9th: An Evening at Coors Field

We watched the Rockies get beat by the Padres Saturday night, but it was still a really fun game for Travis' first baseball game. He was wide awake through it all and seemed to be pretty interested in all the lights and people around.



Three of our tickets were in the 2nd row of the 3rd deck just above 3rd base for a great view of the game (as you can see above)! One of our tickets was in the 1st row from one of Scott's co-workers who has a season ticket in row 1 of that section. Scott's coworker went to the game on Sunday, and some of his seat-neighbors commented to him that they were impressed with Nolan and Barrett's knowledge of the game.




Before we left, a nice gentleman offered to take our picture. Travis was pretty ready to go at this point, but otherwise not a bad picture.

And that great bonus after the game, we were home by 1130 PM!!! We continue to love SE Wyo and our proximity to Denver!!!!

August 4th, 2008: Laramie County Fair Mutton Bustin' and Stick Horse Barrel Racing

Since we decided against heading to Colorado Springs for the Kwajalein Reunion picnic on August 2nd, Nolan was able to register for another round of Mutton Bustin' this summer at the Laramie County Fair, "Wyoming's Oldest County Fair!"

Barrett was also able to sign up for the Stick Horse Barrel Racing!

August 1st, 2008: The Michigan Crew Visits Wyo!

Scott's Mom and Dad, and Sister and family visited during the last week of July and here are a few pictures from the week. Of course, the driveway hockey started shortly after their arrival!

Sunday, we all took in a Behind the Chutes tour on the last day of Cheyenne Frontier Days. Then we spent the afternoon watching the CFD Finals Rodeo which was pretty cool.

Having the entire family together, we definitely had to try to get some family pictures. Below was one of the better attempts.

On Monday, the family headed for Estes Park, Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park. After catching the shuttle bus up to Bear Lake Trailhead, we headed up to Dream Lake. All of the low-landers and especially the children did great on the hike that ended in rain and an approaching thunderstorm.

Another family picture, along the trail.

And we stopped at our "regular rock" along Dream Lake for our picnic lunch. Several nice folks on the trail stopped to snap a photo of us. Here is the best of the bunch.


It was plenty hot during the visit, so here are the cousins at the spray park at the Municipal Pool here in Cheyenne.