Retreat

Posted on October 7, 2018 by jlcleve

My dear friend, Amy, and I snuck away for another retreat; this time we headed to Glenwood Springs. Micah was feeling a little concerned about it, so he made me promise to take a lot of pictures. He did not hold up his end of the bargain – these are the only three pictures I saw from the guys’ weekend:

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They had a lovely weekend together and I am SO thankful that Mike gives me these weekends away. They are a time of refreshment for me and it’s so great to know that the boys are enjoying special time with Daddio.

Meanwhile. because I told Micah I would take a lot of pictures, Amy and I took a few extra pics this retreat. =) (Please observe with me how often we had people walking in the background…it’s cracking me up!!) Thus, we took pictures at Whole Foods where we stopped on the way out for dinner:

We loved the location and all of the fall colors and beautiful weather. It took a bit over 3 hours to get there, but the views and all of the fun was definitely worth it! On Saturday, we rode our bikes (from the hotel) through Glenwood Canyon all the way to the Hanging Lake trail. Hanging Lake was beautiful! We loved the hike, although it was definitely a challenge for me! It was a pretty epic day – a good 6 hours of biking, hiking, and biking again. SO thankful that we enjoy so many of the same things!

The ride out:

Hanging Lake Trail:

Our ride back / my final picture from our trip:

There is probably more to be said about our time, but let’s just suffice it to say that I am SO thankful for this bi-annual retreat!!

One-on-One Weekend, Part 1

Posted on September 18, 2018 by jlcleve

Not long ago, Ethan and Mike went on their first weekend trip away for some special bonding. (Micah has been invited to go on a trip with his Daddio in November and thus far seems super excited for it, too!) They opted for San Diego and spent Friday-Sunday together. From all the stories, it sounds like it was an excellent trip! Highlights included touring the USS Midway, playing on the beach, seeing seals, riding around in a convertible, and playing a piano in public. They also apparently had “the best burgers ever” while there. I love all of the pictures Mike captured over the weekend!!

USS Midway:

Time at the beach (they built sand castles and spent a lot of time catching clams):

Other trip pics:

Playing the piano:

I’m so thankful that Mike takes the opportunity to have special time with the boys and to spoil them a bit. This will not soon be forgotten!!

Mesa Verde

Posted on August 30, 2018 by jlcleve

We began our school year with a really fun field trip. My Aunt Melanie is homeschooling her youngest son and is studying Colorado history this year and she asked if we would be interested in going to Mesa Verde with them. We jumped at the opportunity since we are studying ancient history! And we were even more thrilled when my Mom agreed to fly out and join us!

The park wasn’t too busy or too hot, so this season was awesome for our trip. (We also planned it around Mike’s trip to Phoenix where he saw his family and also spent time with his friends for his fantasy football draft.) We listened to Fablehaven on the drive there and back; it received mixed reviews but we all agreed that it helped to pass the time! We stayed at the Fair View Lodge within the park and ate all of our meals inside the park, too. Here are some pics from the trip and at our lodge:

We spent two full days exploring the cliff dwellings, which were beautiful! It’s hard to imagine that they have stood there for over 800 years already! Here are some pictures of the dwellings and our hikes in and around them:

On the way out, Micah and Matthew completed their Jr Ranger’s program and then we had an incredible breakfast at Absolute Bakery – highly recommend – in Mancos. The boys each enjoyed a can of Sprite – milestone! – on the drive back to Denver.

We LOVED this opportunity to travel with family and explore our distant backyard. Thanks to my Auntie for driving us and organizing everything. And thanks to my Mom for making the trip out to join us! Let’s do it again!!

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures from Mikey’s trip to Phoenix. He tells me he had a great time! It’s a lovely gift that the draft takes place where he can also have some special time with his Mom (and grandparents, too!).

6th Annual Trip

Posted on August 11, 2018 by jlcleve

For our 6th annual trip with the Maurer family, we spent the weekend in Kansas City. We are nearing (if we haven’t already reached it) the point when we will need to do some repeat locations, but this year was a new spot for us again. We all enjoy spending time together and it’s been such a special treat to watch our children grow up together.

We usually spend a fair amount of time at the hotel just talking and playing. We also all like parks and legos, so we fit in both of those activities this year. A hike is often on all of our lists to do, but it was way too hot to spend much time outside that weekend. We spent Friday night grabbing dinner out and playing at the hotel, Saturday out and about and Sunday back at the hotel before going our separate ways.

Here are some shots from around the hotel, including a few selfies the kids took (as requested) from their explorations around the hotel on their own. Favorite memories include watching various plays of Piggie and Gerald books, watching all the kids try to catch the football with their elbows, sending messages/emojis/pictures with Ellie (mostly Mike and Ellie/Adam), and how sweet those girls are to my boys who want to show them their paint-by-sticker books and Legos. Lots and lots of laughter!

Mute the video if you don’t want to hear my crazy loud laugh:

Pics from our dinners out:

Pics from the park, Legoland and the Sea Life Aquarium:

All too soon it was time to say goodbye. The kids hugged too quickly, so we missed any cute pics of that…but I snapped a couple of Mikey saying goodbye to some of his favorite girls! We parents left exhausted, having stayed up until midnight or WAY later both evenings we had together. We sure enjoyed spending time with this crew again!

Quick throwback of our group from just last summer and a link to all the previous years:

While Mom is away…

Posted on July 19, 2018 by jlcleve

…the boys get to play! But before I get to my bi-annual trip to Atlanta to help my sister with her trade show, I wanted to show a couple pictures from our pseudo one-on-one we squeezed in between our arrival back home and my trip to ATL. Mike and Ethan went to the dentist and then joined up with some of Mike’s friends for golf league. E kept score and hit a few balls here and there, too. He had a great time and we were reminded, again, how sweet our friends are and what a blessing they are to our whole family.

While they were out, Micah and I enjoyed playing Legos and played a bunch of games.

The following day, I headed to Atlanta. It’s always such a pleasure to go there and help Jennie. I’m super proud of her and her company and the work she does in Kenya, so it’s a “cause” I like to support. But it’s also fun just to spend time with her and interact with her friends. AND, I get the added bonus of seeing some of my friends, too, although this time I only was able to get together with my former neighbor and didn’t even take a picture. =/ Check out that de-licious veggie plate I ordered…it was incredible and I’m pretty sure corn is the main ingredient in fritos. Also, there was chili on top of my fritos because AWESOME!!!

I compiled this from all of the previous trade shows I’ve attended with Jen:

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Meanwhile, the boys had a lot of fun at home with Daddio. Milestone alert: they had their first sleepover at cousins’ house! They had a great time over there and were definitely tired when they were back home again. It was excellent timing – super helpful for Mike to get good days of work in without disruption! They also went to a Rockies game with Reggie and his grandson and then to the Rapids game (discounted tickets due to the reading program at the library) the following evening. AND, they managed to get Micah a new hat (recall that his former hat is at the bottom of Lake Tahoe), a new/used bike for him (recall the bike accident that ruined his previous bike), and new/used clubs for Ethan. Whew! What a week!

This guy…we sure love him!!

CA Road Trip, Pt 4: Lake Tahoe

Posted on July 16, 2018 by jlcleve

By Saturday morning, we were ready to leave Yosemite. The crowds really increased by then! We drove about 6 hours to get to Lake Tahoe, although I think there may have been a shorter route. In fact, we had told the boys that it would be about 3.5 hours. Here’s how you know your kiddos like road trips…they didn’t even notice that we nearly doubled the trip. They were more concerned with whether or not we’d finish another book before we arrived. =) So much fun!

Anyway, Lake Tahoe is gorgeous. We absolutely loved seeing mountains and a huge lake together. It was a good mix of the two things Mikey and I love the most in our landscapes – water and mountains. We celebrated our 12-year anniversary here with some tasty sushi and lots of time on the water.

One day all three guys spent many hours on our stand-up paddle board. I spent most of that time reading “The Help” – a book I’ve been wanting to read for a while now and happened to be at the airbnb where we stayed. They LOVED it!

The following day we spent the day on a motor boat. We saw some marked differences in the boys – Ethan likes to take it slow and steady; Micah wants to go as fast as possible. Both boys enjoyed driving the boat, under great supervision from Mikey. They both attempted to go tubing, but ended up in the water before even getting a ride. We lost one Dodger hat to the water and almost lost the other one. All in all, though, we had a super lovely day. Ethan later decided he not only has a fear of heights, he has a fear of depths (this has a technical name: thalassophobia). The deep water of Lake Tahoe was enough to give some bad dreams, but we all still look back on this part of the trip with a lot of fondness! We’d LOVE to go back again sometime!

And just when we started missing home, it was time to head that way. We took two days to drive home – stopping in Salt Lake City for the overnight. We enjoyed seeing one of the Olympic parks the following morning and then were thrilled to get back home again.

The fabulous road trip of Summer 2018 was a great success!!

CA Roadtrip, Pt 3: Yosemite

Posted on July 14, 2018 by jlcleve

After Sequoia and Kings Canyon, we headed to Fresno as a staging time before we camped for 3 nights in Yosemite. The boys enjoyed playing Legos and going shopping for some of the last minute purchases we needed to make.

Then on Wednesday morning we headed to Yosemite. It’s absolutely breath-taking. It was much busier than Sequoia, but the crowds didn’t overwhelm us until we saw what the weekends were like, so by Saturday morning, we were ready to head out. =) The tunnel view – the first view of the valley – was stunning.

Highlights here included:

Camping and having s’mores every night,

hiking to Sentinel Dome (seriously, we highly recommend this! It’s the second highest spot in the valley and the views are spectacular and it’s not too busy),