New Camera has arrived!

I have been pouting since early August when my camera died. That has put me into a slump as far as taking pictures, and more importantly, posting blogs.

So, now that my new camera is here, I WILL finally catch up on my blog, with all the pictures from my old (2002 era) camera, as well as those even older events from as far back as the end of school in the spring.

SO that's my goal, my motivation is the new camera :-)

In honor of it's arrival, I let the kids take a quick spin around the house with the new camera. Enjoy your first peek.Sirius Spots.Open mouth of Baby Sally.

Sandy.

Twin Lakes - Lakeview Campground - Labor Day Weekend, 2010

Our amazing view.

Sitting in the shade, enjoying the morning. What a great weekend this was....

Saturday afternoon - Off to the lake - our own personal beach - with a view.

Building a raft (attempt #2 for my kids :-)

Finishing touches.

Getting the raft to water proved more difficult.

Finally!

Ready to launch.

Hmmm... no more pics of the raft. I know it went in, and floated a bit, and Owen rode the raft, but I seem to have not taken photos. I think I was yelling at Owen to get out of the water, he was getting soaked! The waves were very high, and water was going over the raft.

Ahhhhh.

Digging.

Much driftwood was gathered.

Oh, here is the raft entering the water.

Back at camp....
Next project - building a hammock.

The crowd gathered with much anticipation!

It was a group effort, lead by Owen.

Owen in his glory.

Success!!

The hammock turned out to be more of a "sky chair" type, but it certainly worked.

The only ones with a good excuse for lounging around! (Not that we didn't all do it...)

Marcos gathered all of our firewood (okay, a few others helped, but he made the biggest-looking effort!)

Kid gatherings.
Gotta love the kid pile!!!!


Sunday morning, Ursula and I went on a nice hike. No, we didn't cross this bridge, we had to start up the river a bit.

The water really was that color - a greenish tinge. I imagine it is from some mineral. There are a lot of minerals easily obtainable around here!

The kids panned for gold. Yes, they got some flakes. If we do it 100 more times, we'll have enough to make a splash.

Love Colorado.

Sunday afternoon the kids and I went to a ghost town while John fished the Arkansas. This was Vicksburg, a mining camp up Clear Creek Canyon.

Kelsey Campground August 2010

Waiting for friends to arrive...Building chipmunk traps. The amazing thing is, they caught some! Several times.

Not with this design, though.

The best part about this campground, is Fluffaluffagus. Which is - a rock structure, that rocks :-) And has a teepee of logs built next to it, and caves, and nooks and crannies (not always delightful, as we found out) and much delight.

The kids performed a play for us. Talented group we have.....

The whole cast:

I had my old camera (2002 era) that has no video (well, video without sounds, and no very good at that) so I only got stills. John did a video with his phone, but the sound is not great.
The parents enjoying the show.

After the show.

Dog-time, and three girls squished in a chair.

I so wanted to get this picture, but my camera is so slow, and seconds later they were no longer sitting together. It was very cute while it lasted though :-)

More dog cuddling.

The evening show consisted of music and drumming.

Again with the sucky camera.

Overall, what a great trip! We did nothing (well, *I* did nothing - John fished, Ursula and Marcos went biking, Bob went for ice) - and it felt great. The kids got along marvelously, the weather was amazing. This was the high point of the summer. Along the Platte on the way home.