Excitement in the Neighborhood

Earlier this week, Longmont and neighboring town Hygiene had a friendly visitor wander through. Do we call him Yogi? He was hanging out at our park but we don't have any picnic tables there, so I'm not sure. He was spotted in Hygiene first where he was shooed off by a cow named 'Apple' (I'm not kidding, that's what the newspaper said). By the next day, he had wandered into our area. The local elementary school had to skip at least one recess because the bear was enjoying the playground. At some point he moved into our housing area before being tranquilized and relocated about 70 miles into the mountains.

As shown by the picture and the map, the bear was about 400 feet from our house.

School's in Session

The obligatory "First day of School" pictures. Of course, here are Andrew and Anna ready to go.





Allisan was at the door eager to begin as well.



The children have grown a lot the last four years, but I think the tree still has them beat.



And here we have the obligatory "Meet my teacher(s)" pictures.




And finally, a picture of the children with Aunt Gela. I mean, Miss Sitz.

Anna takes on Two Wheels

Three attempts is all it took. One with me holding the seat for 15 yards. The second with me letting go for about 10 yards. The third with me trying to keep up with her 100 yards.

Day two was spent learning turns and how to start by herself. Turns took two tries, learning to start took two tries. Now she's up and down the street, on and off the curbs. We plan on putting up the jumping ramp next Tuesday. : )

Pepa's 90th Birthday

After a quick 12 hour trip to Oklahoma, the gang went on a whirlwind tour of relatives.  Less than 24 hours later, we began our return trip home to start school.  But in that short time, we had seen great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, brohters, sisters, moms, dads, friends, friends of friends, sons and daughters of friends, a bunch of other people, and even a small horse and donkey.  We ate cake, watched a great slideshow, and found out what the Mongolian flag looked like. Remember, the 100th celebration is in Mongolia, so get your passports ready! At least now, I know what the flag looks like.