Gold Rush Days - Years of tradition

We have gone to Gold Rush Days every year since JR was born. I think it's safe to say it is a family tradition. Unfortunately we don't have pictures from every year, but here's our family tradition through the years.

2004

2005

2005

2006

2006

2007

2009

2009

2010

2010

2011

2011

2012

2012

End of Summer, Start of School

Well summer has come to an end and the kids are back in school.  It was a fun summer and it will be an exciting school year.  Tristan started kindergarten and he is very excited about it, really liking his new school.  JR is in fifth grade, the last grade before the big, scary middle school.  To celebrate (or mourn) this transition we had an end of summer/back to school swim party.  The kids had a blast.

Some pool basketball

The pool party crew

First day of school - they are so grown up

Tristan outside his kindergarten classroom

Tristan going into class

Tristan after class - he's still happy and he got a first day certificate

Universities

On our RV trip we visited Cornell and UIUC (where I did undergrad and where James got his Masters).  I thought it would be fun to visit all the universities that James and I had attended so while we were in Kansas we decided to visit KU and when we got home we spent a day at UC Davis.  Now the kids have seen where we went to school and have lots of options. 

Cornell University in Ithaca, NY

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of Kansas

University of California at Davis

Sabbatical Trip

We had an amazing trip this summer traveling in an RV from Kansas to the east coast and back to visit old friends and old places.  It was amazing to see friends from 5-10 years ago and have it seem like we just saw them last month.  Each stop was a day packed with good times and great adventures.  I couldn't have wished for a better trip. Someone asked if I would do it again and my answer was an definite "Yes!".

The RV

Maryland with Sarah, Seth, Miles, Leo, and August

Washington DC

Subway ride into DC

Ocean City, NJ with a coworker

Bedford, MA with Dan, Leah, Harvey, and Zion

Plymouth, NH with Kim, Jeremiah, Sean, and baby Madeline

Visiting Cornell

dinner with old friends Brett, Sandy, and kids Logan and Zoe

Madison, WI with Mike, Kim, and Devin

Cave of the Mounds

Champaign/Urbana, IL at the Orpheum Children's Science museum

with Jill, James, and Will Quisenberry

Time with family in Kansas

The Hollidays

Our preschool graduate

Tristan had his preschool graduation ceremony tonight.  The school is so wonderful - they had a performance from all the classes, presented the graduating class with diplomas, new backpacks, and a memory book, and then we all had a great big BBQ potluck dinner.  I love his school! 

Memorial Day camping

This Memorial weekend we went camping with some friends at Camp Richardson in Tahoe.  We were planning to do tent camping but the Friday we went up to Tahoe it snowed so we wimped out and got a hotel room in the Camp Richardson lodge.  I'm glad we did because only one person ended up camping outside and they were well equipped for cold weather camping as opposed to our gear which consisted of the cheapest sleeping bags and tents one can buy at Target.  The snow fall was fun the first night as we sat around the campfire.  It was extremely odd for me to be around a campfire in the snow, but a great new experience.  The weather improved throughout the weekend and it ended up being really comfortable come Sunday.
We shared meal duty with the three other families, had mom's time out and dad's time out, some great group hikes, and a trip to the beach.  On Sunday we headed up the hill a bit for a great hike and spectacular view with Tristan's friend Daniel and parents Sean and Pamela.

Family at Tahoe

Camping with friends

All bundled up for the cold weather

hike with friends

Tristan and his buddies

fun at the beach