Labor Day Camping

The Thursday before Labor Day, I emailed Shad in the morning and said, "Hey! Whatcha think about going camping tonight?" Because that's a thing that a sane person with 5 kids says. But we did. We pulled it together when Shad got home from work (I forget what I was doing while he was at work that I didn't get things prepped. Probably playing with Isis.)

This was the last time we saw Isis.

We found a nice spot right by a little inlet from the lake.

It was our first time camping together and all of the kids were very excited!

Li'l boy with wispy white-blonde hair!

Tom and Katie helped Shad set up the tent while I made sandwiches for everyone.

Sundance loves her orangie!

And Thora's just all over the place!

We didn't do much that night because we got out there so late. We did build a fire and had smores, though. After Shad and I put all the kids in the tent for bed, we sat out in the chairs, talking and watching the clouds move over the moon and stars. Shad mentioned that Dan was looking for something to do with his house in Colorado Springs since Dan was now living in Denver in the house his wife already had. We discussed the possibility of taking Colorado Springs as a way to escape Kansas. Shad wasn't finding any CISA jobs he could really apply for, and even if he did, it's not like we had great accessibility to travel to interviews, especially not once winter set in. While I had been so set against moving back to Colorado, I desperately wanted to leave Kansas, and acknowledged that Colorado Springs was still new and different enough to me that it wouldn't be returning to where I'd already been.

Friday morning was wet and chilly, but we still loved it!

{Dancy, Katie, Samson, Tommy, Thora}

Always running somewhere.

Tommy, Katie, Dancy, Thora, Samson

We love these humans of ours!

{Tommy, Katie, Dancy, Thora, and Samson on the ground}

We went for a walk down the road from our campsite. Thora loves her Dadda buddy.

Thora is always prepared, little diva. There was no sun that morning.

After we got home, at lunch, put kids down for naps, and showered, we discussed the possibility of being spontaneous again: driving to Dan's house to check it out, check out Colorado Springs and the church ward, and decide if we really wanted to go for it. Dan said it was fine with him. We figured we could be out the door in an hour. Sleeping bags were already ready to go, just grabbed a few more pairs of clothes for everyone and ran out. We were there by 7 pm!

Katie washed her hands herself at our bathroom stop. The struggles of being short and independent!

After Saturday and Sunday, we knew we wanted to jump on this move. We were enjoying the city, loved the ward, and figured we could make the house work for us, despite being at least half the size of our Kansas home. We took measurements to know what all we could keep and what would need to sell. 

On Monday, we went to Garden of the Gods to have a fun outdoor, active activity before driving 5 hours home. Not all of our kids (Dancy) were very fond of it, but we're working with her to enjoy hiking.

We took the trail to the Siamese Twins.

The view through the opening in the rocks.

Like I said, Dancy, my timid mouse, was not fond of the hike. Thora and I enjoyed it, even though she had her share of slips.

As soon as we got home, I went straight to work disassembling the Discovery cardboard bricks so I wouldn't have that mess to clean up or stumble over daily while we packed. Our moving date was set for September 23, just two and a half weeks away.