Whew, we made it through August! Nothing was so terrible but it did feel like something I needed to get through and I feel so good about the direction we decided to go. Regardless we are moving forward and are looking forward to so much this month.

Cannon starts school on September 8th and while I would selfishly keep him with me at all times if I could but I know it’s best for him to go to school. He is excited to start and I am excited for him. One of the bonuses of sending him to a private school is that we can pull him out for adventures when we want (I will *try* not to abuse this).

Things I am most looking forward to this month:

• The weather changing and cooling off a little
• Mountain trips to see the leaves turn
• Fall camping in the mountains!
• Fall food
• Prepping for all things Halloween
• Our trip to Disneyland!

My goals for September are to:

• Get in a routine of getting up early to exercise (try, try again)
• Be outside as much as possible, lots of hikes
• Enjoy our trips together

August was a roller coaster but still so so good, anytime we are together is a good time.

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For a long time I always waited for the weekends to go on mountain adventures. I kinda wish I had been braver earlier but now that the kids are older I feel confident taking adventures with them without Cory’s help.

I wanted to take full advantage of our extended summer and took the kids up to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) to one of our favorite hikes. We picked this location because we are familiar with it and the hike is very kid friendly.

We took our time going at the speed the kids wanted to.

Stopping for all wildlife sightings. (Peak the duckling)

We packed our lunch with us, and found some picnic tables along the way.

We had the best time and loved our adventure together, although Emmy said she wanted to hike with Daddy. Everything is better when we are all together.

On the way home we stopped for coffee for me.

And treats for the kids.

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On the way out of town we spotted some Elk which was really fun!

What are some of your favorite day trips?

One of my favorite things about living in Colorado is driving through the mountains in the fall and seeing the leaves change color.

We are coming up on peak season in the next couple weeks

https://www.9news.com/article/weather/fall-colors/colorado-fall-colors-guide/73-271860c0-9229-4599-87fb-0895070c8614

Some of our favorites over the years are:

Rocky Mountain National Park

Peak to Peak Highway

Georgetown Railroad

Vail

Breckenridge

Leadville!

This year we are going to camp near Twin Lakes so we can drive Independence Pass since we haven’t seen that in the fall before.

What are your favorite fall activities?

Emmy wanted to enjoy breakfast outside but we have gotten to the time of year that we need fuzzy robes to be outside in the morning.

Then we needed to get ready for Emmy’s very first soccer game. She has enjoyed cheering for Cannon and was pretty excited for it to be her chance.

Cory did have to spend some time on the field with Emmy but she had a great time!

She was pretty excited about her pink ball too.

In the afternoon Cannon had a game too so now Saturdays are dedicated to soccer, we will have to think hard about if we want to sign up for the spring season. I love the kids being involved in team sports, I think it’s so good for their development but we also love to camp and adventure on the weekends.

At what age do you think it’s important for kids to be part of team sports?

My mom let us know that shipping is expected to be slow and supplies are expected to be low this holiday season due to Covid so we should start our shopping early. The kids took her very seriously and are very excited to add to their Christmas lists.

We spotted these at Costco and I have been telling them I will take pictures of their wishes so we can put them on their lists.

We were also very excited to find these plushes at Marshalls! I am putting together “we’re going to Disneyland” bins for the kids and these are so much more expensive in the parks.

We enjoyed the summer weather and time together as much as possible! Now that we decided on a way forward this year it’s time to get myself back into better habits.

This is my favorite time of year for running!

When is your favorite running season?

We are taking full advantage of our second chance at summer. We were so excited to see that a hot air balloon visited us in the morning.

Then we went to a fun little playground that I had mostly forgotten about!

Emmy was excited to see the first signs of fall.

Even though it is still SO hot here.

Is it starting to cool off for you? The nights are getting cooler but the highs are still in the nineties.

After many hours researching, discussing and talking to our friends and experts we have decided to pull Cannon and Emerald out of our neighborhood school. We just feel better keeping them safer this year. There was a lot of thought put into this choice, we didn’t take it lightly. With Cannon having a summer birthday we discovered that we had the choice to send Cannon this year or next year.

For Emerald, three year old preschool was not necessary so she will do a homeschool curriculum with me.

For Cannon school feels more important and last year school at home was not as successful as I would like. We were able to find a half day private program for Cannon so he can still be in a learning environment with his peers and teachers. The program has very strict Covid protocols where he will get much less exposure, we feel very good about this choice. A big bounce is that I get much more time now with my sweet boy, an opportunity I will not take for granted!

Cannon’s new school does not start until September so we took advantage and visited one of our favorite playgrounds.

Emmy was very happy to have her partner and crime back during the day.

In the afternoon we met friends at the pool.

We know that our afternoon pool hangs are limited so we are trying to take advantage while we can!

Have you had to make any big family choices lately? We are very at peace now and feel so good and know this is the right choice for us.

Cannon was finally feeling good enough to return to school.

Emmy’s favorite part is seeing all her friends in the morning before they head into school.

Her preschool is supposed to start tomorrow but we will see about that…more on that tomorrow.

After dropping Cannon off, Emmy and I met some friends at a playground for the morning. Emmy was very happy when our friend brought chocolate croissants to share! We spent the afternoon getting groceries and other errands that we fell behind on while we were sick.

Emmy was so exhausted from missing her brother that she fell asleep on the couch when we got home.

I don’t have much to report for today except that the virus made it’s way to me and I was not up to much today. I had to rest a lot and couldn’t eat anything. It definitely hit me not as bad as it did Cannon but it’s not fun.

Aside from being sick a fun note is that new for us is Cannon having soccer practice during the week now and Cory is his assistant coach! Cory is a good sport and Cannon is pretty excited to have Dad out on the field with him.

What’s new with you?

We got good news that Cannon’s test results negative came back negative for Covid-19 and we are very happy. His doctor thinks it’s probably a stomach virus we picked up somewhere.

We were excited to lift our quarantine and leave the house. We didn’t want to go to a playground or anywhere we could spread germs we may still have.

We found a little spot on a creek where no one else was playing to enjoy being outside. It’s fun to find magical little places like this!

Cannon and Emerald were feeling much better but I was starting to feel a little worse….

We are happy but shaken by this experience and saddened to hear that some children at Cannon’s school are already getting sick with Covid. We aren’t terribly happy with the precautions that the district is taking and are starting to consider our options for this school year. A stressful choice to make but we know we will come up with the right fit for us.

Hope you are staying safe and healthy!