Charlie Quotes

This morning at breakfast, Charlie told us, "There's nothing in heaven except God and rocks."

Charlie often sings the refrain from the Lego Movie, "Everything is Awesome!" Recently I heard Charlie sing this and then quietly say to himself, "Well, not EVERYTHING is awesome . . ." Curious, I asked him about this and he said, "Yeah, if everything was awesome then . . . getting soap in your eye would be awesome." So true.

Deep thoughts by Charlie Kelly

Photo taken on a recent unseasonably warm day hike.

September Weddings in Colorado and Kansas City

In September, Jim and I were fortunate to go to Colorado for my good friend Kathryn's wedding.  We left Thursday night and after a looooong wait for a rental car from Avis at the Denver airport, we made it to the cabin in Florissant, CO by 2:00 a.m.!  I do not recommend Avis!

After breakfast with the bride, groom, and their families on Friday morning, Jim and I drove to Colorado Springs and rented some mountain bikes.  It was a lot of fun to ride and we saw some amazing views!  I was glad no one else was with us; I had to stop and walk my bike at several spots that I deemed too dangerous.  I'm sure my younger self would have disagreed.

The biker who took this used to live a few miles from where we live now.  Small world.

Queen of the mountain!

Kathryn and Keith rented a cabin at the wedding site and let several of us stay there.  It was very spacious and so fun for all of us friends from high school to hang out together.  One odd thing about the cabin was that everything was for sale.  Jim and I tried on these outfits that were hanging in our closet, but decided not to purchase them.

The high school friends:

After breakfast on Saturday morning, we went to the Garden of the Gods to hike.  Another great thing about our cabin was there was a huge teddy bear in the bathtub.  Yes, that's right.  In the bathtub.  We decided the bear needed to explore with us.  Jim was more than happy to pose with it.

Damon shows off his hiking skills.

The wedding was Saturday evening.

Jim and Damon were the only husbands who came from our group of friends.

There were special K-squared labels for Kathryn and Keith!

The beautiful bride with her two brothers.

I was honored to do a reading during the ceremony.  I'm pretty funny.  :)

That's Pike's Peak in the background.

We dared Sara to drink from the centerpiece and she did.  It was just like high school again!

Kathleen proved she could still do the splits!

The following weekend, I went to Kansas City for the wedding of one of my former cross country runners.  I was honored to be invited to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, too, where I met up with a couple other former runners.

The wedding and reception were beautiful, and the bride was stunning!

Another bonus was that I got to see my cousins Katie and Kristen, and their adorable families. Kristen let me stay with her in her beautiful home.  I may or may not have gone to the wrong house after midnight after the wedding because I made a wrong turn.  Oops!

Jambeque

In September, we hosted the annual Jambeque at our house.  The weather was perfect!  You can view pictures at www.jambeque.com

Late August/Early September Fun

It's been so different this year to have Patrick in school full-time, and Charlie goes three mornings a week. Maggie and I get to spend quite a bit of one-on-one time with each other.  We get to do fun things, like swing...

On one of the days Charlie wasn't in school, we met my mom and nephew at the zoo.  The kids got up close with some sea lions!

It is neat to see the sea lions swim above us!

Rory had a fun time on the train!

 It's so much less crowded going to the zoo on a weekday during the school year!

We also visited the pool a lot in the final days before Labor Day.  A few times we would pack dinner and go swimming after school.

By the end of the summer, Patrick could swim the length of the pool by himself!

On our kids' birthdays, they get to choose a place to go for donuts.  Charlie chose Dunkin Donuts and loved every sweet bite!

That afternoon we had the family over to celebrate.  It's nice to have older brothers that can read cards and books to you!

I made this cake and these cookies for our Spider-Man-loving boy.

FOUR!

Jim had a day off in early September and so we took the two youngest to a day game against the Cubs.  We ran into my good friend Connie's parents on the way in to the game.

We also got to get up close to a Clydesdale before the game.

Such a sweet father-son moment.  They love the Cardinals!