June 25th Elbert Fire

 Though the grass fire that began Sunday around noon just west of the town of Elbert ballooned to 600 acres, fire crews reached a containment level of 90 percent Sunday night.  Monday Falcon got called out to help and I got to go.  It was mostly out, we just had to do the clean up part.

The morning consisted of cooling the ground off.  When you applied water it would just steam and your feet in your boot were very hot.  It was the craziest thing.  At lunch time the fire picked up and we got to see and fight some. 

They brought in two planes to drop slur. 

After lunch we made good progress and our west side of the fire was mostly out.

After dinner the East side of the fire picked up in several places. 

We were able to leave around 8pm that night.  Other crews stayed for another day.

It was such a cool experience to be in.                                    ME

This picture above was of the Big Colorado Springs Waldo canyon Fire. 

Got away

 After the desastor we have here in town, Jon and I both had a day off yesterday.  We wanted to get away from the mess here.  We drove 3 hours to Hanging Lake.  It is a 2 mile hike to a lake.  Neither of us have been there so we checked it out.  On the climb it rained thunder and was humit.  We did not care, we just wanted to relax and enjoy some type of scenic views.  This is what we say at the top.  Crystal clear water with small water falls going into it.  What a beautiful sight.

 Jon found a cheezit on the ground and feed a chipmuck.  He looked hunger

 Just above the lake was another set of water falls.  These were just coming out of the rocks.  It was pretty impressive.

We ate dinner in Glenwood Falls and headed home.  I was a great relaxing day.  Jon is back to work today I am off until tomorrow. 

Fire update:  The fire is still burning, but ths city is getting it cleaned up where it came in.  The forest all around is gone and the fire is traveling north to momunent and to Woodland par area.  It is moving slow the last two days but the weather today and tomorrow will not help at all. 

Family Update

I will not be posting in the next week or so. If you have not hear there is a huge fire in our city called the Waldo Fire. Jon and I have been working straight since saturday.

 There are many homes lost, most of our forest are gone, and there is very little containment.  Our house is on the safe side of town, so no worries there.   

Olivia is in Alabama with her mom for two weeks, which was perfect timing. I will try to keep pictures on facebook if you want to follow there.

Olivia and her pets

 Olivia Loves animals.  Just came across these and figures I would share. This first one is at the Zoo, she got to feed and pet a turtle.  Thank asked if we could get one..

 The Kitten was two weeks ago.  Somebody dropped it off at the Fire station and I was going to take it to the Humane society.  Had to bring it home because they were not open yet.  Olivia asked can we keep it.  I will lock it in my room while I am gone and I will take care of it.  We dropped it off 30 minutes later

This is Happy.  He was the dog that caused a lot of stress in the house.  WE found him a great old lady to take care of all his needs.  Olivia's last picture with him. 

Jump roping

Here she is Jumping

Father's day

 Olivia and I started the morning off by going to church.  After church we met Jon at 5 guy burgers.

We enjoyed lunch and Jon opened his present from Olivia.  She made a card envolope with crafts for him to do inside.  Then she decorated a frame that had a picture of the two of them in it. 

 After Lunch Olivia an dI went to a festival down town.  Olivia loved the free stuff she got.

 We got home and she played on the trampoline.  She has a hard time jump roping on the ground so she tried this.  And it worked for her.

 On our way home from dropping Olivia off we had a beautiful sunset but the haze of the fires around us was left.

Dog Water

Lake Havasu

 We headed for a week to Lake Havasu City to visit my parents.  One day we decided to drive three hours south to cross the Mexico Bordered to show Olivia Mexico and to use her new pass port.  The first town we went to was scary!  It was not the city we were expecting.  On the way out the U.S. customs questioned me why I would bring a kid here when there is a nice border just 30 minutes away. We asked for directions and headed that way.  O yea we saw the American made Mexico my parents were taking about.  Clean, venders every where, and they spoke english.  What a trip.

 The my parents gave us two nights in Las Vegas and watch Olivia for us so we could have a night out.  We only went for one night but it was nice.  Jon and I drove 2 hours north to Hoover Dam and then to Vegas.  We stayed up to almost midnight and said we were old and needed a bed.  It was a good night to to celebrated being a couple.

When we got back we had three wonderful days on the water.  From fishing, tubing, and even skiing.

 Even Mum participated in almost all the event.  It was great to see her out their.

 I even took some hard hits, but it was water.

Jon did solon skiing, took a couple tries to get up but he did it and was flying away.

 I attempted to single ski but never got fully up and was exhausted.  I stuck to double skiing.  Man you use a lot of muscles doing that.

 Jon caught 3 fish and could not wait to eat them.  Mum caught one fish.  And i caught three fish, my first time ever getting anything.  It was cool.

Out last day we wanted to try the knee board that Wayne bought.  Below you can see our first attempts.  Jon laying on it and hanging on for dear life to a rope.  O yea he needed goggles to see (lots of water splashed you)

 Even Olivia tried it the hard way.  She had a blasted.

 Then we figured it out, why not attach the straps to the board?  And it worked great.

It was a great trip, when you were on the lake you never new it was over 100 degrees.  When you got off the lake it hit you hard!  Thanks Mom and Wayne for having us and taking us out on the lake.

Saturday recap

I got off from work on Saturday to find two cards and a dozen of roses on the table waiting for me.
Olivia's Mothers Day present was to teach me how to make origami fish.  She said if she taught me then I would teach others.  It is the gift that keeps giving.  I really love how she thinks.  We sat down for an hour making fish.  They are now displaced in your house.  Later, we went out for dinner at the Warehouse.  It is known for its wide wine variety and art from local venders.  The evening was wonderful.

Best part, Olivia wrote in her card "I love you so much, I love you more than a dolfin loves the sea." 

Mothers Day

A Mother's Love

There are times when only a mother's love
Can understand our tears,
Can soothe our disappoints
And calm all of our fears.

There are times when only a mother's love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we've dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real.

There are times when only a mother's faith
Can help us on life's way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day.

For a mother's heart and a mother's faith
And a mother's steadfast love
Were fashioned by the angels
And sent from God above.

Happy Mother's

Mum

Field Day

 Field day at school. Crab crawl, lots of jumping, face painting...

 Olivia had a dragon painted on her face.  The 6th graders paint them.

What a wonderful day in the sun.