Early July

We were able to escape to the mountains for a few days while LT was in Durango.

But came back for the 4th at the pool (with an extra kid for the day and night).

Birthday dinner celebration.

Complete with a double rainbow.

A special gift wrapped in some extra specialized wrapping paper.

Annual ladies day was a bit different this year with several severe rain storms, but in the end, the weather cleared out and it was sunny and funny.

 

A few end of June randoms

B needed a haircut and decided he wanted to match LT, so they have the same haircut.

"Helping" the 8 and under swim practice.

We hosted yet another Lego camp and this year, LT was one of the instructors!

Love this girl

What has become an annual happy hour when one of our lifelong friends visits from whatever fun country she is currently living in.

Two buds at Ken Caryl.

 

Saying Goodbye

Jochi was such a wonderful addition to our family and we miss her so much already, but her family needed her back, and for that we are so happy for her.  We weren't expecting/looking/even wanting an exchange student this year, but she fell into our laps (for what we thought was going to be 2 months).  Little did we know, she did not want to leave us to go to her last family and so we were gifted an extra 3 months with her.  While she is not with us physically, we are all anxiously waiting a time that works for us to go visit her and Nacho in Argentina!  

Typicaly Jochi, her bag was FILLED to the brim and over weight, so we spent our last minutes with her throwing and tossing things she really didn't need to take home.

 

Seattle

We flew up to Seattle a earlier this week for our nephew/cousin's graduation.  We had a perfect view of Rainier.

A fathers day walk to a troll.

B loved the tree in Ying's front yard.

The actual graduation was long and huge, but so proud of this guy!

It was followed by a beautiful graduation party at one of Ying's restaurants celebrating Nicholas and 4 of his friends from his swim team. 

Each parent of the graduates gave a quick speech about these kids.  At the end, B decided he wanted to give a speech as well (in front of all 70 people!)

 

Coldplay!

 

A surprise 18th birthday for LT

Ads slyly helped me execute a surprise party for LTs 18th birthday.  He invited everyone and had a plan for Grayson to take him for the few hours prior to everyone arriving.  It worked beautifully.  One by one the kids came out of the closet and surprised him.  Once he figured out what was going on, he waited for Lily to come out.

And Ads made his favorite dessert, blackberry ice cream!

 

2nd Swim Meet

The day started off very cold, but Ads and B swam every event they were asked to despite the weather.

And at the end of the meet, the sun came out and after searching for B for awhile, I found him (full of energy) building sand castles with his little buddies.

 

Jochi

Jochi's time with us is coming to an end quickly.  She's on a 2 week adventure trip currently and then home for less than 48 hours before heading back to Argentina.  Last week, she presented to the rotary group (the agency that brought her here) about her year in Denver.  She spoke so eloquently.

These are the lovely people who supported her throughout her time in Denver.  It was the first of many goodbyes.

Saying goodbye to two of her best friends here.