In August we held our first annual Grammie Camp that will go down in family history as unforgettable! Spencer, Max, Grant, and Blythe Ellsworth travelled to Colorado Springs and were joined by their cousins, Sammi and Paul Hopkins for five days of fun activities, service, and making memories that will last forever.
On our first day we went to the Air Force Academy where we toured the visitor center and watched a movie about the history of the Air Force. Spencer will make a great Cadet! We spent one entire day at Villa Sport in the pool, on the slides, in the hot tub, in the kiddie pool, and back in the big pool again. (We earned our ice cream that day!) On our third day together Cory found inexpensive tickets for a train ride up at Cripple Creek that taught us a little about Colorado history. On the way home we found a nice place for the kids to run and do some exploring, and then had a picnic. One morning we went to Cottonwood park and played until we were hungry for lunch and then followed the trail to McDonalds. That afternoon we painted flower pots for our dog Bailey, who recently died, and then planted small flowers in them. Oops..when we weren't looking, Blythe and Paul painted themselves also! Early one morning we got up and made cookies and then delivered them to the staff that were already back from summer break at Liberty High School. In the afternoon we worked in the yard cleaning out some flower beds and moving rocks - Yah! for strong boys! On Saturday we held a yard sale in which the kids all helped (one way or another) and we earned enough money to all go to the North Pole (Santa's workshop) on Monday. It was a great way to end a fun week together.
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| Spencer at the United States Air Force Academy Visitor's Center |
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| Spencer and Paul taking a break at Villa Sport where we spent the whole day swimming |
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| Grant loved flying down the slides at Villa Sport and our poolside lunch! |
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| The kids had a fun ride on the train at Cripple Creek |
The train stopped at every old mine entrance and the conductor told us that there really was gold "in them there hills"! On the way home we found a nice place near a stream for a short hike and picnic.
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| Blythe and Paul found the best rock for taking pictures! |
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| Sammi and Grant having fun in the sun |
Max and Grant painting their flower pots in honor of Bailey (the dog)
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| Blythe just couldn't get enough - she and Paul went the extra mile! |
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| We made cookies for the staff at Liberty High School who were already back at work. The kids were a hit and so were the cookies! |
Sammi and Blythe were very conscientious business women when it came to the lemonade stand held in conjunction with our yard sale. They did a great job earning their Santa Workshop money!
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| Our whole group - Sammi, Grant, Spencer,, Blythe, Max, Paul, and Caity |
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| Before the roller coaster started Max said this was probably the worst decision of his life....after the first time around he said, "this is probably the best decision of my life!" It was fun being your roller-coaster partner Max! |
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| Grant on the merry-go-round (not on Rudolf) |
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| Sammi and Paul - visions of things to come... |
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| Spencer and Caity riding high in the sky |
Marilyn Monroe and Betty Davis!
Grant and Paul just couldn't get enough of the flying cars. I think we could have left them there all day.
The train stopped at every old mine entrance and the conductor told us that there really was gold "in them there hills"! On the way home we found a nice place near a stream for a short hike and picnic.
