summer is over, sniff sniff

Well, when you live in ABQ, summer really doesn't end when school starts (on August 18th!?) The weather is still way too nice. But, all of the impromptu, fun, and exciting summer activities are over. Gone are the days when we wake up and do whatever the heck we want to all day. We really did have a great summer this year. I was definitely not in the mom crowd who was cheering for the first day of school. I love summer and I love hanging with my kids (well, most of the time.)

This is the last of it:

A trip to Tingley Beach on the Rio Grande (paddle boat propelled by mommy - look at these 2 lazies! where are daddy's biking legs when you need them?)
a little wading in the Rio Grande

another dip in the Wixom's pool:

(mommy and Keisha poolside looking Hot!)

cuddled up in Keisha's hammock:

handsfree cell phone while driving is a must, but momma can use the camera, right? can't get enough of these fantastic desert sunsets - view from pathfinder windshield:

bike rides with Daddy - he is turning our girls into little cycling freaks! They both watched hours of the Tour de France with him every night in July.

Both girls can follow him for miles now. Hattie is sometimes attached, sometimes not. Grace has done her first off-road ride and hills are their new friends (fun to go up, fun to go down... are these kids related to me?)

ahh, our friend, "Bretty Bret" (as the girls lovingly call him):

He was kind of attached to us at the hip for a week. He came out to ride the Leadville 100 mountain bike tour in Colorado, (with David as his crew), but he had lots of down time in ABQ and we became pretty fond of our live-in nanny goat! He was great with the kids, but just a warning - this is what happens when you let Bret find shoes for your daughter on the way out the door:

We took Bret to the rattlesnake museum in Old Town. CREEPY place!

Bret went everywhere with us - school shopping, guitar lessons, dance lessons, karate, even to Galloping Grace. Looks like he enjoyed his turn scooping poop!

Hattie on Black.

Gracie on Red.

Is there anything cuter than a PINK muck fork? I mean, really.

Grace, getting expert Cowboy pointers on her roping skills. Can I just say, this guy is the sweetest cowboy I've ever met? He is so great with the kids and I just adore his wife and family too. We are extremely lucky to have found this great ranch.

The boys with their bikes on their way to Leadville. Yep, they're pretty darn cool. Babe, feel free to insert a post about the LT 100 here anytime. Or, do I need to post your pics?

The day before school started, we met Daddy for a tasty lunch at Cervantes on our way to drop Bret at the airport (bye bye Bretty Bret.) The afternoon was free, so I told Grace she could choose to do anything she wanted on our way home since it was her last summer afternoon. She chose the zoo. I love having a zoo pass so we can just come and go as we please like we own the place.

The last time we went, the newborn triplet snow leopard cubs had just made their debut and had poked their heads out of the door for us. This time, they were all napping on a ledge above momma snow leopard. It was hard to get a good shot, but can I just say - I want a baby snow leopard?! They are the cutest fuzziest things I have ever seen.

Mufasa? on Pride Rock? could have fooled me - thought I was in the Lion King movie for a minute.

Fun view of the pond:

This is kind of cheating - we actually did this over the weekend AFTER school started, but still a fun summer night outing... Feast with the Beast at the zoo (you know, because we had only been to the zoo ONCE that week!)

They invite zoo members for a festival on a Friday night. It was pretty darn awesome, although, I wish they had mentioned that they would be closing zoo exhibits BEFORE they closed the festival. We kind of missed some animals - we wanted to see what they were like in the evening as compared to the daytime. Still, we got to see those snow leopard cubs again - awake this time. The jaguars were pretty spry too - looked like they were ready for a hunt. But, the polar bears - they were a snoozin'.

The porcupine was apparently hungry:

Grace getting mauled by the UNM mascot "Lucy the Lobo." (makes us think... will Grace be a Lobo, or a Ute? As long as she doesn't end up a Cougar, we will be fine ;-) )

The best part was the face painting:

Did Grace just lose tooth #8 in the face painting line? yep.

Fierce Tigers:

Happy Tiger! (because she gets to go rock climbing)

Sad Tiger :-( (because she is 1 inch too short to go rock climbing)

TIRED TIGERS! The kids always beg me to let them sleep in their face paint and I always make them wash it off, but it felt a little mean to make them wash this off after they had JUST been transformed into such awesome tigers. I tried to have them sleep on towels... even though it was smeared the next morning, and Grace's sheets were full of makeup anyway, it was worth getting to put 2 tigers to bed.

Farewell sweet summer. We will be dreaming about you.