Over-dressed and Under-dressed

 Viola insisted upon wearing her new favorite outfit despite the sunny warm weather and Charlie seems to have lost his trousers.  No matter.  Hello Fall.

 There's the Charlie I know and love.

 Glamorously enjoying an after school apple.

 Let the leaf throwing begin.

Goodbye Cul-de-sac, Hello Open Road

 Viola had her first cross neighborhood bike ride today.  We went back and forth to the park three times and no one got run over.  Success!

 We even managed a bit of off-roading around the park.

 She's pretty jazzed about this new found freedom.

Studio Sharing, and First Art Show

 In order for me to get any painting done during the day I am required to share my studio and brushes with some small artists.  Viola likes to use alternative processes or painting and folding and squeezing out the water.  Charlie just likes to mix the paint around on the little plastic watercolor pallet and call that his painting.  (sorry no pictures of Charlie)

 Today Viola had her first art show opening at Art Lab in Ft Collins.  Her piece is a scratch board inspired by our recent trip to Moab.  It's pretty awesome.

Moab. Grab a coffee (or tea) this is a long one.

 We had the pleasure of meeting up with our friends and former house mates, Davis and Anna, for some camping fun in the deserts of Moab this weekend. Since we were unable to leave town until after Brian's Physics lab on Friday we drove into the night and did not arrive at our Shell Gas Station and highway adjacent campsite until after 11pm.  Throw up a tent, throw kids in it, and a bit of sleep on the hard desert ground later we were ready for adventure.

First things first, bacon.

 The campground did provide us with plenty of dirt for the kids to play with.  A great feature.

 First we headed for Canyon-lands National Park.

 Viola was over joyed to be rejoined with her "best of all friends" Anna.

 A couple of official family photos across from the visitors center.

 Viola, her junior ranger book in hand and ready to discover.

 Charlie's new favorite thing to do is climb mountains.  All the way home he pointed at mountains that he would like to climb.

 Irony.

 I am very impressed with these two for their endurance in climbing and hiking out in the hot desert sun.  There was minimal carrying.

 Charlie really bonded with Davis and would have preferred to go home to Salt Lake City rather than Ft Collins.

 I'm not sure you can tell from these photos, but this place is pretty amazing.

 Can you see the mischievous youths on the top of that rock?

 I miss long walks along the river with this girl.

 This is desert crust. Tiny micro-organisms growing in the sand and holding it down.  Please, don't step on the crust.  Because it's awesome!

 Sometimes we forget to get a photo of just the two of us, so here we are.  We like each other, A LOT.

 Viola is good at finding a shady spot.

 Davis taught a lesson on making sand out of sandstone. 

 And who doesn't love to splash in a cool pool of water on a sunny day?

 Nerds.

 After completing their Junior Ranger swearing in I wanted to get a photo of the proud badge wearers.  This is what I got.

 We enjoyed a bit of star gazing from the campsite.  You can see a lot of stars from the desert.  Even with a yellow glowing shell near by.

 Day 2: Arches National Park.

 They also have some cool stuff to look at. (understatement)

 Although the parks service did have the forethought to print this sign in three languages we feel that they should add a few more as many of the park visitors were walking all over the crust!

 Here's an arch.

 Can you see Delicate Arch?  It's right in the middle of the photo.  We had to do a bit of steep hiking to get to this awesome viewpoint.  Next time we will take the much longer climb to walk under it. 

 Brian tried to keep Charlie in the shade.  He had worn himself out hiking Canyon-lands.

 Landscape Arch.  Can you see the excitement on Viola's very pink face? 

 Good job men.

 Time to rehydrate Charlie.

 "And we're done.  Where can we get a milkshake?"