Hi everyone! I'm back from my ventures, and am missing my fiends terribly.  I had lots of fun though... horseback riding, eating chinese food, seeing an AMAZING production of Les Miserables and taking lots of silly pictures.  I have some for you right here -

Here I am the first and last time I ever ride bareback on a horse. That's all I have to say about this one. 

 Arin and I had fun at the local ice-cream place... btw, peach ice cream is the best ever.

 At the Chinese restraunt... we give each other this look a lot - lol!!

But we love each other anyway!!

 Mom with her amazing photography skills takes another amazing picture!!

After I visited Arin, Mom, Beka and I drove up to CT to see Oliver in another one of his plays... Les Miserables!! It was soooooooo good, and I actually had other friends in the production, and it was really cool to see them too.

 Here we are with Jess... she was in Annie with us last year.

 And here we have an Annie flashback!! We were all in Annie last year.

 I got to spend a week in CT and we had lots of fun.. Jess came over and we took silly pictures -

 And here's Jess in the weird ball...

 I got to play the Wii Fit.... which was really, really fun!!

 Oliver's parents took us to see Beauty and the Beast... only one of my favourite musicals EVER!! Here we are after.... 11pm but the only time the both of us were dressed up. :)

 So, that was my really fun vacation. Now it's back to the grind... I'm starting community college next week!!! I take a placement test tomorrow, and I'm kinda nervous about that.  I don't like tests. At all. Hopefully I won't totally bomb the math part... although if I do, at least it is community college and I can take as many classes as I need to.

 Ta-ta for now!!

  Sarah Beth

 Well now that we're done with all the vacation stuff (i have to show Rachel how to put up pictures - she wanted to do the few that we got at Gramma and Grandpa's house) I thought that I'd move onto more current pictures.

 Our 8yo cousin from California has been out visiting us. It's her first visit by herself and she's finding Virginia very different from California! We took her to pick peaches last week on a farm near Rebekah's ballet school. Consequently, Rebekah was at ballet class when we went to the peach orchard.

Unfortunately for us, we are in between peach harvests at the moment, so we didn't get as many peaches as we wanted. We shook down those peach trees like crazy, stood on top of the wagon. and climbed the trees. Even so, there were too many unripe and overripe peaches, and not enough ripe ones.

 Allie and Rachel were a bit too small to reach a lot of the peaches, but they were big helps when Mom or I would shake a tree. I usually ended up with peaches hitting me in the eye, or getting cloncked in the head with a couple peaches.  It was Rachel and Allie's job to pick up the good peaches that dropped.

 After we picked ourselves a box of peaches, we went back to the orchard store, where we got some yummy slushies. They are made from the fruit on the farm, and had strawberry and peach slushies. I got peach... it was sooo good! Here's a lovely picture of Rachel and myself -

 Allie was balancing on the railing and drinking at the same time... my goodness, that girl is multitalented!

Rachel, as usual when the camera is around, started goofing off. She loves that cowboy hat of hers, and Mom wouldn't let her have it on for the pictures. That ended up being a bit of a tug-of-war.

 I'm not quite sure how I ended up with the hat...

 Here's Allie laughing at Rachel's silliness

Rachel started getting me to goof off too... here we are with our 'sad little orphan' faces. hehe

 The next day, Rebekah decided that she wanted to make a peach pie. It was the first pie she ever made, and it turned out very well. It was sooo yummy! We were all very proud of her, and it was all gone by the next day.  (and you can see our 'new' oven in this pic...we finally switched out the oven that came with the house to our oven, which we love!!

Phew!!! I think I've finally gotten my blog caught up with all the recent pictures!! Mom is taking Rachel and Allie to Mitchie Tavern (pronounced Micky...go figure those old Virginians) in 2 days, and if she takes pictures there I'll try to get them up before we leave. Oh - which I don't think I've mentioned. Oops.

 We are having such a busy summer... first the family reunion, then the trip through Laura Ingalls Wilder territory, Allie coming out, and next week Rebekah had ballet camp in Pennsylvania!! I'm tagging along to see my friend Arin, and then we're all going up to CT on the weekend to see my other best friend in Les Miserables!! He's a lead and I'm soooo excited to see him, and all my other friends that are in the show/coming to see the show.  It's going to be really busy the next 3 weeks, but soo much fun!!  

 Cheers!!!

   Sarah Beth

   One of the fun things we did while in Colorado was to on a trail ride. Even those who refused to go on horses when they were kids, managed to get on a horse to ride with their kids.

 Here we have the riders -

And here are the unsuspecting horses -

Cowgirl Addie!!

 Rebekah, scoping out the horses

At the corral lineup.  From left we have - Nana, Rebekah, Me, an unnamed cowhand, Katie, Allie, Rachel, and the twins, Addie and Greta are right in front.

Miss Katie - she had problems with her horse on the trail (It was a bit hungry) so she got to be right behind the guide, who lead her horse all the way through the trail. But she sure looks cute on that horse! (and look at the beautiful mountain behind her!!)

Rebekah and Rachel maneuvered their horses pretty well... much better than I did actually. Mine was a slow-poke, who didn't like going very fast. Or moving at all for that matter. This was before I got my cowboy boots (!!!) and my tennis shoes didn't do a whole lot in the kicking area.

Uncle Chris and Greta on the biggest horse - I was behind them on the ride, and this horse was HUGE! Although, for some reason in this picture I'm in front of them. *shrug*

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One thing our family is really into is the game Slap. It's kind of like dutch blitz.... but you can have as many players as you want. I usually play the first two rounds and than I'm out - our family is just a bit competitive. And ruthless.  Here's the card table -

And here are the scary-looking players. *snicker* (this was the only picture that wasn't all blurry from people moving at lightening speeds to get their card down before another player)

 On our last day we got a bunch of family pictures. Papa took us to this empty lot across from a gas station - but it had a great view. One of the things Papa wanted to get was a picture of the whole family holding Glendale newspapers - apparently if you send this kinda thing in it gets put in the newspaper. Here was a practice shot for the camera -

 And here's one of the 'nice' ones.

Here's a nice picture of our family with the older and younger Browns. And the beautiful Rocky Mountains!!!

 Nana and Papa with all the grandkids - ranging from 17 to almost a year.

 Here's a picture of Rachel that I love!

 So, that's the end! We all had a fun time at the family reunion, and made some wonderful memories!

 I'll be back tomorrow with some peach-picking pictures

   Sarah Beth

 One of the things we wanted to do as a family was go on a nice hike. One that would be rigorous enough for those of us who loved hiking, but easy enough for those of us under 6... and the few who just wanted a nice stroll.

We decided to go into Rocky Mountain National Park and hike up to a waterfall. It was a beautiful day with a few clouds in the sky, chilly (we were up at a pretty high altitude) and the trail was pretty nice. A bit steep at areas, but we all managed from the 3 year olds to the 70-somethings.

 Aunt Nicole and I having a chat either about Thailand, cameras, or Switzerland, I'm not sure which.

Halfway up the hike - a lovely picture of Papa and myself. And Addie crawling around on the rocks.

Uncle Jürgen waving at the camera... and his kids, Chris and Nicole stopping for a Kodak Moment.

Christopher enjoyed the hike immensely - all he had to do was hang on!!

 Here we are in front of the waterfall. It was huge and very pretty.

 You rarely ever see a picture of my uncle without a camera - even at the edge of a waterfall. Especially at the edge of a waterfall!

A lovely group shot with Papa and Nana. Speaking of Nana...

 We had all gone up the mountain at about the same pace, but we went down in smaller groups - Some people (those without children) even opted to go farther up the mountain. Nana and Aunt Ann went down first with most of the littler ones, then Mom, Uncle Chris, Uncle Jürgen and I went down together - Uncle Chris and Mom racing each other to take pictures of different flowers and insects.

 This was the last picture we took of the group before ours - and we were scared for a bit that it would be the last picture of Nana that we ever got!

 When we got to a bend in the road, Nana, Aunt Ann, and some of the younger kids accidentally took the left bend, not the right, which was the way to get back to the starting place. We managed to catch Aunt Ann, and all the kids were with her.

(the infamous bend)

 It wasn't until we were all getting into the shuttle back that we all realized that Nana was not with us. Mom, Papa and Aunt Ann all stayed to search out Nana, and the rest of us got onto the shuttle back to the parking lot. Everyone was very worried about Nana - but there were kids who were getting cranky and hungry. I was left in the parking lot with the keys to Mom's car, and everyone else went back to the condos.

 I heard some interesting conversations between the shuttle drivers, the park ranger (it took me a while to realize that the ranger was actually a she!) and the hikers who seemed to have no reason to be lounging all over the benches at the waiting area. Then over the Ranger's walkie-talkie I heard something about 'No woman of that description up here... but we'll keep looking"

 I could only assume they were talking about my grandmother.

 About an hour after I had been left on my lonesome, Mom, Aunt Ann, Papa and Nana got off a shuttle. Apparently Nana had kept going when she and Aunt Ann and company went off the wrong way. Mom had alerted the rangers after we had left, and they were all over the place looking for Nana. Aunt Ann and Mom went up the way Nana had gone, hiking halfway up to the next shuttle stop and then back down to the original trailhead - where they found Nana, who had just thought she was having a pleasant hike, and wondering where the rest of us slowpokes were.  

 We all went back to the condos - me to finally get something to eat, (it was tiring just sitting there waiting... the only thing there was to read was an old copy of Rebekah's Pointe Magazine) and everyone else to a well-deserved rest.

 Tomorrow, we have the trail ride!!

  Sarah Beth

 The day after we arrived in Estes Park, the rest of the family showed up - there were 20 people altogether, including our family.

 With our family no occasion, whether it's Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, or a random get-together, is complete without a sing-along. We had two of these during our week together. I started us off for the first one with my rendition of Beauty and the Beast.

After I finished showing off, we picked songs from the songbooks Mom made (and they were wonderful Mommy!!) We had everything from well-known camp songs like You Are My Sunshine, and She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain, to classics such as Dixie, Singing In the Rain, and When It's Roundup Time in Texas! Well, ok, perhaps these are only classics for our family, but we all had a lot of fun!!!

Everyone singing - from left to right we have Allie, Katie, Greta, Aunt Ann, Rachel, Addie (behind Rachel)Aunt Wendy behind the lamp, Uncle Jürgen, Uncle Chris, Papa and Nana! And this is only half the room!

Now in this picture, form left to right we have Tom (playing the piano) Rebekah, me, Aunt Jen, and then Allie and Katie again. As usual, Mom was taking the pictures.

Here we have the younger generation - Rachel is the oldest, Christopher (in the next picture) is the youngest. They're all sitting with Aunt Ann

Christopher, (with his daddy and mommy) getting his dinner before the sing-along.

 Each family had a night to do dinner for everyone else. Aunt Ann and Uncle Jürgen opted for the outdoor BBQ!

Here we have Uncle Kent and Aunt Nicole on the left and as for everyone else... you can figure them out yourself. Tom's the one with the camera.

Can't miss him.

Here we have the cutest 3 year old twins on the face of the earth - Greta and Addie!! Addie had just gotten a very cool lip gloss that she kept smearing all over her lips... after all, what else are you supposed to do about chapped lips in that dry Colorado heat?

Here are Addie and Greta's dad and mom.

Daddy and Rebekah... Rebekah was probably just teased about something. She has that 'I'll look decent for the camera, but I'm seething inside' look.  

 Me...

 That's it for today.. tune in tomorrow for the infamous hike pictures and story... where we lost a member of our family for an hour and a half in the Rocky Mountain National Park!!!

  Cheers!

 Sarah Beth

 I finally got the Colorado pictures!! YAY!!! I'll be doing a few days of pics at a time because there are tons of really good pictures taken by my mom, dad uncle, and yes, even yours truly!

   We'll start on the day we left - early in the morning and we all got ourselves situated in the van, which was to become our home-away-from home for the next 3 weeks!

 Rachel had a little menagerie in the far back - all the stuffed animals went to her and she made sure that they were all comfortable and not squished as mine had been up in front.

Rebekah was in the middle - in charge of the food!! We all had to be really nice to her otherwise we'd get half a cookie or squished grapes. Or she wouldn't hear you ask for the food at all.

Mom was the captain of our ship - she kept a firm and steady hand at the wheel. And a lead foot on the gas pedal.

 Our first stop on the journey was the Blue Ridge parkway - which we passed on our way to West Virginia.

I can't remember where we stopped the first night - somewhere in Missouri I think. This was all you saw of me once we stopped at the hotel.

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 When we went through Kansas we knew we weren't in the east anymore!! It was really flat and boring - just like I remembered from our trip across country 7 years ago.

See? Flat. And. Boring. (No offence to those of you who live in this state... you're actually quite brave.) By the way, this is one of the few pictures I took. Please - no autograph requests.

A cute picture of Mom and Rachel in Kansas -

And since we were in Kansas which is nice and flat - I was told I had to drive a bit.

 In case you Easterner's don't know - unlike here where the speed limit is a lovely 65, from the Midwest  on, it's usually 75. Which is fast. And when you have to pass trucks you have to go even faster. I was practically hyperventilating, but I managed to make it up to 82. And I have proof!!

Here we are right after I got out of the car after driving - I was relieved to be finished.

When we got to Colorado, out first stop was at Casa Bonita, in Denver. It's a rather famous restaurant in Denver, and that's about it. It's kinda cheesy, and the food isn't all that good, but they had cliff divers in the restaurant (Most of it's underground) and arcade games and treasure hunts and mariachi bands and stuff like that.

Then the girls got funny and decided to try to push me into the fountain. Ha ha.

We got to the Condos in Estes Park that afternoon and we were all exausted!! Except Rachel who wanted to explore.

That's it for today, but I'll be back tomorrow!!

   Sarah Beth

 Hello everyone!! I've been waiting and waiting for those Colorado pictures I promised you (hint hint Dad) and they haven't showed up yet. So I don't really have anything interesting to tell you.

 My 8yo cousin, Allie is here for the next week and a half. Mom took her and Beka and Rachel to the beach today. I stayed home to help move the oven. We finally got the old oven that came with this house out of here, and moved up our oven. I'm soooo happy to have this oven back - the stovetop is much easier to clean, and this oven has consistent temperatures unlike the old oven that was all over the place. So, I'm really happy and I may have to celebrate the return of this oven by making some cookies or something.

 Here's a picture for you until I get the family reunion pics up. Rachel got this cowboy hat in Colorado and didn't seem to take it off until we arrived in Virginia.

Cheers!!

  Sarah Beth