Monsoon season?

Apparently there is a monsoon season in Denver (who knew?), and it came early this year. I guess it wasn't bad enough that it snowed in May, but it hasn't gotten above 70 degrees in weeks now. Being the weather nerd that I am, I tried to find an explanation and found the following.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/weather/9459810/detail.html

And, did you know that a monsoon is actually referring to the wind pattern and not the rain? Interesting...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon

We've also experienced several consecutive days of severe weather including several funnel clouds and tornadoes in the Denver metro area. If you follow my facebook status, it's all I can talk about these days.

(funnel cloud just behind our house on May 31st)

On the up side, today is going to be sunny and 80 degrees - with (of course) a chance of thunderstorms and severe weather starting this afternoon. I'm so ready for a hot summer pool weather, but I am beginning to wonder if we'll ever get any this year - is it possible for it to skip right over into fall? Ugh!

Right in our Backyard

We went exploring this weekend at Daniel's park (just a few miles behind our house). Jake was so excited to ride in Daddy's "big truck" (his jeep) on the bumpy road! Sadie came along for the ride and hike and he was equally excited for her to come out with us too. We saw several buffalo and lots of prairie dogs. The view of the mountains was amazing. Jake didn't stop taking about our trip all day.

Under Construction

Many of you know that we are finishing our basement. It has been good so far (but our poor neighbors would have another story for you!) Jake is really into all of the "struction mans" going in and out of the house. He asks me "what's that mommy?" every time he hears hammering, etc. coming from the basement. "Is it the struction mans mommy?"

Here are some pictures of the half-way point. We can't wait for it to be done! Most of it will be done next week but we're waiting for cabinets and carpet for a few weeks more. Once it's finished we will have space for all of Jake's toys (yeah!) and we'll be able to park in our garage again too! I'll update pictures once it's done.

(media room/entertainment den - view #1)

(media room/entertainment den - view #2)

(rec room w/wet bar)

(bathroom)

(bedroom)

May

It's been about a month since we caught up with everyone, so my first post will be a recap of May.

The weather in May lacked a little to be desirable. It seemed to be cool and rainy most of the month. On one of the warm days we had, I let Jake play in the sprinkler and John got to start working on the lawn (with a little help from Jake). The sprinkler was a hit for both Jake and Sadie - I am sure we'll be bringing that out more this summer!

Memorial weekend we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Our friend Erin and her son Austin joined us. Jake had so much fun exploring the museum and hanging out with Austin.

John got to play golf on Monday, so Jake and I joined the Borie's at the Gaylord Street fair. The rain held off for about an hour, then we all got soaked. Jake loved playing with his BFF Mackenzie, riding rides and eating corn dogs!

Nugget Fever!
The Nuggets made it to the second round of the playoffs so we watched a game at a friends house, and John and I got to go to a Denver Nuggets vs. LA Lakers game on Memorial day! We had "suite" tickets and had so much fun. Denver won by a mile that night - - so sad they did not keep it up (they lost to the Lakers in Game 6 on Friday night).

(Jake and Jack McDoniel sporting "bird man" hair!)

Starting a Blog

Hello friends and family,

I'm finally jumping on the blog band wagon. I can't promise a lot of creativity, but hope to use this to post pictures and keep everyone up to date with us!