Our Advanced Child

We just got Campbell's state test results in. She scored Advanced in both Writing and Mathematics. That is in the advanced range for kids her age. We are beyond thrilled about these scores. Especially in Mathematics. She is not a fan of the math and if she struggles in any subject, math is it.

In Reading she scored Proficient. Not sure why she didn't score advanced in that but oh well. We think that she was just completely tired of all the testing. It was the last of the tests that week. We are very, very happy with our smarty smart girl.

A "Free" Experiment

Last week was Campbell's last week of summer break. I wanted to make a great week of it for her, but didn't want to break the bank in doing so. I felt it would be a good time to see what I could find around town that we could do for free. The experiment worked great.

On monday, we toured a candy factory. We got to go in the back and see how they made the different candies. During the tour, we also got samples of the candies that were being made. The tour lasted about an hour and the kids loved it.

On Tuesday, we went to the Pioneer Museum downtown. I was thrilled to find a museum that had free entry. It had some really interesting items and displays. The kids really liked seeing the doctor and dentis equipment from the 1800's. Caleb also loved all the guns. Outside, there were some statues and a huge gazebo. We spent about an hour out on the lawn just playing in the gazebo and around the statues.

On Wednesday, we toured the Olympic Training Center. I wish we had done this sooner. We probably would have hit it more than once over the summer. It started with a short movie which was just some highlights from the most recent olympic games. After the movie we headed out for the tour. We got to go into the gym where gymnasts and boxers train. We also got to tour the shooting range, the weight room, and the wrestling gym. We did not get to go in the pool area but we got to see it through the window. After the formal tour we got to take our time looking at the statues. The kids had a blast running around the statues.

Campbell had a sleepover here Wednesday night, so Thursday was spent here at the house playing with her friend. We also spent some time at the pool. Technically we pay our monthly fee for this, but we can swim whenever we feel like it.

Friday it was raining. My initial plan had been to go downtown and play in the water park. Since it was raining, that was out of the question. Instead we went to the mall and played in the play area for a bit. We also spent the afternoon cleaning the house.

All in all, we had a fantastic week and it was all free! I had to really search for these things to do which is disappointing. I'm sure there are more fun things out there that we aren't doing because we don't know about them. I will have to do more research and find them.

5th Grade

Campbell started 5th grade today. She enjoyed her first day. She and her classmates all had the same oppinion that the teacher is a bit strict. The teacher she has right now is a substitute. Her regular teacher is on maternity leave until the end of September. I think it's great that they have a stricter teacher this year. I also believe that they do that on purpose. They are preparing this group for middle school.

Speaking of which, I am in complete denial that middle school starts next year. Campbell seems too young for middle school. My least liked years of school were in middle school, so I'm sure that doesn't help with my anxiety about my sweet girl heading there. I am just going to live in this denial for the next few months.

15 Years and Counting

On August 5, Aaron and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. We chose to celebrate on Saturday night. That was when we were able to get a great babysitter. So we made a reservations and headed out to dinner. Aaron has lost a good bit of weight since moving here so had to wear his dress blue uniform to dinner.

We decided to go to a place called Cliff Palace in Manitou Springs. It was a great location. We arrived a little early so we decided to have drinks on the front porch. It was fantastic, but the best was yet to come.

We headed inside for our dinner. We got seated and ordered our drinks. Once our drinks arrived we ordered our meal and were then informed that the gentleman at the table behind us had paid for our drinks. Later we were informed that our entire meal had been paid for by the gentleman at the table next to ours. How fantastic is that! We had an entire meal at a 4 diamond restaurant paid for by someone else.

By the way, the food was fantastic! Since moving to Colorado we have pretty much stopped ordering seafood because it's always frozen. I made an exception here though. There seafood is flown in and is never older than 24 hours and never frozen. I had lobster and scallops. The food was fantastic!! Aaron had lamb and said it was extremely good as well.

After dinner we headed to downtown to a pub our babysitter had reccomended. As soon as we walked in, we knew it was a great place. There was a man playing the piano. He did not dow the singing, however. Each of the patrons had a song book and the patrons did the singing. It was a ton of fun!! Again, our drinks here were paid for as well. It pays to go out with someone in uniform. All in all, it was a fabulous evening!

Weekend with Poppy

Poppy came to town to visit over the weekend. The kids and I picked him up in Denver on Friday morning. That evening we had great grilled food for dinner. We then took a quick walk up the street to treat ourselves to some gelato. That's always a yummy treat.

Saturday morning we took a nice walk to get coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we went up to Woodland Park to the Dinosaur museum. We had a great time there. The kids had a great time. Caleb always loves dinosaurs. The museum also had an exhibit on Darwin. Campbell loved the exhibit.

After the museum we decided to do a small hike. We took Poppy to Helen Hunt Falls. It was a great day for a little hike. We ended the morning with lunch. It was a great time! Unfortunately, the day had to end early. Poppy had a high school reunion to get to and Aaron and I had an anniversary dinner.

15 Years

Today Aaron and I celebrate 15 years of marriage. Very hard to believe that we have been together that long. We are getting old!! We will go out Saturday evening for a lovely dinner just the two of us. (And it's raining today, just like it was 15 years ago today.)

Going Well

The shots are going well. Campbell seems to be doing extremely well with them. After just 4 shots, she no longer tenses up when it's time for the shot. She just lets us know where she wants it and sits patiently for us. It is getting easier for Aaron and I, though we do still tense up. We worry about hurting her with the shots. It is the oddest feeling to give your child an injection. I think back to the shots she had has an infant (and the newborn IV). At that time, I remember wanting to cry for her. Now here we are 10 (almost 11) years later and we are giving her shots daily. It seems very surreal.

We are all getting use to this though, and are hopeful that she will begin growing soon. She is really paying attention to her body right now and feels that every thing she feels means that she is growing. We shall see. We plan to measure her on the first of each month to monitor her growth.