Exchange Ski Weekend

Ok, back to the regular time based blogging.

I think everyone had a great time at Winter Park. Snow Mountain ranch is an incredible venue allowing us all to have one big place to ourselves. The skiing and snow boarding went well and we had a ton of fun tubing.

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Archive Find!

Wow! Had to dig way deep into the Haeli Photo Archive's to find this set of Photos from the US Paring Potluck. Even though the blog shows the activity in December, this happened on April 25. I did not want to move it to April since I did not want anyone who is following the blog to miss it.

Santa!

Eden, Hannah, Haeli and Landon went to see Santa! But before they could enter the village and tell Santa their Christmas wishes, they had a Lego car race. The each built cars out of legos and raced them down the track. Look who did not win.

I know when Eden got to see Santa, he wished for Dual Citizenship. Sorry, not sure the elves can make that.

Winterfest

Hannah and Eden went to Lakewood's Winterfest with friends.

Decorating the Tree

Time to decorate the tree. Eden brought some orniments from Australia and added them to ours.

Thanksgiving!

Edens first Thanksgiving was a success. I did not burn anything and it was probably the best turkey yet. We had family and friends come over for a wonderful night of food and fun.

Denver Zoo!

The kids had all of Thanksgiving week off from school. This gave them time to go with Angie to the zoo. Unfortunately I had to work. This is also unfortunate for you since a camera happy Hannah went crazy and shot an amazing 135 photos. Yep, they are all in the show below which you have to watch to see the most cool zebra shot ever!

Champions!

The Lady Swarm are the Colorado Rugby State Bowl Champions!

In the photo's below the Swarm dismantled Fort Collins. We needed to win by 22 to advance and the Swarm overwhelmed them 55-0. Wow! What a match for our girls!

All Hallow's Eve

Ninjas, Vampire Slayers and girls in drag???? It must be halloween. First time Trick-Or-Treater Eden pulled in his fair share of our 16 pounds of candy. Wow! Was it good and it shows.

Also, check out the skill and concentration carving pumkins.

Snow!

Our first big snow had Eden showing his inner angel and the kids sledding down the neighborhood hill.

One More Time!

Last but not least, homecoming in Evergreen. Eden, Hannah, Steph and Brandon made the trip up the hill to Maddie and Louisa's homecoming.

Guess Who Turned 16

Yes, the golden child had his sweet 16 in America!

Homecoming Take 2

Wow! Long time no Blog!

When we last left our heros, they were in the height of Homcoming season. In this episode we see Hannah and Eden splitting up and going to different dances and reuniting for a sleep over at the Longwells.

Hannah at Chatfield:


Eden at Green Mountain:

Eden Likes Dogs!

Eden and Dakota having some quite time!

Lakewood's Homecoming!

Everyone looked amazing!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Today we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Spring Colorado and fed the giraffes. Check out Eden and the giraffe's tongue. It is an amazing zoo, but they need to take better care of people who need assistance.

First Day of School

Here are some pics of the kids on the first day of school. Also, had to include a picture of Angie on her crutches.

Meeting the Mayor

The kids got to meet Lakewood's Mayor Bob Murphy.

Exchange Camping Trip

Once again, a drama filled trip. This time it was Angie's turn to crash and break her ankle. The slide show is out of order but has lots of pics.

Enjoy!

America has been Very, Very Good to Me!

Ah Eden, to many girls is a bad thing.

Black Hills Trip Photos

Tom's Photos:

Costco and broken phones

Today we started off the morning by going to church. My pastor decided that it would be a good idea for me to introduce Eden at the end of the service despite my lack of public speaking skills. After church we went to Costco for lunch (Well we didn't actually buy lunch at Costco, we ate our fill of free samples while shopping).

At Costco Eden got his new phone. It is incredibly nice but at first it refused to work. After working with it for hours, Dad pulled out the battery and then reset it. He finally got the phone to work.

Later today the exchange group is going to come over for pizza and a movie. Haeli is going to have a few friends over for a movie and sleepover and Nick is coming over for Landon. I have a feeling the night is going to be rather hectic.

Bravdica's Lake Powell Photos

Eden's Lake Powell Photos

Pictures From Powell

Hey Everyone!

Below are 348 pictures from Powell. More will be coming as I gather them from the other cameras.

Enjoy!

Sixth Day at Powell

We all went tubing into the main channel today so that the parents could use their phones. I learned that phone companies are evil and design your battery to drain even when it is off simply so you have to recharge it and therefore shorten your battery life. Haeli and Ryan were tubing on two separate tubes and showing off. Ryan went to jump on to Haeli's tube and landed on her elbow. We almost made a trip to the clinic because she couldn't move her elbow.

After deciding just to go back to the boat, everyone else went out again. Eden and Ryan were on one tube and Kenzie and I were on another. Our tubes smashed together and Kenzie and my tube started flipping. We let go causing Eden and Ryan's tube to come on top of ours and Eden to let go. His knee came down on top of my nose. He claims it was an accident but we all know that it was just part of his devious plan of revenge for my impartial judging and the perfect excuse to get out of wake-boarding.

We climbed onto the boat, my nose pouring out blood like a fountain (gross) and determined that we had to go to the clinic. We spent the rest of the day at the visitor's center and clinic. The receptionist and the doctor at the clinic need practice on their poker faces. ( I show them my nose and a huge gasp followed my the words "Oh my, that's broken.") The doctor's office is incredibly over priced. They took twenty minutes to flash a light in my eyes, (which Ms Linda did before I giving me ibuprofen) tell me my nose was broken, ( No duh, it was three times the size it was and bigger that my lollipop) and announce that I couldn't breath out of the right side of my nose. ( I could have told you that.)

After the doctor released me we went over to the visitor's center ( And when I say that what I really mean is I was dragged to the visitor's center to meet the park ranger). We all were given junior ranger badges. We then went to the store and I got a lollipop and Eden got a t-shirt.

After a bumpy ride home in the rain we all just wanted to go to bed.

Fifth Day at Powell

We had pancakes and bacon for breakfast today. It was the only real breakfast of the week. Eden insists that our bacon is not real bacon and is only the fat off the bacon. He must have gotten a floppy piece that is the (disastrous) result of allowing my dad to cook bacon. After breakfast we went to this place that used to not be covered in water and had a rope to swing from.

We decided to walk up a vertical wall that had hand and foot holes. (We didn't rock climb as rock climbing is safe and requires equipment were this was not safe and we had no equipment, in case the insurance company is reading this). Once we were all up on the wall we realized that it would be very difficult to get down. Mr. Mike had my dad get a tubing rope and he tied it into knots. As we went down the rock everyone else held on to the rope. (Once again dear insurance company, we were not repelling because that is safe and has equipment.)

After this adventure there was a boys verses girls tube off between Kenzie and Haeli and Eden and Ryan. Kenzie and Haeli kicked me off their team because I fall off the tube easily. I was the self-appointed ref this tube-off. After awarding Eden with to yellow cards for dangerous play, both Haeli and Kenzie were off. The adults suggested that the tube-off should be best to out of three. Eden and Ryan, being boys, were unable to take this challenge and insisted it was unfair. They then accused me, the impartial, fair, honest and truthful ref of being sexist. They stopped complaining after being warned about having to spend time in the sin bin (also known as the boat) while the other tubed with no hands. Because the had spent so much time whining, a storm interrupted the second tube and we had to go back.

Later, Eden attempted the air-chair much to the amusement of the group.

Fourth Day at Powell

Today is the exploring day. We started off the day by going out the the ruins in the rock. This was incredibly neat. A trail is preserved from when people actually lived there a billion years ago. Everyone then went tubing when Eden tried his luck at knee-boarding. We then went off to the Arch, a giant natural hole in the rock. Tonight all of us kids are going to sleep in the small boat.

Third day in Powell

Nothing exciting happened yesterday except for the shelter flipping off the boat. But today three small pieces of drama happened.

1) Brian saw a penny at the bottom of the lake and decided to dive for it.

2) Haeli didn't want to air chair and therefore she hurt herself on both the skis and the kneeboard to get out of it

3) The sea-doo felt overworked and killed itself.

Let me explain. Brian didn't really see a penny, he fell between the houseboat and the little boat, Haeli took to bad spills and hurt her ankle, and a piece of wood went up into the sea-doo's prop and got stuck. The boys had to take apart the sea-doo.

First Day in Powell

Eden and I got in at 11 last night. A semi came to take the houseboat down to the beach. Eden and Kenzie went with Mr. Mike to help load the boat. The rest of us went to the gas station to pick up the other boat. When we got down to the beach we started off towards Escalate.

We stopped about halfway to get into the water and made Eden and Brian jump off the houseboat. ( It should be noted that in this case made does not mean forced.) After watching them jump, Eden and Kenzie made me come up and jump off with them. (Made in this case meaning forced.) After about three more hours of driving the boat we went into 50 mile cannon and found a place to stay.

Kenzie and I went off on the sea-doo for about 45 minutes. We then came back and took Eden with us. After what we thought was about 20 minutes max we came back and were told that we had been gone for an hour and a half.

After dinner some friends of Ms Rhonda's invited us for fireworks on their boat. We waited until twilight and Ms Rhonda, Kenzie, Brian, Ryan, Brice, Mom, Ms Linda, Eden and I went off. (With a giant flashlight, were not that stupid.) After about half an hour we decided we weren't going to find them and starting going back. It was dark by now and our boat lights were out. After around 15 minutes our giant flashlight died. We took a wrong turn and got lost. At around 11 we saw this huge lit up canyon. We went into the canyon and found a houseboat. After discussing it with the people on the boat we decided to stay the night. Upon entering it, we discovered that it was a million dollar houseboat with slate and granite counter tops and a flat screen tv. On top of this one of the families staying on the boat had left the night before and the therefore had eight extra mattresses and sleeping bags and pillows.

Hail Storm

Had a major storm last night that left a lot of hail on the ground. The yard behind Eden was about 2 feet deep. Also had to try and make a 'hail' ball.

Exchange BBQ

Had a great time at the BBQ today. Met the liaison families, the intrepid americans and a many, many supporters of Lakewood Sister Cities. Hope you enjoy the photos of the kids.

Eden Has Arrived

Eden and the Kaleidoscope Exchange group arrived in Denver, from Sydney Australia at 3:00pm today! Yea! Check out the pictures of the group united.

Airport Photos #1

The happy family before take-off and Eden The Blurred.

Pairing Potluck

At the pairing potluck Hannah found out that Eden was going to be her new brother. Here are the photos from the potluck.

Here is Eden hard at work, working on his many essays for his trip to America.