Captain Bonnett

On July 10th, Evan was officially promoted to Captain. We had heard it was going to be late, especially since one of his co-workers, who was ahead of him 3 months for promotion, wasn't promoted until 6 weeks or so after he was scheduled to due to some delay in paperwork or whatever. Evan's was only a day behind, so he was really lucky! When he found out, Evan told his boss that Jana and Keith were coming to town to visit for a week, so his office had a formal ceremony of the pinning ceremony. We'd always planned on having Elisabeth participate in the ceremony, but now his parents would get to watch! On Monday, the 13th, we all went to the base for the ceremony. Elisabeth was very excited and nervous about pinning the Captain bars to Evan's hat. He practiced with her the night before, and she did a really good job when it was time.
Here's Julia walking into the courtroom. She's getting really good at walking while holding someone's hand, but still isn't too keen about trying it solo yet.

Where we sat.
That's Evan's Baby JAG sippy cup the guys in his office gave him his first week. :)
Someone's excited!
Evan's boss and I pinned the Captain bars to his jacket, while Ebeth worked on his hat.
Evan surprised his parents by asking them to put his new shoulder boards on his shirt.
Taking the oath as a Captain.




How many times did I say "Captain" in this blog? A cash** prize for those who get it right!!!



**by "cash prize", I mean an email saying you are correct.

NinaPapa visit--Part 1

Evan's parents came out to visit this past week!!!! They came in Friday afternoon and stayed until this morning. Elisabeth was excited to get to show them our new house, introduce them to her neighborhood friends and take them around town. The weather was super cooperative the entire time they were here, so we got to do everything we had planned. First on the list...visit Elisabeth's favorite neighborhood park!


Jana and Elisabeth hanging out on the equipment.
Julia loves to swing!






On Saturday, we took the Cog Railway to the top of Pike's Peak! I won't lie, I was stoked to get to go to the top of the mountain we see down our street everyday! We had reservations to take the train at noon, and it's an hour ride on the way up. Julia did an excellent job on the train and dealing with the increase in altitude (14,ooo+ feet!). The temperature was in the low 90s when we got on the train at the bottom of the mountain, but when we reached the top, it was in the low 60s! I took a million pictures of the view, but I'll only show you the ones with people in the foreground. :) It was an amazing trip and I can't wait to do it again in a different season (maybe fall with all the trees in full fall garb!)

Julia was quite impressed with the rock selection for her tasting pleasure at the summit.








After we came down from Pike's Peak, we drove a few miles to the Cliff Dwellings in Manitou Springs. I have been looking forward to visiting these ever since we moved here. I am so interested in Native American history and how they built these homes into the mountains. We were able to explore the insides of the dwellings and they had a museum as well.




The following pictures are of baby carriers the women used!!! They slung their babies until they were around 2 years old! I found the reading information quite interesting, especially since I was slinging Julia as I read it!

Julia was not too happy to go back into the car, as you can probably tell. :(




Sunday, we took at trip to The Royal Gorge in Canon City. It took about 1.5 hours to get there, but it was probably my favorite trip of the week. The Royal Gorge has a bridge over a mile long that crosses the gorge that you can walk on. Once over, there are lots of activities including a tram across the gorge, a little old west town, a petting zoo, burro rides, an incline train all the way down to the Arkansas River, and the steepest hills ever! We had to take turns pushing the stroller because I about died 6 times. Elisabeth has recently started being scared of heights, so the bridge wasn't her favorite, but she had no problems with the tram or the incline train. Being in Colorado, surrounded by mountains and hills, I'm thinking she'll eventually get over her fear. :)

Julia cruised the seats in the theater while waiting to watch the 17 minute video about the gorge.
Panning for gold.
There was a gun fight in town involving some cowboys and indians.

Look at this woman's shoes!!!! How gross are they?! Jana and I were discussing the extreme ugliness of them (look at them! they are the weirdest sandals I have ever seen!), and then realized she was European, which explained her footwear choice. Bleh.
In the tram.
The tram we rode.
I could not get over this skirt Julia wore! The ruffles and her fat, fat legs were beyond adorable! She had all the toddler boys attention that day!
Our view descending in the incline train. Standing only!

The girls checking out the Arkansas River.

That's how we got back up!


I shall post more soonish!

Want a tour of (part of ) our house?

First, let's have a look at our bird friends...

See those red things? They are baby birds! There are 3 of them and they look super gross here, but...

after just a couple of days, look how fuzzy they are! I will keep you posted for when they actually turn cute!
Okay, now for the tour. I loaded these on blogspot in a very random manner, so just go along with me...

This is my laundry room/hallway to the garage. Please notice that I have a shelf for all my laundry needs!!!
That's the door to the garage.
This is our bedroom. You can see we had to put a curtain to the master bathroom because there was absolutely nothing blocking it.

We still have a few things to put up and we'd like to get a headboard eventually. But, it's nice to have so much room!
This is the way to the master bathroom....
Our double sinks, which I love love love!!!!
Our massive tub and see-through shower. The tub is used weekly by Ebeth where she fills it up and kind of swims in it. :)
The door on the left leads to the toilet. The door facing us is to our walk-in closet. That's the best part of the whole stinking room! I don't have to store non-season clothes under the bed anymore!
Okay, this is the hallway bathroom.
This is the hallway to our bedroom (on the right) the hallway bathroom (middle) and the garage. There's also a door to the immediate left that leads to the basement.
Our dining room. Right now, we do not dine in it, and probably won't while we're in this house. The shelves you see are for Ebeth's books, art supplies and games. Julia and the cats play in this room all the time!
More dining room.
Large window in dining room that is usually holding a cat.
My kitchen!
I have a million cabinets!

Our small dining area, where we do all of our dining.
The doors to the deck and backyard. Also usually has a cat in front of it.
The living room! The fireplace is electric, so there's a light switch that turns it on.

The view if you walked in our front door.
Our front door. See our bird nest? And there's Lala and her bench!
She loves helping Evan with yard work.
Because she tries to escape!
And here's Elisabeth riding her two wheeler as promised!

Here's a little before and after shot....
Elisabeth in DeKalb riding her training wheel bike, age 4.
Elisabeth riding her two wheeler in Colorado Springs, age 6.
We're still working on the upstairs. We're getting ready to paint the girls' rooms and are finishing the loft area. Once we're done with that, I'll show you all the rest of our house!!!!!