Isaac get's his hooded!

I had the privilege of seeing my brother Isaac hooded after he received his PhD in Philosophy of Intercultural Studies. It was great  

It was great as I was able to see and spend some time with Dad and Mom while I was there. We had a good time hanging out in LA traffic on our ways to the various meeting places. 

4 PhDs... yea we were all crazy enough to do that. That's ~100 years of education and we still don't know what we're doing. :) 

It was also great to be able to go the nephews and niece's awards chapel. So proud of them!

Great Sand Dunes National Park: Part 2

We spent most of Saturday climbing and hanging out at the dunes and river. It's hard to capture the size of the dune without seeing people trying to climb them as you can see in the below pictures. We have pictures of our little Anakin Skywalkers walking up the dunes. 

We rented a sand sled and a sand board that the kids loved! We discovered that both Elijah and Eva are awesome boarders! The below picture is Jamie and Eva on the sled and Elijah on the board about to go down the hill. 

Joseph (left) and Peter (right) loved playing the huge sandbox. Although they liked the sled, they enjoyed playing in the sand more. 

Although the water was cold, it was refreshing to play in it and cool off after being on the hot dunes. 

Joseph (in the lobster shirt) and Peter (in the blue shirt)

Great Sand Dunes National Park: Part 1

This past weekend we headed up on our second trailer camping trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. We've visited it briefly 5 years ago on a drive by and ever since then it's been on our list to go back. The dunes are formed by the prevailing winds through the San Juan valley and have deposited sands over time to create hundreds of feet high dunes. If you show up in the spring time there is a river of snow melt that runs over the dunes creating a beautiful combination of water, sand, and mountains. 

Our beautiful ladies with their matching happy camper t-shirts. 

When we arrived at the park Thursday evening we didn't have reservations and although there were over 40 first come first serve camp sites in the park, they were all taken. We ended up staying just outside the park in the Oasis Campground and we absolutely loved it. Unlike the camping spots in the park which were packed closely together, we had plenty of open space to ourselves and wonderful views of the mountains, valley, and dunes. 

The first night there we had some rain fall on us (which was fine as we were in the camper), and it made for a beautiful sunset! 

I snapped a shot of the dunes with rain falling in the back ground at sunset. Although it looks like a painting I promise it's a real photograph I took. 

We loved having a campfire a couple nights and enjoyed our s'mores and roasting hot dogs. 

Jamie did an amazing job planning the meals!