Football Season is here!

Football season is always exciting at the Lescarbeau house.  It is something the whole family gets excited about.  So for opening game day what is the best thing to do?...Go watch some Air Force football.  The day was started off to be hot and crazy because it was also parents weekend for the Academy.  Eric had to work, so Pollyanna, Savannah, and Brittlynn decided to enjoy the day together.

With game faces on we were ready for the games to begin.  Games at the Air Force Academy are always exciting.  We start of with the cadet squadrons entering the field.

 The falcon football team getting ready to start

 The band comes marching in lead

 The cadets file into formation

The mad dash to the stands.  It looks so much better in person.

The fun continues as the girls get to see the falcons and watch as the cadet jump from an airplane to land on the field, the team entering the field and the the f-16's fly over just as game time starts.

 This was my favorite jumper, he did a great job carrying in the flag.

 These are the Falcons mascots that performed at half time.  

Too keep ourselves cool we had to get a snow cone.  (The line was so worth the wait) By the end of the day the girls were exhausted.  We had a lot of fun and even made it home without any traffic.  

Mandatory Family Fun

This year Pollyanna decided to purchase a couple of groupons for some family fun and adventures, for part of us.  At the beginning of the summer we went river rafting.  We had so much fun, we all go wet everyone stayed in the raft...we only got stuck on one big rock.  It truly was an adventure.  The other trip was to go on a Zip Line tour.  This one was another great adventure that we had.  Not everyone wanted to be there, but by the end of the day we were as happy as can be.  We were able to experience something that you don't do everyday.  We finished the tour off with a race to the finish Eric beat Alex, Alex claiming that he started early, and Pollyanna and Emily truly didn't race.  

The practice course

 Alex

 Emily

This is were the fun began

 Eric

 Alex

 Eric

 Alex

 Emily(getting her equipment checked it was kinda tight)

 Emily ( she couldn't get her legs tucked into a canon ball)

 Water break...with such enthusiasm 

 Pollyanna

 Alex

 Emily

 Eric

If you ever thought about doing something like this you should it was fun and got some smiles out of the grumpiest kids.

Happy Birthday!

I am not a very good birthday celebrator.  I don't do a very good job for my kids, and I really don't think that its a special day for myself.  Gifts are nice, but I don't feel like anyone should go out of there way for me.  So I am trying to do something a little different.  I tried with Savannah, but it wasn't as successful as I hoped. With Brittlynn we all ended up together as a family.  That was a lot of fun.  So when my day came around.  I decided we should go somewhere we haven't been and try something a little new.  So we drove up Pikes Peak.  Alex had to work so he wasn't able to join us.

We had a nice adventure we stopped to eat some lunch and take some pictures of the wonderful view.  This is when I realized my battery in my camera was dead.  This happens to me to often.  You would think that I have learned my lesson...not yet.  So this is what I got.  I know they are really amazing and I have the cutest family ever.  Luckily we have the back up iPhone.  What would I do without it. 

Someone was nice enough to take a picture of our whole family.  So now you know that I was there to enjoy the activities along with everyone else.  We had a chipmunk join us for lunch and the girls were in heaven.  

The next stop on the way to the time we decided to try out our mining skills.  Who knew that a bag of dirt with rocks in it would fascinate a 2 year old to a 16 year old.  I had so much fun watching the girls get excited about the treasure they would find. Dad is always the best helper when it comes to his girls.  Gotta love that man.  We also saw a strange man walking around with a donkey.  The best is we didn't see him until we were in the car so it looked like I was stalking him taking his picture as we were driving away.  He was also in front of the porta-potties, just what you want to see in a picture. 

So we made it to the top of Pikes Peak.  We didn't realize how fast the weather would change going up to the top of the mountain and we definitely were not prepared.  When it is a nice summer day 56 degrees is really cold.  Oh there was also a lot of wind. 

At the top we learned something perhaps the rest of the world knew, but I didn't.  The person who wrote America the beautiful was inspired by Pikes Peak.  The line the say's "For purple mountain majesties" was written after traveling to the top of Pikes Peak.  If you ever have a chance to go there you to will be inspired.  I tried to take some amazing pictures of me with the view.  It all just turned into me with a funny face and something for my husband to make fun of me for.  As he would say "how hard is it to smile when you are the one pushing the button."  Because of all the laughter that came from that one picture I saved it.  I took a good one of him.  We also went inside and tried the doughnuts.  I am not really a fan of doughnuts...but these where heaven.  I want to drive up to the top of the Peak just to have them again.

  Coming back down the mountain you have to ride your breaks the whole way.  Ours over heated and at the check point we had to stop and let them cool off.  We realized we should have driven all the way to the top and then took our time exploring on the way down.  So what do you do when you have time to spare with little girls?  You take pictures, or let them take pictures of you and then have someone feel sorry for you so they take your family picture, minus Emily because she is taking a nap in the van. 

It was a great day and we had a lot of fun.  We learned to pack a sweater.  It is cold on the top of the mountain.  We learned take you time driving down...you are going to have to.   Charge your camera battery before you leave.  Buy extra doughnuts to eat the next day.  It was a great day with family and I am so glad that we went. 

A Day worth waiting for...

For those in the military, especially enlisted, this is something very exciting to see.  Back in March, Eric received this from his boss.  For the rest of the world this was the way they chose to congratulate Eric on promoting to a new rank (Senior Master Sergeant) and the number is a called a line number...meaning he will be the 895th person to be able to promote.  We were so excited for him, but when the day finally came it was even more exciting.  His month to promote happen to end up during the cadets basic training time.  So they chose to have the ceremony outside at Jack's Valley (were they hold basic training).  There was a little rain but nothing was going to stop this great day from happening.

 Eric coming in with the General and another promotee.

Receiving the official certificate of promotion with the General and the Chief. 

Savannah and Brittlynn got to tack on his new strips

 It tradition to hit the person in the arm when they promote and Savannah wasn't sure if she want to hit her Daddy.  

Alex was way excited to be able to hit his dad on the arm.

 It was a hard hit.  Eric ended up with a bruise on his arm from this one.

 This was Eric's first day wearing his new strips.  

 And of course you always need a new official picture.

We are so excited for all of the hard work Eric does to support our family and we are grateful he was recognized for his efforts.  We were sad that Emily wasn't there for the day.  She was at girls camp.