Where's Noah's Arc?

In all my thirty-two years of living in Colorado I have never seen so much water fall from the sky.  Some say it was Biblical and I would agree...I kept waiting for the Arc to show up so I could sail away from the craziness...

Thankfully, Broomfield is located in a flood free zone and besides our sump pump working overtime and our backyard becoming a swimming pool, we experienced no water damage, no power outages - nothing!  But Longmont, where I work, was a totally different story.  The shop where I work is located only a couple blocks North of the St.Vrain River and on Thursday morning we were asked to evacuate our building as the flood waters were starting to breech Main Street. 

 By 5:00pm the flood waters had completely covered the railroad tracks that run in front of our shop and the water had crept up to within a foot of our front door...but the rain kept falling and surges of water from up the river in Lyons kept flowing down...

 
 By 8:30 Friday morning this was the view of the shop...

and by Friday at 4:00pm the flood water had receded about a foot...

 On Saturday afternoon, Don was finally able to go back to the shop and survey the damage.  Only about a 1/2" of water made it into the shop and showroom, but left a thick layer of mud.  The parking lot and bone yard was also covered in thick, deep mud, random trash cans, tires, trash and other debris.  It pretty much looked like a bomb went off!

 

 

 The vans and air compressor suffered the most damage. 

The parking lot where we keep the vans is about 4 feet lower in elevation then the shop, so flood waters and mud filled the engines and cabs up to their dashboards.

The air compressor was completed submerged in water, which is no good given the entire shop operates off of it...

 Inside of a van...

 Our cabinet trailer acted like a boat and floated out of its parking spot, through the gates and into the middle of our main parking lot.  It's amazing it didn't smash into anything...

I'm sure Don's heart sank when he first saw everything - I know mine did!

It was such a mess and we were just surrounded by devastation, but we were lucky that our shop and showroom suffered no damage considering what our neighbor's properties looked like.

We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday shoveling and cleaning mud out every corner it made its way into - Mud is the hardest thing in the world to remove!

The air compressor made a full recovery with a little work from the maintenance guy so by Wednesday the shop was up and running again - AMAZING!

The vans were a different story - Don was able to get one up and operable, but the other two are still in the repair shop.  Its amazing how crucial those vehicles are to the operation of our business.

Hopefully, by next week all the vans will be operating and we will be 100% Back in Business!

It's still amazing to me how lucky we were, because the neighbors that sit right below us and behind us have lost everything.  On Monday it felt like a war zone around Longmont, with the National Guard roaming the streets, debris and mud everywhere and helicopters landing every hour with hundreds of evacuees!  I was very impressed though by how kind and helpful people were.  We had several people whom we never met stop by to help shovel mud, pick up debris and also one lady brought us pizza.  Don thankfully will make a quick recovery, but that's not the case for so many other people...

On Friday night as I was glued to the television watching the entire Front Range get flooded and as the road closure of Baseline and Cherryvale came ticking across the screen I immediately thought about our camper out at the lake and thought for sure it was floating down the Boulder Creek, or sunk!

Matt went out there as soon as they opened up the roads and found the water had made its way to the steps of our camper, but thankfully not in it and it hadn't sunk in the mud yet!

Hopefully when we go to pick it up in the next couple weeks to store it for the winter we'll be able to move it...

 

 

 Living in Colorado we are all to familiar with snow days and I've had plenty of those in my days - Blizzards are normal around here...but a "RAIN" day?  Never had one of those during my school days and Ashtyn just had four RAIN days in a row!  Boulder Valley Schools were out Thursday to Tuesday so they could get all the schools back into operation.  The Ed center in Boulder had major damage which controls all the technology and communication for the schools, so they couldn't operate until that was back up and running.  We definitely took advantage of the "RAIN" days...

We went and finally saw Planes at the Flatirons Theaters - FYI this theater is awesome now that they've installed recliner chairs!  I've never been so comfortable at the movie theaters!

We played in the rain, jumped in puddles, watched movies at home and I did some major "fall" cleaning and organizing of our closets.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone that has been so devastated by this horrible flood.  I wish everyone affected a quick recovery and hopefully Colorado will bounce back quickly and be more beautiful then EVER!

Big Boy Bed

 This past week we moved Eli into a "Big Boy Bed"...

We were a little skeptical if it was the right move, because Eli loved his crib.  He is seriously part monkey and can scale most things, but never once tried to climb out his crib.  It was like his safe haven!  But, really, Ashtyn was moved out of her crib when she was 18 months old, so with Eli pushing three and half - it was TIME!

Eli's room is really small and I originally wanted a full bed, but there was just no way it would fit, unless that was the only thing in there!  So instead of a boring ol' twin bed we opted for BUNK BEDS!

We took Eli to IKEA to help pick them out...

 Afterwards,
we enjoyed a hot dog, chips, pop and ice cream for a grand total of $2.00!

Typical IKEA, you open the box to find a million pieces that look like tinker toys and then you have to proceed to put the un-numbered pieces together following a universal diagram!

It's always a challenge! 

Before we started the big task of assembly I had to paint it because natural pine just wasn't going to do...

 I painted it a nice charcoal grey that would compliment his wood wall and orange accents perfectly...

Eli was so excited when we finally got it all assembled and the first mattress on top.  He hopped right up there and made himself at home!

 The finished product...

 His room is now transformed into a Big Boy Room - no more cribs for this Trujillo house!

He's done really well sleeping in his new bed and has only gotten up once after putting him to bed!

I have more issues with him picking at the popcorn ceiling above, or piling a bunch of pillows below the ladder and jumping off into them...I do pray he doesn't break any limbs!

Congrats Eli - you're slowly becoming a Big Boy!

Now if we could just get him out of diapers...

MDO

Eli started a Mommy Day Out program on Friday mornings this school year. 

I needed to get Eli into some type of social group since he has no desire to leave home or the presence of his mommy and daddy. 

I wish I could sit here and say what a wonderful, exciting morning it was.  I wish I had a cute little picture of him holding a chalk board saying...

"1st Day of MDO, September 6th, 2013"

But, No, I don't!  I barely got the kid up, dressed and to school!

We had tried the whole "talking it up" a couple weeks prior and making a big deal of Ashtyn starting school - but he could have cared less and wasn't going to have it.  If you asked him if he was excited for school he'd reply...

 "No!  I'm not going to school!"

So I knew the morning of I was going have to be creative in how we would actually get him there...

I got him up and we did our normal thing - had coffee together, watched Curious George and ate a bagel.  Then I got him dressed and asked him if he wanted to go on a bike ride...

Of course he wouldn't say No! to that, so I loaded him up and off we rode to MDO!

When we pulled up to the church where his MDO is at he started yelling at me...

"No! I don't want to go to school!  I stay with you..."

Over and over again, while clinging on to me like a monkey!

I walked him inside and all my fears of what this day would be like came true!

Eli freaked out!  He screamed, which I planned for, but I did not plan for him throwing his trash truck across the room, screaming at his teachers, then proceeding to hit and kick his teachers as they tried to console him!  Seeing him totally lose control made me loose control and we were then both crying!

I was crying!  I expected him to cry, but I never expected him to be so mean and out of control.  I think emotionally I just felt out of control and embarrassed all at the same time and my only reaction was to cry!  Miss Susan took him into another room and was able to calm him down so he could possibly enjoy his first day of MDO...

I waited outside the doors until he stopped screaming and then I pedaled home with tears streaming down my face!  I went for a long run and just prayed the whole time for my little boy...

Luckily, the teachers take pictures throughout the class and then email them to us parents so we can see what they did that day.

I title this one...

 "Eli's Mug Shot"

He sure looks like he's enjoying himself...

Notice he's not too far from a teacher...

 He did manage to make it through his first day of MDO, and I honestly wasn't sure if we would be returning the following Friday...

The first day of MDO was absolutely horrible, and anyone who would ask him if he liked his new school he'd quickly reply... "No!"

But, thankfully, the second day was much better.  I again had to trick him into getting him there, but I dropped him off at the door, scooted him in and didn't look back.  He did cry, but he managed to get over himself and actually enjoy his time at MDO!

Ashtyn was so easy and naturally wanted to go to preschool and other activites, but Eli is the complete opposite!  I think this is a good stepping stone and thank GOD we have three years until I have to drop him off at Kindergarten.  Hopefully, we can slowly cut the cord over the next three years so he's not hanging on my leg on his first day!

I love you Eli!  I am so proud of you for being so brave at your new school!

I hope we have a successful year - it does help that they serve chocolate cupcakes at snack time!

Sugar is always the way to my kid's hearts!

If you have any extra prayers send them Eli's way...

 

Labor Day in Red Feather

 We spent another relaxing, family fun filled Labor Day weekend in beautiful Red Feather!

After every camping trip and family excursion we planned during the summer being cancelled because of truck problems we were desperate to end the summer doing something we love to do as a family - camping!  We decided to leave the camper at home and just use my family's cabin in Red Feather.   Surely, the truck could make it up the mountain ok... 

 We typically, for some reason, always come up in the dead of winter, so it was a much different experience visiting the cabin in the summer!  There were definitely a ton of people up there enjoying the Labor Day Holiday and no five feet snow drifts to dig ourselves out of!

We were so excited to go 4-wheeling and explore our favorite lakes, so after we got unpacked we spent the rest of the day doing just that!

 Our first stop was "Elf Lane"

It's the cutest little road that all the residents and their guests have decorated with gnomes and other figurines!  It pretty much looks like a museum of misc. crap, but it's very cute and enjoyed by all the visitors!  Ashtyn LOVES Elf Lane, of course she would, little meaningless objects are her "thing" and of course she wanted to add her own touch to the collection!

She chose a spot and left a little toy...

 Not sure why she picked this particular object to leave behind, but we made it a nice home and made sure he was protected from the snow when it starts to pile up...

Hopefully the next time we visit he will still be there!

 After touring Elf Lane we took a hike around Apache Lake...

 ...and my kids climbed rocks!

 First cliff jumping in Lake Powell and now rock climbing!

They are quite extreme...

 It was so gorgeous up there!

 Eli of course loved throwing rocks into the lake, which I'm sure all the fisherman LOVED and very much appreciated the tranquility a three year old boy brings to the lake!

 Ashtyn found a rock carved out like a chair!

 There's my lazy boy wanting a piggy back ride on the way back to the wheelers...

 Check out my back end - HOT!

 After our hike and riding on the wheelers we went back to the cabin and watched a movie and played Legos while a rain storm passed through...

Afterwards we started a fire and got dinner going!

There's nothing better then cooking on an open fire...

 Me and my little lady!

 Monkey hug from my little boy!

 Cheesy potatoes and Steak Kabobs for dinner - and yes it was delicious!

Then we roasted marshmallows for dessert...

 We were so fortunate that Red Feather was hosting their postponed Fourth of July firework show later that night!  It seems the fire danger was too high in July so they saved the fireworks and scheduled the display for Labor Day instead!

My kids love fireworks and we couldn't wait to watch them over the lake...

We loaded up the four wheelers with blankets, snacks and beers and went searching for a good spot!

 We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and snuggled up waiting for the show to start...

It was a very chilly night!

 Of course my pictures do not do the amazing display of fireworks any justice - but they were GREAT!

Watching fireworks in the mountains is a totally different experience then our typical Fourth of July celebration.  Its really loud and it echoes off all the canyons, plus because its so dark the colors are crazy bright!  It was pretty great...

 After the show we rode home and snuggled up in bed!

The next morning we headed to Beaver Meadows to have some breakfast...

 I've always wanted to visit this resort and see what they had and we will definitely be making it a permanent stop when we visit Red Feather.  Our breakfast was delicious and the grounds were beautiful.  They had a fishing pond, yard games and of course stables!

 We of course went and visited the horses and Ashtyn got to feed one of them an apple!

Next time we'll have to go on a trail ride, but Eli is still to little to go on one...

 Ashtyn in HEAVEN!

We also found out they do sleigh rides in the winter time where they take you to pick out a Christmas tree and then stop for hot chocolate...that might have to be our Christmas outing this year!

We had so much fun on our Labor Day weekend at the cabin.

It's always so nice to get away as a family and just have fun doing what we all enjoy so much. 

 We spent the rest of the day riding around on the four-wheelers...

 ...and one more trip down Elf Lane, before packing up for home!

It was the perfect way to end the summer!

Hopefully we'll be back up after Thanksgiving to get our Christmas tree!