The Mangum Clan in Denver

In July, we had a Mangum family reunion here in Colorado. We rented a big house and crammed all 19 of us in it! When we had down time, Aubrey was primarily interested in playing with her only Mangum girl cousin, Riley. They were so cute together!

We were staying in Centennial, but we decided to spend a day in Castle Rock. We showed everyone our little town here, and then we went hiking in Castlewood Canyon (minus Riley and Grandma). My dad got a few good shots of all the kids (though I don't see Carter in any of them, so now I'm wondering if he stayed home too).

When we were closeish to the end of our loop, a rainstorm rolled in and completely drenched us! Here you can see me getting in the car soaking wet with the rain going on outside the car.

After we all piled in the car, we drove back to our house. We threw all the wet clothes in the dryer, bundled the kids up in blankets, and drank hot chocolate. It gave everyone a chance to see our house, too, which was nice.

The next day, we headed to Colorado Springs, where we visited the Cave of the Winds. We didn't get any photos in there (I think they aren't allowed), but it was cool! The kids all loved it, even if some got a little scared at a few points.

After that, we headed to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, which are close by.

There was a museum there, and my kids felt the need to climb into fireplaces. 'Cause that's always a good idea.

While we were in the area, we also drove through Garden of the Gods so that everyone could at least see it. The view there never gets old!

When we got home, we had a little rest. Aubrey and I decided to take some silly photos.

The next day, we drove up into the mountains and rode the Georgetown Loop train. It was a beautiful day for it, and all the kids seemed to enjoy it!

As part of the train ride, we went on a mine tour. Again, no photos of that. But it was cool! The younger kids stayed behind, as no one under five was allowed inside. It was cold and dark, so they may not have enjoyed it anyway. Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough to watch all of the littles while the rest of us did the tour. Then we all met back up before heading into the town of Georgetown to explore a bit and get some treats from the Georgetown Valley Candy Company.

Isn't it a cute little town? They also have an international grocery store called Kneisel & Anderson, which was fun to explore. My dad enjoyed seeing all the Swedish stuff!

After we were all tuckered out, and because all of the Georgetown stores had closed anyway, we headed to Beau Jo's for some mountain pie pizzas. Yum.

The other big place we explored was the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver. We got this group photo outside, but that was it. The older boys in particular had a blast there.

There was a whole afternoon devoted to visiting Denver bakeries, of course, though that wasn't exactly a photo op kind of situation. All I have are the memories of the delicious dulce de leche alfajor cookies at Azucar, a Peruvian bakery. I really need to go back there.

We also got in a car accident on the freeway that afternoon (Kara was rear-ended by an overly tired woman going home from a 12-hour night shift). I did end up with some pretty bad neck pain from that (I was in the very back and didn't have a headrest... whoops), but everyone was okay other than that.

Finally, on our last day together, we took advantage of everyone being in one place to take family photos. That's always a bracing experience... I mean, look at all of us!

We got Grandma and Grandpa with all the kiddos...

... a Jibson family shot...

... and some individual shots of our kids. D'awwww.

We also had to get the original Mangum Five, of course...

... and group shots of the men...

... and women.

The father/daughter shot is a must...

... as is the cute girl cousin shot. With just the two of them, it felt necessary! It was also necessary that they match. Because cute. And because poppies.

And finally, I insisted on getting photos with both of my kids...

... as well as a three-generational girl power shot. Or something. I'm not sure what to call it.

Anyway, that was it! Kara and John's family literally got in their van and drove to Utah right after this photo session. It was great to get everyone together for awhile, and it was even better since we didn't have to travel anywhere! Win win.

School's Out For Summer!

To celebrate the beginning of summer break, we decided to hit up Dairy Queen on Daniel's last day of school. 

I think Carter liked it...

After that, we took as many opportunities as we could to enjoy being outside. The park was a favorite haunt...

... and we took advantage of all the beautiful hiking spots in our little part of Colorado.

There are lots of pretty flowers and plants!

This particular hike was at Gateway Mesa Open Space.

Pretty, right? We also hiked Castle Rock, because duh!

This is one of my favorite photos of the kids together...

Carter gets better and better every time we hike. He was such a trooper!

He also found a nice little seat for himself on the way up.

And Aubrey and I got this selfie. We're so cool.

At the top of the hill (mountain?), the kids did some good rock scrambling.

And Daniel made this fun little animation.

The weather did get hot, of course, so we also had to find ways to cool down. We tried water balloons, but the kids couldn't really throw them hard enough to break them on people. Oh well, it was still cute.

We also used our fun sprinkler. That thing has lasted much longer than I expected it would, haha.

On a note completely unrelated to pretty much anything, we also got to watch some adorable twin babies for our friends, and I swooned with the cuteness that was Aubrey and Carter with the babies. So I had to share these photos.

Anyway, moving on. The kids have loved being close to Nana and Papa, and summer allowed us to  visit them more often. 

On one particular visit, Aubrey got a little carried away picking flowers for Nana... It's so cute though!

Aubrey also took swimming lessons, and she really improved! She also got over a lot of her fears.

And finally, for this blog post at least, we enjoyed a fun visit from our friends Vanessa and Kyle, who live in Alabama, which is much too far away. Our kids got along really well! I kind of failed at taking photos while they were here, but I did manage to get a few when we went to Garden of the Gods.

We even got a photo of our whole family!

I also had to take advantage of being there again to recreate one of my favorite photos of Carter. Here's the new one followed by the original.

Awww, why do they have to grow up??

Anyway, our lovely outing ended with Carter having a major, awful, disgusting blowout that required me to change his clothes. Thankfully, Vanessa had extra clothes in her car. Because I didn't. Anyway, I guess the whole ordeal tuckered him out, because he passed out on the way home.

While our friends were here, we also tried a new ice cream place called Little Man. It was delicious!

Again, I wish I'd gotten some photos with our friends. I'm not sure why I never did! But we loved having them visit and were sad when they left. I'm hoping for another reunion soon!

And now, to end the first of our summer blog posts, here are photos of my kids looking too cool for school! (Get it? Because it's summer? Eh?)