There are a ton of interesting rocks, many covered with lichen and many with shells embedded in them. 
Time to start getting up at dark thirty to put Tess on the school bus...but getting rewarded by mother earths beautiful sunrises!
Time for a road trip before the roads become unpredictable!
There's gold in 'em 'there hills!
Fire season too, but sometimes fires can be fun. The smallest Glendo Rural fireman.
First day of first grade.
Been spending some time at the lake. Here is Tess jumping waves at the boat ramp.
Tess rode with Dennis on this float in the Glendo Days parade.
After living in Glendo for the majority of my years, I finally own a boat. From the look on this guys face he is a dangerous boat driver. We have discovered that boating is a trial by fire expereince, but we have enjoyed getting out on the lake and playing with friends on the water.
Tess enjoys parking at Sandy Beach and then swimming.
We spent a weekend in Colorado Springs.
and of course the carnival at Frontier Days, followed by a perfect BBQ at Delancey's.
AND, Tess has a big horse.
Eric has still been working on the corrals this summer.
She went to Camp Invention earlier this summer in Wheatland. It was a week long science camp. Now she likes to invent and build and you never know what you might wake up to find in her room.
Tess inherited the camping gene from her Curtis relatives. We weren't able to make it to the family reunion this year, but we had to promise Tess we'd go camping. Here is camp just a few miles up Middle Bear. The camp cook still needs a few lessons, but this is one of her favorite things.
Aunt Wendy didn't think a trip would be complete without giving Crackers a scratch or two.
Tess, Jo and Brian checkin out the BIG fish at the hatchery.
Ocho's getting bigger too.
Tess and Jo after her ballet recital.
Nice frame of capped honey.
My uber-technical extraction system consists of my metal spatula
We scraped comb and all into a five gallon bucket with holes in the bottom placed upon another bucket. Most of the honey dripped down into the bottom bucket leaving the wax behind. 
Meeting new friends at about 2 days old.
One month old...yes, it has been a long time since I've posted!
My new critters.
Petting the handsome rhinos.
Flamingo feeding
More flamingo feeding.
Red Kangaroo - I couldn't believe how soft these critters were - incredible!
More fun with the Rhinos
yikes. Hand sanitizer was also provided!
Long eared kitty, also a magnicifent creature.
We went to the San Diego Zoo.
We went on a "backstage pass" tour where we got to pet, feed and see animals up close. 
Brushing the rhinos. They love this...almost as much as alfalfa cubes. 
Cheetah with his golden retriever friend. Some of the ambassador animals are raised with dogs so that they won't be so nervous in crowds. It must work since we didn't get eaten. 
We had to go behind this zebra's exhibit to get to another and he couldn't resist coming to see what we were up to. 
We were feeding flamingos! Did you know flamingos eat dog food soaked in water.
We got to howl with this Artic wolf. Their sound is haunting, even in a zoo, I can't imagine hearing one in the wild. He was also incredibly big.
Not only did Tess get to see the ocean, she got to go sea kayaking in La Jolla. Eric had I had such a good time doing this in Sept we went back with Tess. Eric and Tess rode in a two man kayak and mom took a single. The waves weren't too bad and the tide was low enough that we could go into some of the sea caves. But the highlight was there were three dolphins swimming nearby, and they came about 25 yards from us. Spectacular! Tess wasn't so sure at first, but she ended up having a great time. She was outfitted in two wetsuits, and got her own paddle. 
Of course we saw Shamu! 
At Seaworld we also had a penguin back stage pass. Here we got to see the penguin exhibit up close. It seemed like there were a bazillion penguins in all shapes and sizes. 
We also got to pet a penguin. Tess knew that this was a macaroni penguin, she must've learned that in school because her folks are penguin illiterate.
