Last Friday marked the beginning of our annual trip to Monarch, CO for three full days of excellent snowboarding at Monarch Mountain and incredible hospitality from Waunita Hot Springs Ranch.

Kicking-off the trip, Friday morning was spent shopping for food and supplies to feed 35 people for the next 3 days. After dropping a bundle of cash at Sam’s Club, I headed home to organize and pack everything up. It took 15 cases of drinks, over 200 sandwiches and countless snacks to ensure we had a well fed group. Departing from Wichita at 4:30 that evening, the bus drove all night, ensuring our arrival at Waunita’s around 4am Saturday morning. After some room assignments and a short nap, the group was set to go.

The next three days (Saturday – Monday) were spent eating, swimming, relaxing and, of course, snowboarding in an incredible amount of powdery goodness. To everyone’s delight, there were no serious injuries, just minor aches and pains. Everyone seemed to have an great time and I know Juli, Mikayla and I are already looking forward to next year.

Above are some photos of the trip. Enjoy!
Want to see more photos, check out the photos from Amy’s Monarch Ski Trip 2010 set on Flickr.

Mikayla playing basketball on Saturday. They had two games. The first game they won by 1 point. The second game they were stomped on by the opposing team. They still had fun though. Here she is playing guard and showing the other team whose house they’re in.

There are still a few games left in the season. Check out her basketball schedule for dates and times.

During the past week our family has been apart of some serious Halloween celebrations. The fun started off last weekend with Fun Night and ended last night with trick-or-treating. Enjoy the photos.

Mikayla has joined a basketball team at the YMCA this fall and their games start soon. The team is comprised of girls from her school (some in her class), so it should make for a fun time for Mikayla. See the basketball game schedule below for details on dates and times. All games are played at the Farha Sports Center (located at the Wichita South YMCA) and all games are played on court 1. In case of bad weather, the decision to play will be made 1 hour prior to game time. Feel free to call the YMCA Sports Line for updated game information at 838-9622.

• 10/24 – 3:00 pm
• 10/31 – 1:00 pm & 3:00 pm
• 11/14 – 3:00 pm & 5:00 pm
• 11/19 – 6:30 pm
• 11/21 – 10:00am
• 12/3 – 6:30 pm
• 12/5 – Noon & 1:00 pm

There is a post season tournament on Saturday, December 12th. Game time will be posted as soon as we have it.

Hope to see you in the bleachers.

It has been a couple weeks since our last update and with good reason: not much is going on.

Mikayla
Mikayla is going strong with soccer (with two goals last week) and will start basketball at the Y in a few weeks. She is currently “this close” to getting straight As on her report card.

Kennedi
Kennedi is having fun in soccer (most of the time) but doesn’t enjoy how the other kids try to take the ball from her. She had me over last week to her preschool for a “Gentlemen and Games” day where we ate snacks and played Candyland (she won, twice).

Julian
Julian is beginning to talk in complete sentences. The most recent example I heard was when I asked him what he wanted for a snack and he said, “I want a granola bar becuase it is good”. Of course it wasn’t quite that clear, but I heard every word of it.

Andi
Andi has been retaliating lately against us for leaving her in the backyard too long. She is digging up grass and putting holes in the yard. On a brighter note, she graduated dog-training school last week (where digging wasn’t covered) and is very good at sit, stay and come (on command).

Juli and Michael
We are hanging in there, busy with schedules and activities. Last weekend we decorated the house for Halloween, took kids to soccer games/practices and managed to get household chores done. Next week is all the same. Most of the time, it’s a blur.

If you’re in the neighborhood sometime, give us a buzz. We’d love to chat!

It’s been about 5 weeks since school started and mid-term reports are already beginning to come home. Over the past couple of years, with the help of Powerschool, Juli and I have been able to get pretty good indications on Mikayla’s grades before the “points of no return”.

This year is no different. Tonight, Mikayla asked if we could check her grades online and see how she’s progressing through her first few weeks of fifth grade. Although we have high expectations of our kids with school and like to see good grades, sometimes that isn’t always the outcome. Tonight, however, I was thoroughly surprised to see Mikayla’s initial grade reports. As Mikayla and I looked through the site, a series of high-fives, smiles and encouragement were passed around. According to the online report, Mikayla is receiving eight As and one B for her mid-term report! Way to go Mikayla! You’re rocking fifth grade with great success. Keep up the great work!

Are you proud of Mikayla too? Leave her a message and let her know.

On a side note: As I remember last year around this time and begin to think about Mikayla’s grades and school work, I can’t help but cringe. Fifth grade is looking up for Mikayla and I thank Dr. Pirotte and his great staff at Child and Family Optometry for helping Mikayla through her past vision problems.

As promised I’ve put together a list of dates, times, and fields for each of the girls. As you’ll see, Kennedi plays all her games on the North field while Mikayla plays the majority of hers on the Yellow Field. As always, if it is raining or super cold, check the AYSO Region 208 website for cancellations and make-up games. See you on the side lines.

At this time the game dates and times for Juli, Stacy and Jodi’s team are still up in the air. Once they’re nailed down, I’ll post those as well.

Update: To get you some information quickly, this weekend’s schedule looks like this:
11:00 am – Kennedi – North field
1:30 pm – Mikayla – Yellow field
I’ll post a full schedule for each tonight (hopefully).

Bring out your flags, face paint, blow-horns and chairs. The soccer season is about to officially begin and this year our kids will be playing with the AYSO Region 208. Last week we enrolled Mikayla and Kennedi to play and they are both excited to get to play.

We’re hoping to get Mikayla on to Isabella’s team so the two of them can further their soccer skills along side Coach Erin. Although it isn’t confirmed yet, our inside sources tell us Mikayla will be on their team.

For Kennedi, this is her first time to play soccer for an organization. She hopes to be on the same team as the little girl she befriended at registration, but we’ll have to see how the draft plays out.

Other surprises that have come up this year: Juli will be coaching Kennedi’s team as well as Juli will be playing in the AYSO adult league with Stacy and Jodi.

So that leaves one question: What, do you ask, will Michael and Julian be doing while everyone else is playing soccer? Painting our chests and blowing air-horns of course (didn’t you read the first sentence of this post?). We’ll be on the sidelines cheering these girls each weekend throughout the fall soccer season.

Of course we’ll have more information about game times, dates and details as the next week or two goes by. What we do know, however, is opening day of the 2009 fall season is Saturday, September 12th. Check back for schedules for all three of the girls.

Tuesday marks the start of a new school year at the McClure house. With backpacks, notepads, pencils and erasers (among other school supplies) locked and loaded, Kennedi and Mikayla are eager to begin another year of school, see their friends, and expand their craniums.

Mikayla will be entering Mrs. Kampling’s 5th grade class while Kennedi will be rejoining Mrs. Sponsel in 4-year-old preschool. Kennedi will be going three times  a week, this year, in the mornings.

Last night was the ice cream social at school and we were able to walk around to the classrooms, meet teachers and drop off supplies. Mikayla was happy to see her new teacher and Kennedi put on her finest fancy jewelry to look her best for Mrs. Sponsel.

Over the July 4th holiday, we took a trip to visit The Felix family in Littleton, Colorado. The trip started off Wednesday night after I got home from work. As I arrived, Juli had the Pilot packed up and ready to roll. We packed up the kids and the dog and off we went. Arriving in Littleton around 2am Thursday morning, we all went in and dropped like flies.

On our first day, we hit the pool and loafed around the house trying to recover from the 9+ hour drive the previous night. That night we ate Chinese food for Jackson’s birthday and topped it off with an ice cream cake from DQ. On this morning we introduced Lucy (Amy’s dog) to Andi (our dog). Initially Lucy dominated the relationship (even though she is a MUCH smaller dog), but after a few hours of socialization, Andi understood that Lucy just wanted to play. From then on, Andi was the alpha-dog and REALLY enjoyed Lucy’s playful manner.

Day two was a bit more adventurous with a trip to the Denver Zoo. After 4 hours of looking at animals and walking around the park, the kids were exhausted (and it showed). We headed back to The Felix house for naps and relaxation. That night was Jackson’s birthday party with the whole family. We had a great time catching up with family and playing games. The night ended with fireworks and fun. View Our Photos

Day three started off with intentions of a hike, but after the women headed to the flea market, we knew there just wouldn’t be enough time. That afternoon ended with a trip to the park, with lunch and then back for naps and relaxation. That night we headed up to Opa’s place for a live band at the Red Rock Country Club and to watch some fireworks. The kids had a blast dancing and watching fireworks in the sky. View Our Photos

The morning of day four we all jumped in our cars and headed up I-70 to St. Mary’s Glacier for a nice hike to the top. Once we reached the top we stopped and ate sandwiches and enjoyed the view. Snow was still ontop of the mountain and we hiked up a bit further to play in the snow a bit before hiking back down. That night we headed over to Melissa and Lance’s place for food and entertainment. View Our Photos

The fifth day we went to the park in the morning to try and wear out the kids before packing up the car and driving back to Wichtia. We left Littleton around 1:30pm, pulling into our driveway in Wichita around midnight. After an exhaustive drive, I passed out in anticipation of returning to work the next day. View Our Photos