The Busy Summer of 2012

The move to Colorado resulted in a busy summer for the BeachPatels.  Here’s a summary of our activities in pictures and videos.

Allisen got us started with a maintenance upgrade to two bathrooms in the Manhattan Beach house.

The kids had their end of year talent show where Karina accompanied her friend Romea in a rendition of Adele’s Someone Like You.  Kevin and his friends, Ben and Max, did a Lego Man dance (Kevin is the green Lego).

On Father’s Day, we had a going away party with the family and I started my new job the next day.

During the last week of June, Kevin joined Karina for a sleep away camp at Rawhide Ranch.  The sheep riding is always the highlight of the week and both kids were in the competition.

Cousin Nick and I spent the first couple of days of July driving to Colorado since the family goldfish, Angel, needed a ride.  We made a short stop in Arches National Park for a quick look around.

Allisen, Karina and Kevin arrived in Colorado on July 2^nd and we closed on our new house on July 3^rd.

Allisen, Karina and Kevin promptly left town to go to Indian Heritage Camp from July 5 – 8.  Both the kids had fun learning some Indian dances for the big show on Saturday night.

The middle weeks in July were spent exploring our new surroundings while the house was being readied.  We did some interior painting, carpeting and flooring work.  The kids spent the time in various summer camp activities.  Karina spent a week at art camp at her new school and also found a new stable to take riding lessons.  Kevin went to tennis camp and Renaissance camp.  Allisen really cracked the whip with the workers and turned a month long job into a 2 week job.  We moved in to the house on July 16.

July 26 – 29 took us back to California for cousin Monica’s wedding in the San Jose area.  It was great to see our family again and reconnect with cousins we don’t get to see very often.

So far we have spent the month of August getting settled.  Karina spent more time riding horses and Kevin went to bike camp and “all sports” camp where he learned to kayak and canoe.  Although the kids also enjoyed some of the local amusement parks and started getting to know a few of their new classmates, the backyard also occupied them.

We made our first trip to Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday, August 18.  We saw a very large buck and a bunch of big horn sheep.  We also did a nice hike and I’m sure we’ll go back several more times soon.

The kids started school on August 22 and we’re all looking forward to making new friends and getting settled.