Hiller Reunion 2018 - Fort Collins Colorado

More from our rafting trip, swimming at our airbnb community pool (such an awesome surprise to have a pool!) and hanging out at the clubhouse where we met up each night of the reunion for dinner.

White Water Rafting - Poudre River

As part of our Hiller family reunion in Fort Collins, Colorado, we organized a group outing to go white water rafting on the Poudre River. We took a bus ride and then put the rafts in about 45 minutes from Ft. Collins. Claire, Miles, Genevieve, Aaron, Leah, Nick, Matt and I we took the beginner/intermediate trip, which gave us mostly class 2 and 3 rapids.

It was the perfect level of scary for the kids... and for us too :) We almost tipped once when our guide brought us in too quickly to wait on the side for the other boats. Leah and I almost tipped over backwards but we held on. The water was freezing and it would have NOT been fun to fall in. A few of the Hiller cousins took the more advanced trip (you had to be 14 and up to go on that one), and they DID fall in! It sounded pretty scary actually and they were banged up a bit.

We got the photo package from the rafting company because I couldn't resist getting the amazing action shots! The kids asked to go back the next day for another trip, so I think they had fun!

Last Day of School!

We made it! This last week has been painful, especially knowing that the other schools had gotten out 8 days earlier. I think we ended school just in time - we are going to get some really hot weather starting tomorrow!

First Day and Last Day of School

First and last day of third grade for Miles

President's List for this kid - all A's plus good behavior 

Miles and Talon were lucky enough to have the same teacher, Talon's aunt Ms. Spendlove

First and last day of Fifth Grade for Claire

Penelope's first and last day of Kinder

The school accidentally didn't print Claire's certificate but she earned Honor Roll

Penelope's Kindergarden Ceremony

Our Penelope is on her way to first grade! She has loved school and hated homework, done well in her classwork and was called her teacher's "go-to gal" because she was always ready to help.

The kinder classes put on a cute program that can't be called a "graduation" anymore which is fine by me. Penelope earned Principals List, which is all A's plus good behavior.

Kid Quotes

If Henry wants you to stop walking or stop doing something he says "PAUSE!" 

The kids used their Easter money and allowance to buy these huge pillows that have storage inside them for a matching blanket. We have a cupcake, a castle and a shark (the blanket goes into the shark’s mouth, for example). Miles’s pillow was missing the blanket, which we knew when we bought it.  Penelope excitedly said, “Miles, you could store other things in there! Like baby carrots!” 

Two missing teeth - Penelope and Miles lost them within hours of each other

At church during the closing prayer, Henry kept hitting my arm over and over to get my attention, saying, "MomMomMomMom!" The man saying the prayer has a long beard, and it was even longer that day - he hadn't trimmed it in awhile. I finally whispered, "What?!" and Henry said, “Mom, mom, mom! It’s Jesus!” He was so excited! 

We took Henry's pacifier away cold turkey, after the dentist at Penelope's appointment asked to see his teeth (he had a pacifier in his mouth during her appointment). His top and bottom teeth don't touch... and that was all I needed to hear to get serious about taking it away. The first night we let him stay up really late to make sure he was nice and tired. I told him he was a big boy now, and didn't need pacifiers. He cried for two hours saying over and over, "I'm not a big boy, I'm a baby! I'm not a big boy! I'm a baby!" It was the saddest little chant ever! I had kept one pacifier in reserve and I wish I hadn't, because I kept thinking about giving it to him, but we held strong. The next day he asked for it again and we tried a different angle - other babies needed his pacifiers and he was helping them by giving them away. He said, "Like baby polar bears?" Um, sure kiddo. He didn't cry that night, but crashed on the couch while we watched TV. The next day he asked again - "Mom, where are my pacifiers?" I told him the other babies needed them and they were gone. He said, "Oh, like baby alligators?" I think there is a children's book idea in there somewhere... can't you just picture cute little baby polar bears sucking on pacifiers!

He's thinking, "Mom, you're gonna kill these plants"

I asked Henry if he was hungry, and what would he like to eat? Henry said, “Tomatoes." Who is this kid?

Penelope to Miles, “STOP mim-itading me!" That's a two for one word, I like it.

Penelope couldn’t find the bucket out in the backyard that we use to fill up water for Oogway, our desert tortoise. She went out by the tortoise habitat and she came back inside the house and said, “Mom, it’s N-O-T there!” 

13th Anniversary and Disneyland

Lucky #13 for us and we decided to celebrate at Disneyland this year. Going without kids is such a different experience - we covered way more ground and rode all the rides we wanted to go on multiple times. Of course we had to eat at Cafe Orleans and we ate way too much good food, but hey, we walked like 12-13 miles a day!

I remember when we were first married, my friend Valerie gave us a wooden sign that said "Hillers - Established 2005" and it seemed like we were just playing at marriage. How long would it take until that established by date seemed solid and real. Well, I think we are definitely to that point - 13 years and 4 kids later, we still love and like each other. Happy anniversary to us!