We have LICE!!!!

For the first time ever the Hurtado household had lice!!!! And Daphne appears to be the main host with a colony on her head. It all started when Megan called to tell me earlier this week that she found a handful of lice of Hazel's head. Hazel and Daphne did art camp together the week before and Hazel spent the night at our house. We did a lice check and found tons of lice on Daphne's head, a handful on Tyler's head, a handful of lice on my head, and none on Michael's head. Michael swears that the tea tree oil conditioner he uses saved him from the wrath of the lice. We spent countless hours combing lice and eggs out of hair. It didn't help that this all happened 2 nights before Renee had a big project interview at work. We tried the over-the-counter stuff but apparently it only kills live lice and not the eggs. We finally called in a professional who came to our house yesterday for several hours to treat all of us and educate us on lice removal. The general process she used on each of us: coat hair in olive oil, comb out any lice and eggs, apply Dawn dish soap and wash out oil, do one final combing. We are now supposed to do a lice check daily for the next 3 weeks! I am exhausted just thinking about it. Not to mention all the clothing, blankets, bedding, and towels we have spent washing the past few days and will continue to keep washing. We don't call Daphne "The Carrier" for nothing.

Art Garage and Altitude Trampoline Park

Daphne and Hazel spent a fun-filled week doing a half-day camp at the Art Garage. To cap off the end of a great week we headed over to Altitude Trampoline Park at the end of the last session.

Wearing the tie-dye t-shirts they made at camp

Summertime ice cream

Hazel checking out the various trampolines

Daphne fearlessly jumped into the dodgeball area with a bunch
of middle schoolers. She sided with the girls and at one point I
heard them chanting her name. It looked like the boys were
having a hard time hitting Daphne and she was throwing balls
left and right.

Daphne made the trapeze jump look easy!

San Antonio Zoo Overnight

While Michael's sister Ludy was in town we had signed up to take the kids on the Cub Scout overnight at the San Antonio Zoo. Within about an hour of arriving (and after having slept most of the drive there), it was apparent that Tyler had a fever and wasn't feeling well. Daphne really wanted to stay because she loves animals and so Ludy drove back to Austin with Tyler while Daphne and I stayed and hitched a ride back with the Davis family.

The zoo staff brought out some animals to touch
such as this tegu lizard.

Always hamming it up!

The kids had to try and guess which skulls belong to which animals.

Our little monkey tries to climb everything.

We did a night time tour of some of the nocturnal animals
long after the zoo had closed to the public.

Ready for bed- we slept in the Africa Live exhibit

Daphne originally wanted to sleep next to the exhibit with
this large snake but it was near an exit light that says on
all night so we slept next to a dwarf crocodile instead.

We watched some very playful big cats in the
morning before the zoo opened.

Kangaroos

Caitlyn & Daphne with the flamingos

Daphne loved petting and brushing the goats.

Trying to coax a bird onto her arm

Success at last

Daddy-Daughter Time

Micah's Birthday

Bryce and I took our kids hiking on part of the Greenbelt in the morning and we headed to Brad and Megan's later in the day to celebrate Micah's 5th birthday.

Daphne is always ready to get in water.
Thank goodness for hardy water shoes!

The kids always love hiking anywhere
that they can climb on rocks.

Noah and Tyler

Daphne and Damon

Micah

Singing Happy Birthday to Micah

Rough housing with Uncle Brad (on bottom) and Uncle Bryce

Independence Day

We spent July 4th swimming at Krause Springs with the Hulett cousins. Because it was overcast and eventually rained later in the day, it wasn't as crowded as it probably would have been. The kids had a blast hanging out in rafts, touching the mini waterfall, swinging on the rope swing, and jumping into the super cold spring fed pool at the top of the hill. We skipped fireworks this year since it was raining pretty good and decided to stay in and play games instead.

Damon, Daphne, Noah, Penny, Hazel, Micah, and Tyler

Uncle Bryce brought the best rafts

You know they had fun when
they can't stay awake on the ride home!

Heading Home

Heading home after a great trip to Colorado

Colorado- Day 6

Hands down we all agree that white water rafting was our favorite part of our Colorado trip! On our last day there we went rafting on the Arkansas River in Browns Canyon with the Eaves family. The trip we took was great for families with a mix of tame Level 2 rapids plus some Level 3 and 4 rapids. Daphne was the only one who didn't paddle. She sat in between Martha and I in the middle of the raft and. She was also the only one with a yellow helmet because the small ones don't come in red. Andrew loved that the guide called her a lemon head! Tyler rode in the back of the raft with our guide Chas for the first half of the rafting trip. Since the back of the raft doesn't get as wet Chas took us through one of the rapids backward so that Tyler could get splashed more. Tyler thought that was pretty cool. During the trip there was one rapid you could swim through. Daphne was the only one who wanted to do it, particularly since the water so cold. Since she's so little, instead of letting Daphne swim the rapid Chas dipped her in the water by her ankles and pulled her back in. Towards the end of the trip Chas let Daphne go up to the front to "ride the bull". She stood in the front of the raft next to Michael and Brad and held on to to a rope while we went through tame rapids and she loved it!

The kids loved getting splashed!

L to R: Michael, Lydia, Renee, Chas (our guide), Daphne,
Tyler, Martha, Andrew, and Brad

Poor Andrew got a nose bleed due to the altitude and all the
photos were taken while he had a tissue in his nose.

A little fun back at the rafting outpost

Exploring the town of Buena Vista

Colorado- Day 5

We spent a day in Breckenridge. There were a ton of fun alpine activities on the mountain and shopping options in town. All the kids wanted to do different things so we had to divide and conquer.

There was a fun area at Breckenridge designed
for the little ones like Daphne, who is still under
the 48" height benchmark for other activities.

Bungee trampoline

Daphne looked so grown up in her gear for
the ropes course, which she conquered
quite fearlessly.

Alpine slide

Selfie on the chair lift

Tyler tries to best his time on a mini obstacle course.

Elevation 11,059 feet

Goofing off walking to dinner back in Keystone