The joys of a "big city"

We spent last weekend in Fruita, Colorado for the great Lemon Joy make-over and we had a hoot! Chris and Jeff spent the weekend in the shop, but the kids and I ventured into the "big city" of Grand Junction to shop. On Sunday, I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese for the first time and they loved it!! They consumed the pizza in order to get back to playing the games and it really was fun watching them. Monday was Chris' 33rd birthday and after a delicious lunch of Chinese food we headed into Junction to Banana's Fun Park. Since it was a week day, the park was really quiet which was such a treat. We started out with the Rookie Go Carts where both kids were able to drive their own cars. Unfortunately, the cars were too small for Chris and I so there wasn't any of our normal crazy competition, but it was great to watch Alyssa drive for the first time. She was a little hesitant as the only thing she's ever driven has been Lemon Joy. Once she got out on the open track though, she was just fine! Brendon was his normal animalistic self and proceeded to lap everyone else multiple times. :)

The bumper boats were a party as well. It was such a hot day, it felt great to be in the water. Each boat has a sprayer so there wasn't much bumping going on! We all ended up soaked, but it was a lot of fun!

After a great game of mini-golf, we headed back to Fruita to pick up Lemon Joy. We decided to come home through Moab so Chris could have his birthday dinner there and plus, it's an easier drive. Both of our trucks know that drive so well, you can almost put them on auto pilot! :) We came down the river road just as the sun was setting and was it ever beautiful! Moab is such an amazing place, it felt good to be back even for a few hours. Chris choose La Hacienda for dinner and it was delicious. It was awfully hard to leave as usual, but after much contemplation and discussion, it was decided that work called so we made the drive home and hit our driveway about 3:00 in the morning. And as always, it was well worth it!!

Body Issues

Isn't it funny how beauty really is in the eye of the beholder? I look at that picture and see a well loved, beautiful rock buggy named Lemon Joy. Now, most everyone else sees an old Bronco that has been beat to hell. I loved the abused body panels that were held on by zip ties which flapped in the wind once we got over 50 MPH on the highway. I really have enjoyed all the times people have looked right by her because she couldn't be more than a beater. I've loved the feeling of having a "secret". The secret in this case being how amazing that battered old Bronco is on the rocks. I love Hans Solo's comment about "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts". My sentiments exactly!

With our last few trips, it's become very apparent that we needed to get some more body protection. Having reached that conclusion, we contacted a good friend, Jeff, about doing some cosmetic work on our girl. He had picked up some sticks of tube this winter for us and is hands down the best welder/fabricator we know. Jeff builds rock buggies and rat rods for a hobby and does metal art work for a living. After settling on a good weekend, Chris took out the sawzall for it's finally attack on Lemon Joy. Here she is loaded on the trailer...NAKED!

And here is the new and improved Lemon Joy!! Look at all that sassy tube everywhere! It took Chris and Jeff 26 hours crammed into 2 long days and 4 sticks of tube for this masterpiece. They were working in a shop in 102* weather and everytime I walked down to check on them, they were laughing and having the time of their life. It was really quite fun to watch them work together as they are quite similar. Both crazy with some funny nerdy tendencies! :)

This is by far my favorite picture so far. She looks so skinny which is quite ironic seeing that she sits on full width axles!! I am so thrilled with the job Jeff did. We met rock crawling and immediately clicked. He's one of our favorite wheeling buddies and it was really priceless to have someone work on the girl that knows her and has seen her at her best. Now all we need is to go wheeling and see how all that new tube holds up against the rocks!

Love the creativity!

This morning while I was doing my hair and getting ready for the day, both kids were in B's room playing legos. In no time, Brendon came in with today's creation which is a model of his hand. You'll notice he built it to size! Ignore the crazy hair, he's not a big fan of brushing it. In my defense, I did make him an appointment to get it cut today!
Alyssa built a collection of arches. They are perfectly symetrical and mostly color coded! She says she misses Moab and we need to plan a trip soon! :)

Happy July 4th!

And what a fabulous 4th we had! We were able to coerce some rock crawling friends in Salt Lake City into making the long trek to Silverton. Now, while I'm not camper material whatsoever, in the name of savoring every minute with our friends, I agreed to camp for FOUR whole days. Thankfully, we were able to get a great campsite the weekend before and we rolled into town on Thursday beside ourselves with excitement and a very loaded truck, trailer, and Lemon Joy. The whole camping thing went surprisingly well, I lived and there weren't any huge issues for which I'm very thankful! I really think the wickedly cool camp kitchen helped!! After checking out the parade on Friday, we spent the rest of the day in the mountains. We went to the top of Arrastra Gulch which is one of my favorite drives and then up Hurricane Pass. It was such a treat to be able to show everyone our cool hangouts! Needless to say, they were blown away by the beauty and were able to understand why we're not all about moving to Utah!
Saturday was our "big" day of wheeling so we got an early start and despite the looming storm clouds we bravely headed over Red Mountain Pass. Now, I use the term "bravely" because please keep in mind that our mode of transportation was the lovely Lemon Joy who in no way shape or form can be considered a street legal rig. Plus, she has no windshield wipers, doors, sides, or a heater. We don't bother with those frivolities though! Onward through the storm and don't spare the horses is our motto! Yes, we are crazy and some days there's a fine line between crazy and stupid. :) Anyways, lived through the rain and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Red Mountain mining area, Engineer Pass, and Mineral Point. It was a great day and we were winding our way down the mountain when suddenly one of the rigs flies off the road. We all pull over and watch as the doors open, inhabitants jump out with plastic garbage bags and head for the snow covered hill. It was time for some Redneck Sledding!! Brendon was a wild man on that hill and Alyssa loved it as well.
Much to everyone's dismay, the weekend flew by. We ran up Picayne and Placer on Sunday for a short jaunt and then it was time to part ways once again.

Here's our crew from the weekend. Camping was really surprisingly painless, a lot of work, but the time spent with everyone was priceless. In fact, it was so much fun, we're already planning next year's trip!

Here we go....

Welcome to a glimpse into the adventures of the Bolos Family: 4 partners in crime, 2 fearless Yorkies, a 3 legged salamander, and one loved Bronco named Lemon Joy!

As with most things in our life, my decision to enter the blogging world began whilst in the company of Lemon Joy. My very good friend Catherine was telling me all about the joys of blogging when we were sitting in an old miner's cabin waiting for a storm to pass during a day of wheeling. We figured it wasn't the best plan to be driving down Red Mountain Pass in a rainstorm without windshield wipers so there we were. Anyhoo...she made it sound like so much fun that I thought I would give it a shot. It seems like a good place to keep everyone up to date on our crazy life and since I'm not gifted in the remembering to email pictures department, at least you can see some on here!

Enjoy!!