Looking forward to school

Today we filed Alex's application for the Poudre School District's "School of Choice" program.  This puts us into the lottery to enroll Alex in the core knowledge school down the street called Traut.  It's a great school.  To be fair, just about all of the schools in Fort Collins are great.  Our neighborhood school is called Bacon (we love that name) and it's supposed to be great too - plus if we enroll in the neighborhood school then Alex can take the school bus.  Of course if he goes to Traut he can walk to school.  So there's really no bad options.

He'll start Kindergarten next fall (August 2012) so we have a little time.  We won't get the lottery results until February 2012.  We are very fortunate to live in a town, region, and state that offers such outstanding public schools.

Meanwhile the kids are getting a taste of school.  Ryanne is going to start doing lessons with them - Alex in particular - but Genevieve is hard to ignore.  They just got new backpacks.  Alex has a Finneaus and Ferb backpack, and Genevieve has a purple backpack with a monkey on it.  They are very proud of their new "gear".

This weekend we're heading to Leadville, Colorado.  I am going to hike Mount Elbert, Colorado's tallest "14er" (mountain peak above 14,000 ft).  I'm probably not completely ready, but I have been working out a bit.  The last 14er I climbed was Long's Peak back in 2003 or so.  Regardless of the difficulty of the hike, it should be fun - I'll be joined by one of my best friends from college, Jim, plus his father and brother, and my friend Eric.  So between huffing and puffing, we'll probably have a great time. 

Meanwhile Dana will be taking Alex and Genevieve for a train ride on the Leadville, Colorado, and Southern railroad.