Weekend Fun

After 6 weeks of being on the go, we had a weekend at home. It felt great and I'm ready to hit the road again this weekend with the kids.

We had a busy day with errands, gym time, house projects & a work party on Saturday. Ella was the only one who was willing to hike with me on Sunday. Nick kept busy with house projects while the twins had no excuse for not coming with us to the Flatirons.

We got an early start Sunday morning & finally found the trail I scoped out.  It was GORGEOUS.  Nice & shady for Rocky - it reminded me of Utah.  Unfortunately, the bears also like the trail.  With a bear sighting last week, no bear spray (does the stuff even work?) it didn't seem wise to take Ella & the pooch down a long, deserted trail I wasn't familiar with.

I need to get a Boulder, Colorado hiking guide because my back-up plan was to return to the same hike we took over Labor Day. Rocky did not need to be carried this time. He was bounding up the very steep rocks on the second trail we attempted.  My legs were burning from 8 minutes of wall sits at the gym on Saturday so I didn't protest too much when Ella suggested we turn around.

And we ended up the exact same trail we walked last fall. But, it was about 2 hours later than we had hoped & it was super hot. So, we called it a day & headed home.
But, not before cooling off.

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Barr Lake

I joined the cub scouts on a hike last weekend.

It was our first visit to Barr Lake State Park.

Spring has not quite arrived yet.

We were scouting for bald eagles - last year they had over 60 nesting in the park. They are expecting eaglets next month and we were looking for nests.

We were running late, so I didn't bring a telephoto lens, but you can kind of see the herd of deer running from our noisy den.

I found some cheap binoculars that were perfect for our nest-spotting adventure. I have no idea how, after one use, they are covered in sand.

Despite spending 20 years in the midwest, I had never seen a squirrels nest.

It was a windy adventure, but pretty awesome to see the boys having fun & exploring.

Eldora Mountain Resort

We finally got some snow this weekend - just in time for us to mix it up.

I'm sure Nick was wishing we were up the other canyon skiing, but we decided to head up Boulder Canyon to try snowshoeing.

We took advantage of Charlie's cub scout day to try snowshoeing with friends. I snowshoed a few times in Salt Lake, but this was the first time out for the rest of the family.

Nick was VERY skeptical about how the kids would do with this adventure.

The drive up was super windy, and I was getting concerned that it would be miserable, but with the exception of a few isolated spots, the weather was perfect.

The kids were incredible. All grumpiness was kept within reason. With a late night, time change and a 2.5 mile hike, I think that was all we could expect.

 

Eldora has a nice Nordic Track for snowshoeing & cross country skiing.

The ski resort will be on our season pass next year - we have our fingers crossed that the pass will include access to the Nordic Center too. It was an awesome family adventure.

Super Dogs!

As part of the National Western Stock Show, we attended the Super Dogs performance.

They had a cool obstacle course set up for the pups.

The kids loved the mood lighting.

This is Puff Daddy. He's a wannabe frisbee dog (that can't catch).

But, he had some impressive companions.

Greta liked the dancing dogs. The dogs were judged on speed & accuracy. There was a Tucker-like old pooch that moved super-slowly through the poles. The kids thought that was hilarious.

We all liked the Hogan-dogs.

Puff Daddy may not be able to catch, but he can jump!

Same with this little critter.

We had lots of time to consider just how unimpressive Rocky's current bag of tricks are.

This dog is apparently the world champion frisbee catcher (or something like that).

Ella & Charlie really liked the dog relay races at the end of the show. All in all, it was a super fun family friendly afternoon.

National Western Stock Show

We attended the National Western Stock Show this year. It's kind of like a mini-state fair (without the carnival rides).

It was January and Nick wrongly told the kids they could leave jacked in the car. It was a little chilly (but of course Nick was cozy in his sweater).

We had fun roaming the grounds & seeing all sort of fun animals.

The pigs were a sleepy lot.

We didn't have time to explore everything but the kids had fun wandering around, checking out the animals 

and taking in all the glorious fair-type food smells (we were cleansing this week - no beer or fried green beans for us). I think the kids would be up for heading down again next year.

Sunflower Farms: Longmont, Colorado

So are you ready for Christmas?

I don't know where November went.

The last thing I remember, it was Halloween.

We were enjoying sunshine & light sweater weather.

Our neighbor organized a neighborhood field trip to Sunflower Farms.

Charlie had a hard time finding things to keep him occupied.

We fed some animals.

Still not sure I know what this guy is but you weren't allowed to feed him.

There were plenty of tractors

and hammocks,

things to climb on

and things to swing from.

The kids asked for a hammock for the backyard. When I explained that trees are needed to support the hammock, they suggested we put one in the basement.

We were a little late to see the sunflowers.

But, the aspens were so pretty.

I love days when the kids are outdoors, they aren't fighting & no one is asking to watch TV.

We took a wagon ride to look for pumpkins.

And then it was time for lunch. 

Hot dogs never tasted so good.

And, of course, you can't have a campfire without s'mores.

We hope these turkeys survived last week

and that this one makes it to the New Year.