Doodles, Dogs and Bees

Picture doesn't do it justice, but...

 ...it was fun and exciting, getting snowed on, while toodling around in Rocky Mountain National Park last weekend!  This time of year, I actually look forward to winter.

One of my favorite places

Trail Ridge Road is the name for the stretch of Highway 34 that is the highest continuous highway in the United States.  Also known as Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow National Scenic Byway, it traverses Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes Park, Colorado in the east to Grand Lake, Colorado in the west. It crosses the continental divide at Milner Pass(elev. 10,758 feet) and reaches a maximum elevation of 12,183 feet , near Fall River Pass.(elev. 11,796 feet). Near the highest point on the road is another pass, Iceberg Pass (elev. 11,827 feet).

Trail Ridge Road is closed during the winter, and often remains closed until late spring or early summer depending on the snowpack.

Fall River Road

Well, um, the drive was nice.  The scenery GORGEOUS!

We'll remember next time, not to go to the Rocky Mountain National Park or Grand Lake on LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!  It was so crowded, we didn't even want to get out of the car.  It was a bummer!

This shot was taken on Fall River Road.  (that's the back road to Trail Ridge in the National Park.)  It's the original "Road Less Traveled", but SO worth traveling!!

We May Get to Go Afterall...

At 10:00 yesterday morning, the school called and asked me to come pick up Scotty.  He had been sick at school.  I feared the worst, that we would have to cancel our Labor Day plans to go to the mountains and stay home and pout all weekend in BFE...  but maybe not.  He hasn't been sick again and was able to eat dinner last night.  And he looks really cute for a sick kid...

I must admit, I was a little worried that he got sick because of a bad case of nerves.  The day before, he had brought a note home from his reading teacher.  He had gotten what they call a "refocus".  He was devastated...  completely.  He's such a quiet, shy kid at school.  And he had told me that he'd never get a refocus, "not even when I'm in the 100th grade, Mommy."  He got the refocus for not reading loudly enough, when asked to speak up.  WHAT?!?  You can get in trouble for being quiet???  I was a shy kid too and I can totally relate to the pain one suffers when thrust into performing in front of a group of people.  I wanted to rip his teacher a new one.  Fortunately the situation wasn't that complicated and he really did only have a short-lived stomach flu.

So on to more pleasant things...  I'm packing today to go to the mountains.  We're planning on driving through the National Park to go play in Grand Lake tomorrow.  And, although it seems like a while since we've been there, I look at this picture from August of 2007 and my boys look like babies, compared to now! 

I sure hope the weather is as pretty this time as it was then.  It was perfect that day.  We played in the park. 

We ate dessert first.  There's a cute, little ice cream parlor there.  Oh my gosh, look how little our boys were!!  And ignore the fact that my father looks mad.  I've come to the conclusion that that's his picture face.  

We had lunch in the car, down by the lake.

Look at that sky!

 

 

 

It was a beautiful day!  Can't wait to do it all again.   I hope you have fun holiday plans too!

Our Last Summer Trip to Colorado

I'm not sure why, but we see lots of hot air balloons landing and taking off over my folks' new house.  There must be a great landing/taking off place nearby.  It is a real treat to get to see them and so close you can even hear them.  I used to think I'd like to go up in a hot air balloon, but since I've gotten older (and hopefully a little wiser) I've decided, "oh, why take a risk like that?"

We did a couple of fun things, just for the boys, being the last trip for summer.  We had good intentions back in May of taking them to the swimming pool lots...  but we had an unseasonably cool, wet summer and sadly, this will be the only trip to the pool this year...  They had a ball, though.

Guh and I even took them to the big, inflatable, bouncy place too!  They loved it.

They played this time with no fear, which is a little scary for their mother and grandmother to watch!  The exercise was so good for my little video game-playing boys!  I love it when they play hard!  It's good for them!

Then we negated all the exercise and went to have Happy Meals at McDonald's...  oh well.  Here's Dood, doing his best vampire impersonation.

I told you, it was a big-time, serious "boy week", including a trip to the toy department at Target and new Lego/Halo toys that Mommy assembled for the next 3.5 hours!  (and then Daddy re-assembled later, 'cause Mommy did it wrong...  but they worked just fine the way I did it too...)

I would guess that there were over 200 pieces.  Would you want to assemble the damned thing? And since then, Scott's bought the whole line of toys and put them together.  (glutton for punishment, he is!)

Then, our last couple of days, we hung out in the mountains.  I got a lot of knitting done.  I think I'm about half done with the body of my brown sweater.  Pictures to come really soon.  Peace and quiet abound up there!  And my baby joined us for the weekend.  Love that man!   I love this shot of Bee.  It shows his true colors:  happy and sweet.                                                                                                                        

 

The weather was cool and sunny.    We got to go four-wheeling.  (probably my favorite mountain outdoor activity.) I love Scott to drive so I can enjoy the sites and the wind and take pictures.  This one is blurry because we were zooming by as fast as the "little red truck" would go. (Don't tell my mother.)

The boys were with us on our four-wheeling trip and each time we stopped to look around or take pictures, we switched seats, so that someone new could sit by mommy.  (I know, I'm a lucky woman!)

Scott's checking out all the lakes to see where he wants to fish later.  Didn't get to do much this time, the algae was too thick in most of the lakes...  It'll be good fishing again after the first freeze, which will probably be next month...  It's a different world up there after September, though and we don't go up there much in the winter.  We're planning one more trip over Labor Day and that will probably be it for us, for this year.  We'll miss you, 'til next summer, mountain house!

I think we did a fine job!

I think this little family project came out so awesome!  (and so does Will)  It was  a group effort and I love that about it too.  The boys and I painted it and Daddy put it together and hung it Will's room.  Will and I love the shadow it casts on the ceiling too!

We had a fun, incredibly full weekend around here.  First was the Cub Scout camp on Friday and Saturday.  The boys had a ball.  The only bad thing being the big, bad, scarey thunderstorm that forced them to abandon the tent and come home at 2 in the morning.  I was so glad they came home!  

The Scout moms put together quite an event for our boys!  There were police cars to climb around in... 

Apparently Will likes to dabble on both sides of the law...   In the first shot he's driving the police car and in the second, he's in the back seat...  (where you put bad guys...  hmmm)  Alrighty then... 

They got to get inside an ambulance and check out all that stuff...

 

 

 

 

 

 

They each got to be turned upside-down on a stretcher...

 

 

 

 

 

Which, I hear, was one of the highlights of an already pretty exciting day...

Then the boys walked over to the armory and got to explore military vehicles.  I know my little boys were in HEAVEN!

Look at their happy, little faces.  I love that they had so much fun!

 

 

 

 

The military guys actually took the boys for a ride in this car.  As they pulled away, one boy (not sure who) said, "See you in four years." 

So then camp was over in the afternoon and we went home and passed out!  The next day I got a wild hair and Scott played along...  

We decided to re-organize our store room and rearrange the basement.  This is what it looked like in the beginning.

We started the process at 11 am.  And we had done all we could do by 9:30 pm.   

It's mostly done, just finishing touches left.  Still have to tote off a trailer full of trash.  I weeded out quite a bit of stuff. (mostly toys...  don't tell anyone...)

And ...(here's the Martha Stewart coming out in me) I LOVE our new, completely organized and easily accessible storeroom!  AND...  there are no toys in there, so the boys won't have an excuse anymore to go in there and mess everything up...  right, honey?!?

So, the boys and I are off to Colorado for the week, soon as I can get packed.  Scott's going to join us on Friday and we're going to celebrate his birthday down there.  Looking forward to relaxing a bit...  after the weekend we just had!  I have a spa day on Thursday with my two Colorado cousins and we're going to hit up the scrapbook stores too!  Should be fun.

 

Fourth of July, 2009

Fourth of July, 2009, originally uploaded by doo010101.

We had a fabulous long weekend over Independence Day at my folks' house in the mountains! Lots of boy activities: fishing, four-wheeling, shooting, boating. The weather was unseasonably cool and wonderful. Having our "Georgia cousin", Devan with us was a real treat. And we always have fun with Guh/Umpa.  Thanks for working so hard to help us have a great time, Mama! 

It was just perfect!

Almost perfect

Scott and Scotty had their fishing trip together over Memorial weekend.  They were joined by Scott's friend, Dave and Dave's son, Jonathon.  And from the sounds of it, all four had the time of their lives!

There was lots of fishing, and lots of fish almost caught.  I guess there were continuing difficulties with fishing line, that prevented them from getting the fish out of the water, which is a bummer, 'cause they had plans that involved a big, electric skillet.  (good for the fish, though.)

The little boys even found live bait...  Scotty couldn't wait to tell me how the worm still was alive after he pulled it into two pieces.  I thought I was going to lose my lunch...

There was lots of hiking and mostly Scotty was leading the way, according to Daddy...  I knew he had it in him!!

 

 

Scotty said his favorite part of the whole trip was the rock climbing.  And they must have done a lot of it, 'cause Daddy brought home 100 pictures!

They went up to the National Park and over Trail Ridge, but it was so overcast that they weren't able to see much.  That's a bummer, especially for Dave and Jonathan, who had never been up there before.  But they saw lots of elk!

They walked around Bear Lake, even though they probably shouldn't have. There were snow banks too deep and dangerous for me...

I've only done this trail in the summer.  It looks like a different world in the springtime!  Scott said people had been walking on the snow that was clearly still over water...  NOT ME!!

There was four wheeling and many, many trips through this giant mud puddle!  (Boys!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's my husband, saving the day, by lifting the car out of harm's way. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a couple of trips to Estes to buy fishing stuff and eat...  maybe some sight seeing...

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was geo-caching.  I love doing this!  Any excuse to drive around aimlessly, in the mountains and explore and take pictures...

I'm just posting this shot because I love it.  Love that they were all having so much fun and being crazy with their kids!

Love this shot!

 

 

 

 

 

"The only thing that could have made the trip perfect was if we had actually landed some fish," he said.

Sounds like it was pretty close to perfect to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's on my mind this lovely Saturday morning...

Thinking about our upcoming trip to Vail.  Wondering how different an experience it'll be for us, going at the end of November instead of mid October... These first two pictures were taken in 2003, while exploring around Vail.

Thomas the Tank Engine was THE THING in our house for a couple years around this time, being completely inseparable, as you can see.

The next few are from 2005.  The boys were a little bigger, able to do a little more...

 

 

They really had fun playing in and around that little creek!

And they both caught their first "fearsh" this year.  (that's the way Bee used to say "fish".)

 

 

 

This shot shows a lot of the reason I adore our time in Vail:  blue sky!!!  And I know that the temperature is usually a little on the cool side, which is perfect in my book!

I guess this would be the only unpleasant memory we have of our trips to Vail.  While four-wheeling in Scott's car, we encountered a slope that was more muddy and slippery than we anticipated and we got stuck.  It was approaching sunset and my man was not a happy camper, trying to figure out how to get us all out of this!  In the end, he plowed over a small tree and through a clearing in the forest and met up with the road again, on a dry spot...  We learned a valuable lesson this day!

I usually don't like to separate and do our own things (Scott and me).  But this day is one I will always cherish.  Daddy stayed home with the baby and the big boy and I went to the Ford Amphitheater and Gardens.  Will was in such a good mood and we had a ball together.

Another big reason I love our time in Vail:  unlimited time with my gorgeous, sweet husband!  (He's always been a coffee fiend, but since getting sick, he doesn't like coffee anymore...  It's just weird.  I'm wondering if having a Starbucks just a couple blocks away will still be a temptation for him...)

Alright, now we're up to our 2007 trip.  This was one of the first days we went geo-caching.  There were ruins of an old cabin in this spot.  We had been out in the wilderness for several hours.  All three boys had peed in the forest, which, I guess, is super-fun...  (whatever)   I was about to have an accident, I had to pee so badly.  Finally I gave up, and I was going to give it a shot.  Soon as I got my pants down, Will sneaks around the corner with the camera...  I couldn't believe it!  Scott swears he didn't put Will up to it...

Also, worth noting:  these little vests were one of the first things that my mother and I knit for the boys, that they would actually wear.  I'm hoping they'll still fit one more year, this year... 

One of my all-time favorite pictures that I've ever taken.  This is Bair Ranch up Glenwood Canyon, just off I 70!  Gorgeous country!

 

 

We've been to this spot every year, I think.  One year Scott caught a fish with his bare hands.  Later we found out this is one of the main spawning locations for that specific fish and you aren't supposed to mess with them...  SORRY...  We've had a lot of fun at this spot, playing in the water and stuff.  It's just a rest area, off the interstate...

We've always gone to Aspen and the John Denver Park, but I'm not sure if that'll be in the plans this time, being the end of November and more unpredictable weather...

It's just fun to hang out there.  There's a creek to play in and rocks to climb on and grass to run through.  Lots of pretty stuff to look at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another one of my all-time favorite shots.  This time of my little dood, while geo-caching again. 

So, that's what's on my mind this morning.  I can't wait for our trip to Vail this year!  We always have fun and we already have so many fun memories!

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, we were on vacation, with our friends, in Vail, Colorado.  The weather was perfect and we were having a blast!  

The kids had so much fun!

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite places to eat in Vail.  Blu's has been there for at least 15 years...  maybe longer.  It's right in the village, down by the river.  It's a really fun place to hang out and the food is always yummy too. 

Here's my gorgeous man, happy as he can be because we just made a stop at Starbucks.

Just a pretty thing at Starbucks.  (love pretty things!)

Scott and I had a date night on this day, one year ago.  K and Nick watched the kids and we went out.  It was great.  I remember the trendy, little restaurant.  I remember Scott was a little silly that night--it was fun.  I remember the weird, delicious bruschetta.

Next vacation to Vail is scheduled for fall of 2009.  We're going to try to be there for Thanksgiving.  It's going to be a completely different kind of trip, being there in the winter...  We've always gone in the fall before. 

Believe it or not, having lived in Colorado for most of the last 25 years, I've never been skiing.  I think, at first, I thought I'd enjoy it and it's a very "Colorado Rockies" thing to do.  But now that I've finally grown up and am comfortable with who I am, I don't think skiing is something I'd enjoy.  I'm much more the wait-in-the-ski-lodge-with-a-cup-of-cocoa-and-a-set-of-knitting-needles-type girl.  I don't like the wet that comes along with playing in the snow and I don't like getting bundled up enough to not get wet...  I love the snow...  from indoors.  lol