summer happenings

July was a busy month, but fun. One weekend we went hiking at the Craigs the kids did pretty well the Kelty carrier was a life saver.

Then we went up Pikes Peak one Afternoon. The drive was very pretty and I was happy Neil was driving. They have great donuts, can't wait to go get some more.
My Brother got married July 23rd in Minnesota so the kids and I went back a week early and Neil drove back and met up with us later in the trip. The wedding was beautiful and weather was perfect.
Keenan took swimming lessons he loved it. He did great. He passed his first session and got to go to the next level, but the next level is pretty hard. They want them to be able to do a breast stroke put the whole combination of moving hands and kicking and putting face in the water at the same time. Keenan is going to have to practice that some, but he had a blast.
I will be posting some August Happenings later in the month.

Summer Riding

The last couple Thursday Neil and I have finally been able to get out and ride with each other which we have not done for awhile.

We have gone to Ute Park (which is only a mile from Neil's work) so Neil knows the trails really well I have been there a couple times. Ute has great trails very different than midwest riding, but love the new challenge.

Last night we went to Palmer Park (Section 16). We took off from the parking lot and Neil warned me that there is alot of climbing at the beginning, but I was not prepared for 1.5 hours of sustained climbing. It was all singal track. We met up with some of Neils co-workers at the Trail head (1/2 hour into the ride) They all had downhill bikes. So we took off up the Mountain and 1 hour later got to the top it was soo pretty. I was able to catch my breath and some of Neil's co-workers started to put some arm and leg protection on (Neil also warned me that the first part of the descent is really techincal, but I will be able to ride most of it). So we took off down the hill first and I think I was a little siked out, the frist quarter of the descent was rocky, loose gravel switch backs and STEEP! So I proceeded to ride part of it and I just could not go any further I was pretty nervous so I walked part of it. Then Neil's co-workers came down with their down hilll bikes and they were flying down the trail. It was neat to watch them go through these sections not even batting an eye. We got past that section and I was able to ride the rest of the trail down it was pretty loose and rocky, but we took it slow. It was a great night of riding an can't wait to do more.

Beauty

Last night we all decided to go for a car ride and go up in the Mountains. It just amazes me that we are just minutes to wilderness or what seems to be out in the middle of nowhere and really on the otherside of this one Mountain is Colorado Springs.

Neil took us on this very curvy road with HUGE drop offs on one side of the road and which only seemed big enough for one car but when we would meet a car we would some how fit, but the views were worth the anxiety of being a passenger and having no control.

We went hiking to this waterfall, and the kids walked up these huge steps they did amazing and loved exploring and throwing rocks into the waterfall.


I think we are going to start doing that more often in the evening after work just get in the car and go into the mountains with the kids and go exploring.

BEAR!!

Tonight we had our baby sitter come over and Cathy and I headed out for a ride. I took her to the Falcon trail at the Air Force Academy. Things were going good until about 1/2 way into the ride I stopped at the bottom of a hill to watch Cathy come down. While I was waiting I hear russling in the trees. Cathy rolled up and we quietly walked around the corner and then saw a brown bear in the trees walking away from us. He was heading in the same direction as the trail so we waited a while and then decided to keep going. I was yelling and making noise as we slowly rolled down the trail. As we went around the next corner I saw the bear lumber off the trail and back into the woods just in front of us. At the time it was a little scary but after riding to a safe area it was cool to see the bear in the wild.

CO best of both worlds!

Here in CO you get the best of both worlds in a matter of a day. Today we got 3-4 inches of snow which we are in great need of moisture here. So the kids and I went out and made a snowman. It was fun to do something different in the morning, they loved it. By noon today it fell apart and is melting fast. Tomorrow its suppose to be 70 for the next couple days. I love it, snow pants one day, t-shirts and shorts the next.

Hiking

It has been too long since I have posted anything on here. Cathy was out of town this weekend (Thursday through Sunday) so was on kid duty. The weather wasn't great on Thur/Fri so finally on Saturday it was supposed to be nice and we wanted to take advantage of it. With the forcast of 70 degrees we had our choice; 1) Playgrounds 2) Sledding/playing in the snow 3) Hiking We choose the last. Cathy's parents bought us a hiking book so I paged through it and found a hike that looked and sounded fun.

The trail started pretty steep right out of the parking lot!

This doesn't look like a big deal but I am basically looking straight down at the high way about 400ft below. The kids are leading the way!! Time for a break!

The kids did amazing. We ended up hiking about 1/2 way out to the loop and back which amounted to approx. 2.5 miles. I guess the first/last part of the hike is the steepest and hardest so we basically got a condensed version of the entire 7.5 mile trail. It was a really fun trail and likely we will be back there again this summer maybe to concur the whole thing (with the assistance of a baby sitter and kids at home...sorry guys).

The ZOO

My parents came to visit this last week so we had some fun activites planned. One day we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo the animals were very active. We got to feed the giraffes lettuce which was a lot of fun. The bears were not happy with one another so that was neat to watch. They have a carousel and the kids loved going for a ride. Georgia was saying Yee-Haw!! We went to the Airforce Acedamy one day and looked at some airplanes. Georgia got a new hat and sandals she loved going for a walk with her book and we could not forget her sippy cup. She was soo cute.