Grand Lake - July 2010

We went on a short vacation to Grand Lake, CO in mid-July (it's on the other side of Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes). Grand Lake must be the most wonderful vacation spot in all of Colorado. We were within walking distance of everything in town, including the lake. Owen and Josh had fun fishing off the public dock every evening. They never caught anything, but Owen loved being out late at the lake. We took several little hikes in the national park, usually visiting streams so Josh and Owen could fish a little and Wyatt could throw rocks.

Here's Owen with a brook trout. Josh caught it on his line, but Owen reeled it in.

We stayed right next to this historic house in town. It's still a private residence, so this is as close as we could get, but Owen thought the sign was pretty cool!

A view of the Never-Summer Range from the national park... we couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather while we were there!

North Pole - July 2010

In early July, Grammy and Pop (the Belteaus) took us to the North Pole in Colorado Springs. It was so much fun! We're standing by a "north pole" made of actual ice here. For some reason, Owen continues to refer to it as "original ice". Both boys ADORED these cars that you drive on a little track. I'm pretty sure both of them thought they were really drving.

Wyatt screamed with joy the entire time...

Here is another favorite ride...

Wyatt enjoying a ride on a reindeer...

Trip to Bailey - July 2010

We headed up to Bailey for the 4th of July weekend to see Ben, Brenda, Amelia, and Cavan. It's always nice to escape to the mountains (away from all the loud neighborhood fireworks!) for this holiday. We started the weekend with a 1st birthday celebration for Cavan at Tiny Town. Wyatt was absolutely enamored with the place...just his size!

Then, we got all the kids in the pool before it got really cold in the mountains!

Our last adventure was a trip to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison. The kids liked the life-sized replicas...this is an Iguanadon.

We took a little bus tour of the area, with stops at some of the highlights. Here Owen is pointing out a fossil embedded in the sandstone, likely a piece of a Stegosaurus.

Here is an Ornithomimus footprint. These were bird-like dinosaurs. Although they were reptiles, they walked on two legs, much like a modern ostrich. Owen was very impressed by all the dino tracks.

A little video of the Tiny Town adventure.

Our Yard - June 2010

As many of you know, we've been spending alot of time working on the yard this summer. The flower beds in our front yard look really gorgeous this year...

But the big, huge, massive project has been the backyard. We live on a huge slope and wanted to make it more useable for the family. This is a before shot, taken in mid-spring. Our plan is to terrace the area to the left of the deck to create some flat spaces for a play area and a garden.

Josh rented a Bobcat to get the job started....

The flat area at the bottom of the hill is starting to take shape in this picture. This will be our play area.

The boys and I are sitting in the future play area. The retaining wall is about 3/4-height in this picture. We're actually already getting alot of use out of this new flat part. The boys love playing in the dirt. Wyatt pours buckets of dirt endlessly and Owen and Josh have made some fossils out of left-over cement, to create a mini-dinosaur excavation site.

The view up the hill, with the wall almost done.

The first retaining wall is finished here. Josh backed it in plastic and is now in the process of backfilling dirt up to the top of the wall. Then, we'll repeat the process with a second wall above the exisiting wall. This middle terrace will become the garden next summer. We'll update with more pictures as the project progresses!

Trip to OKC - June 2010

In mid-June, the boys, my mom and I made a trip to Oklahoma to see my grandparents and sister. The boys loved playing in my grandparents backyard, despite bad mosquitos and 6 inches of rain in one day! One of the highlights of the trip was going to the Oklahoma City Zoo. They have the most wonderful Children's Zoo, with a beautiful garden to explore...

animals to see...

an Oklahoma stream to splash in (by far Wyatt's favorite)...

and an awesome petting zoo! This was probably Owen's favorite part...

We even got to see a grizzly swimming in the Oklahoma Trails portion of the zoo. This was my favorite part!

The sisters (and a toddler who refused to look at the camera)... I think we look so much alike here!

Another big highlight was the Sam Noble Museum, which has dinosaurs and more dinosaurs!

This is a pentaceratops. It has the biggest head of any dinosaur ever discovered!

Owen is posing with a dinosaur bone here...

The final highlight was playing with Lauren and Jerod's cat, Crispin. When we were back at home, Owen would refer to visiting their house as "being at Crispin's house." Man, they loved that cat!