6/23/12: Hiking, Ice Cream, Construction

This morning we went on a "Summer Hike at Mud Lake" put on by volunteer naturalists with the County.  The easy 2 mile hike explored the natural history of the area including bird life and behavior, wildflower identification, butterflies and other insects, and forest ecology.  They also talked a little bit about summer weather patterns and safety in the mountains.  The kids did pretty well, although next time we'll feed Elodie lunch first because she complained about being hungry the whole time, even after eating two granola bars.  Callen was covered in dust by the end and had fallen and re-opened his injured knee for the umpteenth time. One of the men commented that you could tell he was a boy because he had a scab on each knee. :)

On the way home, we stopped at C*ldstone's to use Elodie's birthday coupon.  Yum!  It definitely hit the spot on this 100F day.

What do you do when you are dairy-free and your parents take you to an ice cream shop?  Why, you clean the tables, of course! :)

belated birthday girl (I still can't believe she's FIVE!!!!)

The construction on our loft started yesterday.  Our contractor prepped the area and then took down the loft railing.  Today, he and his helper framed the loft.

Doesn't it look like we have a kill room? ;)  Anyhow, this is the view from the dining room of the sealed off living room.  That stripe is the zipper that we can walk through.

View from the living room.

View from the landing

The closet

Yesterday, we had a cute little bunny fall into our window well.  We tried to help the little guy out by putting 2x4s into the well to act as a ramp, but when that failed, we tried putting a tall upside-down laundry basket in there with food on it, thinking he'd hop to the food and then hop out.  Well, he did eat the grass that fell off the basket but he didn't hop out.  I felt so bad for the little guy when we went to bed last night and sure enough, the little guy was dead this morning. :(  So Dave fished him out immediately since it was already 95F at 9AM and we didn't want the whole house to stink by the time we got home.

the cute little guy BEFORE he died

Tuesday, 7/21/09...playgroup...

Playgroup today was at my friend Liane's beautifully remodeled home. I brought D's friend Doug & his son Treydon to playgroup. Doug's a stay at home dad, but he used to work w/D & just moved into a house around the corner from us.


Stephanie & Josiah, Heather & Cam, & Shannon


Gracin & Liane


L handing Doug a duckie. She liked Doug :)


Nolan, Davis & L


She discovered their Vtech kid digital camera & loved it. She went around taking photos with it...flash & everything. I think I'll be putting that on her wish list :)


i just love her expressions in these :)


cheese!


Shino & Erynn watching the below disaster...


part of playgroup

Here's some pics from Tuesday night's hike at Ceran St. Vrain that I didn't previously post:

pretty flowers on the water


Doesn't Kyle's look just say it all?? aka don't like my pic taken...don't take my pic...


We had to go through bushes to get the shot.


He's SO camera shy. I took his pics just to bug him :D


me taking some pics w/my Nikon D90, Manfrotto tripod & Bogen ballhead :) [pic by Kyle]

Saturday, 7/11/09...hike to Blue Lake

straight out of the camera....a preview of more to come from Saturday's hike to Blue Lake