We haven’t updated for a while, but we’re still keeping busy! Here are a collection of video and pictures wherein we:
Have dinner and do a short “hike” to a waterfall in Lory State Park (just outside of Fort Collins).
Visit downtown Boulder and play in the water fountains there. (In the video Kalyn gets squirted in the face, poor thing!)
Do another short hike in Lory State Park, where Kalyn get very excited about some grasshoppers.
Hang out at home together.
Visit and work in our garden.
We also just got back from another short camping trip to a local lake, but on that trip we managed to forget about half of what we needed, including the camera (and all our clothes and Mom and Dad’s sleeping bags). So, we only have a few pictures from the cell phone from that one, and I don’t know how to import those yet.
Garrett is getting super busy. He may be the grabbiest baby I have ever seen, and it is difficult to do anything while holding him. Just a minute ago I had to put him down because he kept trying to grab my mouse. He is crawling all over using his army crawl. However, he pushes up on his legs quite a bit so he might actually learn to do a more traditional crawl, as opposed to Kalyn who learned to walk before she stopped doing her army crawl.
Taking a picture of Kalyn and Garrett together is tricky. I thought you might enjoy this series of pictures where we try to get a good picture of Kalyn and Garrett together, but never quite succeed. Garrett has a quilt square on his back, which Kalyn put there because she decided it was a baby blanket. At one point Kalyn decided we needed to take a picture of her foot, as you can see. Please excuse the mess.
This past weekend we did a two night trip down to Colorado Springs. We stayed the first night at Mueller State Park, at a camp site with stunning views of Pikes Peak.
The next day we first made a short stop at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. The most exciting feature of the monument are the petrified redwood tree stumps. Interesting, but a short stop.
Then we drove up to the top of Pikes Peak. We have already driven up to the top of Rocky Mountain National Park, so that was what we were comparing it to. Rocky Mountain National Park is a much more safe-feeling road with only a few spots of sheer dropoffs and more gradual climb. Pikes Peak is an extremely steep drive with some rather scary dropoffs most of the way. However, Pikes Peak definitely wins in the scenic views department. The view from Pikes Peak is amazing. I had a harder time with the altitude on Pikes Peak, but Tim and both kids did just fine with it. I found the facilities at the top of the mountain lacking, but we may have hit a particularly busy point with a load from the train.
That evening we headed to Garden of the Gods and took a walk around that area. We both thought it was a lovely place to visit. Kalyn had a blast climbing (safely, we didn’t let her climb up any cliffs) on the rocks and could have spent several hours just exploring the area. There was one rock with a split that was just big enough for Kalyn to comfortably walk through. A lot of people had fun watching her climb through the little tunnel.
That night we camped at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, which also had some nice views, but nowhere near as lovely as Mueller State Park. The campground is next to Cheyenne Mountain, which is the home of NORAD, and the theoretical home of Stargate Command. It’s a pretty young campground (only a couple years old) and sorely lacking in shade, but we were pleased with the facilities.
Last Friday Kalyn was watching some Sesame Street in Tim’s office while I frantically tried to get everything packed for our Colorado Springs trip that afternoon. When I came in to peek and make sure everything was going okay, everything looked fine but she had a guilty look on her face. When I got closer I found that behind the table she had gotten a hold of a sharpie and colored all over her leg. She got a few small marks on the couch, but she was definitely aiming for her leg. There are still some faint marks on her legs now, but they are fading fast.
A little while ago Tim was on his way home from a late evening meeting (his first one – he’s usually home with us in the evening) when he saw this little toad hopping up the path. He took it home and kept it in a bucket so that Kalyn could check it out when she woke up in the morning. Kalyn enjoyed the frog. Kalyn’s still a little too young for pets, so Tim took the frog back to work with him that morning.
A couple weeks ago I took Kalyn and Garrett back to the Butterfly Pavilion while Tim was getting some work done. We had a ton of fun. Kalyn is super excited about all insects right now, which is why we went back. Her favorite part was the big spiders – we spent about 15 minutes just looking at the 8-10 different large spiders they have on display. She also got to pet a hissing cockroach, which was pretty exciting.
This past week we traveled up through South Dakota for a large family vacation. It was the first time we went on a multiple day camping trip since having Kalyn (we’ve done many overnight trips) and it was definitely a challenge, but worth it in the end. This is a long post, but it was a great trip and I wanted to share it all.
First, we planned to visit the Mormon Handcart Visitor’s Center and Independence Rock in Wyoming. However, we got there after it closed. No big deal… we planned to go in the morning. We camped at the church owned camp site and were a little puzzled that there was only one other tent camper there, but lots of RVs and mobile homes for the couple missionaries who work at the visitor’s center. I think we figured out why we were the only tent campers when our tent started to collapse in 40-50mph wind gusts coming across the plains. We have a pocket wind speed calculator, plus our speed calculations were confirmed by the news report the next day. We ended up packing up camp and driving to Casper, where we stayed the night at Motel 8. As a result we ended up missing the Handcart Center & only seeing Independence Rock in the dark.
The next day we spent some time hunting for a jacket for Tim, since I had forgotten to pack coats for us (I was so worried about making sure the children didn’t get too cold I forgot about us.) While at a sporting goods store we found a little kid’s tent + sleeping bag + flashlight + compass set for $30 and decided to get it, since we had such difficulty getting Kalyn to settle down into her bed to sleep with us in the same tent. It was the best purchase of the whole trip! Kalyn loved her tent and would go to sleep much faster in it by herself than if she had mom and dad in the same tent to play with. We just put a clip on the zipper to make sure she wouldn’t get out of her tent while we were asleep and wander off.
We then headed up to Devil’s Tower and spent the next night there. We enjoyed doing the easy hike around the tower. Kalyn loved all the pinecones and rocks and had a great deal of fun walking along.
The next day we were planning to do a tour of Wind Cave, but ended up going through Jewel Cave instead since we could buy a ticket for a specific time beforehand (versus just going and hoping they have space) and it seemed like a more interesting tour.
We bought our ticket in the morning and then headed down to the Hot Springs KOA. Staying at the Hot Springs KOA was kind of a last minute decision to solve our laundry and shower problems, so we ended up wishing we had done a little bit more research and stayed in a more central location, like Custer.
That afternoon we also did a tour of the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, which would have been a lot more interesting if we had not been so hot and tired and miserable. It is a site of an old sink hole where over the ages many mammoths got caught and preserved. Eventually the sink hole filled with sediment and became a hill. The mammoth bones were discovered during construction in the 1970s and today they are still excavating mammoth bones.
After the Mammoth Tour we were seriously thinking of skipping the Jewel Cave tour and eventually only went through with it because the ranger assured us that if Kalyn was unmanageable they could call someone to come take us back up the elevator. I am so glad we went! After the first couple of minutes Kalyn calmed right down and enjoyed exploring the “big tunnel” and looking at all the rocks and “tails” (stalactites). I also think she enjoyed going up and down the stairs as much as she enjoyed looking at the interesting sites. I was completely exhausted by the end from keeping her focused and carrying her up the big stairs when she got tired, but it was worth it.
After the tour we stopped for dinner. We then decided to drive back home through Custer State Park just to get an idea of the layout since we planned to do some stuff there the next day. Little did we know that this small choice would triple the amount of time it took us to get back to camp! As we drove through the park we got to see lots of big animals that bed down on or near the road at night. On the one hand, it was pretty cool to see the animals in the night (especially some big elk that we didn’t see at any other time). On the other hand, it was a little nerve-wracking to drive knowing that a large animal could walk into the road at any point.
Since I was thinking it would only be another 30 minutes or so until we got home, instead of 1 1/2 hours, I had neglected to change Kalyn’s diaper after dinner. Huge mistake! Changing an exploded diaper in a tent in the dark while trying not to wake up your tent-neighbors is NOT FUN. Also, that night we discovered our air mattress had a hole in it (that got bigger throughout the trip). It’s been a great air mattress for the past couple years, but it seems to be beyond repair now. We made due, though, and I was surprised by how well I slept without a good air mattress.
The next day, on the 4th, we went to Mount Rushmore via the Iron Mountain Road. When we were about 3/4 of the way there it started to rain and continued to rain for much of the rest of the day. We enjoyed Mount Rushmore and the great new facilities there. It was pretty crowded, although it probably would have been even more crowded if it weren’t for the rain. I laughed at the amount of Mount Rushmore sweatshirts I saw being worn – apparently most people were not prepared for rain.
Unfortunately, Kalyn was pretty miserable most of that day due to a cold she had started to come down with. It was so sad to her droopy little frown in the back seat the whole time.
After Mount Rushmore we drove back to camp via the Needles Parkway, which was a pretty cool place to see. The road winds through several granite rocks that stand up around the road, and through one particularly large tunnel.
That night we were seriously thinking of calling it quits and heading home the next day because Kalyn seemed to be so miserable. Luckily, she seemed to be doing a lot better the next morning so we headed on to Badlands National Park.
On our way out of the campground a huge beetle jumped into our car. Tim tried to get it out but it ended up curling itself into a tight ball and falling down a hole in by the windshield. It then crawled up out of the hole about 20 minutes down the road. We’re not sure what kind of beetle it was… take a look at the picture and let us know if you have any idea.
On our way to Badlands we stopped at Reptile Gardens, which was surprisingly fun. Kalyn is especially excited about reptiles at the moment (almost as excited as she is about bugs) so she had a blast looking at all the animals there. They have the largest collection of venomous snakes in the world, as well as a good collection frogs and lizards. Kalyn especially enjoyed petting the giant tortoises.
We then made a short stop at Storybook Island in Rapid City. We didn’t stay too long, but Kalyn’s favorite thing was the pumpkin house. Storybook Island is a free public park with a large variety of storybook-themed play features. We thought it was fun, although some of the features were a bit old and in need of repair.
That evening we got to Badlands. I was awed by how beautiful the scenery was. The Badlands are a series of eroding cliffs surrounded by very green rolling fields (unlike the stubby yellow-brown-green grasslands you get around here). Tim was less impressed and said that it was like a half-hearted copy of Bryce Canyon.
That night we camped at the White River KOA. If you ever visit the Badlands I recommend camping there because there only 2 or 3 campgrounds in the area and the others (including the park service one) are fully exposed to all the elements with no shelter or trees. The KOA, though, is next to river in a depression in the ground so you have trees for shade and you don’t get so much wind.
The next day we were planning to go home after doing some stuff in the morning, but Tim had caught Kalyn’s cold and was feeling quite miserable. So, we just drove through the park and then left for home.
Chimney Rock was on the way home for us so we stopped to visit the visitor’s center there. We were surpised by how much was in the visitor’s center. It was really interesting to learn about the pioneers who traveled through the area and what Chimney rock meant to them. Kalyn enjoyed packing up the wagon they had there for the kids.
Now we are home! Today we have been taking it easy and trying to catch up a bit on laundry & etc. We both had a great time, and even though there were several things that went wrong we are all looking forward to many great trips in the future.
Garrett turned 4 months old Wed and we had his checkup Thursday. I though you all might to hear how he’s growing. He weighed in at 15 lbs 14 oz, which is the 75th percentile for his age (down from the 85th percentile last time). He is 25 1/2 inches long also in the 75th percentile (up from 50th percentile last time). His head circumfrence is 16 1/2 inches at 45th percentile (about the same).
Garrett is a busy little boy. He is very interested in toys and grabbing things. Last night I was holding him in my lap while eating rolls for dinner and he kept trying to grab my roll and eat it. He got pretty close a couple times. He is very close to learning to roll over onto his tummy – he gets very close and just needs to learn to swing his legs over. He’s a very happy, smiley baby most of the time and so much fun!
Kalyn is doing great, as well. Right now she is very interested in insects. We often have a few ants exploring by our back door (we can’t seem to get rid of them but they’re really not a big problem – there’s hardly ever more than a handful) and she loves to pick them up and have them crawl on her hand. We have a community garden plot and she loves to see all the bugs while she is there. She also was in a “Curious Twos” class (a 1 hour class a couple times a week for 2 year old with art and songs and stuff) and the theme for the 2 weeks she was in was insects, so she had a lot of fun with that.
We took a short trip to Boulder this weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed at a vacation home near downtown Boulder and then walked down to see the shops. The Boulder Creek Festival started this weekend so there were a huge number of booths and people. We had a lot of fun. We enjoyed seeing the booths, Kalyn enjoyed a couple kiddie fun attractions (like the train), and we also enjoyed seeing all the street performers. We love to visit Boulder and it was fun to take our time this trip.
