Our Labor Day Weekend Part 2

Yesterday's post was kind of crappy, and for that I apologize. I was tired when I wrote it and was trying to quickly get it done. I will try to be more witty and storytelling-ish in this one.

Something I left out yesterday was that we had our picture taken at one of those Old Time photography places. Elisabeth and I had ours taken with Terra three years ago, and of course, she remembered and wanted it done again. So, we went to the same place as last time. We put Julia in a bonnet and a white gown and, oh my goodness, she was the CUTEST baby to walk the planet. I will have to try to scan the picture and put it up on here sometime, because it is just darling of her. We tried taking the picture with serious faces, since that would have been more old time appropriate, but Elisabeth was making such sad, sour faces, we chose the one of her smiling. She's such a goof.

Okay, back to this post's pictures...

We spent Sunday hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park. I had a couple of specific trails I wanted to take, so we got to the park around 10:00 AM. But, first we stopped at the grocery store to buy food for our picnic lunch, where Julia and Ebeth drove around the store.

And then we played at the ghetto park that was next to our hotel for a few minutes while we packed up the car and checked out.





The forecast was calling for storms after noon (of course), so we tried to get to the park as quickly as possible. Our first spot was the trail to Alberta Falls.



I chose to use the bridge, but these three jumped stones to cross the river. Elisabeth was super proud of herself once she got across.



It took us about an hour to get to the top of the falls. Elisabeth was insistent on putting her feet in the water (something she just knew her Nina would have done if she'd been with us), and since Evan was carrying Julia on his back, I climbed down with her. Now, I don't know if any of you know this, but I am not that sure footed. However, I am quite proud to say that I did an excellent job of rock climbing on this trip and did not fall on my face once!



We decided to eat lunch at the top of the falls. About 4 very invasive chipmunks were quite pleased with our decision, until they realized we weren't handing out any food.



After lunch, and a rather primitive use of nature as a bathroom for a certain 6.5 year old who had to go super bad (oh, and let me tell you, this would be the second time this little girl has used nature as a bathroom...the other time was when she was 2.5 in DeKalb and we got lost trying to find a park and there are NO BATHROOMS at any of DeKalb's parks, so she was forced to use a tree since she was potty training and we didn't have a change of pants...but I digress), we let Julia walk some of the path for a few minutes. She LOVED it and greeted every single person that passed us.


We started down Alberta Falls trail and veered towards the Bear Lake trail which was superdy duperdy steep. Bear Lake is a glacial lake and breathtaking. It's so blue and clean. The trail just went around the lake, so it wasn't as long of a hike as the other trail.

Julia is a big fan of her hiking backpack. She likes to try to put the straps in Evan's ears, play with his hair, and punch him in the back of the head if he isn't going fast enough. She's so gentle.


And as can be expected, Elisabeth wanted to put her feet in the lake as well.




We took the bus back to our parking lot and Julia enjoyed her hiking backpack/seat and gabbered at the people behind her.


On our way out of the park, we stopped at one of the Elk Viewing sites. We were not disappointed.

Julia chose this time to squeal and scream in delight and yell "Dog!" whenever she saw one.


Elisabeth, with her mad memory skills, wanted to revisit a store we'd stopped at on the way down from the park when we were with Terra. It's called The Dam Store, and there is a bridge under the store that crosses the Big Thompson River. When we went in 2006, it was storming pretty bad and the river was flooding to the bottom of the bridge. We took a super fast picture and then booked it to the car. We drove the rest of the way down the road with flash floods and a bit of intense fear when Terra's car drifted on the flooded street for a few seconds (NO! Terra wasn't driving! Do I look like an idiot? I was driving and was able to control the hydroplaning and get us back on solid ground). That did not happen this time around.
We also went to the top of the observation tower at the store too.
Holy crap, she totally needs a haircut!

We really had a lot of fun. The girls were great, and except for poor Juju being scared in the middle of the night in the hotel, they were real troopers the whole weekend.

Our Labor Day Weekend Part 1

Some of the things I am enjoying about being in the Air Force--besides free health insurance, getting paid to move around the country and seeing Evan in his blues on Mondays--is that Evan gets all federal holidays off and usually an extra day for fun! He got to walk with us to school on Friday and then came with me to my Mom's Walking Club. It was nice to have him participate in our week day.

To celebrate this fine Labor Day Weekend, we left Saturday morning for Estes Park. I'd been there before with Elisabeth in August of 2006 when we were visiting Terra while she lived in Ft. Collins. The girls did very well in the car.

Julia slept for part of the way. She is super fat!!!
Once we got to the part of the highway that actually curves and twists into the mountain, Evan became the happiest person alive. Here he is thoroughly enjoying his driving experience.
Estes Lake.
Holy crap, it took us half an hour to find a freaking parking spot once we got to Estes. We were STARVING and Elisabeth made sure to tell us about every 5 minutes about how we hadn't parked yet. Apparently, we were not the only ones who decided to get away for the weekend. They also were having a Labor Day art fair in the middle of town to add to all the parking fiasco.

We finally parked and started walking the main street looking for food.


Elisabeth posed here 3 years ago and remembered how she'd posed. :)
We ate a pizza place Terra had taken us last time. It is delicious and the ingredients are all fresh and it's just heavenly. You also get to sign your name on the wall.

Julia demanding Evan share his ice cream.
Super mad when the ice cream was declared all gone.
While driving to our hotel, we happened upon a herd of elk. They were grazing in someone's yard. And not obeying common traffic laws.


When we got to the hotel, both girls went absolutely crazy. Julia kept playing in the ginormous closet and walking circles around the room like a caged zoo animal.
Ebeth immediately started jumping on the beds.

We went miniature golfing after dinner. Julia enjoyed the game from her backpack seat.


Then Ebeth and Evan rode the go-karts and Julia was sat down to watch.


More of our Labor Day fun to come later....

Julia's Room!!! (finally)

Although the Californian fires are devastating, they are leaving us some lovely sunsets with their smoke that has been hanging out over Pike's Peak. I went to go for a walk the other night and was rewarded with that sunset.

We are quite excited because it's Labor Day weekend coming up and we're going on a little trip to Estes Park! We're only staying one night, but it's so nice to get away. We're going to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park, shop the shops, dine at the fine restaurants, swim in the heated swimming pool and jump on the hotel beds. :)

Here's Julia reading to Figaro. This is a daily occurrence.
And here is Julia trying to bother Elisabeth. Also a daily occurrence.




Last weekend, I got to escape the land of Stay At Home Mom, and go out with my mom's group. We took a cup cake decorating class. It wasn't anything I hadn't already learned in the Kitchen of Jana, but it was fun nonetheless. My favorites were the sunflower cupcakes. They were well received and quickly eaten when I brought them home.


Here's a random picture of the cats. They decided to nap on my gym bag as soon as I got home.


And here's Julia in her belly shirt. Mind you, it was not supposed to be a belly shirt, but when you've got it, flaunt it!!!


Last weekend we finally got around to painting Julia's room. Stinking thing needed two coats though, so instead of a one day project, it turned into two. I was quite grumpy about this. But, it's done!!!!!
Here's what you see when you walk in.
I bought the glider off of Craig's List for $35! I am so proud of that bargain! We still haven't found a dresser, so we've converted her changing table into one for the time being by using baskets. Most of the pictures are from Elisabeth's nursery. They work perfectly with the room!!
The growth chart Aunt Kyle bought her!
The growth chart came with stickers for the wall. Julia watched me put them up and LOVED them. Maybe she'll quietly stare at them in the mornings and let us sleep longer...

She loves the room. She likes to point to the things on the wall and actually can play in there now. Roosevelt likes it too, of course (as you can see).