Prepare yourselves for cuteness. Apparently they make snowshoes for little people. We made a day of it on Presidents Day heading up into the mountains by Winter Park. It was a beautiful sunny day with almost no wind, which is a rare thing these days. Ellen wasn’t so sure about being in the cold snow, but we made her come along in the backpack anyway. Cooper did great out there and got the hang of the snowshoes in no time….
We needed to challenge ourselves. To know for certain that we aren’t losing our edge and prove that we can still go the distance. The trail was chosen: an 8.5 mile hike to Hell’s Hole. We were feeling pretty hardcore when we arrived at the trail head. We donned our sunglasses with swagger, strapped those child carriers to our backs without flinching, and set off with our peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Oh, we looked baaaad. Until we hit mile…
Screeeeech! Crash! I was torn from a restful sleep instantly. Whatever that was, it sounded heavy. It wasn’t someone tripping over a lantern on the way to the bathroom. Beep! Honk! Beep! Honk! Beep! Honk! Audrey stirred next to me looking a bit annoyed at the ruckus. We lay frozen in our sleeping bags listening to car horns blaring throughout the campground. After a few moments the car horns stopped and it was eerily silent. Outside the tent I could…
I’ve tried to keep things fairly simple with my baby gear. The nurseries have been free of bells and whistles and I’ve even forgone a lot of things that I’ve heard make motherhood more convenient. (I mean I didn’t own a Boppy pillow till Baby #2 and even then I DIYed it.) However, when it comes to actual baby gear, you know the things that help me haul my baby from point A to point B, I don’t scrimp. I’m…
In the “early days” of our marriage, we always went on a trip for our anniversary. Our Spring Break wedding and our continuing student status aligned our first several anniversaries to fall within close proximity of Spring Break, so a trip was always in order. Once we graduated, there was always a baby to nurse so we had to take a two year hiatus, but now that both those babies are weaned (Don’t worry, Cooper much sooner than Ellen) we…
Update: the original video was removed from YouTube, but someone posted a better one on Vimeo. Here it is. Update again: the Vimeo one is gone now too. But Daily Motion has it. “Everything is amazing and nobody is happy” by Meowbay So true. I see myself being like that too. I get all irritated with the dishwasher when something won’t fit in there or a bowl has a few specks of food remaining after the cycle. Somehow I forgot…
Being outdoorsy gets sort of complicated when you have kids. Long hikes tend to turn parents into pack animals, backpacking is impossible, and even car camping becomes increasingly difficult with all the paraphernalia kids seem to require. But, because we don’t want to take a 10-15 year hiatus from the things we love, we absolutely refuse to give up just because things get more difficult. With Noel’s sister, Danielle, in town this past weekend we decided it was the perfect…
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.” ― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire Yesterday, we took our little family out on a much needed hike. We packed the kids around (freeloaders) and wore crazy shoes. The boy…
Last week we were lucky to have a visit from my parents and my brothers. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t much of a vacation because we had a long list of projects for them to help us with. Still, we managed to squeeze in some fun celebrating my Dad’s birthday (Happy 50th!) and showing them some of the local sites they missed out on the last time they visited Colorado. In less than a week we managed to drive on…
We decided it was about time we escaped the urban scene once again, so Thursday night we drove up to the National Forest just outside Rocky Mountain National Park and snagged the last campsite. (I always feel a little bad when we do that; I hate seeing people driving around with cars full of gear looking disheartened.) We didn’t do anything terribly hardcore, but managed to squeeze in some hikes, s’mores, dutch oven goodness, star-gazing, and some general chillaxing. We…