camping part two

     camping part two.

   

^^exploring.^^

^^a good pouting log.^^

^^campsite view day two. and the dogs make an appearance.^^

^^snuggly babe, toasted honey buns, coffee and a view. not a bad start to the day.^^

^^our final campsite with three other couples. thankfully we missed the storm in the background.^^

^^his guy loves popcorn and we love him! go jiffy pop!^^

^^our campfire...due to the burn ban.^^

such a great trip. we spent each night at a different campsite and drove 4x4 trails throughout the days. it gave us a new perspective of a part of colorado that we hadn't spent any time in before. we spent time around crested butte, taylor park and buena vista. i've since decided we must go back to taylor park and spend some more time because it is my new favorite part of colorado.

we feel so much more confident now about taking the kids (and dogs) and hope to get a few more camps in before summers end. christopher's residency will be finished (!!!) next summer and we have no idea where we will end up, so we want to make the most of our time here. 

advice on camping with kiddos: 

LOTS of wipes. we used every sort imaginable for just about everything. i packed more than i thought we could ever use in four days and we ran out. thanks for that advice sarah.

forget about bedtimes. camping is too exciting to have any sort of normal routine. 

leave the toys at home. nature is the ultimate playground. harper was always entertained. and if your kids do get a little bored, come up with fun challenges...like find the biggest walking stick or who can collect the most rocks or how deep of a hole can you dig in the ground?

babies are excellent campers. i was so nervous about taking our four month old son, but he was amazing. he slept beside us in the tent. (we asked a pediatrician for his advice on this matter) just make sure they wear an extra layer and a hat. i also put him in the baby mittens because it got pretty chilly at night. and we didn't have to worry about packing food or snacks for him since he is nursing. also, since he is not yet mobile we didn't have to worry about him getting into things he shouldn't. (huge!) 

we took harper's training toilet. since it is so small, we thought it might be easier to take this trip than to teach her to squat. also, less messy, because she has squatted before! 

most of all have fun and don't worry. (funny advice coming from me, right?) it does all work out and it is such a magical time for kids and grown ups too.

camping with two babes, two jack russell terriers and a few crazy friends pt.1

last month we went camping for the first time as one big happy family. christopher was really excited to give it a go. i on the other hand was a little more apprehensive. (i tend to be a bit of a worst case scenario worrier...what if the baby cries all night long and bears come looking for said crying baby? OR what if the dogs chase a deer and we lose them forever? OR what if harper falls down a cliff?...that type of thing.) but, worried as i was, i knew that we would have an absolutely incredible memory making adventure. and we did. and after four fun filled days, we made it home safe and sound...and all got a really good scrubbin'. we took a lot of pictures and bare with me, but there are two parts. i really tried my best to narrow it down!

^^a little hike to a beautiful waterfall (that i was standing in front of.) oops!^^

^^this kid loves the tent. and it is the biggest tallest tent i have ever been in!^^

^^emerald lake. looking pretty emerald.^^

^^my sweet mountain men.^^

 ^^we did some pretty crazy 4x4 trails. with the kids. and the dogs. they are awesome.^^

^^roasting hot dogs. since there was a burn ban in colorado, we took the coleman stove and did all of our cooking off of that.^^

 ^^dream cabin.^^

such a fun adventure. part two up soon. 

climbing mountains

i'm sitting at the desk with a baby wrapped tightly around me and a toddler sleeping in the next room. we are slowly getting our rhythm as a family of four. you guys, i can hardly believe that it has been seven weeks since sawyer was born! my postings here have been the most basic weekly shots (that i sometimes struggle to post).

adjusting from a family of three to a family of four has been surprisingly smooth. after talking to so many friends and mothers about what a challenge it was with their other children, i really expected harper to have a hard time accepting the change. but! she has been amazing. she loves him to bits. we have to remind her to give him space and not kiss him on the mouth. she is so proud when we compliment her on being a great big sister. it really melts my heart. sawyer fits so nicely into our family, like we have always had him.

now, that being said, it has been a very hard month. christopher has been on a night rotation, which means he goes to work at 5:00pm and gets home at 8:00 am. and then has to sleep. trying to keep a two year old and a newborn quiet, and out of our bedroom during those few precious hours that he does get to sleep is the real challenge. i tip my hat to all single mamas. i have so much admiration for you because it is hard!

no time for complaining though, because there are mountains to be climbed and warm weather to be enjoyed. we went on our first hike of the season on monday and enjoyed the fresh, crisp mountain air. harper hiked on her own for the first time and has talked about it every day since. sawyer slept soundly the entire adventure in the ergo.

p.s. thank you to all the readers and comments on the 52 series. nice to have you over here!

it's beginning to feel like fall

we woke up to our first chill of the season. hot chocolate and tea were prepared along with the first fire since last winter. i love getting bundled up on fall mornings and slowly peeling off layers throughout the day as it warms up. don't you just love fall?

*photos from our adventure last week to mt. bierstadt

backpacking in the bells...or why not to pack three pounds of summer sausage

this summer christopher and i took a backpacking trip with a few good pals to the maroon bells. i was a little apprehensive about leaving harper for the first time ever, but i am so glad that we had this adventure together.

one of the reasons that we moved to colorado was to experience the beauty and nature that is just at our backdoor. christopher loves backpacking...the kind of camping where you carry everything that you need to survive for a week on your back. the kind that you hike all day long and do not take a warm soothing shower. the kind where you (cover your ears) poop in a hole and use a rock for toilet paper. so, as his loving wife i thought i might give it one more try. i had been on two other backpacking adventures with not the greatest experience. think dry deserts and lots of biting deer flies. with the assurance of the best guy around, this time would be different.

and it was. the first day was tough. we hiked nine miles with our packs full of food for the week. i think christopher's pack weighed about fifty pounds! (this is why you should not pack three pounds of summer sausage.) there might have been some hidden tears. and maybe a few cuss words in the mix, but i did it. and for the first time in a while, i felt like i had really accomplished something. i was newly pregnant too! the camp food never tasted so good. black beans, rice and summer sausage were like a five course meal to my rumbling stomach.

we spent our second day resting and enjoying the beauty of snowmass lake. we all jumped into the barely above freezing water and felt so refreshed. we ate and rested and were ready to summit buckskin pass the next morning.

on our third day, we saw the most beautiful scenes on the way up to buckskin summit. it was a steep and strenuous hike, but we had the reward of a peanut butter sandwich waiting for us at the top of the climb. we had another long day of hiking, but views that stunned the eyes. we set up camp at crater lake and tried to lighten our load as much as possible for our last day of hiking by eating everything that we could in our packs. mashed potatoes, sausage, quesadillas, almonds, raisins. i seriously can not think of that food without feeling a little queasy.

we hiked out the next morning bright and early and spend some time as maroon lake (pictured last). we were all ready to get some real fresh food in our bellies and get home. i could not wait to see harper and take a very long hot shower! the group had one last meal together at a restaurant (in our grubby camping gear) and parted ways. i am so thankful for this experience and have such fond memories of our adventure.

casa de maria

my dear friend amy invited me to join her for a week of relaxation in the mountains. it was blissful. the family cabin was just as perfect as it could be with bright turquoise, yellows and reds everywhere you look. it was a real feast for my color loving eyes. there were gorgeous watercolors, pastels and weavings hanging all of the walls and the most incredible woven rugs i have seen. and that was inside.

we spent our days exploring the creeks, taking short hikes, catching a lot of bugs, eating delicious food, running through sprinklers, and sewing. every evening after dinner, we made s'mores and ate all of the roasted marshmallows our bellies could hold. amy's boys were ever so patient with harper, showing her how to catch ladybugs and even let her ride pretend to ride their scooters. (she wants one in a bad way!)  

i hope to get back to this space more than i have been in the past month, but our schedule seems to keep me quite busy. harper will be two in a few weeks. eek! we are planning a small party at home to celebrate with friends and family. after asking her over and over what kind of cake she wants, she finally responded with : pink. 

Our Trip to Seattle: Part One

Hello there! We are back home and settling back into our routines and work. We had such a wonderful time away in Washington with Christopher's brother, Taylor. Seattle is surrounded in beauty and we did our best with an almost two year old to explore as much of it as we could. (sometimes this was not so easy, but more on that later)

On our first day of vacation we drove to the mountains and spent the afternoon wandering around the little town of Leavenworth. We sampled the local pastries, stuck our heads in a few shops and headed out on a walk in the woods where Harper collected rocks and we took in the fresh mountain air.