old faithful

I don't really expect to hear from my kids or Dennis when they are in the wilderness because I know how hard it is to find service, and in some of the places we have gone and still go to, there is no service. Not to mention that neither camp allows kids to bring any form of electronics including cell phones. Communication for the week is... well, non-existent unless Dennis sends a few texts and he did today!

The troop went to Yellowstone and I am quite certain in a few of those pristine areas of Yellowstone, there must be some hidden cell towers!

The first photo he sent was this view of the Boy Scout camp they are staying at.

 He said it was at the top overlook for a hike the scoutmasters did. The camp is beside the Shoshone river, and if you can magnify this you might be able to see their camp site which is the left most group of tents!

A couple of hours later he sent this photo with no words ...

 I replied back if that was Old Faithful in the background and he said yes, that they got sprayed by the geyser! 

Which I then texted asking if they all stunk now? 

His response? "It was their first shower this week!"  

Lovely!

Only a few more days and I pick up Alyssa and can hear all of her adventures. I am hoping she has taken a shower or two during her week away. In the meantime, I need to clean up the multiple messes I have made around the house working on two rather big projects!

sunday fun day

Yes, Sunday fun day. This Sunday was a little surreal. No Dennis or Jaiden, and the excitement Alyssa was trying to contain waiting to go to camp herself. We had a very slow easy morning which was great. Then we drove to camp...

this is her in her element!

 She is so comfortable at this camp, it's pretty awesome to watch her confidently and excitedly be ready for the adventure that waits even when she signs up all by herself, not knowing another girl but also knowing by the end of the week, she will have a whole new group of friends. I am impressed by her courage to do it by herself at her age. I don't know many other girls at her age like that.

It turns out she was in the same seasonal as last year's, Bullseye camp. We stopped by the trading post with her "cookie credits" she had earned and of course, she picked out another one of those big eyed stuffies. She named the big eyed bear... Scout.

 One last photo before I said goodbye to her... on top of her bunk. It turns out she knew a few girls from last year and a couple from a troop in Longmont, and those girls instantly arranged for their beds to be next to hers. She was happy.

 Meanwhile back in Wyoming, I received this photo of the Boy Scouts...

They made it to Cody and visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West before heading to their Boy Scout camp for the week. Dennis also texted that cell service was super sketchy and sadly, this might be my last photo text for awhile.

Now what to do with myself this week?

the early birds catch the worms...

A very early morning start to the end of a busy week...

First, we were up by 5:10 am to get Dennis and Jaiden out the door for Boy Scout camp. 

Then Alyssa woke up at about 5:50, just in time to say goodbye to Dennis and Jaiden, and with plenty of time to get ready for her own swim meet!

The swim meet warm ups began at 7:30 am and luckily, this pool was only a half hour drive away. Normally, I take a few photos of her swimming but this time I did videos so I could share them with Dennis. I uploaded a video here but I am pretty certain it won't come through if you are receiving this as email. You need to come directly to the web site to view the video.

 After the meet, Alyssa and I finished packing and had one last friend come over to play. It was nice and relaxing until the girls decided they wanted to make mud masks from the local farmer's ditch! I let them for a short bit but when I realized they were serious, I redirected their attention and we made some simple, easy sugar hand scrubs and a sugar lip scrub out of sugar, honey, vanilla and essential oils that are okay to use on your face! I should have taken photos but was busy helping them and completely forgot.

Later in the evening, I received a text from Dennis with this cute photo!

They made it to Thermopolis, set up camp, finished their service project and had already hit the hot mineral pools... now they were getting ready to get dinner when this photo was taken. Apparently, they had a blast at the hot springs. I am sure I will need to "borrow" Dennis' phone when he returns and see what other photos he took!

the tuba

About that post sending Jaiden to college? 

We really did. He spent the week learning to get better at playing the tuba. He chose it for his birthday present and I think it was likely the best present we had given him in awhile.

I met him mid week to give him another prophy poke, and when Alyssa and I met him, he was beaming, he couldn't stop talking - telling us about the other kids, his instructor, 4 tuba players including him, he talked so much, he didn't even notice I had finished with his infusion. After I got home, I told Dennis how excited Jaiden was and wondered out loud "I wonder why he chose the tuba? And why is he so enamored with it!" Dennis replied "I chose the tuba because it was loud and obnoxious. That's what boys at that age like."

So when we met him on Friday to check him out of his dorm room, he was just as pumped as ever and I was still thinking about why he chose the tuba. It was a quick trip home to start packing for boy scout camp, grab a bite to eat and head back for the final band (and orchestra) performance.

Alyssa and I reserved some decent seats but what I realized sitting there was I will never get a good photo of him performing. For starters, the tuba players sit in the back behind their enormous brass tubas and to make matters worse, I am quite certain the tuba is still bigger than Jaiden. I could be wrong. 

I settled for this photo and bought a DVD of the performance so I could enjoy the show.

 Can you find him? He's the 4th tuba in, which is actually the 2nd seat, and he's kind of underneath the exit sign but a little to the right. It looks like a trombone is poking his head!

I am so glad I bought that DVD. The music was incredible. I could actually hear the tuba players. Dennis and Alyssa left at intermission but Jaiden wanted to stay for the orchestra performance. That was fantastic too.

As Jaiden and I were walking out of the auditorium, wrestling with that enormous tuba case (tuba inside!), two different strangers commented how fantastic the tuba players played. He beamed, of course!

And the I remembered to ask "Jaiden, what made you choose the tuba?" Fully expecting that he would say it was loud and obnoxious, he said "Mom, it was the one instrument I tried that filled me with music. It was powerful and I knew I wanted to play it. When you play it, you can feel the music inside of you!"

Hmmm... so much for loud and obnoxious as his first choice... 

sombrero trail ride

One of the special things I planned to do with Alyssa while Jaiden was away for the week was to take her on a horseback ride. I knew it would not be the same as the stables/ranch she recently learned to ride at but I thought she might like to see what a trail ride is like. I chose a stable not far from here but in the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park. I figure a 2 hour ride was worth the extra $10 and she wanted to bring a friend - another horse lover who did a similar program at the same ranch.

When we got there, it was crazy windy (of course!) and so our picnic was half outside and half inside the car. The girls wanted to explore and this area of small hiking paths was perfect!

The view was amazing!

Then we go on the horses and headed out. This was mostly my view...

The girls were in front of me, behind the guide.

We stopped in a few places so I did the best I could to grab a photo of this cutie...

And took several from this view point...

You can't see it very well but in the photo above, an elk had just dashed in front of the guide and Alyssa! And in this view you might be able to spot one of the three elk that are hidden in the trees and grass.

The storm started moving in on our descent and the clouds and light were stunning.

This photo was on the way out of the park and I had pulled alongside the rode to watch this small herd of elk running through the grassy field. I didn't have my uber fancy camera with me so I didn't dare try any photos until we saw the elk coming up the hill and what appeared to be straight towards us. Look closely under that solo tree...

A little closer as they ran up the side of the hill

And across the road!

It was so fun to watch.

I never seem to get tired of watching the wildlife even though we come often and see them. We also saw several wild turkeys which are hilarious but again, further off that I didn't attempt any photos.

All in all, it was a great day with the girls! Alyssa liked the ride but found she preferred riding a local ranch instead where she can really get the full effect of trotting, cantering and more!

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Father's day 2016

Happy Father's Day!

Alyssa gave Dennis his #1 Dad trophy without me around to take a photo so I missed that photo opp but Jaiden's gift?

We sent him to college this afternoon!

 With his tuba!

For a week of middle school music academy... this just might be a good gift, a week free of Jaiden pestering Dennis! I am sure Jaiden will make up for it next week when Dennis and him set off for Boy Scout camp!

g'knight ride 2016

Another stinking hot day... and another hot bike ride in the plans! I think this summer's theme is going to be "hot bikes"!

The morning and early afternoon were great. Relaxing... just what I needed after a busy week with these two. So busy, Alyssa forgot to remind me that she wanted to make something special for Father's Day. 

I want to remember this persistent sweetness of her

I want to remember that we spent a good 30 minutes looking for ideas on the internet and finding nothing that she thought was good enough

I want to remember that she asked for yellow paint and a paint brush

I want to remember this

 and this... 

 how she tried to create a kickstand for her #1 Dad painted trophy! I love how sweet and thoughtful she can be.

After lunch, Alyssa was trying to get Jaiden to play the Game of Life with her, when he told her no thanks, I said yes, and then Dad said yes, and Jaiden said yes.

 And Alyssa kept landing on lawsuit and suing her dad!

 I mean look at the evil grin! Wait, didn't I just say how sweet and thoughtful she was?

And then it was time for our 5th annual Father's Day ride aka the g'knight ride...

This year we were scattered at the start line so everyone got their own selfie

 No dolls attended this year on her bike!

We kept reminding this one, it is not a race! (It's actually an official rule on the sign up for g'knight!)

 And the celebrated Dad who is grinning because he knows there is at least one or two beers in his future along this ride!

And here we go! 

 My selfie with Alyssa at the midway point - The Tasty Weasel - rootbeer for the kids and I and a Pinner for Daddy...

 And then she took over my phone and did a series of selfies...

which I told her would be featured on the blog. She kept trying to delete them after I said that... maybe just maybe she will stop doing that!

We finished our 5th year of the 13 mile fun family ride around town - the starting temp 95, the finishing temp? 91! 

See? It is going to be the summer of hot bikes!

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finally birthday celebration...

A couple of years ago, Jaiden and I were having a hard time deciding on birthday gift for a friend of his (Max) so we came up with a certificate that was good for one day of riding at Valmont Bike Park and lunch of his choice. Sadly, it took two summers before we finally celebrated but it was worth it and probably better than had we tried two summers ago. For starters, the boys are 12 now so they can ride a lot more of the terrain.

A view from the top ... what a day! 

At 11 am, it was already pushing close to 90 degrees but strangely didn't feel too hot!

 Unless you were riding up the hill...

 or walking it, like these two!

We explored more of the park than I had ever done before. We hit the pump parks and more mountain bike trails...

 ... this was corkscrew and it was actually much steeper and crazier than it appears taking those corkscrew corners!

I had to grab this shot and text Dennis with "looks like trouble"

 and in case you can't see the building name, it's our county jail! Yes, the park backs up to the county jail... interesting!

This photo was a little more spontaneous but he made it across...

 ... the sandbox! Literally a very sandy pit that is a challenge to get across. Max showed us the trick by putting our bike in its lowest gear and keep pedaling.

We only had a couple of crashes, a few screams from me (I managed to take one of the jumps!), sucked in some nice cotton from the cottonwoods and definitely quite a bit of sweaty dirt caked to our faces.

Meanwhile, this one spent her day here...

at her good friend, Ashlee's house, in the pool talking hairstyles!

Max, Jaiden and I could have jumped in with all our bike gear on but didn't.

mud lake

Today was the last day of my mom's visit, and this felt like the only day I took photos of her with the kids, and worst part? I didn't even have my nice camera with me but I think these turned out pretty good despite the rain and mediocre camera!

It was a bit of an adventure to find this place. Originally, I had thought we'd revisit a place we'd take her several years ago but at the last minute I changed my mind. I had a good plan on going up the canyon near our house but little did I know it was closed and we were rerouted on a route I didn't know!

Alyssa got car sick and I had to use the bathroom bad, and then it rained... not a light rain but a big heavy downpour! And then there were these promising blue skies only to find more rain was deceivingly in those fluffy white clouds. 

We hung out at the shelter for a little bit to see if the rain would lighten up.

 Alyssa worked on a kid's activity nature detective brochure that was at the beginning of the trailhead. It was cute to watch her and funny that she is still young enough to participate (it was for 11 year olds and younger!)

 And I kept trying to photograph my mom photographing. If you know my mom, she takes a crazy and I mean crazy amount of photographs!

 This was pure luck that I would capture him in mid air when I really was trying to capture her capture him!

 And this one is so darn cute... she kept smelling all the tree bark... although in her defense, the ponderosa pine bark smells like something between vanilla and butterscotch. It's strange but true!

 And then as Jaiden was being his usual silly and slightly annoying boy, I saw this out of the corner of my eye and yelled at him to stop. to not move another inch. And there in the distance was a young moose.

Of course, it's not the right camera for wildlife but I had to try to take a few more especially one with Jaiden in it. The moose was quite close to the trail but didn't seem agitated. I couldn't find a mama nearby and it was hard to tell if it was a yearling or a teenager, but the four of us walked slowly and quietly while the moose tried to hide behind some large shrubs. 

 Just before heading back to the car, I took a quick photo of Mud Lake. It was pretty and I bet it would be even more beautiful if it was raining.

 I wanted one last photo of Mom with the kids. I thought we could maybe get one good photo, but neither kid had the same vision in mind!

 And even when Jaiden did show his face, Alyssa made this adorable, quirky look.

And Mom? She sat nicely only aware of the antics of Jaiden next to her, little did she know Alyssa was up to her own mischief!