Into the Woods

The last time Jon and I went camping was in the summer of 2005, just before I found out I was pregnant with Ruthie. I can't believe we waited three whole years to go again.

I know our reasons for putting off going- It's too hard with a baby... The kids won't be able to sleep if they're not in their beds... How are we going to fit everything in the car... and any other argument you can think of with one to two kids, two dogs and us.

We finally had our opportunity when our friend Walt called on Thursday and said, "Hey- you guys want to go camping tomorrow?" Our initial response was, "Hmmmmmm...well...I don't know..." until we finally said, "Let's just do it!" We figured the worst case scenario is that we would have a horrible time and then we just wouldn't go again until the kids were old enough to handle it.

Instead, it turned out to be a wonderful experience and we are ready to go again.

Ruthie had a blast! She helped set up the tent and searched for firewood. She enjoyed her first campfire, or "candles" as she called it. She even dragged her sleeping bag and pillow back and forth a hundred times between Uncle Walt's tent and ours trying to decide where to sleep. She did wake up in the middle of the night a little spooked and cold, but after finally calming down she slept well into the morning.



Gabe had no problems camping! He stayed right on schedule and slept all night long- even through Ruthie's crying spell. And he was quite content in his camping bed- a perfectly-sized cardboard box! Don't knock it- it was way easier to transport and set up than the pack-and-play. Gabe didn't seem to mind one bit!



I hope this will be the first of many camping trips to come. I know many people who have fond memories of camping with their families when they were young. I want my children to be no different.

12 Weeks

Our little Gabriel is 12 weeks old today, and he is living life to its fullest. He has had quite a fun-filled summer tagging along with his big sis to the park, the zoo, the library, the pool.... He's been quite the trooper with minimal complaints!

Gabe's doing great. At his two month check-up he weighed in at 9lbs 12oz, so I'm sure he's well into the 10lb range by now. He's a good eater and he's been sleeping well. He's had many "almost" full nights of sleep- he'll go 8 to 9 hours, but he's been needing a pacifier around hour six to make it the rest of the way. Last night, though, he gave us a nice solid eight hours of sleep without interruption. Here's hoping there's plenty more of those nights to come!

Mama's Cherry Pie

(think "Country")

I wanna tell y'all a little story about a recent family activity...

Yesterday we packed up our car real good and took a little road trip down to a real nice place called Berry Patch Farms. Them people who run that there farm, they're real good people.

You know what them farmers asked us when we done got there? They asked us if we was interested in doin' some cherry pickin'. Cherry pickin'? We ain't never done no cherry pickin'. But we all looked at each other real hard and then we said "What the heck. Let's go and do us some cherry pickin'!"

And you know what? We got us some real nice cherries. And I done turned those cherries into a real nice cherry pie. I ain't never made no pie before.

And you know what else? That cherry pie was dee-licious. The chilluns liked it, their daddy liked it, I sure liked it, and even them doggies liked it. It was real good.

We had so much fun doin' that there cherry pickin, I went and wrote me up a little diddie all about it. I sure hope you enjoy...

Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine,
She picked lots of cherries for the cherry pie.
Ruthie went a pickin' and she did fine, uh huh.

Snow in July

As Denver begins to heat up for the summer, it's nice to get away to cooler areas. The fabulous thing about Colorado is that you can always hop on I-70 West and you will inevitably hit cooler weather somewhere down the road. Today we did just that. And, not only did we hit cooler weather (a refreshing 64 degrees), we also hit snow.

Just 50 miles west of Denver is St. Mary's Glacier. With a short rocky hike upwards you soon reach a picturesque lake and the year-round snowfield that lies behind it. While Ruthie had very little interest in actually hiking the hike, she loved bouldering on the big rocks, throwing little rocks in the lake and walking in and eating the "no."

So, when the kids are hot and sticky in the middle of July, we can hop in the car for some sledding and snowball fights and, yes, even skiing!