Showing posts with label Fort Collins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fort Collins. Show all posts

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Fort Collins Winter Snow Storm...Finally!

After waiting 3 years for a decent dump in Fort Collins we finally have one.  So far we've had about 6-7 inches with a little more expected tonight.  Maybe the kids will finally get to sled on something more than lightly covered grass! Took the Jeep out today and had fun with the camera.




Wednesday, December 24, 2014

The Christmas Season: Christmas Lights, baking cookies, a visit to see Santa @ the Spring Creek Gardens, decorations


M&M cookies:
Peppermint Molasses Cookies:
Meringues w/ Dark Chocolate Sprinkled on Top:

A good book and a cup of eggnog with toasted homemade marshmallows:

Neighborhood lights w/ kisses for the reindeer:

Spring Creek Gardens:
There won't be any pics of the kids with Santa this year...he was late showing up!

Lights around Fort Collins:





The girls trip downtown:
 The lights were beautiful and could get even the biggest Grinch in the spirit of Christmas!
 The trip downtown wasn't complete without a stop at Walrus Ice Cream:
 You know you live in Ft. Collins when...
they light up their bikes!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.  Don't let it run you around!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

A gloomy, chilly, and icy day @ Riverbend Ponds


This hike became day 3 of our 3 day exercise plan to rid the kids of all their negative energy (ie. constant squabbling that mommy couldn't put up with).  I wasn't very motivated since it was gray but wanted to stick to our original plan to tire these kids out!  This was a quick close to home adventure and the kids have always had fun with the water and rocks.  I was hoping we were going to see lots of geese (since they are everywhere in town lately) but hadn't counted on all the ponds being frozen.

The kids quickly got in the spirit of the walk by trying to break the ice.  Try as they might it was just too hard.
We spotted quite a few beaver chewed trees right out of the parking lot by the first pond but didn't see any beavers or dams.
The ice provided many opportunities for play.  It was hard to keep them off of it.

The boardwalks provided areas for exploration.
Smiles=no squabbling=happy mom! 

We discovered that when you hit the air bubbles in the ice that water would come shooting out.
When we got along the Poudre River we finally saw some ducks and geese.





Hike: Riverbend Ponds
Trails Used: Riverbend Ponds off Prospect Road
Distance:  2.82 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average:  1.7 mph
Overall Time:  1 hr, 40 min
Total Ascent:  151 ft.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Hiking Blue Sky to Coyote Ridge


Day 2 of day 3 to tire the kids out so they'd stop squabbling.  Day 1 consisted of walking the kids to school and back.  It's not that far (1.25 miles one way) but every little bit of exercise in the winter counts and they obviously hadn't been getting enough!  This is one of the less inspiring hikes around but it's close to town and we didn't have to go out and back.  Q still managed to find some nooks to hide in.
We did see a couple of deer and
lots of prairie dogs
and even this bunny pretending to be a prairie dog! 
C even tangled with a wild Prickly Pear Cactus...by the looks of things I think the cactus won!

Taking a break!
Hike: Blue Sky to Coyote Ridge
Trails Used: Blue Sky to Coyote Ridge
Distance: 7.04 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 2.2 mph
Overall Time:  3 hr, 7 min
Total Ascent:  749 ft.