Christmas Break is ending...a last blast of fun!

The kids went with the neighbors to Miramont Park for some sledding before school started on Tuesday.  It was cold but fun!

Ahh....the many moods of my hiking children

You never know which children (good or whiny) you will get on any given day, let alone a 'hiking' day. This weekend Q started off sweet as pie and C was the never ending whining child.  I don't think he stopped talking for the first 20 minutes about how awful the hike was, how much he hated it, or how miserable he was.  After commenting on the beautiful forest, flowers, and company surrounding us and later just ignoring him he finally gave it up.  Maybe he got as tired of listening to himself as we were of listening to him.   Next thing I knew he and Daddy were walking ahead of us having one of their endless chats.  Once you get C talking about something he likes (license plates, states, state capital buildings, places to visit for spring break....) he goes to town.  Our other child started the hike off in an awesome mood, even giving this hike five stars.  She likes looking for the 'bell' flowers with me or she will find a cool bug or animal that none of us would ever notice.  However, as we neared the turn around point of the hike, hunger/tiredness set in and the switch flipped.  C was in a great mood and Q began the unraveling process.  A quick lunch helped a little but then we slowed to a snail's pace.  A cattle prod wouldn't get her little legs to move any quicker.  C and Daddy were long gone and I was left with the 'worst hike ever' child.  I kept asking about the '5 star hike' but was promptly put in my place.  Luckily we spied some wildlife on the way down (a grouse and a snake), took a potty break, and the switch flipped again.  The wildlife spotting saved the hike and restored it to it's '5 star' rating!  

Anyway....we started the morning off with the breakfast of champions!  Donuts!!!!

 We drove up the Poudre Canyon and did Dadd Gulch.  You could tell fall is rapidly approaching with all the berries on display.

We passed many rose hips.

On the way up Q saw this cool purple bug (Blue Fungus Beetle).  I don't know how she spots these bugs but she's always finding something low on the ground that is neat!  She even found the same bug or another one on the way down (2  hours later)roughly in the same place but on a different plant!

Cool mushrooms:

 A bee hive/nest:

 Pretty wildflowers:

I love my 'girl with the yellow hat' photos:

 'The Boys'

 'The Girls'

 Moss/Lichen:

 Pretty bark:

 'View'? from the top:

 Our turnaround point:

 Road Block:

 Grouse?:

 My snake...darn that slow camera...I really wanted the whole body sitting there!

 Long, tall boy legs!

 You've got to love a girl who can dress for any occasion!

Hike: Dadd Gulch

Trails Used:  Dadd Gulch

Distance: 7.35 miles

Difficulty: Moderate (difficult for the kids, Q was tired near the end)
Overall average: 1.9 mph
Overall Time: 3 hr, 55 min
Total Ascent: 1439 ft.

Loving Summer...Summer Loving

I caught this butterfly in my flowers last week.

The kids had fun watching this guy.

North and South Window

 The windows were our next stop.  Again, just a small hike to and from the arch.

 

 I think this was looking at them in Turret Arch.

 Hanging out at the windows:

 

I included this photo just because I'm actually in it.

Super Bowl fun with a Baltimore Ravens Party!

The kids were really excited about watching the last football game of the season so we decided to have a 'family' party.  We all were to contribute ideas as to what type of food would be best.  Obviously, we didn't hit all of our food groups but you've got to break the rules sometimes! 

C's idea:  Egg rolls.  I had never made these before and they were great.  I didn't fry them so they didn't have quite the same texture on the outside but they were crisp and good.

I made some sweet and sour sauce that turned out pretty nice.

 

Q wanted ice cream.  She wanted Kit Kats, and C wanted peanut butter.  So that's what I made.  It was a tasty combination w/ my new bourbon Madagascar vanilla beans that just came in the mail last week.

And last but not least the hubby and I wanted beer.  Our friends had just given us this turtle to make a Black & Tan so we tried it out.  Unfortunately, I couldn't wait long enough to take a picture with it's nice head or even a full glass.  :)  Cheers!

We were going to do meatballs as well but we had too many leftovers from the night before.  Maybe we'll do those for our next 'family' party!