No Whining in Wyoming!

Last week, we drove an hour and a half to go hiking at Vedauwoo. Surely you've heard of this hiking spot, for it is just past Buford, Wyoming (population of 1). If you don't believe me, next time you're driving west on I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, look for the sign below. Buford claims it is "world famous" and who am I to argue with that?!

Getting back to the point, after a picnic lunch, the bunch of us headed out on the 3.2 mile trail.
We enjoyed having some shade as we traipsed through the Aspen trees.
I even got the girls to stop, wait and turn around for me so I could take a picture of them from the front. Usually it is their backsides, since I'm always stopping to take pictures and wind up at the very back of the pack.
Ella has decided to stop and take a closer look at the ant hill. As a four year old, she comments on every single thing she sees. "What is that?" Answer: "Moose poop". "Eew! Gross! Yucky" "Look at that pretty flower, Grandma", and so forth. Her constant comments made the hike go so fast that the 3 plus miles seemed like only 2 or so. Or then again, maybe not...
For once, I ran ahead and was finally ahead of Kim, Nate and Don, so you could see their faces. Don't try to read Don's lips, as he is probably yelling at me to stop taking his picture! This is supposed to be a kid-friendly blog, and I am proud of my "PG" rating.
At this point, Ella has convinced Kim she is tired of walking and is at ease pretending to be an airplane. Sometimes on these hikes, I wish I was FOUR and could have ridden on someone's shoulders.
Half way through the hike we came upon this huge boulder, which Kyla and Nate had to hold back as we made our way past it. Boy, am I ever thankful for strong grandchildren!
We were near the end of the hike when we came to a nice spot with water and a small waterfall. Jake was first at the scene, lapping up the water as fast as he could. I have no idea what tickled Kim's funny bone, but it was probably Ella.
This was a nice spot for us "old folks" to rest, but the younger generation was content on climbing over all the rocks and exploring the area.
Nate stopped jumping from one rock to the other and sat down for me. Thanks, Nate!
The "rescued" Monarch butterfly that Tatum is holding in her hand is one that she found near the stream.
On our walk back, Tatum and Hailey tend to the poor butterfly while Ella tries her best to keep up with the bigger girls and perhaps have a chance to hold it herself. They even gathered a few flowers along the way to feed to their new little friend.
We did it! We made it through the whole hike without one whine! Amazing! Kyla, Hailey, Tatum, Ella and Nate agreed to pose for a group picture.
And then came the silly faces......which I also captured and will definitely use when they get married! By that time, they will have forgotten all about this crazy picture!
I may also use the one of "Cheeto Faces Unleashed"! Scary, isn't it? This is the stuff nightmares are made of! I can almost see huge orange fangs coming after me!

Jake and Ella

As we hiked in Vedauwoo, I was busy taking pictures. Par for the course, for me, at least. When we returned home, and I looked at the various pics, I realized that almost every single picture I had of Ella, Jake was also there!

Jake's greatest pleasure that day was "herding" Ella. At home, he tries to herd both Mango and Ella. Mango, being a cat, just ignores him and has decided it is beneath her dignity to give him any attention. On rare occasions, she'll approach him, and he'll cower and retreat! I wonder what he'll do once Ella grows up and she no longer qualifies as a "small animal/person/thing that needs to be herded?

Here is my take, from Jake's point of view:

"Hurry up, Ella, and stay on the path! I need to keep track of you!"

"Are you too hot? Who's gonna hold your jacket? Come on, we're behind!"
"Just checking on ya......"
"Why are you stopping here? Got a headache?"

"Caution! Water! Water! After I get a drink, I'll check on you for the 50th time today."

"Just making sure you're okay."

IT'S JUNE AND I'M FREEZING...

If I were back home, I'd probably be sweating during the middle of the day, but this was definitely not the case yesterday! Below is a view from one of our stops driving through Rocky Mountain National Park. This would explain why I was freezing, even with a jacket on.

But let me start from the beginning of the day, when we met up with Kim, our daughter-in-law. She had taken up all 5 of our grandchildren to camp out for the weekend in Glacier Basin. She is one brave lady! After we got to Glacier Basin, we went for a hike to Sprague Lake. You can see the guys (Don and Nate)engaging in some "man talk".
We came across a young moose in our hike,
and then across a small herd of elk. They were on one side of the small stream, and we were on the other. I wasn't going to get any closer, since the doe had a little one tagging along behind her.
The baby elk still had spots, and I considered myself lucky to see one that young.
Oh,oh!!! The two oldest granddaughters are coming towards me, and there are snowballs in their hand! Even grandmothers holding cameras are not immune to these two pranksters! Don't ask me why both Hailey and Tatum are wearing baseball caps to the side. I have no idea if this is a new trend, or just something silly they were doing! Is it now the "hip" thing to do???
After lunch at the campsite, we headed up the Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitor Center. There was still a lot of snow up in those parts. I was glad I was the one taking the pictures and not driving!

Kim and 2 of the grandchildren are doing their best to hold back the wall of snow. It was a hard job, but someone had to do it!
Part of the camping group paused to stop for a picture. The snow bank was 15 to 20 feet high, making them look rather small in comparison. And boy, was it ever COLD up there!
Ella caught on quick when they started digging into the snowbank and making snowballs.
Kim got her revenge on Kyla while Theresa looked on.
On our way back down, we stopped to make a snowman. Kim and Ella look at their "masterpiece".
Cute little feller, isn't he? That is about the best you can do when there are no mittens or gloves around. At least he has a lot of personality to make up for his lack of height!
Good grief!!! Not again?! More snow means more snowballs coming my way! And by the looks on their faces, they aren't one bit sorry!
Hailey and Tatum took a moment to gaze out over the mountainsides. I, for one, was thankful that they found some other form of entertainment. They weren't doing the "Let's get grandma" game anymore!
Cold, very cold, out here, but I still managed to get the 3 of them to smile. I think at this point, their feet and hands were pretty much numb. I guess when you are young, you don't worry about trouncing through the snow in sandals.
Kyla got stuck in the snow and Tatum was being a good cousin by trying to pull her out.
This is what happens when you laugh too hard!
When we all climbed back into Kim's vehicle, all the girls were complaining about how cold their feet were. Guess next time they'll wear socks and shoes. Or maybe not....

Cherry Creek State Park

We arrived at Cherry Creek State Park on Friday morning. Cherry Creek was the first state park in Colorado and offers a lot of amenities. Local people come here not only to camp, but to fish, water ski, ride bikes, go to the shooting range and have picnics by the lake.

The girls enjoy breakfast outside at our campsite.
One of the first things we did after setting up camp was to go and check out the beach and lake. It was a short hike from our campsite. You can see the girls are walking by the shoreline, while Don isn't about to get his tootsies wet in the very cold water!
Trips with us always include something educational, as our children can attest to. We got out our bird and flower books and took a walk around the park. The girls had to identify what kind of flower or bird we had seen, and Don's chore was to write them down on a pad. Here I am with Kyla trying to decide what kind of wildflower we were looking at. It was during this walk that we saw a confrontation between a Magpie and a squirrel.

The blue butterfly refused to open his wings completely as it drank the nectar from this flower.
Afternoons found us the lake and beach, which was cheap entertainment! The girls really loved looking for shells and building sand castles.Boy, the water was COLD! You can see the pained look on Hailey's face as she dipped into the water. Looks like Kyla was trying to outrace the wave.
Oh to be a child again and be able to ignore the water temperature!

The Squirrel and the Magpie

It's not easy being a squirrel at times, especially if you have Magpies out to get you! In the picture below, you can spot the squirrel in the grass, with the Magpie watching his every move.

The squirrel starts out and the Magpie is not missing a beat! Right below his feet you can see the squirrel's tail. Go little squirrel, go!!!
The Magpie circles around for a second attack....
and the squirrel bolts for higher grass! I wonder what he did to the Magpie?
This is one time that I wished I had the long range lens on the camera!

Camping in Colorado Springs

We made it to Cheyenne Mountain State Park with it's wonderful views of Colorado Springs on Tuesday afternoon. Don was at the automotive glass shop first thing Wednesday morning getting the back window replaced. I bet we will find bits of glass for years just like we did with the other truck!

This year we are camping with our grandchildren. We are cruising the highways while Heidi and Glen are on a cruise to Alaska. Heidi had the foresight to find different games and DVDs for the trip. If they didn't argue (do sisters do that??), then they could pick one of the wrapped gifts. Kyla was excited when she opened up a new Veggie Tales DVD.
Mornings and evenings were a good time to do some short hikes with the girls at the campground since it's the best time to see wildlife. Don and the girls chose the Raccoon Trail and found these 3 deer paying no attention to their presence. We found out later that afternoon that there had been a mountain lion spotted on another trail!
On Thursday morning we met up with Helen at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Helen is my friend from grade school days. At our age, that means we have been friends for decades and decades! Howling monkeys and peacocks filled the air with their howls and screams, which could be heard all over the zoo.
One of my favorites was this old porcupine who was just being fed his morning meal. He may eat healthy with all the veggies that he ate, but boy, he sure does need one good teeth cleaning! His teeth were a beautiful deep carrot orange.
The highlight for Hailey and Kyla was feeding the giraffes lettuce. If you go to this zoo with children, remember to bring extra money for the giraffe treats. We noticed an ATM right next to the booth where they were selling the lettuce leaves!
Here we are at Garden of the Gods visitor center. You can't even see Pikes Peak behind us because of all the smoke and haze coming from the fires in Colorado and eastern Arizona.
Kyla did her best job at holding up the Balanced Rock in the Garden of the Gods. She may be small, but is obviously quite strong for her age!
Helen and her husband joined us for dinner that night. Here Helen shows Hailey a magic trick. The girls have been practicing the different tricks and look forward to impressing their cousins and friends.