Back to My Gym

Jonathan got his own gym time today! Just as Chris did when he was about 3, Jonathan started his first classes at My Gym and he absolutely loves it. Grammy meets us at the gym because it is close to her house and J gets to play, climb, swing and dance. It has been a big hit and as you can see from the picture above, the ball pit is his favorite!

Rock Climbing

See that kid with the blue shirt? That would be Chris, climbing a rock wall. He took his first rock climbing class at Emerald City and loved it!

Pickin' Peppers

Apparently we have no problem growing peppers! We went out and Christopher's pepper plant had seven peppers on it! Four of which were ready to pick and three still had some growing to do. 

Rolling with my homie

Ever since Christopher's birthday party, we have been skating a ton! He got a free pass after his party so we would go during Jonathan's nap times on the weekend. Chris has gotten so much faster and we have a great time skating together. It is fun sharing something that I have grown up doing and loved with my big boy!

Fried Zucchini

You know that zucchini we picked yesterday? It has given us two days of fried yumminess!

Grandpa Clyde would be proud.

Woah

After about a week of not checking in on our garden, we went out this morning and found an abundance of kale, tomatoes, oregano, a green pepper and (finally!) a massive zucchini ready for frying. So exciting!

And then there's Holly

Poor Holly... she has a sore on her back and to prevent her from licking it and making it worse, she has to wear a tee shirt to cover it. I am normally against clothing on dogs, but you try putting a lamp shade on Holly's head!

First day, second grade

Chris had his first day of second grade today! He is such a big boy and was decked out in his Nike apparel after watching the Olympics for the past two weeks. We got him some new shoes for the first day of school and he was so excited that they are "Allyson Felix" Nikes. I love that two of Christopher's Olympic heroes are women--Allyson Felix and Katie Ladecky! Anyway, he also struck a Usain Bolt pose for good measure...

We didn't get any pics in his classroom because I guess you just don't do that in second grade, but here are the boys walking in...

It's going to be a great year!

Tour de Parks

This morning we visited 2 parks in our area. The boys and I went to Franklin Park first and then met our friends at the new and improved and totally awesome Roe Park!

This ride was the big favorite with Jonathan! It's the new and probably safer version of the old carousel ride from the parks of our day...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VocTZG5gZng

Hiking: Day Four

Even though we had to leave on Friday, we wanted to get out and do one more beautiful hike before we had to sit in the car for 5 hours, and what a hike it was! We returned to Bear Lake to take a different trail from that starting point. The first stop, after heading straight uphill, was Nymph Lake, a quiet, lily-covered lake surrounded by Aspen trees...

The water at Nymph Lake was so crystal clear and pure! There were also lots of rocks and boulders to climb and Chris found his new favorite activity in climbing as many of them as possible! Our next stop was Dream Lake, but before we got there we stopped along the way to take in some breathtaking views along the way...

Dream Lake was so pretty! We stopped to have a snack there and take in even more clear water. When you are in a national park, you are asked to leave no trace and also not to feed the animals. We did our best to follow these rules but you can't ask a toddler to not drop a few crumbs of his snack bar. The chipmunks were right there to make sure Jonathan left no trace!

This was probably my favorite day of hiking and a great way to end a great trip!

Hiking: Day Three

Day three took us back to Bear Lake but this time we took the trail to Alberta Falls, a beautiful waterfall about a mile from our starting point. One of the reasons Bear Lake is such a popular place is that it connects a lot of trails in the park. Alberta Falls was a fun hike for us!

In the afternoon, we hiked a very different terrain at Hollowel Trail which led us first through an open meadow (in "bear country" apparently) and then up a steep climb through Mill Creek Basin. It was a tough climb with the carrier but a beautiful setting!

Hiking: Day Two and Trail Ridge Road

Our second morning of hiking found us at Bear Lake, but early enough to get a parking spot! Bear Lake is absolutely gorgeous with a beautiful and easy trail around its perimeter. It was a perfect place to start our morning...

After Bear Lake, we fueled up the car and set out on Trail Ridge Road. This road spans 48 miles of the park (although we only did half of that) and climbs to over 12,000 feet above sea level. The views of the mountains were stunning and the drive included some white knuckle moments in the minivan! We stopped at many pull-offs along the way to check out the views and at the top was the Alpine Visitors center, where we had to bundle up as the temperature dropped about 25 degrees from when we started. And like our trip to Olympic National Park, we got to see snow in the summer!

Our morning was pretty packed so we took it easy in the afternoon. Chris had completed his Junior Park Ranger booklet so we took a trip across the street to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center where he took his "oath" as a park ranger (he also did this at Olympic). After that we checked out Estes Park and had dinner at Poppy's Pizza (we chose it because of the name). The flowers in town were gorgeous, the beer glass was funny and we even found a peace pole!