4th of July Adventure

adventure- ad·ven·ture [ad-ven-cher]
-noun
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

HAPPY 4TH of JULY!!!
It has kind of become a tradition over the past 3 years that we spend the Fourth of July holiday with our good friends Bill and Tanya Petry and their 4 kids! We always have a ton of fun with them. Whether we're Mountain Biking, Hiking, Barbequeing or watching fireworks, it is always a fun holiday when we are with them. This year was no different! It started out a few days before with Tanya and I deciding we were going to go on a hike. Tan suggested that we hike Lake Isabelle. It is a glacier lake at the top of the Mountains above Boulder. Not a difficult hike, great for the kids and BEAUTIFUL!! Bill, Tanya, Adam and I were looking forward to the hike! Since Ad and I had just taken the kids hiking on Sunday and all loved it so much we knew that the 4th would be no different! So I packed up some lunches, water bottles and snacks and away we went!

The drive up there, though spectacular took a little over 2 hours. Bill thought we should drive a back road because the Holiday Traffic the other direction would be horrible! The back road wasn't too bad, but much longer than we anticipated so by the time we got parked at the trail head we were all at our end! Finally we were there but not without a problem. When we left Denver the forcast was for about 92. All the mountain town forcasts were about the same! Little did I know that we were much higher than the mountain towns and the tempurature was only 65 degrees and I didn't bring any sweatshirts or jackets! Oops!! Oh well, the sun is shining and once we start hiking we'll be fine! We started the hike and was it ever pretty. There were small streams, ponds, waterfalls and lakes all along the way! Tons of people were out and everyone was happy and patriotic! Bill was the ultimate champ as he took Garett, who was a little grouchy, and asked him to be the photographer! Whenever he saw something he thought would be a good picture he would tell Bill and they would take a picture! I'm sure Bill was very grateful for digital photography :-) G loved being the "Phoo-tographer" and at the top of the mountain announced that he wants his own camera! When we got to the top we spread out our lunch and had a fun picnic! We were all happy, and upbeat! Enjoying the scenery. It was on our way down that our "exciting and very unusual experience; hazardous action of uncertain outcome" began! About halfway down the mountain dark clouds rolled in rather quickly. It wasn't long before it started to drip rain on us! Within about 5 minutes the thunder and lightning started and then came the hail! Small little balls that quickly turned into golf balls! As the thunder and lightning got closer and louder Annie, Chandler, and Elle (the Petry girls) started to cry! Bill, Adam and all the boys were ahead of us so Tanya, her 16 year daughter London, and I decided it was time to run (we were at this point in an open meadow) to find cover from the hail! We started running and sloshing through the mud! We found Bill and Logan who had taken cover under a big tree and were sitting on a rock just shootin' the breeze! Logan was as happy as ever and cheerfully greeted me with a "Hi Mommy!" As we waited under the tree hoping the hail would stop, it just started coming harder! The harder it came the more Annie would cry. Annie's tears eventually got Logan upset and with no other options but to stand there and get pelted we decided to run for it! So off we ran again. Mud, water, small rivers flowing down the trail, all the while getting pelted with huge hail balls and remember, no coats or sweatshirts to call our own! (Thankfully Hogan and Spencer didn't need coats so Annie could use Hogans!) Honestly, the cold wasn't even a thought in our minds! We just wanted to get out of there! After running for a few minutes we came upon Adam, Garett, Hogan and Spencer who had stopped for cover! We all huddled together under the large branches (to those of you thinking "why were you taking cover under the trees, thats that dumbest place to be in a lightning storm, I say 'we know' but the hail was so big that could have killed us too, if it hit us in the right spot! It was death by tree lightning strike, or death by Hail Golf balls'!) Anyway, as we were all huddled under this tree, Tanya, Bill, Adam, Spencer, Hogan and London all started to laugh! The situation was completely out our control, we had 3 little girls and 2 little boys howling in fear and terror and there was nothing we could do but laugh! The kids were screaming so loud but we finally settled them down and Bill said a prayer! Not to be irreverent but his prayer started out "We thank thee for the opportunity we have to be together on this beautiful hike" (or something to that effect) which got all the adults laughing again! We are terrible aren't we! Anyway, he prayed for protection from the "tempest". Once we finished our prayer we were off and running again! The Hail still pounding us, the thunder LOUD but getting further away! We finally made it to the bottom of the trail and waited under the outhouse shelter overhang while Adam and Bill ran to get the cars! Upon piling into our cars we all looked like drown rats! Hair and clothes completely soaked, shivering and cold! But we were safe and we made it! At one point Bill (who was carrying Logan) said he thought Logan passed out! He was completely limp in his arms! He said that there little Elle used to do that when she was stressed out or scared! The thought makes me so sad for little Log. He was scared enough to pass out? But all the kids were troopers and though our outcome of the hail storm was uncertain, we all made it safely off the mountain and home to our hot, warm 92 degree home! Truly an adventure!

We ended off our adventurous day with a barbeque at the Petrys and the local Highlands Ranch Fireworks show!! Definately a memorable day! We Love the Fourth of July!!

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Beautiful Colorado

On Sunday our friends, the Jensens, invited us to go on a evening hike! The weather was ideal and the hike was just about 30 minutes from our house. We sprayed on the bug spray and off we went! It was an easy trail for all of us. Once at the top there was this HUGE, STEEP staircase that led to a little hut on the top of a cliff. The hut is a forest fire lookout tower. You can see for miles in every direction! It was BEAUTIFUL!! All the kids did great but the trooper was Garett! For a kid who loves to sit and play video games or watch tv, he absolutely comes alive when we go hiking! He reminds me of a horse we had when I was growing up. Datoo was his name and he was the most stubborn, lazy a-- horse you ever met, not that Garett is a stubborn, lazy a-- kid, but he does enjoy a good, lay around the house and do nothing day (or two :-), anyway, back to Datoo. He was stubborn and lazy until you got him up on the mountain trails and he turned into the BEST horse ever!! Garett is always the best kid ever but even better in the wilderness! Good job G-man!!! Here are a few pics my friend took, I left my camera at home!!

Spencer and I at the Lookout Tower

Adam and I at the Lookout Tower

Garett and Sierra-they were so cute to take care of eachother on the hike!

Garett and I climbing the LONG STEEP stairs to the Lookout!

Erin and I on our way down the trail!

Who does this kid belong to?

The other day I took the kids to this really cool park in Littleton called Bellview Park. It's got the typical playground and such, but it also has this really cool little stream that kids can wade around in, a petting zoo, a train ride and lots of space to run around and explore. So went over there with some friends of ours whose son (and actually their entire family) is, as Spencer puts it, "all about nature" (you have to say it with Spencer's "r" speech impediment for the full effect!) Anyway, as the kids were exploring they found a garder snake. Of course they had to bring it to the moms to show us. As soon as Logan saw it he was completely intrigued!!! He HAD to touch it, hold it, squeeze it, etc. He grabbed on and with some gentle coaxing from the older kids finally let go of it. So here is the question for you...."Who does this kid belong to?" Neither Adam or I, or any of our other three children for that matter have ever had an interest in reptiles, or most other animals and creatures! Annie loves dogs, Annie and I love horses, the kids like to go to the zoo and thats about it! Spencer does put forth a good effort when playing with his "all about nature" friend Hogan but you can still see the hesitancy (is that a word) behind his eyes! Anyway, that all said, I had to take a picture of Logan and the snake! I'm telling you, this kid has NO FEAR!!!