Colorado

Hail Again!

Published on by Casey

In the nearly 12 years I’ve been a resident of Colorado, we’ve never had any hail larger than something between pea and marble – mostly pea, at home. Denver and the plains are another story (you can read about last year’s hail storm here). That came to a end on Monday. Monday evening a storm came through that dropped hailstones the size of ping pong and golf balls. Of course, our cars were outside. Noah was able to throw a piece of foam on the top of my car to help deflect some of the hail. I stood in the garage and watched the hail fall, processing through every stage of grief during the onslaught. When the storm had passed, assessments and hailstone collection began. Our cars got dinged, but I know they won’t be totaled. Our camper survived, minus one hole in the AC shroud. Our roof has some questionable marks. Once again, I’m thankful for good insurance. The roof inspection has been scheduled, but we still need to call to take our cars to the catastrophe center that State Farm set-up in the next town over (some parts of that town got hit with baseball-size hail). When I moved to Colorado, I was warned about snow, blizzards, and the occasional tornado, but no one warned me about hail.

Here’s a picture of the some of the hail I collected in the front yard:

Baseball, Balloons, and Theater!

Published on by Casey

More from June… Logan’s baseball season started. This year he moved up to softpitch, from t-ball. His team is the Cubs (the only times you’ll find me rooting for a team other than the Dodgers is when it’s based on Logan’s little league team. We went to Frederick in Flight for the first time, which is a hot air balloon launch at a town about 20 minutes north of us. They had some pretty cool balloons – one looked like spider pig, another Humpty Dumpty! Super fun! This month we also went to the theater to see a performance of A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime. We doubled with a friend of mine from work, and her boyfriend. The play is based on a book of the same title and features a young man with autism. If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you read the book. And if they play comes to a town near you, be sure you grab some tickets! Dani, my friend, and I posed with some props from the play. They sum us up pretty accurately, I think.

Memorial Day Camping!

Published on by Casey

We love to camp (or glamp as we traded tent camping for a camper)! Colorado has so many options and what better way is there to spend a holiday weekend? This year, we went to Eleven Mile State Park. The weather was a bit chilly and damp at times, but we had an electric site and could enjoy the amenities of heat, light, and indoor cooking! We have camped at this park multiple times. The fishing is good and the rangers put on great programs for kids. Logan was sworn in as a Junior Ranger (again). In fact, he was the only one at the ceremony! The lady who ran the education programs was amazing and really knew her stuff!

 

 

Mother’s Day Camping

Published on by Casey

Normally, Mother’s Day weather is the crap here in Colorado. Last year is actually snowed. Thankfully, this year the weather was hot (80s) and sunny! So, I decided to start a new trend – Mother’s Day camping! This year we didn’t go too far but stayed at a small campground in Larimer county on a little reservoir. No fishing or boating allowed as the water ebbs and flows constantly throughout the day, based on water needs in town. But it still makes for a pretty view. Plus, we saw a family of geese and evidence of elk (although none of them came for a visit).

Hail!

Published on by Casey

May 8th was a dark day. literally. The skies were black and angry over Denver. And then the clouds opened up and dumped not just rain, but hail. Large chunks of it – golf ball sized in fact. The hailstorm lasted for 30-40 minutes whilst I stood inside with my colleagues commiserating over the fate of our vehicles. At one point, hail started crashing through the ceiling of one of the buildings and several coworkers ran over to the building where I was taking refuge with a large gymnastics mat overhead. Finally, the storm subsided with a foot of hail piled up on the ground. We all trudged through the sloppy, wet, ice piles and made our way to our battered vehicles. My car came out better than some – no shattered windows. However, damage was evident everywhere! Dents galore, broken vents, shattered brake lights, and one of my wipers fell off as I drove home. My poor car is only four-years-old. I’m thankful for good insurance and hopeful my car won’t be declared a total loss.

A Summary of August

Published on by Casey

Visiting Canada wasn’t the only thing we did during the month of August. Here’s a round-up.

Logan finished up his second season of t-ball. He’s a natural at switch-hitting, which I fully encourage. This had to be the hottest summer for t-ball. I spent several practices sitting under the shade of an umbrella in an attempt to sweat-less. Yes, I love the sun and the heat, but this summer I also spent the majority of my work-day outside with my students. Needless to say, I had quite the tan!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August also meant I started another semester of graduate school. After this semester, I will have thee courses remaining and am currently on track to graduate in May 2018. I am ready to be done, but not willing to speed-up the process. My sanity and bank account can’t handle that. Logan loves to buy me bouquets of flowers so I have something pretty to look at whilst I’m stuck at my desk for hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another fun summer event we participated in this year was free movies in the park, put on by our town. We would bring some blankets, popcorn, and settle down in the grass to watch films like Shrek and Wall-E. I love this tradition, now that Logan is old enough to stay awake and attend to the movies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rounded-out the month by celebrating my birthday. No big fanfare. Noah bought me a new camera and we all enjoyed cheesecake. Happy birthday, to me!

On the 4th we will go…

Published on by Casey

If you guessed camping, you would be correct! If you haven’t figured it out yet, our family loves to camp (or go campering). Even my colleagues have figured this out. Anytime there is a long weekend, I will be asked by several coworkers if I am going camping and where. Some have even sought out my opinion on places to go camping. This year my work extended our Independence Day holiday by giving us the whole week off! We didn’t go camping for the full week, but we did extend our trip a bit longer than normal (this also cuts down on sitting in holiday traffic). We continued our tradition of camping with friends, and going to a new location. This year, we went to State Forest State Park, which is known for it’s moose population!

More so than ever before was I thankful to have a camper on this trip! The second night I came down with a GI plague. Oh so glad was I to have an indoor bathroom to see to my needs! Just imagine how awful it would be to sit in a cold vault toilet with the pukes and poops! Ugh, no thanks! I’m also thankful that although I felt pretty miserable the follow day, everything was out of my system pretty quick. The other downside to this trip was that the day after I was sick, Noah biked pulling a kid on a tag along and gave himself altitude sickness. Not nearly as serious, but not fun either, but an easier recovery.

Illnesses aside, we still managed to hike and see a plethora of wild flora and fauna. For the animal count we saw: many deer, a fox, a beaver, several moose, voles and one porcupine!

Steamboat Lake

Published on by Casey

If I could (afford to) live anywhere in the world, I’m pretty sure it would be Routt County, Colorado. Man that is God’s country, right there. I’m pretty sure Steamboat Lake is my happy place. It’s far removed from the hustle bustle of Steamboat Springs, and nestled in a picturesque river valley. We first discovered Steamboat Lake when we went camping there last year over Memorial Day weekend. As beautiful as it was, it was cold and wet. But then again, you can’t go camping in Colorado’s high country at the end of May and not expect either rain or snow. I am thankful that we had a camper with a heater for that trip. The few neighbors we had in tents froze out after struggling to get a fire going with damp wood. This year we returned during June and had beautifully sunny weather with daytime times in the 80s. It wouldn’t be camping in Colorado though without a little rain in the form of an afternoon storm. Luckily those that went through were short in duration.

This year we also had a new camper to take with! Much larger both is length and width, more luxuries, a full kitchen. Haha! No more roughing it! Not only did our site have electric hookups but it had a lovely view of the lake! An added bonus is that for one night, our trip overlapped with some friends, so we were able to let the kids romp around and enjoy a meal together. The own downside to the trip was the recent hatching of mayflies! Walking on the trail by the lake shore was akin to running away from tracker jackers in the Hunger Games. Granted, mayflies don’t bite but they sure are annoying! It probably also didn’t help that I also had a bag of dog poop in my hands!

We can’t wait to go back next year!

How can you not love this view?!

Some evening visitors near our campsite!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This kid was made for camping!

Camping Season Has Returned!

Published on by Casey

My favorite time of year, camping season! For Colorado that starts Memorial Day weekend (unless you’re really hardcore and like to camp in snow caves — no thanks). But even that close to summer, we always expect snow when we camp that weekend. This year, we camped along Turquoise Lake, near Leadville, around 10,000-ft elevation. On the way up, it snowed. I think we ended up with about an inch of snow that first day, but then it melted. The campground where we stayed had a great system for keeping sites dry and creating small retention ponds for runoff. Logan loved “fishing” in the pond behind our site. He’s such a Colorado kid, that he was out there in shorts, despite the cold weather and snow on the ground. If you went to the lake at the right time of the day, the water was like glass, clearly reflecting the nearby mountain peaks. The campground was also tucked back into a copse of ponderosa trees. Very serene. This trip was also our inaugural camping vacation with the new camper! So much more luxurious than our little TrailManor!

2015 in Review

Published on by Casey

Why I suck at maintaining this blog. But honestly, it’s been a low priority behind work, raising a child, graduate school, volunteer work, etc. I love the idea of always being on top of this site, and in fact probably could squeeze it in as a brain break, if nothing else. So, instead of doing a bunch of posts about what happened in 2015, here’s an annual review. You can view pictures from 2105 at our share site here. If you need access, let me know.

January –

We rang in the new year whilst visiting family in California. I was sick and went to be around 10:00 p.m. Sleep trumped watching a ball drop three hours delayed. A few days later, we watched one of my high school friends get married. Yay, Becca!

February –

In February, my friend Jennie came to visit. We all enjoyed visiting a couple local ice festivals, eating fresh snow cones and watching Logan fit into a contortionist’s box.

March –

The big event this month was Logan turned five years old! The past years have just flown by! But five is such a fun age! Logan loves all things Marvel so we had a few friends over for an Avenger’s themed birthday party. The weather was great, always tricky for March in Colorado. Last year it snowed 9″ the day of his party. This year, is was sunny and in the 80s. Perfect pinata weather!

April –

For Easter we invited some friends over and continued our annual backyard egg hunt tradition. Thankfully the weather cooperated! I think it was around 70*.

May –

This month we went to a hot air balloon festival, celebrated Noah’s birthday and took Logan to his first cinema showing! Because Colorado, it snowed on Mother’s Day, which killed my plans for hiking or fishing. So, plan C was to take Logan to see Age of Ultron. He even dressed up as Thor for the event! Memorial Day weekend also officially kicks off camping season, so we headed up to Steamboat Lake for a much desired mountain getaway. The weather was not warm (30-50s), and it rained, sleeted or snowed each day. My are we thankful for our camper and the heater inside! Despite the weather we had a lot of fun!

June –

In June Logan started t-ball, we vacationed in Utah and I started horseback riding again. Logan really loves t-ball, even if he was the slowest runner and enjoyed playing in the dirt more than watching where the ball went. 🙂 We spent a few days in the beginning of June helping our friends settle into their new house, in Utah. Noah used his handyman skills to fix faucets, stoves, walls, etc. I used my painting skills to help transform their kitchen into a welcoming and cozy environment. We also happened to be in town during Pony Express Days, so the kids were able to have a lot of fun watching the parade and riding carnival rides at the fair.

July –

More camping! For the fourth of July weekend we camped at Rifle Gap. The best weather day was on the fourth. Logan enjoyed splashing in the lake, Hurricane enjoyed sniffing every bush and Noah and I enjoyed sitting in chairs, soaking up the sun, cool drink in hand, watching it all. We also finally did some camping at our mountain property (summer is a short month at 9300-ft). Always a nice getaway with beautiful views of the Mosquito Range. Noah and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary and as a gift to him, I gave him a new truck. Ha! Not really a gift, but it was purchased the day before our anniversary. The F350 Diesel is a big improvement over the Ram 1500 and needed to accommodate Noah’s large work trailer. I also moved into a new position at work, as a Behavior Technician. A nice step in the right direction toward my ultimate goal of becoming a BCBA.

August –

Our big event this month was our trip to Canada! We loaded up the camper and headed to Alberta. We spent a week traveling around the southern half of the province (and ventured into British Colombia one day). We stayed in Writing-on-Stone, Dinosaur, Calgary, Edmonton and Banff. Such a beautiful province and very friendly people, especially those from Manitoba. Logan has decided we should go to Manitoba for our next Canadian excursion. Also in August, Logan started kindergarten and we celebrated my birthday.

September –

Our final camping hurrah for the year. We went to Ridgeway with some friends and camped over the Labor Day weekend. Another trip we were glad for the camper. No one wants to cook outside in the rain. We did have some nice weather, about half of the trip, but not enough to get in any fishing. We just could not avoid rain this year camping. Even in Canada, it rained one day/night whilst we stayed in Banff. Also in September, Noah’s grandparents celebrated their 65th (!!) wedding anniversary! So we celebrated with them in a mini-family reunion.

October –

Noah missed Halloween this year due to elk hunting season. But before he left we made a trip to the pumpkin patch. Grandpa Mike  came to Colorado to continue the tradition of hiking around the divide with Noah in search of the ever elusive elk, and he was able to help Logan carve a pumpkin before they had to leave. This year, Logan was going to dress up as Iron Man for Halloween, but he ended up with a stomach bug and missed trick-or-treating. Our wonderful neighbors, however, took up a collection of candy for him, as they went door-to-door.

November –

Grandma Diane came out to spend some time with Logan whilst the menfolk were hunting. They had a great time. We joined some friends for the Thanksgiving feast. This year we even had a white Thanksgiving! First time in the nine years I’ve lived in Colorado that it wasn’t in the 50s on Thanksgiving. Good thing Noah put the Christmas lights up on the house before the storm. We also chose that weekend to get our Christmas tree and Logan got to visit Santa. This month, Logan also had his first experience riding a horse, not tethered to a bar (i.e. pony ride).

December –

This month brought joys and heartaches. Noah’s grandpa passed away on the 10th, we attended his funeral the following week. On the 11th, Logan had his first surgery. Nothing major, he had to be put under general anesthesia to remove wax buildup inside his ears. We also had our first (and probably only) snow day of the year, where 10″ fell on the 15th (as I write this post nearly two weeks later, my yards are still covered in snow from that storm). We decided to stay home for the holidays. We enjoyed spending time with the extended family that visiting during the funeral events, friends at a Christmas party and we continued our traditions of riding the Georgetown Loop Christmas train and visiting the Denver Zoo for Zoo Lights. Christmas was a relaxed affair spent at home, enjoying watching Logan open gifts and awe over the fact Santa brought him exactly what he wanted. New Year’s will be much of the same, staying home and relaxing. No promises on whether or not Noah and I will stay awake until midnight.

Hope you all had a wonderful and enjoyable 2015 full of memories to last a lifetime. We look forward to all of the fun 2016 will bring!