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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!

We Love Canada!

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Seriously, what’s not to like? We enjoyed it so much last year that we returned this summer! We gave Logan the choice of which province between Saskatchewan or Manitoba. He chose Manitoba, so off to Winnipeg we went! We actually stayed at a small Provincial Park about 45 minutes away from Winnipeg, which provided enough distance from the city to feel like we were among nature, but close enough to do day trip excursions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our travel to Canada, did not go as planned, however. Shortly after crossing into North Dakota, our truck started having issues. We made a quick trip to Minnesota to run the check engine code and get an idea of what was going on (sure we could have visited an auto parts store in Fargo, but by driving into Minnesota, I was able to cross another state off my list). The code wasn’t very helpful. Thankfully, we were still able to drive and tow, just at a reduced RPM. After getting settled at our campsite, the next day we dropped the truck off at a Ford dealership and headed to the Assinboine Zoo (the dealership shuttle dropped us off). Turns out the high-pressure fuel pump went out on the truck and would take days to fix! Days! Oh and about $4,000 USD! Our trip just got a lot more expensive and now we were stranded sans vehicle. To save me the headache of trying to find a rental vehicle on my own, I gave AAA a call and let them figure everything out for us. Thank you, AAA! Because of this fiasco, we didn’t get a change to go to the Assiniboine Park, next door to the zoo and see the Winnie the Pooh statue. Bummer. But the zoo did have a really cool animatronic dinosaur exhibit and polar bears!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Manitoba has a long history of Mennonite and eastern-European settlers, so one of our day trips took us to a Mennonite village.

Logan sitting in a Mennonite school room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also drove to Lake Winnipeg, which is the largest lake in North America! We visited the lake in the town of Gimli, which is near the Southern tip and the narrow section. And yet, we still couldn’t see across the lake! Amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, if you’re ever in the town of Gimli, eat here. They have the best pierogies and cabbage rolls I have ever eaten! I wish they would open a branch in Colorado! But alas, there are no Ukrainian restaurants anywhere in the state!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another great aspect of the trip was we met some awesome locals who happened to be camping in the site next to us. Our trip coincided with the first week of the Olympic games, and I had been streaming the games online during our trip to make sure we didn’t miss any of the action. Our last night in Canada, our new aforementioned neighbors invited us over to their camper to watch the Olympics with them. Their camper had the ability to mount a TV on the outside. So we all pulled up some chairs, shared some beers and popcorn and jointly cheered on our respective teams. It was awesome! People in Canada (and those from MB, especially, are some of the nicest people we’ve ever met)!

Even with the vehicle troubles, we loved our Canadian vacation and will be back again, probably in 2017. Which province shall we visit this time?

On the 4th we will go…

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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!

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!

Graduation Day!

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I don’t remember a big fan fare when I graduated from kindergarten, but perhaps there was one. Friday, Logan graduated from kindergarten (although the school year doesn’t end until later this week). Where has the past school year gone? It feels like I just registered him for kindergarten and now he’s only a few short months away from the first grade!

For the graduation ceremony, Logan’s class put on a performance where they sang several songs (in English and Spanish) and then the classroom teacher presented each student with a certificate of kindergarten graduation. Logan was first, either because he was sitting first in his row or because of his last name. Not sure. Logan claims the certificates were distributed alphabetically.

After the ceremony, the school provided a lunch for all the graduating students and families. The weather was wonderful, so the luncheon was held outside. It was so much fun watching Logan and I am so grateful both Noah and I were able to take time off work to attend the event!

At home, we surprised Logan with a Congratulations Grad balloon and a GIANT grad cupcake!

Here are a few pictures from the celebration. You can see all the pictures from the event here.

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The graduate!
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Logan & his teacher
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The happy family!

 

The Keystone State

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Sadly, last month my Aunt Ruthanna passed away after a courageous battle against cancer. Although we are heartbroken that she is no longer with us on earth, we rejoice in the fact that she is no longer in pain and has rejoined her beloved husband in heaven.

To honor her in life and death, we traveled to Pennsylvania to attend the funeral and spend some time with relatives, some of which I haven’t seen in twenty years and others I just met for the first time! Although the funeral was a somber event, it was good to get out of town and show Logan some Pennsylvania sites.

But first, we had to meet Aunt Gretna at the airport!

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Some of the places we dragged him to included Gettysburg National Park:

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The Turkey Hill Experience (who doesn’t love unlimited ice cream?):

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and Amish Country:

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Cousins! A shot of three of the younger cousins in the family. Logan and the one on the left are only separated by a few months in age but are a generation apart. Logan and the cousin on the right are a few years apart in age but are from the same generation.

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A full selection of photos from the trip can be viewed here.

 

The family that shoots together…

Published on by Casey

It’s no secret that Noah and I enjoy shooting firearms. So, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that we enjoy shooting bows either. Logan is still a bit young for his own gun (don’t freak, we’ll start him with something small…like a .45 j/k), but he’s not too young to start learning to shoot with a bow. I was close to his age when I first used a longbow in Girl Scouts. Last year, Noah and I talked about how fun it would be to set up an archery range on our mountain property and had already started turning the mental wheels on making that happen this summer. Recently, Noah acquired a compound bow for hunting (he’s thinking about going for an archery tag in addition to rifle, although probably not this year), so I too acquired a new bow and Logan got one of his birthday presents early. We bought Logan’s beginner longbow last year on sale and have squirreled it away.

We took out the bows last weekend, as we finally had some decent weather, and went to a local archery range to test them out. Logan was so excited and really took to the sport. He’s only shooting from 5-10 yards, but for his second time ever, he managed to get one arrow to stick in the target! (First time Logan shot a bow was Labor Day weekend 2015.) Of course, neither Noah nor I took any photos last weekend. Whoops!

We did set-up a target in our backyard and marked off every five yards. I was looking forward to getting some target practice in today, but we didn’t get much accomplished before the wind make being outside less fun. However, we did take some pictures! I’ll be sure to take ones of the range on the mountain property when we make it out there this summer. For now, we’ll continue to freak out our neighbors…or venture to the local range.

Oh, A Campering We Will Go!

Published on by Casey

A couple years ago, we purchased a hard-sided pop-up camper. It made camping so much more comfortable: no sleeping on an air mattress, no cooking in the rain…you get the idea. Some of us are getting old and like creature comforts, like heat and not having to trudge through the darkness to use the bathroom, hoping not to run into a bear on the way! It was super nice to have last year when it either rained or snowed, at least part of the time, for every single camping trip we took. We even towed it up to Canada on our tour of Alberta!

In fact, it was that Canadian excursion that really got us thinking about how nice it would be to have a camper that does not require folding and unfolding. Well, that was Noah’s main complaint since he was the on that had to do the set-up/take-down daily. I on the other hand wondered over the marvels of having a bathroom on wheels when driving through the middle of Alberta farm country. It was that or packing some she-wees.

That said, I keep a wondering eye, looking for a nice and affordable travel trailer. After months of quasi-searching we found one! Meet our new camper! It doesn’t have a name, which could have made that introduction more exciting. Should it have a name? If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments.

The inside of the camper is very spacious with the slide out extended. No more cramped quarters trying not to trip over dogs (or small children). The galley area is much larger than in the TrailManor, which is cozy. A person could easily live in this camper, what with its large shower, and queen-sized bed. We’ve made a few modifications since we acquired the trailer. First off, the previous owner’s wife didn’t like the 90s furniture so they threw it out instead of refinishing/reupholstering. So, in the meantime, we have a futon and a card table set. Works fine for us, it is a camper after all, not a 5-star hotel! We also purchased a new mattress. Guaranteed clean. We also updated the microwave (now that’s roughing it!) and stereo system. Did I mention this camper came with a built in stereo and ceiling speakers? No? Well, I probably didn’t mention that the kicking stereo system also featured a cassette deck! Since we long since donated all our random cassettes, we modernized the stereo to one that uses Bluetooth and can play DVDs. Now, for the record, we don’t go camping to watch movies, but we do use our campers to stay on our mountain property. Which, if we had a cabin, movies would be involved there, so it’s justifiable. Yet, there are those occasions where it’s snowing and cold and no one wants to actually be outside, and you can only play so many games of Go Fish… 🙂

The other modifications we made were the addition of the stickers on the back. “Happy Camper” and “The Mountains Are Calling And I Must Go” bumper stickers were added, as well as the US and CA sticker map. Don’t you love how not to scale Alaska is? The states and provinces marked are ones we have been to since we started campering. I (Casey) have been to a lot more states, but it doesn’t seem right to count those.

Now, we just need a reliable buyer for the TrailManor…and warmer weather. I’m anxious for summer camping!

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!

Summer in Colorado

Published on by Casey

Summer in Colorado is just as schizophrenic or bipolar as any other season in Colorado. Funny thing about these mountains is that they decide what the weather will be, whether it’s been forecast or makes sense.

Case in point: September 12, 2014. Season: still summer. However, it snowed. That’s right folks, it snowed in the summer. At my house, it was only a trace amount and thus cannot count as the “official” first snowfall of the season. For that, 0.10″ of snow needed to fall and be measured. It’s quite possible that much, or more, fell, but this early in the game accumulation is sparse. The ground is still too warm.

However, if you don’t believe me that it snowed, here’s a picture of my car. See that white stuff? That’s snow.

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