The Pool

Of course, one of the first things the kids wanted to do when we got to Dillon was go swimming in the condo pool. So we decided to go down on Saturday morning before lunch when we didn't think it would be awfully crowded. Fortunately, we were the only ones there. (I say fortunately mainly because our kids seemed to really enjoy hearing their voices echo in the pool room -- and it was quite an echo!)

Last summer, the pool was closed for remodeling (when my brother and his family were there). From what I can remember of the pool from years ago, it seems that they mainly upgraded the floor and wall "design" of the pool room. The pool itself didn't change -- same size and depth (and still not very big).

(Personally, I wouldn't have minded too much if the pool had been closed this year and we had been given passes to the Recreation Center (like they did for my brother). From the pictures I've seen, the Rec Center had a lot of fun slides, a kiddie pool, etc. that they kids would have liked. But it seemed awfully expensive for us to take the whole family swimming -- $9.00 for adults! -- and since we have so many pools here at home that we can go to, we just stuck with the condo pool while we were there.)

They added some stone flooring and a stone mountain design along the wall:

At the bottom of the pool itself, there are three green turtles made from tile (sort of visible in this picture!).

Hayley seemed to have fun with the floaties, even though there was nowhere shallow enough for her to stand up.

Courtney & Hannah liked jumping in the deep end with their floaties around them. (Courtney was the first to do this, then Hannah decided she could try it too.)

We also checked out the sauna room before we left (that hasn't changed!).

The water was on the cool side (for my liking!) but not too bad. We also sat in the hot tub for a minute. I took the older 3 kids back one other afternoon while Hayley napped (Brian stayed with her). When we asked the kids what they liked about our trip to Colorado, most of them said swimming!

Rodeo Time!

Before we left home for our trip, I spent some time looking through some Web sites for things to do while we were in Dillon. On one community calendar, I noticed that the Summit Mountain Community Fair & Rodeo was going to be held the first weekend we were there. It wasn't outrageously expensive, and since the kids had just had the opportunity to ride a horse in Wyoming, we thought they might enjoy watching a rodeo.

So on Saturday evening, we headed over to the rodeo area (not far from where we were staying). For those familiar with the area, the parking was just past the "Red" Outlet stores (Eddie Bauer, etc. -- down from the McDonald's / Office Max, etc. complex) and out where the baseball diamonds are you can see if you look down driving across Dillon Dam Road.

There weren't many people there and we really had no idea what to expect. It turned out to be a fairly small production, and definitly "small-town." But I think everyone had fun.

When we arrived, we found out that the kid play area was free (with the exception of the pony rides, which we didn't do) and if you wanted to go over to the actual rodeo events in the small arena, you would need to pay the entrance fee. So first, we checked out the kid area, since we arrived before the rodeo.

They had some carnival-type games that the kids could win different colored tickets for, and then exchange for little trinkets. They did the bean-bag toss:

McKay's favorite was the balloon darts (he did this several times):

And the local high school cheerleading team had a little table set up for face painting. Not surprisingly, McKay stayed as far away from that table as possible, but Hannah and Courtney were quite willing.

Hannah wanted a butterfly and chose a full-face design from some sample pictures they had (she picked the colors).

Courtney opted for a smaller ladybug on her cheek. (Hayley also didn't want to get her face painted.)

Also in the kid play area, they had several big "blow-up" play areas. There was the traditional bouncing house, but also a big slide:

and a large blow-up castle obstacle course that Hannah and Courtney went through multiple times. (The worst part about this was that the kids had to take off their shoes, so when they got to the end, they would just run back through the dirt to the entrance -- or to another blow-up place -- and their socks got incredibly dirty!)

Hayley wanted to do it, but it seemed kind of hard for her by herself, so McKay tried to help her. It's hard to see through the netting, but here he is trying to help her over one of the walls (she kept slipping). I ended up pulling her out before the end because there was no way she was going to make it up for the final big slide.

They also had a small petting zoo in the kid area that we went in briefly.

The little baby horse had just had a big bottle and was very sleepy -- it was so cute to see it lay down right next to the turtle!

Then it was time to head over to the rodeo area. We decided to go ahead and pay the entrance fee to see the rodeo events. We initially found some seats on the bleachers on the far side of the area, but it was right in the sun, so we ended up going back around to the area they referred to as the "dog pound" (not sure why!) which were some bleachers up a little hill with a higher view and most importantly in the shade.

We got there in time to see some of the initial "shows" before the actual rodeo. They had a group of teenagers doing various types of trick riding, as well as some "precision" teams (not as exciting as the trick riding). In this picture, the performers are each standing on two horses, "Roman" style.

McKay and I left briefly to drive over to Burger King and bring back some dinner for everyone while we waited (we wondered if they would object to our bringing in outside food, but they didn't have a problem with it).

There ended up being a fair amount of waiting time before the rodeo and the kids got a little restless waiting. They played with their toy trucks from their Kid's Meals, but kept dropping them down through the bleachers and then trying to retrieve them (Courtney got a big scrape on her leg doing this).

A little side story -- just before the rodeo was going to start, I took all the kids to find the port-a-pottys. Hannah was running and when she went from dirt to an asphalt section, she tripped and skinned her knee so it started bleeding. She is one to really freak out when she bleeds (even a tiny amount), so she was going nuts on me. I sent McKay back to the seats with the other girls and set off to see if I could find a first aid station. We walked around the arena to the other side and saw an ambulance, so we went over and asked them if they were the first aid. They said they were indeed and would be happy to help us. So Hannah and I got to climb in the back of the amublance while the paramedic searched for a small band-aid (at first all he could find were big pieces of gauze -- where's a little band-aid when you need one?). At one point, he was trying to be funny and asked Hannah if he should cut her leg off at the knee or the ankle. She really freaked out (you have to be careful sometimes what you say to her!) and the poor guy immediately back-pedaled with lots of "I'm just kidding!" As we were patching her up, we heard them start the announce the start of the rodeo and Hannah got all upset that she was missing it. I assured her it hadn't actually started yet and we did manage to make it back to our seats in time. (I think she was expecting some kind of big horse race because she kept asking us when the race was going to start.)

Back to the rodeo... here is McKay with the arena below as the riders warmed up (he is standing at the edge of the hill area where we were sitting).

Finally, the rodeo events started. And, it was definitely a small-town rodeo! Brian and I both got a chuckle over the size of the rodeo and caliber of the riders. For several events, they only had two or three participants and most of the time, the riders couldn't even complete they event (they would miss their lasso of the steer, etc.). Here is a picture from one of the bucking bronco riders:

In the end, the kids enjoyed it but not enough to last the full two hours (especially Hayley). :-) Hayley had a hard time sitting on the bleachers and just wouldn't stay put. So we left early -- probably about an hour into the actual rodeo (we had been there quite a while already) and called it a night!

Lake Dillon

I've been trying to organize my pictures from Colorado into categories so I can post them in smaller "batches" instead of one enormous, long post. (Not that any of them will be that small, either, because I have this habit of taking lots of pictures!)

First up, our first walk down to see Lake Dillon after arriving at the condo. This was on Saturday afternoon. McKay told us several times that it should be called "Dillon Reservoir" instead because it is a reservoir with a dam, but we told him that someone decided to call it "Lake Dillon" and he couldn't change the name.

Lake Dillon is a favorite spot for sailboats!

We walked along the pathway for a little while (it's pretty much right behind the condo).

The girls found lots of wildflowers. Despite our reminder to not pick the flowers so others could enjoy them, they still managed to pick their share.

We walked down to a small floating dock where a few people were fishing (which got McKay started with begging to go fishing -- he can be relentless sometimes!).

Loved the weather, loved the scenery, loved the company!

A Mental Picture

There are times when I wish I had my camera to capture the moment, but instead I have to take a mental picture. Today was one of those times, so I will try to paint the mental picture for you.

Our lawn grew quite a bit while we were gone (rain! hooray!), so Brian came home in time tonight to mow it. After dinner, he went out to finish mowing the back yard. The girls followed him. Hannah decided it was fun to follow along behind Dad in the "trail" he made mowing (there was quite a difference between the mowed and unmowed lawn). While they were outside, there was a big clap of thunder and the girls came running in. Hannah and Courtney each grabbed their kid umbrellas and then dashed back outside. Apparently they thought a clap of thunder was a sure sign of forthcoming rain.

The next time I glanced outside, I saw Brian pushing the lawn mower, followed by Hannah marching along with her purple umbrella, followed by Courtney holding her pink unbrella, followed by Hayley who had to join in the fun. And no, it wasn't raining. Such a funny sight! So I went to grab my camera, but when I stepped outside, the trees were blocking a good shot so I thought I'd wait until they came around again. But by then, Courtney and Hayley had been distracted by the swingset so the moment was gone (but not forgotten!). And the lawn looks much better now.

Another funny "moment" today was when I'm pretty sure a squirrel fell off our roof. I was out in the family room, when there was kind of a scraping noise and then some large object went flying down past the window and hit the ground with a pretty loud thud. At first I thought maybe it was a bird, but when I went outside to check, the only thing around was a squirrel in a nearby tree. We have a couple of squirrels that frequent our backyard, fence and rooftop, so my best guess is that the squirrel lost its footing and went flying. It didn't seem too hurt from the unfortunate incident.

And finally, in other news of the day, I had to take Courtney back in to the doctor. She appears to have yet another UTI (urinary tract infection), plus possibly a yeast infection too (we had to see a doctor in WY as well for similar problems). We really need to get that girl potty trained and I'm trying to convince her of that fact as well. (Biggest frustration in my life right now.) So she is on antibiotics again, plus a prescription cream. Hayley started running a fever this afternoon as well, but the only symptom she seems to have is a little bit of goopy stuff in one of her eyes. I'll have to keep an eye on her.

I have a chiropractor appointment in the morning and wasn't able to find anyone to watch the kids, so it looks like they will all be coming with me. That should be a fun adventure! (Four kids in a tiny room while Mom is strapped to a table for 10 minutes of traction.)

Good night! (I have lots of vacation pictures and stories coming soon!)

Periodic Springs

Back to Wyoming...

On our last evening in Star Valley, we decided to hike up to Periodic Springs. The trailhead is in Afton and it's not too hard of a hike, so we figured the kids should be able to manage okay. I remember hiking this with Brian (and many nieces and nephews) right after we got married, but that was the only time I'd been there.

We decided to go in the evening, so it would be a little cooler. Here we are at the base of the trail (we had to drive quite a while on a dirt road to get to the trail). You can also see Brian's mom behind us on the trail.

The trail follows a stream up the mountain. The Periodic Springs is the source of most of Afton's water supply (I think).

The kids found a berry bush along the trail.

Here's Hayley on the way up (she ended up riding on Daddy's shoulders for a good part of the hike).

Grandma Humpherys came along and is taking a short rest with Hannah.

This was one of the trickier spots of the trail. You could either choose the log or try to keep your feet dry walking along the edge. This picture also shows how Hayley rode most of the time (on Daddy's shoulders). The other person in the picture is Brandon, husband to Brian's sister Jana. Their family came with us -- 10-year-old Maison and month-old baby Olivia (who Jana managed to hike up with in a Snugli carrier).

Michael (Brian's brother), McKay and Maison decided to go across the log. You can see the stream coming down the mountain behind them (where we continued to hike up).

At the base of the steepest part of the hike (that goes up to the head of the spring), they have a sign explaining a little about the Periodic Springs.

Here is our little family before we head up the hardest part.

And off we go (Grandma decided to wait for us at the base here).

This was definitely the hardest part of the hike, especially for the kids. It was much steeper and rockier and easier to slip on. I don't know how Brian managed to carry Hayley on his shoulders most of the way, but he did.

We finally made it to the top! (At least as far as we were going.) This is where the spring comes out of the mountain. We didn't see it "turn off" while we were there (I don't know if it was the right time of year).

The view straight down the mountain:

The girls at the top:

As we made our way back down the mountain, it started to get dark, but we got back to the parking lot before it was totally dark.

Then it was off to a drive-in for a late night ice cream treat! (We got out of the cars to eat so they wouldn't be covered in ice cream like the kids were!)

(Now that's an ice cream mustache if I ever saw one!)

Home Sweet Home

We finally made it back home this afternoon from our long trek. Boy, we were all ready to be done riding in the car, even though we broke up our trip coming back home. We left Colorado on Friday morning and drove south, stopping at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs for a short visit (pictures coming!). We continued down to Amarillo to stay the night in a hotel there. Brian had some computer work to do at the apartment office on Saturday morning and we got away about noon. We decided that we were just too tired to drive all the way home, so we stopped at Julie's house last night, then came the rest of the way this morning.

My house has practically no food in it (bad thing about coming home on Sunday!) but we managed to come up with some dinner. Now it is time to get the kids in the tub and into bed early -- they sure need to catch up on their sleep (as do their mom and dad!). I have lots more stories and pictures to share from our trip -- hopefully I'll catch up on that this week!

A Quick Note from CO

Greetings from beautiful Colorado! We are here in Dillon (west of Denver, near several of the ski resorts) enjoying my parent's timeshare condo and visiting with my sister Malinda and her family (also here for the week and staying in a different condo).

We have sporadic Internet access (picking up the wireless from the office downstairs) so I don't know how long I'll be connected. I probably won't be able to post any more pictures until we get home this weekend. I have more pictures from Wyoming, as well as lots from our time here!

Yee Haw!

On Wednesday, we decided to rent a horse for the day from a neighbor down the street who has a bunch of horses he rents out. It was a little more expensive than we thought ($50.00 for the day), but the kids were so excited we went ahead and did it.

The horse we got was named Old Peak and he was a pretty good horse for the kids. Everyone got to have a ride.

Hayley especially loved riding on the horse and would just continuously yell "Yee Haw!" the whole time she was riding.

McKay took the horse out on his own for several rides around the farm. He didn't like to go very fast (too bouncy, he said), but he did pretty good controlling the horse.

Even Hannah got to ride on the horse by herself, with McKay helping to lead it.

This picture is of Courtney with her new Aunt Julie (Michael's wife) having a great ride!

They already want to know when we are going to get another horse to ride!