The boys' hike

Donna mentioned that on Friday morning I left with our two oldest boys (Owen age 8 and Eli age 6) on an overnight hike/camping trip. We hiked 7 miles to camp overnight at a place called "Beartrack Lake."

Here's the trail me and the boys took as recorded by my GPS. Our trail path is shown in RED:



I marked our house location (bottom right), but we started at the "Trailhead: Rosalie/Tanglewood" marker (9300 ft) and crossed a ridge at 12,000 ft, and then proceeded on to the campsite which sat at about 11,200 ft.

Here's a 3-D view of the hiking trail, at least to the point where it disappears over the ridge. (Can you tell I'm digging this GPS thing?)



I can't believe the boys made it 14.25 miles roundtrip and without complaining (unlike Dad). Good job, guys!

College Game Day at the Clyde Household

Luke's having a bad hair day. Actually he always has a bad hair day. Maybe that's why he's grumpy all the time?!

The guys...

... are going camping tonight. They'll hike up to Mt. Rosalie, where they hiked a few weeks ago, but this time they'll stay overnight. I'm so envious of them! Jimmy's pack weighed 42 pounds - I have no idea how he'll carry it to 13,000 feet. He's a stud.

Footnote: The guys got back at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. According to Jimmy's GPS they had hiked 14.5 miles! I cannot believe the boys made it over 7 miles up the mountain. The trip went great except they didn't have enough food and water. And Jimmy lost five pounds!

My Hubby...

... is amazing. Last year our heating bills were outrageous, so Jimmy wanted to install a woodburning stove in the basement where a gas stove had been. Does he call the experts? Nooooo! He just tackles it himself! There just isn't anything my husband can't do! (well, okay, he hasn't been able to keep our dog Sweetie from running off...)

The weather has been just amazing here. In the sixties, no humidity. The kids have been enjoying the evenings outside playing and helping daddy. Here's a few pics from tonight...

Daddy put "Xs" where Owen was to hammer a nail in.

Working hard!

Eli, Scout, and Riley hammering nails into a wood stump for over an hour. Since moving out here I've thought to myself hundreds of times, "Who needs toys?!" I love watching the kids use their creativity.

Cheese!

I love to see dirt on my kids' faces! And I'm not even going to give her a bath tonight! :)

She's hammering with a screwdriver, but she doesn't care!

Ames High Get-Together

On Saturday I hosted a little reunion for classmates I graduated high school with in Ames, Iowa that now live in Colorado. Two of the classmates I actually have gone to school with since kindergarten! Six families were able to make it, and we had a great time reminiscing about old times and catching up. I just love my Iowa friends. It was such a pleasure to have them over. There's no false pretense and no trying to impress - everybody is as down to earth as can be.

Josh (the one in the hat) is just as hilarious and fun as he was in high school, and he decided that we should take "senior pictures" and pose in those wonderful poses they put you in. I never had senior pictures taken because my mom didn't have the money (I didn't really care anyway), so here was my chance! :)

Conversation in the truck the other day....

Scout: Mama, I want to adopt eight orphans, because I love orphans.
Mommy: Scout, that is wonderful. You're going to be an amazing mama someday.
Eli: (not to be outdone) I'm going to adopt nineteen orphans.
Owen: Eli, you have to get married before you adopt, you know.
Eli: No I don't!
Owen: Yes, you do! How are you going to take care of all those children by yourself?!
Eli: I'm just gonna change one diaper at a time.

Trout Fishing! (hey to Wade)

I took Owen, Eli, and Scout up to a lake on Saturday.

(This is Jimmy, btw. I thought about writing in 3rd person, but then I would have sounded like a bad Seinfeld episode.... "Jimmy likes fishing. Jimmy doesn't like misunderstandings!")

This lake is called Jefferson Lake and it sits at 10,750 ft elevation. Here's a pic:



Someone told me it was beautiful and not well known. He was half right. It was busy this Saturday.

But, we hiked around the edge of it until I, using my extra special fish-finder abilities (hey to Wade again), found the right spot.

Here are some pics.

Scout pulled off the feat of catching both the smallest and largest trout.

Smallest.... (I called this the Wade Special!)



Largest.... (you guessed it, the Jimmy Special!)



Owen actually got the action started by landing a couple of nice rainbow trout including this one:



Then Eli hauled in this beauty. I'm not sure what prompted him to go Gangsta Style on the cap, but I digress....



It was an all-around great day for everyone, including Donna who got to take a long nap on a rainy Saturday afternoon. She even went so far as to suggest I take the kids fishing every Saturday.