The first part of the Summer is already drawing to a close. The temperature is getting warmer, the days are still long, and we have been to busy to blog about what our family has been up to. Considering that we are using this blog primarily as a way to chronicle what we do for our own enjoyment we thought we might as well continue posting events even if they happened awhile ago. So this post is a recap of the first month or so of Summer 2013. Without further ado, here we go!
Memorial Day Hike
On Memorial Day we decided to go to Estes and get in a hike somewhere easy enough for the kids. We are not a hiking family (yet) so we don't know very many trails, and the only trail we've hiked in the last 4 years is Lumpy Trail/Gem Lake. I didn't remember much about it other than it was beautiful so we decided to do it. I didn't remember that the trail was just under 2 miles long and pretty tiring toward the end. One thing is for sure, our kids can not be underestimated. They handled the trail like champs, and while they were tired, they hiked all the way up and down on their own. Morrow didn't. She's a baby.
Here are some pictures:
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| Morrow giving the thumbs up! She's ready to conquer this trail! |
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| Jude is just trying to look cool. He's not mad. Or maybe he is. You be the judge. | |
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| Sitting on a rock and eating some jerky with great scenery. Good times. |
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| Not good times. |
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| The first two to reach the summit. Great job boys! |
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| No hike would be complete without climbing a log and hitting Dad with an Iron Man blast! |
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| Probably the most beautiful little girl ever. Dad is in trouble... |
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| Morrow is happy again! Shortly after this picture the pack tipped forward and she face planted into the sand. |
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| Lounging and looking cool. |
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| Erin looks good. The scenery looks good. Let's leave it at that. |
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| We have conquered the trail and all are happy. Well, except for Idelette. Look at that face! |
UNC IT BBQ
For those of you who don't know, I (Paul) switched jobs in April. Dispatch is no more, and now I work for the University of Northern Colorado in the IT Department. It has been good, but challenging at the same time. In the beginning of June we had an IT BBQ
and I snapped a few pictures of the kids playing in the play area. It was a lot of fun for them.
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| Cute kids. Don't fall... |
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| "I love slides!!!" |
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| Daddy didn't quite fit down this slide. Morrow was not impressed with his sliding skills |
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Bee Family Updates
We have been faithfully checking our bees every week since we got them. Thus far the Carniolans have a much better temperament than the Italians. After installing the Italians so poorly I have no doubt they are holding a grudge. We have since added an extra hive body to each existing hive and they have already built out most of the frames in those as well. Both hives are doing very well and we finally found the Italian queen yesterday. She looked good and was yellow as opposed to the Carniolan queen who is almost black. All in all, we are excited to add out honey supers on this weekend and let them get to work on making us delicious honey! This has to be one of the most interesting hobbies we could do, and we are loving it. Please consider keeping bees! They are so cool!
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| Hold on ladies! |
Chickens!
The chickens have been somewhat slighted on this blog so far because, well, they just aren't as interesting as bees. Sorry chickens, but it's true. We finished building their coop, but we don't have any pictures of it yet. It was quite the task, but it looks good and is functional. The chickens really are fun and seem to be growing well. They like to pick on Oriana (the replacement chick) but she has become special to us because of this and some of her other qualities. For instance, she just seems a little aloof most of the time. She also will rub up against our legs like a cat. Chickens are weird. Anyway, here are some pictures taken earlier this month.
Miscellaneous Family Stuff
Some of the most wonderful things we have been able to do this Summer have been just hanging out and enjoying time together. One of our good friends, Lukas Abernathy, has been coming over for dinner and board games every Monday night for a few months now and it has really been a blessing. Hospitality can be a hard thing. Having people over for meals can "seem" inconvenient, but it really isn't. We have been able to really get to know Lukas better and he has been able to get to know us better. In some ways, he is slowly becoming like part of our family, which is the way it should be between brothers and sisters in Christ.
Erin and I have been playing more board/card games together as well and have really had a lot of fun. I highly recommend them for spending time together. We even get the kids in on it some times. Some of our favorites are the Lord of the Rings Card Game (NERD ALERT), Smash Up, King of Tokyo, Takenoko, Fantastiqa, and Heroscape (mostly Daddy and the boys on this one). Here are some random pictures to close this all out!
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| Jude painting the coop. He painted himself in... |
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| Probably one of my favorite pictures of Jonah and Idelette. |
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| Erin and I playing Takenoko, the Japanese gardening game. She won. |
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| Daddy and the boys playing Heroscape. |
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| A little Fantastiqa action with Lukas. Erin destroyed us... |
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| Morrow needs a dentist. |
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| Summer days... |
I hope you enjoyed our summary of the beginning of our Summer. We are very thankful to God through our Lord Jesus Christ for such a great Summer so far and are excited to see what He does with the rest of it!
