Hiking is fun!

We had a great day trip to Estes Park on Sunday. The weather was cool but comfortable for hiking... We'd been cooped up in the house for the better part of the past couple weeks so the fresh air felt lovely.

As soon as we drove into the park, we saw a group of Elk grazing on the meadow. We'd never before seen so many at the same time! They were furry from a cold winter and oblivious to our gazes.

We headed to a picnic area for lunch. The birds in the area must have been fed by humans or human leftovers, or perhaps starving after a long winter? We were quickly surrounded ~ mostly blue birds but then this lil guy showed up. He was not camera shy at all!

There were probably 10 to 12 of these blue guys at one point. So pretty!

The boys got a kick out of them and their squawking... Here's Tyler watching them.

I couldn't resist this goofy face ~ every time we see this photo, it makes us grin!

After lunch we went on a short hike to the Alluvial Fan ~ a waterfall area that had been flooded back in the 80's. The trees were young and vibrantly colored. The overcast day made for some good lighting for photos of the boys...

One of the things I love most about Colorado is the blueness of the sky. Mostly we didn't get to see it on Sunday but I grabbed this shot during a break in the clouds...

Look what else we saw! Usually we see more chipmunks than anything else. This time, he was the lone one. The boys have been watching their Alvin and the Chipmunks movie a lot lately, so we were wondering if perhaps this was a long lost cousin?

Here's a shot of the water fall...

The boys did some rock climbing, too.

Next we tried a longer hike through the woods. We ended up on a couple different trails because this one had a lot of snow in the path. Gavin didn't wear the best hiking shoes (I need to invest in boots for them) so he kept slipping on the ice. He was starting to get frustrated and after probably the 5th time of falling down said "well, here this goes again!", sighing as he rose from the ground. Not that we should laugh at his pain (he wasn't hurt physically, just tired of falling down) but it gave us quite the tickle.

At one point we turned around and found this view, through the trees...

Here I am with the boys, at the end of the hike. Tyler could have gone for another hour ~ he loves to hike! Gavin has realized that hiking really means walking and has decided that it isn't that fun to just walk around. He'd rather be playing. :)


On the way back down the mountain, Shawn found a tick on the back of his neck. It gave us quite the fright ~ it was the first time I'd seen a tick since hiking in my grandparents' back yard in Indiana. I didn't even know we had ticks here!

As a child, I was petrified of ticks, thanks to a Babysitter's Club book where one of the main characters contracted Lyme Disease. I never like the feeling of a bug crawling on my bare skin (the reason you won't find me sleeping in the woods any time soon, much to Shawn's disappointment as he'd like us to go camping!) but ticks are just scary to me.

I'm sure we looked quite ridiculous, scrambling around in our lil car trying to find the tick, kill it and dispose of it because they don't really die and I didn't want it to come back alive and give me Lyme Disease while I was driving to work one day!

Our freaking out has probably scarred the boys for life...

********************************************************

In other news, my parents come home tomorrow!

And Thursday night we are, too. Gavin celebrates his 5th birthday on Saturday and since after June my travel will be restricted, we thought it'd be a great time to take a long weekend and spend time with our family. Neither of the boys has ever had a birthday party with their cousins on my side and they've also never been to the race track in my hometown ~ which Shawn and my dad and brother~in~law plan on introducing them to.

My mom and sister and I have a pedicure scheduled for a Mother's Day treat. And on Saturday a big celebration. Not only does Gavin turn 5, I have two cousins with lil boys that are celebrating birthdays also... so it'll be a big shin dig that isn't at my house for me to clean up the mess.

We can't wait!