Camping With The Smiths

We decided it had been years since we've camped with Jaime's!!  SO when Brad suggested that Glenn show him some of his hunting spots over at Sargents, we decided to make a camping trip out of it!

Glenn and I left Tuesday morning to secure a spot - we had no idea if there would be any as the spots are pretty limited with our large trailers but we found a great place with plenty of room and fairly level!  We set up and then headed over to Gunnison to visit our friends and see their new house!  These are the friends that stayed in our place while we went to Mexico!

Jan and Jan's house is just lovely!!  And after some awesome margaritas, we headed to Garlic Mike's for an early dinner to celebrate all of our birthdays!!  Glenn and I had been there a couple of years ago and the food was fantastic!!  This time though - not so great!!  But we still had a good time!

Jaime's arrived about noon the next day and after getting set up, a few of them headed out to ATV!  Jaime, Kylan and I stayed and played games - a LOT of them!

One morning, Glenn and I, and Jaime and Brad took a couple hours ride through a lot of aspens - it was so pretty!!  Jaime decided she LOVED to ATV, especially through all the trees!

I did dinner the first night - taco stew - it was a hit along with the strawberries and angel food cake topped with whipped cream - yum!!

Matias and Jaime heading out for a ride!

One evening Jaime and I took a walk - the sun setting in the west was beautiful behind these trees - Jaime took this picture as her phone camera is even better than mine!!

There were purple flowers blooming all over - you got to love Colorado in the summertime!!  The only downfall was the dust on the main road as it was super dry over there!

Glenn and a few of them went rock hunting on Friday morning - found some cool ones!  I stayed home and drank my coffee in the sun and played cards with Kylan!

Some of the aspens we drove through - I told Jaime we needed to come back in the fall!

I rarely get a picture of Glenn and I in our Razor!!  So Jaime helped me out!

We even had a campfire one night!!  I had checked to see if there was a fire ban on and there was where we were camping!  So the first two nights we followed the rules and didn't have a fire - but the last night a couple of us drove around and many had fires going so we decided to have one too! S'mores were made with marshmallows that Jaime had brought and they already had chocolate in the middle!!  WOW!!  I'm not a s'mores fan so I declined to eat one but everyone said they were great!

So while we were heading home on Friday (the day before the 4th), everyone else was heading out to camp!  It's so nice to have the option of camping during the week!

June Photo Dump

My oh my - June is gone!  And I sincerely hope that our nation looks better in July than it did in June!

Aleah did not get to have her regular dance recital but modeled one of her outfits for us - absolutely darling!!  Hopefully next year I will get to see her dance at her recital!

Glenn and I decided to SPEND our stimulus money - he decided he wanted to build a fence around a bunch of his JUNK!!!  I highly agreed that was an excellent way to spend it!!  It looks great!!

I decided to spend mine on a new mattress for our bed!  Even though ours wasn't yet 8 years old, there were deep depressions in it and the new one sure sleeps nice!!

When the girls were here and we were playing Skipbo, THIS happened!!  And you know I LOVE 8's!

Since I'm now the treasurer of our homeowners' association (and recently became a board member also) I hosted a "muffins and coffee" for the neighborhood!  I didn't expect a lot to attend because of the virus but we had a few stop by and it was great to visit with them!  Luckily I can easily freeze these muffins as there were a lot leftover!!

I had ordered a new watch online because I have always wanted one that would tell you how many steps you take a day along with a few other features!  It took FOREVER to arrive due to all of the shipping problems the last couple of months but it finally arrived and Jaime helped me set it up!  I LOVE it - I originally set my goal at 10,000 steps but only reached it once so decided to put it at 7000 and now it's much easier to reach that goal!

The Smiths' came over one evening and brought Glenn his Father's Day gift - a really nice sweatshirt and an elk call!  He was desperate for a new sweatshirt so greatly appreciated it!!

Boy Company

Evan came down to spend a few days with Kylan and they texted me one night and asked if they could come over the next day!  Of course!!

I was busy printing out bills for the homeowners association but they said they really just wanted to work on the fort and swing!  Brad dropped them off mid-morning and they had a fun time hanging out!

This is part of the fort that they worked on - it's the place to store their weapons!!  I LOVE the fact that they were having a great time outside instead of just being on technology!!

Hot chocolate is a staple at our house - especially for the grand kids!!  Kylan is looking a little bit spacey here as he was super tired!!  But I'm sure he didn't take a nap when they went back home!

It was great to have the boys over for a while!

Taylor Park Fun

Pack up the camper and load up the Razor - it's time to head to Taylor Park, between Buena Vista and Gunnison!!  FINALLY Cottonwood Pass is open!!  I think it's been closed for 3 years due to paving one side of it!  It did open for a while last summer but you couldn't tow anything over it at that time!  So we were excited to try out the new highway this last week!

And we weren't disappointed - the pass is wonderful being all paved!  Yes, there are still some very sharp turns but that's to be expected!  There are wonderful pull offs and marked parking spaces for a couple of places even!  Sure cuts off a lot of time instead of going all the way around to Gunnison!

Taylor Park sits right at the end of Cottonwood Pass!  We knew it would be extra busy as everybody seems to be camping this year, even in the middle of the week!!  A few years ago we had stayed quite a ways in on the road (the dustiest road you've ever been on!!) on Italian Creek!  The spot was next to the stream and you could hear the rushing water so it was a great spot to camp!  We found a pull off spot and unloaded the razor so we could take it down and check it out and sure enough, it was empty!

Since our county has a fire ban, we were excited to be able to have a fire over there!  Camping is JUST not camping unless you have a campfire!!

We saw lots of beautiful country the next 2 1/2 days on the razor!!

There is NO cell phone service anywhere you camp!  But they do have it over at the general store AND last year when we drove to the top of a mountain, we got enough service to check our messages!  This is the spot where we stopped to check our phones!

We had an awesome view from our camping spot!

Brats and hot dogs always taste great on the fire!

We went through too many streams to count!!  One was pretty deep and got the floorboards all wet!

One day we headed up to the town of Tincup!  It's a nice drive up and we were disappointed to see the restaurant was all shut down!  We headed on up to Mirror Lake which is gorgeous and took a few pictures!

Last year when we were on Cement Creek Trail, we saw a cow moose!  I was hoping to see another one and on the way back, sure enough Glenn spotted a bull moose!!  It was in the distance but what a thrill to see it!

We even attempted a hike this year!!  But I think we picked the wrong trail because it was straight up!  Unfortunately we didn't last too long on it - need to pick one that's a little flatter next time!

All in all a wonderful camping trip with great trails to ride on!!

Good-Byes and Thank You's!

Sunday morning came way too fast for the girls!!  They love coming to our house and spending time together and they're such a joy to have!!

Before they left, they not only gave Glenn homemade Father's Day Cards but thank you cards to both of us - wow - no dry eyes when I read those!!

We met Jessi at our usual spot - Caribou Coffee!  I gave her money to go next door and get the girls their smoothies (masks were required ) and I went into Caribou to get the coffee!  We weren't allowed to sit inside of Caribou which I thought was ridiculous since it's quite a large area but even OUTSIDE they had the tables and chairs all tied up so you couldn't sit and enjoy your coffee outside!!  REALLY?

So we sat on the stone wall and later realized that someone had torn the tape down and we actually weren't even supposed to be sitting there either!!!  But we didn't move - when you each drive an hour and want to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee in the sun, the stone wall seemed a lot better than sitting in your car!!

But I was NOT happy with Caribou, not only because of the seating!  The last few times in Denver Jessi and I have not had a good experience at Caribou so we finally found another local coffee place that we both love!  I was hoping for a better experience at this one but it wasn't to be had!  They have discontinued making our "turtle mochas" (at least in the Caribous that are partnered with Einstein Bagels, which this one is) AND they have discontinued carrying dark chocolate which is what we order with our turtle mochas!  And to top things off, they NOW charge .80 a cup for whip cream - so to have our two small mochas with a shot of caramel and whip cream the cost was $10.80!!!!  WOW - they just lost my business!!

We did enjoy talking and sipping our expensive coffee before Jessi loaded up the girls and headed back to Denver and I headed back to the mountains!  Sure enjoyed having the girls!!

Crafts and Dumpster Days

Our last full day together with Kenzie and Aleah!  It was Dumpster Days for the subdivision - Glenn was working the early shift of 8 to 10 and I had to take over the past due accounts list in case any of them came by to pay!

After feeding the girls, I told them they were going to deliver coffee to Papa and muffins to the people who were manning the dumpsters!!  The dumpsters were housed at our neighbors so just a quick walk over!

I was scared that Glenn was going to bring home MORE stuff that what he took over to get rid of!!!  But he was good and only brought home a couple of items!!

The girls worked on their Diamond Dots for quite a while!!  Interesting projects!!

After lunch we headed into town to the Dollar Store - I told each girl they could have $5.00 to spend (plus a couple extra dollars as they wanted to get Papa something for Fathers Day!) and they had a ball picking out stuff!!   45 minutes later we FINALLY left!!!  I think I know every item available in there now!!

Next stop was the ice cream place!!  I wasn't thrilled with the ice cream choices but the girls were happy so that's all that mattered!!

And our last evening meal was Aleah's choice - and she chose lasagna!!

The girls got organized before they got in the hot tub that night as we knew the next morning they would have to get up early to meet Jessi in Co. Springs!!  It was a gorgeous hot tub night!!

Deer Encounters

The girls really wanted to get close to the deer who hang out around here!  And when they went out to do their yearly task of collecting pine cones, they saw a couple of deer and ran to get a little corn so we could get pictures!  They were pretty excited to see them!  Somehow Aleah's picture didn't turn out....

It's more fun to pick up the NEW pine cones that have just fallen off the trees - they're firm and BIG this year!

The girls helped me make cinnamon blueberry muffins!

Grapes on the swing!

The girls requested cheese pizza and chocolate chip cookie dough from Papa Murphy's - of course I obliged them so I could eat cookie dough too! It was lovely out on the deck!

And another hot tub night - with ice cream sandwiches as snacks after their showers!

And another day is gone....