Pitkin ATVing

Excitement was in the air - it was FINALLY time for the two of us to take the 5th wheel and head out camping!!  We'd had enough rain so we weren't worried about fires and the burn ban was down to a Stage One!

I told Glenn he could choose where we were going as long as it was west bound!  But I was secretly excited when he didn't do the turn off for Snow Blind camping but kept going - I knew then we were heading to Pitkin!

As we were driving, Glenn proceeded to tell me that he had forgot to pack the grill...................and when we camp, ALL of our meat gets grilled outside, not in the camper! How he forgot to pack that when the list was right on the counter was beyond me.  So he said he would have to cook over an open fire - which meant IF there was still a stage one fire ban in the county we were headed to, we would have to camp in the campground vs wilderness camping as stage one means no open fires UNLESS you're in a campground.

I was just fine trying out the campground - we had discovered it the year before and it was a heavily wooded campground with lots of pull through campsites.  Sure enough, when we got to Pitkin there was a sign saying it was a stage one fire ban so no choice but to use the campground so we could cook outside!  We found a great pull through spot which makes it easy to set up camp!

It was so much fun to get on that ATV and ride for 2 1/2 days!!  Because of the rain, everything was nice and green - beautiful country!

Unfortunately 2 of the days were rather hazy from all the smoke coming in from Calif.  And still one larger fire in Colorado!  But it didn't take away from the ride!

Tomichi Pass was closed due to a rock slide - that didn't bother me as it's a steep trail that I'm not fond of anyway!!  One day we went to Tin Cup and had pie and coffee in their only restaurant and that was fun!

Glenn did a great job of cooking over the open fire and it was fun to roast marshmallows!  He also enjoys just walking around the campground - met the neighbors on one side of us who are from Tx. and after talking to them for a while, found out friends of theirs used to be our neighbors!!  Small world!

He also met a couple from Pueblo West who were driving a 4 x 4 razor (a 2 seater OHV).  Glenn has talked about going to that type of vehicle instead of an ATV - mainly because our ATV doesn't have power steering and he thinks the ride is a lot smoother in a razor.   The couple was kind enough to let us borrow it for a while and take it for a spin - I agree that it's a smoother ride and found it just as fun as the ATV so we may be going with something like that in the future.............

Here's the bridge and stream we walked across every evening on our walk!  It was a wonderful 3 night camping trip and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Fondue Time

Since our neighbors ( Peggy and Al) and I all share July birthdays (Al's is on the same day as mine!!) I suggested we go eat fondue in Manitou Springs!  Peggy said they had never been to a restaurant that served it so I made reservations and we headed to the Mona Lisa on a Sunday evening along with their friend Mitch who was visiting from Ohio!

The food was outstanding as usual and we had a fun time visiting while we "cooked" our food!  Of course dessert was best as I ordered the dark chocolate!  YUMMY!!

We took some pictures outside before heading home!

Glenn being his usual crazy self!

It's so fun to have wonderful neighbors!

LVR

This year we had 4 grand kids go to LVR (Lutheran Valley Retreat) which is a bible camp about 45 minutes from here - way out in the wilderness!  I already had Kylan here at the house since Jaime's were at a concert in Denver - and Saturday afternoon Jessi's arrived with their 3 kids plus Aleah and Maisy, a friend of Kenzie's.  So we slept 6 kids and 2 adults that night!!

The girls enjoyed the hot tub - the boys enjoyed sleeping in the 5th wheel!

Sunday morning the guys and Gwyn went fishing - Glenn had fixed up a tackle box for Gwyn and she was so excited about it!

The house sure got quiet when Jessi's and Jaime's took the 5 of them to camp!   I kept Gwyn here so I got the better end of the deal!!

Jessi and Gary spent another night and then headed on home!  And on Thursday night, Jill came down and we picked up Aleah and Kylan on Friday evening.  Maisy's parents picked up the rest of them.  We enjoyed watching a skit that they were all in and then ate hot dogs and brownies before we headed back to our place!!  All of the kids had a fantastic time!!

This 'N That

Life is busy - almost WAY too busy!  I really thought just June and July were crazy but as I look at the calendar for August, it doesn't look much better...............

We must be getting old!!  Or at least Glenn is - ha!  He's been dealing with doctors lately and finally has some answers!  His shoulder has bothered him for years but he's never had an MRI done to see what was wrong - but he had one done a few weeks ago and it showed he has 3 torn tendons - no wonder it hurts him!  We both really like the surgeon we visited with and it's been determined that Glenn does need surgery but until the surgeon gets in there, he's not sure how much damage is done and what the recovery time will be.  So Glenn has opted to wait till Nov. to have the surgery which is after hunting season and our Disneyworld trip - that way if recovery time is long, he can recuperate without much going on...........

He also has been dealing with hearing loss since he had a bad cold/flu last November.  After going to the dr several times and nothing working, she sent him to a hearing specialist - they determined he had permanent hearing loss and sent him to an audiologist.    They in turn did testing and agreed that it IS permanent hearing loss but he needed another MRI to determine if there was any mass behind the ear that the dr. couldn't see.  So another MRI which showed nothing - yay!!  He will just have to deal with the hearing loss (but I think he hears pretty well except when he doesn't want to - ha ha)!!

We had friends, Larry and Joyce from Hudson, CO, join us for a couple of nights - Joyce was part of our "church ladies" group and I sure miss her being around!!  We enjoyed just catching up and having lunch with another friend in town!  Larry and Glenn had fun working in the shop and doing some welding together.

The annual Florissant Pancake Breakfast was held last weekend - we always enjoy going there with Dick and Jane and eating breakfast - usually we see SOMEBODY we know but this year sure looked like a lot of strangers!!

Glenn has been busy building a workshop inside of the big shop!  He has it all framed in and a lot of "junk" put on top of the workshop for storage!  Now it's time for the sheet rock!  He's also been doing some welding and fixing up of an old Willy's jeep he bought!  He sure does love his projects!

And me - with all the company it seems like all I get done is menu planning, grocery shopping, cleaning and laundry!!  But I love having company!  In between I still work at the Food Pantry twice a month (and Rayna has joined me a couple of times) and have worked at the Thrift House more this summer since I didn't work much in the spring!  Time just flies when you're busy!!

Cripple Creek Fun

Rayna's birthday gift from us was a trip to Cripple Creek to have "tea" and then to see the melodrama!  Jaime was off the day we decided to go so she joined us also!

I LOVE having tea at Creations Everlasting!  It's not a very big tea area but Edie serves an excellent array of items for the tea!!  And the table is always set to perfection!

As you can tell our table is empty of food because we forgot to take a picture of all the yummy sandwiches!!  Fruit cup first - and then chicken salad sandwiches, cucumber with herb flavored cream cheese sandwiches, stuffed mini peppers with a cheese spread and then ham sandwiches!

The tea was delicious and best of all, the desserts!  We were so full we ended up taking part of them home!  Rayna was thrilled that the torts were served again as that is her favorite!

There's a cute little sitting area now so we moved over there for a quick picture with our tea cups!

Next on the agenda was the melodrama and it didn't disappoint!!  We even got mustaches - as you can see Rayna wasn't thrilled to hold it up for a picture!!

It was a great day with Rayna and Jaime!!

Jill and the Kids

Somehow I forgot to post this blog after the North Pole blog!!

Aleah always get up early when she stays with us - and Tuesday morning she woke up in time to see the deer that arrived wanting some food!  She had no qualms about walking out there and feeding them!

After a while I looked outside as I heard the skidsteer running - Papa had taught Parker how to drive it and he LOVED driving it around!

Not to be outdone, Aleah got in there too and had her turn!!

Perhaps I should learn to run it?   Anyway, the kids had a great time here - Jill and I did some more Disneyworld planning and they headed home after lunch!

Tea Time at Glen Eyrie Castle

What a beautiful setting for a summertime tea - Glen Eyrie Castle!  The choir girls decided to have tea there last week - we had a beautiful day (except for the horrible traffic coming down as road crews are working on the pass) and the grounds looked exquisite as we drove in!

We arrived plenty early so had someone take our picture!!

The tables were beautifully decorated!  One thing about the tea at the castle is it's NOT about quantity but quality!  We had a very small salad like dish and this came next!  It's capressa  - wasn't my favorite but it sure was fun to look at!! 

We had tuna with smashed black olives for our tea sandwich and of course our favorites were the desserts!  Naturally I forgot to take a picture of that but there was a lavender glaze shortbread, a scone, and a lemon, blueberry cream possit!!  The tea and desserts were excellent!

We stopped down at the welcome place and I had forgotten these red rocks were there so snapped a picture!

We sure live in a beautiful state with SO many fun things to do!