Quick visit, Famous Dave's & a few "bonus" photos

Grandma Margie was in town for a visit. Anyone who knows her, will know that she is hard to photograph! So there are only a few.

While we walked back from Shepardson with the gals, they were doing some interesting "line leader" changes.

 While we waited (forever) for our food the other night...

We tried showing the girls how they could do a "magic trick" where they would EAT their crayon...

This photo surely is the winner of the night, wouldn't you say???

Then we went down to Denver today to meet up with friends and take Ruby to an appointment. While we were killing time, guess where we stopped??? I hope I didn't scare off any of the neighbors by taking photos of the girls in front of the old house!!! This is where we brought them back from the hospital, afterall!

A bunch of random photos! July 30th

How can you say "no" when two girls want to take photos?

A book that Scout is fascinated with...

Dad making cookies

Bike riding--July 13

Bike riding is such a funny thing for this family. Neither Cory nor I have been on a bike in ages. I would guess that I was last on a bike at least 7 years ago, since I can't remember riding once since Scout was born. And this makes us beyond WEIRD, especially for fit & active Colorado.
Naturally, since our kids never see us ride, they weren't super gung ho on learning how to ride a bike. Scout has been riding for about a year, but not with any interest of her own. She LOVES her scooter, and hands down she'd generally prefer that... until Aunt Lexie gifted us Addy's old bike so that Ruby could learn on one... THEN, Scout suddenly wanted to ride a bike--only she wanted the little bike, not her own bike. Needless to say, it's been a bit of an adjustment, but we're working on it.

Here's some videos and a few photos
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4
Video 5

Ruby doesn't have training wheels... but she also DOES NOT know how to ride a bike, so Cory follows her using his patented "duck walk" and allows her to ride with great pain to his back

Chamber's Lake--July 18-20

Another camping trip...
We arrived at Chambers Lake and it was considerably cooler than it was in Fort Collins, so Scout suffered the most in her sundress.

Huddling in mom's sweatshirt 

Pirate face!

Sleepy eye Scout

Love this one!

Sleepy eye Mom!

 After marshmallows were roasted, the girls and I retired to the camper for some Charlotte's Web reading and winding down. Cory figured he'd hang out beside the fire until it died down. After a few minutes, Cory made a beeline for the camper and said, "Do we have a flashlight? I saw an animal that looked like a fox but bigger and I want to get a better look." By the time he got the flashlight, he never did get a confirmation of the animal, but he has a pretty good idea... It likely was a holymotherofGod M-O-U-N-T-A-I-N L-I-O-N. So, needless to say, we neglected to mention this to the girls and we didn't let them play outside by themsleves, thankyouverymuch. Very glad that the incessant running of generators by the neighbors probably kept that kitty cat away the following night!

Banished to a spot of sun for warmth

Overlooking the lake

 We set out to explore a bit and took a little walk.

Discovering a stone fort

Lounging on the bridge

Going for a walk in the woods

Who is this little guy?

Ruby captured this one

 At some point, in every hiking adventure, one or both of the girls asks to take pictures. It's usually a lot of photos of leaves and a few occasional landscape shots.

Hmm.... There's a few like this one!

Mom, Dad, Scout & the Sun

It was right about at this point when we decided we'd had enough of being eaten alive by mosquitoes and we'd like to go back to the campsite now. Ruby continued snapping photos and Cory told her that she was a "Shutterbug" and explained what that meant.

I think this photo says what the other dozen or so couldn't quite capture...

"Mom! I took a picture of my shoes!"

 Our big adventure down to the shore. Cory found a spot on a recognizance trip with Ruby, and he was convinced this was our best option. He remained fully clothed, and sat shoreside while we explored the frigid waters of Chambers Lake. Thank the good Lord for the ol' River Rat--icy water is considerably less icy if you're only dipping your butt & your toes in the water.

Nope, there was no scuba diving involved despite what the goggles might have you  think

Putting it all in perspective

 Now, here's the part where Scout got brave and decided to swim back to the shore. She did a pretty big gasp at the surprise of both the chilly water and the depth, but she did great and made it back to shore.

Now, there are a few videos, but none of them capture Scout's brave attempt at alpine lake swimming...
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

Ruby sort of fell out for a second but she climbed her way back in

Hammocking

Little helper with the dishes

That's the story of Chambers Lake!