One Last Adventure

As many of you know, my best and oldest friend Nate and his wife are moving to China in August to teach at an international school. Before he left we decided that we needed to get together for one last adventure. He came out last week and we headed to southern Colorado for a few days. Our first stop was in Canon City, where we rafted through Royal Gorge and under the highest suspension bridge in the world. Unfortunately, there are no pictures from this part of the trip because we were too busy surviving some Class V rapids. It was an amazing ride. Neither of us had ever done rapids like that before. We knew we were in for a ride when the guide told us about the upcoming Class V area by pointing ahead and saying, "You see where the river looks like it ends? That's where they start." He wasn't kidding.

After drying off we headed down to the Sand Dunes. For those who have never seen them, they are pretty impressive. From a distance it just looks like part of the Sahara Desert is sitting in front of the mountains. We went in the evening on one day and did some exploring and then went back the next to climb the two highest dunes. High Dune is about a mile from the parking area and has an elevation gain of 650 ft. from there. It doesn't sound like much, but hiking on sand (that has a surface temperature of 140 degrees) is not easy. After getting to High Dune we decided to head for the highest dune in the park, Star Dune. It is 750 ft. tall and another mile and a half hike. On the hike out there and back we didn't see another person. It felt like we were in the middle of the desert all alone. Sort of surreal. The climb up Star Dune was absolutely brutal. The angle was extremely steep and with every step you would sink backwards 6-8 inches. It didn't help that we were doing this during the hottest part of the day either. We survived and conquered the top before heading back. On the way back we ended up walking back up the sandy creek that runs along the base of the dunes. The shoes and socks came off very quickly and we had a nice cool hike for the last mile or so.

All in all, it was a great way to send Nate off. Enjoy the Far East buddy.

Starting out from the base area. Those dunes don't look that high.

The view from the top of High Dune.

Two sets of tracks in the sand.

Looking up at Star Dune. This picture does not do it justice.

Happy to be at the top of Star Dune.

New Trees

Last month we put some new trees in the back yard. To make room we took out the plum tree, which had spread out much too low, was very difficult to mow under, and took a big chunk of usable space out of the yard, and one of the apple trees, which was also not much of a useful shade producer. We put new trees in those spots and added another in an unused corner of the yard. We went for trees that would grow well in the Colorado weather and would provide good shade. Thanks to John and Jim for their help in getting these things in the ground.

Autumn Blaze Maple


Summit Ash


Western Catalpa

Happy 4th Birthday, Princess!

Kaylynn celebrated her 4th birthday this past weekend. I am not quite sure how she got to be four so fast! She has been looking forward to her big day for months now - to her it seemed to take forever! She is fully into the Princess stage of her life. She loves all the Disney Princesses so, of course, this was the theme for her birthday. Grandpa and Grandma Vogt and Grandma Wolff were here last week and she had all her good friends join her for a party at the park on Saturday. A fun-filled day of playing in the pool, throwing water balloons, and eating cake was had by all. Here are some pictures from a great birthday!

Will you please stop taking pictures and let me open my presents?!
How many kids are opening presents here?!! Looks like a lot of great gifts!
She was thrilled to have her own balloons!
Princess cake - what else?!
Decorating visors with all her friends.

Playing in the pool,or just the buckets of water!
A true princess!
Kaylynn had such a big day that she fell asleep on our way to her birthday dinner at Red Robin and slept through the entire meal! She didn't wake up until we got home! Don't worry, we ordered her a meal (which was free so we had to!) and we even got her some balloons and ice cream (which Mommy, Daddy, Aunie and the Grandparents all enjoyed)!

Of course, after that great nap she was ready to get back up and play with her birthday gifts some more!
Her birthday was a huge success! Now when Kaylynn sees things she wants she says "Can I put these on my birthday list for when I turn 5" - already looking forward to it, while all I want to do is freeze time and keep my little princess at this wonderful age!