Mama's Day

This year we took some time to go hiking at Great River Bluff State Park with the kids and then went with a lunch to a new park - to us- in Homer. Peter especially loved the hiking and kept asking if we could go sliding all of the way down the bluff into the river. He also loved looking down on the river valley and seeing the barges and trains running on the tracks. He said it looked just like a model railroad.

Lainey had the best time at the park playing. There was a small slide that she must have gone up and down 20 times on her own, usually head first.

Homer park. from garrick holey on Vimeo.

After dinner, we took a bike ride around town, went to see how high the river was and Peter rode in and out of the water for a while and then we came home and made brownies before bed time.

Lots of stairs

For a little set of legs.

A few weeks ago we went to Latsch State park and sent Pete hiking up the stairs. He made it the whole way up to the top with a little help here and there on the biggest steps. He is a good hiker!

I would say that Pete's favorite part was either watching the train from up  on top, OR having a snack. I'm pretty sure that Emi's was the snack!!! It does make me smile though, becuase I remember doing this same hike with Peter a few years ago...

Little trip to Sedona

Back in February, I was stuck inside with 2 kids, a busy job and feet of snow outside- I got the itch and started to watch fares for warm destinations- as it turned out AZ had cheap tickets and as we all know one of my favorite people in the world lives there... off we went to Sedona. Life is good!

We camped and even though it was warm in the desert, it was cold up where we were camping- that meant double jammies for both kids and Emi got an extra bonus- when she would wake up in the middle of the night cold and crying she'd get to eat and then snuggle in with me in my sleeping bag!

 Pete was an awesome awesome hiker- Kim and I went on an 8 or 9 mile hike one day on our own- she took Emelia and I carried Petey for about 7 miles and I bet that he walked 2 of them himself!! He loved looking at the cacti, red rocks and most of all watched for helicopters overhead doing the ariel tours- he always told us the color and asked "mo?, Mo? ell-wow?" (more, more yellow?)

 Easter came and went also, Kim being the amazing god-mama that she is to Pete hosted an egg hunt for him at our campsite one afternoon that we just stayed, hungout and played games. He loved it and did the hunt 2 or 3 times I think!

 Family hike one day.

 Kim and I ditched Garrick and the kids and went out biking on our own one afternoon- we saw a lot of awesome rocks, a church built into the side of the mountain and hit some sweet jumps... maybe not that last part but it was super fun! Garrick biked his brains out basically- he was in 7th heaven and could have spent 4 more days there never getting bored... next year?

 Emi in her Easter dress.

Right before we went to the airport, we went to this train place out in the desert- there were trains to ride, little trains to watch and middle sized trains to watch. Pete even got to go into and "under" the train set outside and look at the houses, cars and bridges. He looks like a giant standing out there! I think that this pretty much blew him away.All in all, awesome trip, awesome company (it was super fun to see Kim and meet her boyfriend Kyle) and awesome weather.

 We went for a hike this weekend to see the BIG river and get out for some fresh air. We also stopped at the park on the way home and had a pic-a-nic lunch. It was great except that Pete didn't want to eat since all of the toys were just there waiting to be played on.

 I know that I took a picture of Pete's feet like this 2 years ago... signs of spring i just love it!!

This was the scene Sunday afternoon after a raucous morning at church. Emelia has found her voice and was grunting, groaning and cooing through the service and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot Pete said 'No, no no church!!" we knew it was goin gto be a rough time- so Pete napped, I folded a lot of diapers, Emi played and Garrick snoozed on the floor next to her for a little bit!

Spelunking

We went out to WHitewater State Park for a hike yesterday since for the first time in over 2 weeks I had a day off!!! It was so nice and relaxing to just get some yard work done, go for a longer run and to spend time with my 3 favorite guys (Garrick, Petey and Scout)!

We ended our hike at Chimney Rock which is somewhere we don't get to go too often since it is "the destination" at Whitewater and it is so busy in the summer. But it is a big rock that the entire bottom is tunneled out. We spent some time playing in there!

Pete thought it was so funny to crawl around- and stand up!

It was just like mother's day a week late but I'll take it!

Long's Peak

On our trip to Colorado we made a huge plan to climb Long's Peak. It is 14,255 feet tall- the tallest mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park. This is a big deal to climb- you start at 2 or 3 AM and need to be off of the summit before 12 in order to miss afternoon storms. It is a round trip hike over 16 miles with over 5000 vertical feet climbed. The first 6 miles are hiking, the last two are scrambling and grunting.

We started at 2AM- signed into the log book and began our voyage...

It was SO cold- just about 35*... So we kept moving as much as we could- But around 5:30 we stopped for a break and took these pics. It was so cool to be above the treeline and also above the clouds with the sun coming up.

Checking out the summit and where we were headed.

At around 6:30 we made it to the Boulder Field. This is a spot where there are actually campsites that you can stay at and then go for the summit from here. It sounds really cold, rocky and windy to me. There are solar toilets here also. At the top of the boulderfield there is a little house that you can go into that is really cute. It was build in honor of the people who have died on Longs (58). This is also a really killer place to take a quick morning nap in 34* weather!

At the top of the BF is the Keyhole. At this point you are 1.5 miles from the summit but you are only 1/2 way there- kinda like mile 20 of a marathon. You climb through this point and then you are hiking on the backside of the mountain.

Looking back to the Keyhole

When you first go through the Keyhole it is really windy, but then it dies down and it is a long scramble following the blazes that are painted on the rocks. The saddest part is when you look and realize that you have to go DOWN about 500 feet in order to follow the marked path. This is not a tricky part, but it is just long. I think that going back through this is one of the hardest parts of the whole climb just because of the amount of time that it takes and you are hungry, tired and well you are hungry and tired.
Climbing through the Keyhole

Then you reach the Trough. This is about an 800 foot ascent that is 1/2 mile long. There is lots of big steps up and while it is not really dangerous, it is a long ways down!

Looking Up




Looking Down

Once you get to the top of the trough, you climb back through another crevice- this one doesn't have a name, out around a little corner and the next step is the Narrows. This is maybe 400 feet of 3 feet wide rock that you are walking on. There are a couple of sketchy places like this: and THIS:

You can see where all of the people are scooting along the ridge...

Once you make it past all of this- there is once final part that you have to accomplish. THE HOMESTRETCH. This is a slab of rock that is maybe at a 45* angle that you just crawlk up on your hands and knees and then you slide down on the butt later on.

NO FUNNY CAMERA ANGLES OR ZOOM!!


The sign at the top!

Finally you make it to the summit. You don' tthink about the fact that you have to do it all in reverse, you just jump for joy, collapse, or have a snack.

This was a huge accomplishment for our crew. We had made it a goal of the trip to complete this and had a few bumps along the way- one of them being that we were told that the climb was still being considered "technical" meaning you need ice axes and crampons to get through the snow fields and ice dams- luckilly for us, it opened up the day before we did it. Also, it was very very cold the morning we started- this was hard becuase as you were walking, you got sweaty, you stopped to take a break and got freezing cold, start walking again and get sweaty... you get the point. The best part was that we all made it- it was hard for all of us at some point, but they were all different ones! My hardest part: the walk back down on the trail... I was so tired!

A baby in a box

We've been gone for a long time!

We went on our second plane trip of the summer to Colorado to camp. Yes, we fly to camp- we just bring the bare minimum, buy a styrofoam cooler, food and stuff when we get there and save TONS of time driving across Nebraska or even worse: SOUTH DAKOTA. (Last year Garrick and I drove out and I made him drive us home through South Dakota becuase I wanted to see the sights... Wall Drug was the highlight of the trip)

Once we got to Denver, a very special surprise was waiting there: KIM PIEHL. Well it wasn't a surprise, but it was still so great that she came camping with us! I wish I had a picture of her iwth her backpack- it was bigger than she was. She actually carried ON the plane all of her stuff that she needed- we were all impressed.

The car ride was a little crowded, we had a Nissan SUV, we really needed a UHAUL. He we are all jammed in like sardines. Pete had the most space of everyone- Mom was a trooper in the back...

The first order of business was to make Pete's bed. We got a cherry box at the grocery store for him to sleep in since he is rolling like a little Turkey Sausage end over end.

He loved it!!

Then we spend a lot of time hiking on the beautiful trails in Rocky MOuntain National Park.

Here is Garrick after he won the "How long can you keep your feet in the glacier run off?" competition.

Lunch at Black Lake. The last time I was up there it was 50* and raining and mosquitoy. I didn't really want to go back, but it was a good length hike for Pete and us (9 miles) with lots of good places to stop so Pete could eat and Garrick and Dad would fish. (They caught 5 fish total on the trip!) It was the nicest hike of the trip- besides Long's Peak- We sat at a place that we could see 10+ waterfalls, glaciers, trees and peaks to eat lunch with no one around and the warm sun shining on us. What a great day.

While we all liked the hikes the best, Peter's best thing was scooting around on the sleeping bags. He loved how slippery and soft they were and would lay down and pull it over his face. He was such a stud, our neighbors all looked nervous about a little baby sleeping with two pieces of nylon between him and them, but I think he was as tired as we all were!

Stay tuned to hear about our trip up Long's Peak!!!