Crested Butte

The Scruton's invited us on a road trip to Crested Butte for the day, with LOTS of sight seeing opportunities in between. We traveled on McClure Pass and Kebler Pass to get there...both passes are highly recommended by locals to experience. It was gorgeous! And the weather couldn't have been better.

Stop #1... Mt Sopris. After this I lost track of stops... we took a lot!! It took us over 3 hours to get there, but on the way back it was closer to 2 hours... that tells you we stopped for tons of pictures.

Celia Scruton living on the edge. Just hitting McClure Pass.

Apparently, they think this is a good stop for pictures! Ha! 

More Aspen... and one to jump on for fun!

We found Grandpa McMillan's name.

Finally in Crested Butte... very colorful and artistic town.

Photobombed!

Every building was brightly and colorfully painted.

Ice cream time!

Home made ice cream and home made waffle cones. Yum!
Riley chose milk chocolate and Reece chose dark chocolate with Almonds. (Is that a normal kid choice?)
I chose salted caramel...delicious!

Busy bee, up close and personal. (Thanks Celia)

A little town with a lot of charm.

On our way back down to Glenwood we made 2 stops... we couldn't resist a second stop at the reservoir. 

And a tiny water fall closer to home...

More nature...

Blizzard Boy

Reece is my adventurous boy... And that doesn't stop when it comes to ice cream. He loves a good Dairy Queen Blizzard. More specifically, the Blizzard of the Month (BOTM). It doesn't matter what it is... that's the Blizzard he will choose.

One night he was really in the mood for an Orange Julius... so off to DQ we went. Although I called him out way before we left, that he would walk in and instead want the BOTM. Sure enough, two steps in the door his mind had changed. This mama knows her child.

You'd never believe it, but each and every BOTM is the BEST BOTM EVER!!

A couple of weeks ago, Reece caught me right when I got home from work and told me DQ has a new best BOTM and it's Chips Ahoy!
"I love Chips Ahoy!"
"Those cookies are my favorite!"

Well we aren't the parents that run out and get our children treats like this all the time... but a few days later Reece passed his multiplication on Xtramath.com , so I caved and decided he deserved a treat.

You'd never guess what happened next...
Turns out there are some BOTM that aren't the best... and in Reece's opinion, Chips Ahoy is one of them.

Reece will defend his decision as, "Well, not EVERY BOTM can be the BEST."

Maroon Bells

Last weekend we took the boys up to the Maroon Bells in Aspen. The weather was amazing, and views even more so. I had been there a couple of times, once with Jake, so it was time for the boys to experience the beauty of it.

 

 

 

 

You take a bus ride up to the Bells, then you can just take an easy stroll around Maroon Lake, or take an actual hike or two. I'd never done one of the hikes, so we did one up to Crater Lake. It reminded me so much of hiking to the base of Mt. Sopris, very rocky. This picture shows the rocks piled up...it looked like a landfill, only for rocks.
 

 We made it! Crater Lake

 

We hung out a bit, Jake tried to spot some wildlife...no such luck. The Maroon Bells have had a very large group of Moose in recent weeks. Moose don't like us humans too much, so they have actually closed down certain areas because of the humans that can't keep their distance from the wildlife. Some people ruin it for the rest of us. So glad it was open on this day.
 

We didn't stay too long at Crater Lake...there were lots of mosquitos up there. And I was NOT prepared for that... just a little side note: I have not had one single bug bite since living here, I'm almost convinced Colorado mosquitos don't have a taste for my blood...unlike Kansas mosquitos. No complaints here! ;)
 

Oh, how I LOVE Aspens! We have a couple in our back yard and can not wait until fall!

A rare selfie!! It took several shots to get both our faces and the Bell in the shot!

Just because....

We wore this poor kid out... or he is just a "tween." Too cool for school!

I love nature!

Projects

Laundry/Mud Room Before

After... Jake will build a bench next

I painted my room with the color "Rain" then I added satin stripes of the same color on one wall.  Here was the tape job.... oh my!

I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. It is very subtle, so I had to take the picture from a different angle to get the effect to show up in the picture. I used flat and satin paint.