Great Outdoors

Yesterday, Ben was off of work so we decided to go hiking. We love going to Flagstaff Summit in Boulder because it's really close, and there are several different trails to choose from. This is the same mountain that we hike the Boy Scout Trail on. Since we're residents of Boulder County, it's free for us to go. Otherwise, it's $3. Not too shabby. We even found a cute shelter that reminded Gillian of Mr. Tumnus' house from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, so we're considering having her birthday party there. She wants a Narnia birthday party this year. Ooh baby, do I have ideas for that!

Here's a shot from the Ute Trail. The kids are viewing Boulder from above. Well, Josh is taking it in. Gillian is apparently making duck calls.

Josh kept trying to run through everything and ended up falling three times on the trail. He skinned up his knees pretty good. After each fall, we would ask him if he could go on or if we needed to turn back. He just wanted a swig of aqua and then he was good. :)

After the hike, we were just not ready to head home, so we drove over the Boulder Falls to cool off and take in the sights. There were a LOT of people out there. It was surprising. There's almost always people there, but not that many. It was fun.

There was one guy who crossed the river because he wanted to have the waterfall give him a shower. That river, by the way, is STRONG. I'm not sure how he crossed it. Soon after, some kids from the group he was with attempted to cross it too. Soon lots of people were venturing into the waters. Fortunately while we were there, no one got hurt. I pray it stayed that way.

We didn't want to feel left out and always try to dip our feet into the current when we visit here. Here's Ben helping Josh wet his feet.

There was a small section near the falls that seemed to have fairly calm water. It looked like a small pool of resting water. A lot of people were standing in that, so of course, we all wanted a turn. We didn't realize that it was up to Gillian's chest, so her dress got soaked. I love this picture because Gillie is cracking up, enjoying herself fully as Ben's knuckles turn white from gripping her. The look of concern on his face versus the look of complete joy on her face is priceless!

And to prove that photographers can join in on the fun too, here's a shot Ben insisted on taking of me in that small, restful pool. The rocks at the bottom of the pool were very loose and slippery, so I'm not really standing in it so much as leaning into it.

Josh couldn't really go into the pool because the water might have gone over his head. So we found a more shallow area for him to stand in.

Afterwards, we were starving and took in some good ol' Colorado-style pizza at BeauJo's. And because Ben can't resist a nice cool, creamy dessert, we all split a scoop of Gelato. It was yummy!

Then we drove home, stopped in the house to change our wet clothes and went to church. We have found a church up the road from us that we have now visited twice. We're still going to the one in Denver on Sunday mornings, but I really wanted to find a community of people closer to me as well. We like it so far. It's called LifeBridge Christian Church. They have LifeGroups and the kids go to the LifeKids area during 'big church.' When Ben and I got home, we were trying to decide whether we wanted some LifeJalepano-Poppers or some LifeOnion Rings from Sonic. He settled on some LifeBag of Chips and I had some LifeCorn Pops.

Now I realize that was just uncalled for. But last night, in all our delirium, it was hysterical.