Weekend fun

We went for a great hike this weekend. Apparently, we are having the second wettest June since 1872 or something. You can tell because the hikes are beautiful. We've done Reynold's Park a lot, but this year it was a brand new hike. There were tons of wildflowers that were never there before. We even saw flowers on the cactus. I guess that's what a lot of rain will get you. Oh yeah; It will also get you tons of mosquitoes.



On Sunday we went for our usual bike ride through Waterton Canyon. Waterton is a Big Horn sheep habitat. We always see sheep there. On Sunday, we saw a momma bear and her two baby cubs. It was the coolest thing! I didn't have my camera, but Chris got a very grainy picture with her cell phone. You can see the momma in this picture. We stayed and watched the bears for a long time. Those little cubs were so cute. I think it's great that Jenelle is getting to experience this kind of stuff.

Summer fun - week 4

Jenelle went off to camp this past week. She went to Camp Id Ra Ha Je up in Bailey, CO. It was a short 3 day camp for 1st graders. She bunked with 3 other friends from school. She had a great time. I asked what was her favorite part and she said "everything". They got to go on a hike, a hayride, swimming, crafts and horseback riding. Jenelle opted to skip the horse part. Maybe next year. She especially enjoyed sleeping on the top bunk. She asked if she could have bunk beds at home.

So while Jenelle was camping, Curt and I went to Glenwood Springs for a couple of days. I think we had more fun than Jenelle did. We went on a great hike to hanging lake and saw beautiful waterfalls all along the way. We spent the afternoon at the Hot Springs pool. The next day we went on a rafting trip. We are planning on sending Jenelle to the week long camp next summer and doing another mini-vacation ourselves.

Summer survival - week 3

I am so thankful for vacation Bible school. Jenelle went again this week. She absolutely loved it! She was disappointed when the week was over. She was also asking if she was signed up for any more VBS's. The church ended the week with a party on Friday night. They had a bouncy house and free food. What more could you ask for?

We made it to the pool for the first time this week. We went with Angie and her boys to their neighborhood pool. Other kids are so great for Jenelle. Issac and Ben were jumping off the side into the pool. Jenelle has never done that before. She was always too afraid. Those boys had her jumping off the side! Then Ben suggested that they run and jump. Jenelle ran and slipped. Oh my! I keep band-aids in my car for just these occasions. This was a 5 band-aid emergency. I even had to use the big daddy band-aid (the 2" by 2" square). She got quite a few owies. It was a little traumatic. It was even more traumatic the next day when I had to rip those band-aids off and replace them with new ones. She is well on the road to recovery now.

We babysat for our friend's dog this week. Kaylee is very cute, but a little yippy. We had lots of fun with her. Jenelle really enjoyed her and is asking when she can get a dog of her own. I'm not quite open to getting a dog yet, but we're available for pet sitting!

Happy Father's day to the best dad ever!

We've been celebrating Father's day week for about a week now. Curt has gotten little gifts from us. Nothing major. Curt worked way too hard today. It was dumpster day in our neighborhood. If you paid the association dues (all of $25) you get to use the dumpster. I told Curt about the dumpster day a month ago. Well this morning over a cup of coffee he decided to take advantage of it. He spent a couple hours chopping down the most obnoxious bush in our yard. It was one of those juniper bushes that grows like a weed and is super ugly. He filled the truck and I drove it to the dumpster. We made several trips. We also trimmed a few other bushes in the yard. After that we went for a bike ride. We're all a little tired today. Jenelle goes to camp tomorrow and Curt and I are going to Glenwood Springs. He has a long weekend to recooperate.

Curt is the best dad ever! We love you!

Wildflower Hike

I picked up some Colorado wildflower, butterfly and bird guides this week. I thought it would make our hikes more interesting. We did a beautiful hike at O'Fallen Park. The place was covered with flowers. It was so fun to stop, look at a flower and then identify it from our handbook. We saw larkspur, golden banner, columbine, blue bell and wild rose to name a few. We also identified a lot of bushes and different kinds of pine trees. Jenelle loves to collect pine cones. Now we know what tree they came from. It is really hard to identify butterflies. They won't sit still! Curt actually caught one, but it got away before we could figure out what it was.

Summer survival - Week 2

We had another week of crappy weather here. Just tons of rain and cool temperatures. I feel like the summer if flying by, but it's been too yucky to do anything. This week Jenelle had VBS. She had lots of fun. They played games and made crafts every day. She learned about letting her light shine for Jesus. We had a few park play dates. I'm trying to get Jenelle more comfortable riding her bike. There is a great park nearby that has a cement trail around the playground. Jenelle would ride around a few times and then play. We went there twice this week. Once we had to leave early due to rain. She had a play date with Emmeri one day and Lindsay one day. On Friday we actually made it to the pool. The picture is of Jenelle and Lindsay rolling down a hill. Why do kids like to get dizzy so much?

Jenelle continues with her tennis lessons. She has a killer backhand shot. She is working on her forehand. Coach Matt says its all about the timing. Jenelle has a little crush on Matt. She made a present for him. I've got to get to Jenelle out to the courts to practice. Hopefully the weather will be better this week.

Jam Update

The raspberry jam was soooo good! The jar is almost empty. We are having lots of toast. The consistency was great and you couldn't tell that it had half the sugar. I made strawberry jam, too. I'm done now. I've gotten my jam making out of my system.

Summer survival - Week 1

Summer has started. I have lots of fun things planned to keep us busy. Tennis lessons started this week. Jenelle has Coach Matt again. She made him the cutest card with a bunch of hearts on it. Maybe it will get her a little extra attention on the courts.

She had a few play dates this week. We went to an awesome park. It was a little bit of a drive, but worth it. They had water fountains, a rock climbing wall, three separate park play areas including a sand box. We spent the whole day there. I can't wait to go back again.

Jenelle asks me everyday, "What are we doing today?" I've got to keep that girl busy! Next week we have a VBS and a few more play dates planned. If the weather ever warms up enough we'll go to the pool.

We did a few fun things this week. The rec district here has free summer concerts. Curt and I met a few friends there. The kids ran around the ENTIRE time while the adults listened to music. It was fun to chit chat and drink a little wine. On Friday, my neighbor Jen had an outdoor movie night at her house. The kids watched a movie indoors and the adults watched one outside. It was so fun. I hope she has another movie night soon! Jenelle is napping right now. All this summer fun makes her tired. She didn't go to bed last night until 11pm. She has never been up that late before. We also went on a grueling bike ride this morning.

We bike a lot at Waterton Canyon. You ride up a canyon! It's very pretty, but it's always windy. Sometimes the wind blows you up the canyon and sometimes you have to fight the wind the whole way up. Today the wind was not in our favor. I feel like napping myself! So more summer fun stories from the Gilliland's another time.

Suzie Homemaker

My friend Jen and I are trying to cut out High Fructose Corn Syrup out of our family's diets. The stuff is so bad for you. I'd rather have regular old sugar. I buy natural jams/jellies and syrup. We already don't eat a lot of processed foods that have HFCS. So I feel like we're doing pretty good. I'm just looking for ways to eat healthier without breaking the bank. The pure maple syrup isn't cheap and I don't have any maple trees, but I can make my own jelly. Jen was telling me how easy it was. So I went out and bought some canning jars and pectin. All the great fruits are in season now so I started making strawberry jam. It turned out quite yummy. Next I made grape jelly. Again, quite yummy. The only problem was the recipes called for huge amounts of sugar. The strawberry recipe called for 7 cups worth. I have now discovered low sugar pectin. I can make the same stuff with less sugar.

I was at the store today and they had raspberries on sale. I bought a bunch and made raspberry jam this afternoon. It's so easy. It didn't take long at all and I only used 3 cups of sugar. I will let you know how it tastes. I'm thinking of giving my sugary strawberry jam away and making myself some new stuff with less sugar. Anybody want a jar of jam?