Our Garden month 2

After two months we are starting to harvest!  As tasty as the cherry tomatoes are I think my favorite part is the sunflowers.

I am sorry to report that this morning after being gone for a long weekend I went to work in the garden and the raccoons had gotten past our fortress and eaten all of the corn.  There is nothing left of it but trampled stalks and empty cobs!  I am so sad, I think I'm going to let Jack hide out at night with Grandpa and take care of them once and for all.  He's been wanting to do that all summer because they've been stealing the bird seed and I may just let him now.  No corn on the cob for us this year, at least not from our garden. At least they left everything else alone, for now.  

Jester Park

Yesterday we went to a natural playscape at Jester Park I heard about and have been wanting to go to.

 It was super hot but we stayed cool most of the time in the water.

 This is so Luke.

 Right by the playscape there is an area with Elk and Buffalo, they were trying to keep cool too, at least the ladies were.

 Mom and Dad joined us for a picnic (it was my birthday)!

 Jack was proud of his rock dam.

 I should have brought a suit for her.

 There was also a grass maze.

 Trees to climb on,

 and in!

And on the way driving out we also saw the buffalo!

Family Pictures

 Brad always looks like a giant in our family pictures! 

4th of July Weekend

 Happy 4th of July!

 Luke wasn't scared at the parade to draw as much attention to himself as he could to get extra candy.

 Hooting and hollering, waving his hat... the whole time!

 We had friends in the parade who rode their horses so guess who got a ride?

And Miss Selah too!

Then some backyard camping, and they got out the stove Brad and I used backpacking to make a snack, freeze dried mashed potatoes!  Yummy!

Hope everyone had a happy 4th!

Backpacking in the Rockies

Brad and I went on a backpacking trip at Rocky Mountain National Park last week.  I absolutely underestimated how hard it would be to carry this backpack up the mountain!  It was a long way to our camp, this picture is the beginning of the trip, we still look pretty good!

 It was hard but these were our views.

 And finally after over four miles our site by Cub Lake.

 It was a really pretty spot, and no snow to camp in.

 We did however hike up higher into the snow, this is the way to Emerald Lake.

 On a hike the last day I was telling Brad how I really wanted to see a moose, we had heard we just missed one twice during the three days we were there. Then on the last hike we took we turned a corner and were face to face with a moose!  I'm not kidding like 10 feet, of course I couldn't have acted more obnoxious, "Oh my word!  Brad get the camera!"  And then it ran into the woods and this is our best picture.  I won't forget how he looked so close though.

 The view from the top of the falls we were going to.

This is day three, we were pretty grungy by then and decided to get a hotel the last night and shower before starting home the next day.  Brad asked me my favorite part and I said all of the falls and Emerald Lake.  I asked him what his favorite part was and he said using all of his gadgets (the water filter, mini stove, GPS, etc) go figure!