Quick question

If your kids have signs on their bedroom doors, how are they attached? Now that mine are getting their own rooms, there's been talk of signage but I'm not sure how to hang/attach them to the doors...not sure I really want to adhere them, but they're too short to use an over the door type hanger, kwim? Ideas?

Monday miscellany

Yeah, lots of randomness lately. It happens. ;) 

1. I recently renewed my drivers license. I was able to do it online and then they mailed me a new one. It seems, though, like cheating...don't you think? My new license has the same picture and stats from 2004 but says it was issued 06-2012. Weird. (Incidentally, I realized that this is, I think, the first time I've ever renewed my drivers license. I moved enough between initially getting a license and now that I've not been in the same state when one expired. I find it disconcerting that you don't receive a notice or something reminding you that your license is about to expire. Do other states remind you?)

2. Don't laugh but I've already bought about 20 new books since getting rid of so many at our garage sale. Sigh. ;) (I tell myself that it's okay, though, because next on my to do list is to weed out even more books from our guest room bookshelves to make room for the books being relocated from the boys' bedroom. It makes me sad but at the same time rather proud of myself. I *like* owning books. I do. But. I'm realizing that I don't really need to hold onto all of them...I can always use the library and find information online these days. And after lugging around all those boxes of books through seven moves or so, it feels nice knowing we won't have to move them ever again.)

3. Is it just me or does iCloud frustrate you from time to time? I love the whole "take a picture and it's supposed to show up in your photo stream on your computer" thing. But. Mine don't always show up. I've figured out how to manually do it, but it's annoying. Noah says Apple's trying to subtly tell me that I need to use a Mac instead of a PC. Please tell me I'm not alone...because I couldn't find anything online to help me with this specific problem.

4. Asher performed with the Demo Team for karate for the first time on Friday! Due to some miscommunications and the fact that his Demo Team coach has been out for a week or so for surgery, he only got to perform one of the routines he's learned, but he looked awesome doing it. ;) I'm not biased. 

5. We painted Noah's bedroom over the weekend! It's very grey. ;) We still need to pick up a few things from IKEA later this week, so it's not done. I'll take pictures when it is. Micah's chomping at the bit for us to paint his room next...but that requires moving all the legos. Yeah. That'll be fun.

6. We've been watching some of the US Olympic trials lately. I find it very difficult, though, to watch the platform diving. Freaks me out. I'm terrified that they're going to hit their heads on that platform. Seriously. They come *SO* close! While I'm at it, can someone explain why they call them "arm stands" instead of "hand stands"? Just curious. (I find it hilarious, too, that my boys are aghast at the speedos being worn...they can't believe these guys would want to wear that in public! LOL!) 

7. Noah's taken up whistling lately. I think I preferred when he and Asher were practicing recorder. ;) (Don't tell Noah I said that, lol.)

8. Can anyone explain to me how my blow dryer cord gets so tangled up? It's not like I'm spinning in circles when I dry my hair, folks. ;) I untangle it, plug it in, stand there and dry my hair, unplug it and put it away. Why, for heaven's sake, is it all tangled and twisted when I take it back out again the next day?! (Seriously. Is it just me? Is someone sneaking in and twisting it up just to drive me insane?)

Okay. I suppose I should go get on with my day now. ;) Hope everyone's Monday is off to a great start!

Fire update

Because some family members have asked...yes, the High Park Fire continues to wreck havoc here. It's growing and our forecast calls for nothing but 90+ temperatures and low humidity. (When last I checked, it was at more than 82,000 acres...the second largest fire in Colorado history and the most destructive ever.) It's been more than two weeks now and doesn't look to be letting up. 

One of our friends has been able to return to their home (then were re-evacuated and then were allowed to go home again) but another has not and probably won't be able to until fall, if at all. The numerous other fires in Colorado right now (thanks to the same conditions) are just as sad and are forcing fire-fighting resources to be stretched.  

But. We, personally, are doing just fine. Yes, the air here is less than stellar, but I actually think those north of us have it worse, as the smoke is all blowing that direction. (It has, though, kept me from running nearly as much as I was.) Noah says it smells like a campfire most evenings, and we're incredibly thankful that we opted to replace the AC unit when we did. Here are a few of the pictures I've snapped:

This was on June 13, from the Sam's Club parking lot...on day 5 of the fire.

This one was as Asher and I were coming home from his first Demo Team performance last Friday (06.22.12). That was the day almost 1000 new evacuation notices went out, as the fire took off again.

And this was Saturday (06.23.12). Sad but oddly beautiful.

So. If you have any secret rain dances or powers over the weather, we could really, really use some cooler temps and rain, folks. 

Privy.

Random, but...While we were on our hike to Ouzel Falls, we came across this sign:

Intrigued (since this was a first for us), lol, we followed the sign just off the trail to find this:

Better than a rock or a tree to duck behind, yes, but not exactly the outhouse I'd been envisioning either. Odd. ;)

(And, yes, those are Asher's feet, lol. As long as we were there...)

Ouzel Falls

So. On Father's Day, (after a productive morning of tidying up our mess in the basement and in my office) we decided we'd earned a day off. To avoid the smoke ever-present here in town (from the fire), we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park to try out a new trail we'd read about. All told, we hiked about 6 miles (with about 950 feet of elevation change, so 950 feet up and then 950 feet back down). It was lovely and the weather was gorgeous (in the 80s (about 10-15 degrees cooler than down in Fort Collins at the same time, lol) with a nice breeze).

Here's us at the first small stop (as always, click on any of the images to view them larger):

And the younger two playing under a huge boulder:

And the Calypso Cascades:

Where we stopped for a nice little break:

It's hard to see, but we outfitted each boy with his own Camelbak (thanks, Deanna, for the suggestion!) and it was fabulous. On previous hikes, just Nathan or just Nathan and Noah carried our water supplies and snacks so we all had to gather round them whenever anything was needed. This way was so much easier and Asher and Micah loved having their own stuff. They each had water and then also tucked some bars in for snacks. Micah, as you can see, also brought some recreational reading material and actually did read a few chapters along the trail. ;) (He also brought multiplication math-wraps but didn't end up working with those, lol. No. I did not suggest either of those things.)

Anyhow. After Calypso Cascades, we reached our final destination of Ouzel Falls:

Not content with this view, lol, we scrambled closer:

(They were "dancing" in the mist from the falls. Weirdos.)

And then we headed back down the trail, stopping for a Father's Day photo:

We made it back to the van about 7:00, dusted off and loaded up. We drove back into Estes Park and found a miniature golf course for our traditional round of Father's Day golf, which was fun and went pretty well, all things considered. (Because the sun was setting, it was hard to get great pictures and I was more tired than motivated anyhow, lol.) Then, we had a late dinner at one of Nathan's favorite restaurants in Estes (delicious!) and managed to make the hour-ish drive to be home by about 11. Whew. ;)

Long day but probably our new favorite hike. Yay!