Breckenridge

So, we've lived in Colorado more than 21 years now and had never been to Breckenridge. We fixed that yesterday. :) 

Nathan took the day off from work and we drove the 2+ hours down to Breckenridge. Our main goal was to find the troll, Isak Heartstone...and we did!

He was pretty impressive. :) We also did a short hike from the same trailhead and enjoyed the gorgeous fall day and sunshine. (The hike is how we got the picture of the troll from the back.)

Beyond Isak, we enjoyed a great lunch at Ollie's, appreciated the railroad park for kids (and reminisced about when Noah and Asher were once enamoured with trains), wandered a number of shops in town, took in some of the random art around town, had yummy chocolate orange gelato, and had a fabulous dinner at the Blue Stag.

No offense to Montrose, but the food in Breckenridge (and Fort Collins and a lot of other places, lol) is way better. :) 

After all that, we got back on the road. We hit some unexpected fog for a bit but finally descended the mountains enough to enjoy the rest of the drive home. So thankful that we live in such a fabulous state and have the ability to take in its many wonders together. 

Four on Friday

Nathan and I were on the road yesterday (will post about that in a bit) so I missed my Thankful Thursday post. Instead, then, here's a Four on Friday list...

1. A solid foundation. I've been particularly thankful lately for the thirteen years of karate experience that Asher and Micah have so far. Just incredibly grateful for all they've learned and the family they've gained and the confidence they've built. And now, they've both continued their karate experience in college...with each of them joining his college's Taekwondo Club. I love that this foundation has helped them find their people. 

Before I get into more, here's a picture from their very first class at Karate West in June of 2010. Aren't they adorable?!

Anyhow. As I said, both boys are enjoying their Taekwondo Clubs...the people they're meeting and the familiarity of regular exercise and practice.

Micah's club at CU Boulder has about 100 students and is, um, well funded. They have large-ish membership dues and do a lot of fundraising that carries over from year to year. Last weekend, they were able to fly about 50 students to Chicago for two nights to compete in a mock tournament on Saturday to gain some tournament experience with four other college teams. The students stayed in AirBNBs and had a great time in Chinatown after the mock tournament. Of course, Micah says there were so many people that he only did one form and had one sparring partner/match and his AirBNB didn't have enough beds so he slept under a table, but it sounds like he had an awesome time getting to know his own teammates better. :) He's also joined the team demonstration group and is surprisingly one of the flyers. They boost/throw him in the air where he flips and breaks boards on his way down. Fun?

Meanwhile, Asher's club at UNC is considerably smaller with about 10 students total (which is a size Asher prefers). They meet throughout the week and are having a great time. They're currently trying to raise some money for new gear (they don't even have a dedicated space/room). Here's Asher's fundraising page if anyone local is interested. Note. The items apparently will be delivered to Asher who must then be able to deliver them directly around November 9th, so please don't order if you're not local. If you'd like to just donate cash directly, let me know. That's what we'll be doing since we don't "need" baked goods. ;) 

Anyhow, I'm just so glad that both boys have found clubs that "fit" so well. 

2. Fall prep. We haven't done our fall clean up yet and all the leaves in our yard are probably going to be buried in snow tomorrow. But. In terms of fall prep, I did clean and treat all my boots this week...that's what's important, right? 

I try to do this at least every few years to keep them in good condition. Now I just need more occasions to wear them all... ;) 

3. Halloween credit. I didn't do any Halloween decorations this year...because why bother when your neighbor routinely does this?

And this year the neighbors just next to him tried...with witches and zombies and even a crime scene on the sidewalk (complete with ketchup "blood" and crime tape). But it's just hard to compete, ya know? My contribution to Halloween for my neighborhood, then, is that we give out whole candy bars. One, it's fun to see the glee on the kids' faces. And, two, it's easier to keep myself from breaking into the candy because I know I don't need a full bar. (Traditional bite size candies are just too easy to snitch from, lol.) 

And I just want you all to know that I haven't opened any of the Halloween candy packages yet! I should get extra credit for that. :)

4. Christmas. And, speaking of Halloween...that means that Christmas is less than two months away! I feel like I have a decent handle on my shopping and lists at the moment but am always looking for more and new ideas. Grown(ish) sons are harder to shop for than little boys (when legos pretty much took care of everything, lol)...any cool new things I don't know about?

Okay, that's my list today. Happy Friday to you all! I'm off to soak up the last of the day's sunshine before the forecast snow.

Thankful Thursday

Time for another list...

1. Parents weekend. Last weekend was Parents Weekend at both UNC and CU. For the most part, we opted out of the activities at both schools, as we see our sons more than many families. (Plus, the activities at CU were rather expensive and crowded.) After having Asher at home most of the weekend, we followed him back on Sunday to attend the UNC Women's Soccer game. It was their last home game of the season. 

Sadly, the team didn't win. But. It was a very enjoyable time on a beautiful day...

We went to a late lunch after the game in downtown Greeley before saying our goodbyes and heading home. Thankful my boys are finding their own ways and that they remain conveniently close by. 

2. Weird pumpkins. I saw these at Safeway recently. They're weird. As I was looking at one, a gentleman came over and was examining the pumpkin as well. Turns out, his father used to grow pumpkins and so he explained to me about using molds as the pumpkins are growing. 

I love them. :)

3. Fall. I just love the fall colors. That's all. I'm so thankful to live in a place with such beautiful trees and fall foliage...and so glad that the weather is cooperating this year. 

4. Throwback Thursday. I love that Thursdays can be both for thankfulness and throwbacks. Here's a layout from sixteen years ago...October of 2007. I love these pictures of my little Micah and Asher at ages 2 and 5. 

I stopped scrapbooking years ago but continue to document our stories here on this blog and am so thankful for both. I appreciate being able to look back and be reminded of the little details.

That's my list for today. :) Just enjoying this beautiful October and hoping you are, too...

Thankful Thursday

Happy middle-ish of October! Looks like it's been a bit since a true Thankful Thursday list. Let's fix that. :) Here are things I'm thankful for lately...

1. Fall photos. It's definitely getting more difficult to get my annual fall photos. But. I'm very grateful that I have all of my boys together at least somewhat regularly thanks to Micah's infusion schedule. Taking advantage of that, last Saturday, after Micah's infusion at the hospital here, we all drove up to Estes Park in search of some trees with more fall color than we had locally. 

We didn't manage any of the great shots we've had in past years but did get some. Here's my favorite: 

And here were others...

But for every decent photo we managed, I also have some like these...

And while we were in Estes, we also played with the music installments, did some shopping, had our traditional dinner at Ed's Cantina and ice cream at Hayley's, and watched Micah climb rocks in the dark. 

So. Not the best fall photos ever but a day well spent with my guys. :) And, Nathan and I thoroughly enjoyed the fall colors in Montrose and at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, so there's that. 

2. Ropes course. Earlier last week, Asher sent me these after his outdoor adventures class...

Thankful he's enjoying his classes and gets to do things like this.

3. Past friends. I was climbing on my own a week or so ago and ran into one of Micah's old teammates from when he was on Team Ascent. Thanks to the pandemic and such, I hadn't seen him in at least a couple years but he hugged me and asked about Micah and it made my day. I've enjoyed getting to know so many fabulous young people as my boys grew up and am thankful whenever I get a glimpse into how they're doing now. 

4. Climbing experience. I'm also thankful that I've spent enough time around climbing and climbers that Micah's stories of climbing in college don't scare me, lol. If I didn't have that background, photos like those he sent me from one of his Alpine Club outings might worry me. 

5. Playlist sharing. We have a family Spotify account. I don't actually use it much since I rarely listen to music. But. When I workout, it's sometimes nice to have music playing. A bit ago I had a great idea and asked Micah to share one of his playlists with me. He has eclectic taste and the collection entertains me; it's so "Micah." Thankful to listen to it and enjoy my boy even when he's away. 

6. Not coughing. Almost a month ago, when we all went to the Korean Festival together, Asher and Micah were both getting over colds...not surprising given that they both live in dorms and eat in dining halls, lol. The following week, I thought I may have caught a bit of it (had a small cough but nothing else) but then felt fine. I woke in the night coughing but was fine during the days. On our way to Montrose, I coughed and coughed. It seemed to be thanks to the dry air from the AC and such, and I still had no other symptoms. I'd climbed the day before and had no issues, and we hiked the next day and I was fine. But. I continued to wake every night coughing and coughing. By the time we got back from Montrose, the coughing attacks were during the day also, and I agreed to go see a doctor...who agreed with me that I wasn't actually sick. My lungs and chest were completely clear, I had no other symptoms, I'm in good health. I just couldn't stop coughing if I got started and desperately wanted to sleep through the night.

So. Three different prescriptions were filled to try to get some relief. I'm pretty sure two of them actually made things worse (like Asher in the past, I seem to not respond to opiates for whatever reason) but one did seem to help a little. Mostly, it felt like the recognition/confirmation that I wasn't sick was what helped me finally. Before the doctor, when I was coughing it felt like I should try to get whatever was in there out, right? The doctor's best guess, though, was that I had a bronchial irritation (perhaps caused by the day or so I actually may have had a cold) that just needed to heal. So. I just needed to stop coughing long enough for that. Knowing that helped. 

And, eventually, this past weekend, I managed to sleep all the way through the night...after a couple of weeks of not. So. I'm incredibly thankful to no longer be coughing. Yay!!

7. Small projects. One of the things on my 50 before 50 list, randomly, was to try crocheting again. My gram taught me ages ago but it never really stuck. So. I ordered myself this beginner kit this summer and finally got around to doing it last week. I present to you Fred the Dino!

Isn't he cute? :) The kit was well done and the instructional videos were great. It's lovely making things. But. Please don't get any ideas. I don't think I'll be taking up crochet as a hobby any time soon, lol. I'm just thankful to have checked this off my list. :)

8. Throwback Thursday. My mom recently sent me a box of miscellaneous stuff as she's been clearing out things at her place. One of the things was my baby book. :) So thankful to have all those memories and stories and photos like this one...

This is me and a bunch of cousins (from both sides of my family) on my second birthday. 

Okay, that's a pretty good list for now. :) How's your Thursday going?

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Over the weekend, Nathan and I took a road trip to visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Colorado has four National Parks and this was the only one we hadn't made it to yet. 

We headed out Friday morning, enjoyed the beautiful drive and fall colors, made it to Montrose and dropped our stuff off at our AirBNB tiny house...

It was a perfect little spot for us...a fun new(ish) tiny house with a porch and a gorgeous view. There were also resident chickens and eggs that we were welcome to. (We didn't end up doing any cooking so didn't take advantage of the eggs but loved the idea.)

From our tiny house, we headed to the park and drove the South Rim road, stopping at about half of the viewpoints. The pictures don't do it justice, really. Here are some random ones from Friday evening...

Do you see Nathan standing on the post in that bottom left photo? And more from Friday's sunset at Painted Wall viewpoint...

We then headed into town for dinner before calling it a night at our cozy little tiny house. Saturday morning, we stopped in town for some provisions and then drove the East Portal Road down to the river at the base of the canyon. We ate a picnic lunch there and wandered a bit, enjoying the fall colors and learning interesting things about the history of the area. (And we were thankful for our new tires and brakes on the van, as the road had a 16% grade in places.)

We then drove back up to the South Rim road and visited the Visitor Center before tackling the Oak Flat Trail, which was listed as a strenuous 1.5 mile loop but wasn't bad at all. The hike took us down into the canyon a bit and offered some different views. We then drove to the end of the road again and stopped at Dragon Point on the way back. We took so many pictures over the two days! Here are a few more from Saturday afternoon...

We had an earlier dinner Saturday night at the local steakhouse then enjoyed some Netflix and called it a night, listening to the wind. 

Sunday, we got checked out and on the road. We decided to take the scenic route on the way back (we'd taken I-70 on the way there). It should only have taken about half an hour longer...about 6.5 hours of driving. We stopped for lunch and afternoon coffee/tea and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. And then we got stuck in traffic. For hours. And hours. It was a little bit crazy. At one point, our phone navigation told us the road ahead was completely closed, but we pressed on, as we saw everyone else was doing. As best we can tell, there may have been some big horn sheep blocking the road at the top of one of the passes, combined with a ridiculous number of people stopping to take pictures of leaves. (It was a nice spot, but not the best of the spots we'd seen all day plus there was actually plenty of parking so we can't figure out why that caused such a back up.) In any case, we finally made it home about 11 hours after leaving. Long day.

Traffic aside, we had a lovely weekend...were quite impressed with the Black Canyon of the Gunnison...and enjoyed the time and conversation.