Reindeer Sweater

Zach got a nice Christmasy sweater from Grandma, so we had to take it out for a spin!

Autumn Scenes

Fall was late this year. I could have sworn that the colors were going to be absent, unimpressive, or short lived. Fortunately, they were just late and slow to develop, and then hung on to mid November. It ended up being one of the prettier falls we've ever had.

Autumn Heart Pond Reflections

This is the heart-shaped pond up the road. I love the sunrise silhouettes and reflections on this little pond.

Cat-O-Lantern

We made a Jack-O-Lantern with a black cat with an arched back in it.

Zach liked the glowing pumpkin, but it didn't last long. It was cooking from the candle, and it started to mold and break down after a couple of days. I don't remember ever having that much difficulty scooping out the seeds or having a carved pumpkin go bad so fast.

Maybe next year Zach can weild the knife!

Super Halloween Party

Zach was Superman for Halloween this year. He got to wear the outfit at least 3 times and seemed oblivious to it, which made it an excellent costume. Our next door neighbors had a Halloween party and we took him over. He seemed to love it, even though the guests were mostly women.

He's a pretty casual superhero.

Super Apple

Zach learned to bite into an Apple at the neighbor's Halloween party. They were bobbing for apples and someone offered it to him and he bit right into it. It wouldn't have occurred to us to try.

Superman

Does this Superman costume make me look powerful?

Burr Oak Visit

We went out to Burr Oak right before the trees really started dropping their leaves.

Zach was more interested in the park benches and fire hydrants than the wildlife, but we did manage to see some neat trees and a nice meadow with tall prairie grass in it.

Last Blast of Fall

This year, the growing season stretched a few weeks past when it normally does. This is always welcome. It's nice to get some extra color at the end of the year.

Zach says late fall flowers are #1 in his book.

T-Ball Champ

Zach appears to be on the road to a childhood career at T-Ball. He has already figured out how to hit the ball sometimes, or if he misses, he enjoys pounding the heck out of things with the bat.

Chasing the ball under the car is fun too, as he has figured out that Daddy's trick of pulling the ball out with something long is just as fun as hitting the ball.

I-70 Wind Farm

This wind farm just north of I-70 comes right up to the highway. I'm not sure why so many of them are placed so far away from the highways. They are fun to watch as you drive by. Zach called one an "airplane!"

Playground Break

Andrea figured out on the way out to Colorado that Zach travelled much better if you stopped every hour and a half and let him play in a local playground.

With her trusty iPhone, she was able to find the local parks in the small towns along I-70, and Zach appreciated the efforts.

He likes slides and can climb up the stairs in the elaborate structures you find in all playgrounds now, a cluster of slides and swings coming off a platform, most surfaces rubberized to minimize injuries.

We found something else new that he likes, the swing. I think he could sit one all day.

Goodbye Mountains

We got coffee and donuts at the Estes Park Safeway on the way out of town. The sun was rising behind a little mountain, and the rays were visible way up into the morning sky.

City Elk

On the way out of Estes Park, we saw a small harem of elk and their bull. He looked relaxed and comfortable in the parking lot of a store right on main street. Almost like he had been hired to pose for the Elk Days celebration.

Wild Basin

We found a more remote section of Rocky Mountain National Park called Wild Basin that we had to check out. The Ranger Station at the entrance was closed for the season, but the area was open. There were many hikers and a big network of trails going back into the basin.

We took a short hike that followed the beautiful boulder-strewn stream back to the Calypso Cascades. Zach stayed mostly in the backpack, and there were many aspens in the mixed groves we walked through. The cascades were interesting, but not that scenic.

Beaver Meadows

We found a secluded valley in the Rocky Mountain National Park that we could go to watch the elk during their active rut season.

We got within about 20' of a yearling buck, eating willow shrubs and totally ignoring us. On the other side of the road were a couple of older bulls fighting over a lone female. We listened to their antlers clacking and their occasional trumpeting from about 300 yards away.

Rocks

Zach loves rocks. He loves to throw them, he loves to put them in his pocket, but most of all, he loves to search for them.

The yard outside of the cabin had plenty of them. Andrea would help him find the best ones and cheer enthusiastically when he threw them. She would also make cairn stacks of rocks and Zach would either knock them over with his hand, or more impressively, throw a rock and knock them over.

Bear Lake

We had to go up to Bear Lake as the site of the start of our memorable 2005 hike. At that time, Andrea and I hiked from Bear Lake past the little Matterhorn and Odessa & Fern Lakes and came out in the glacial moraine valley. We saw a bear, and Andrea had an odoriferous sub sandwich in a backpack on her back. We figured out that we were violating the most basic anti-bear rule only after the bear had passed. You must never have stinky food. Andrea also twisted her ankle, and had to walk about 5 miles on it.

This time, we just walked around the lake and let Zach enjoy the scene.