Colorado Hikes: Roxsborough State Park

Happy Labor Day weekend! Andrew's up in the mountains with some friends, and my aunt and uncle are in town from Iowa. We decided to check out Roxborough. I'd actually never been there before, even though it's a popular day hike.

The day was perfect for hiking. We have had the craziest weather for Colorado, and I love it. It was overcast and cloudy, as it has been for much of this past month. It made for cooler temperatures and good hiking weather. I don't recommend doing this hike with kids on a hot, sunny day because there was no shade. It wasn't a problem at all for us today!

Unless you have a state parks pass, the entrance fee is $7. I didn't even think of that when I agreed to go with my family. Thankfully, my dad offered to buy our entrance fee! My mom brought her jogging stroller along. What would I do without my parents?

The main trail that we took (the Fountain Valley Trail) is mostly flat. We accessed it from the visitor's center. As we walked, there were a few lookout points to hike up to. We chose to do those, and they weren't all that easy with little kids. I wouldn't have been able to do those parts with the kids myself.

After the first part of the hike, we switched and put Oliver in the stroller. I carried Jo almost the rest of the way! At one point, my mom tried to relieve me, but Jo wasn't having it.

We left the stroller behind to hike up to Lyons Overlook. Oliver hiked up there himself! It was beautiful.

There was sand near the overlook that the kids played in. Oliver declared that it was brown sugar.

We didn't do the full loop. My dad helped me get the kids back to the visitor's center after Lyons Overlook. The visitor's center was air conditioned, and the kids got to color and relax. It was nice. They had a board on the wall that marked all the animals people have reported seeing and on what days. There have been a lot of black bear sightings recently! In July, there were a lot of mountain lion sightings, so definitely don't let any little kids wander off.

Back to Reality

I spent a long weekend on the East Coast. My cousin had her wedding in New Jersey. We have a very large family on my mom's side, and it's impossible to go to everyone's weddings and graduations and even funerals. We do our best to go when we can, but it was especially important to me to make this trip. I had enough miles with Frontier to go. My ever-generous parents were planning on attending, too, and so they let me ride along in their rental car and even stay in their hotel room for free. How many people get to spend a weekend on the East Coast for next to nothing? I feel incredibly lucky.

Andrew and his parents watched the kiddos while I was away. I missed their faces and their cute quirks, but I was also able to enjoy my time with virtually no responsibilities. It was pretty amazing not having to worry about where the kids were at all times, if they were OK, if they were getting into mischief, if they were hungry or needed a diaper or needed to use the potty. I wouldn't have been happy without them for a long period, but three days was nice.

It's good to be back home with them, but it's also hard getting back into the swing of things. When I get back from vacation, I become such a procrastinator for a few days.

If you enjoy reading about travel or want information on some places to go or things to see, you can find my travel blog entries from our trip here: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/WhirledPeas/Trips/22359. I think the best travel tip in there includes our 1-2 hour stop in New York City. If you are ever passing through New York and need to know what to do with a bit of time on your hands, definitely check it out!

I do my best to keep that blog separate from this one. Whereas this blog is all about my family life, my kids, and my projects--something for my kids to look back on one day--that blog is typically about what to see and do as well as my critiques of places I go to eat or tour. So, not shown in that travel blog are most of the pictures of my family (unless it's kind of relevant to the travel). Here are a few snapshots of my loved ones (as you can see, there were little ones for me to hold and play with when I needed a mommy fix):

One of my many beautiful cousins pictured above is going to be throwing a birthday party in Iowa this summer. I'm considering driving up with the kids by myself (eek!). My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I don't think it will be that bad. Right?

A Kushy Weekend

For my Grandma Jo's memorial weekend, we had aunts, uncles, cousins, and so many others here in town. Aunt Gerry and Wayne flew in from Maine, Tina and Aunt Linda flew in from Boston, Uncle Mark came from Ohio, Uncle Matt came from Missouri, Julie came from Nebraska, Aunt Jackie came from California, Jana and Ian (who I met for the first time) came from Portland, and Aunt Carol, Uncle Mike, Missy, Mia, Glen, Jo and Jack all drove in from Iowa.

Tina stayed at my apartment. I was so stoked to have my first house guest! Andrew and I totally bleached the shower and toilets and vacuumed and had fun grocery shopping. I'm telling you, we're ready to be a regular bed & breakfast now. Tina was the best house guest, ever (and I'm not just saying that because she's my only house guest). She totally let me give her a tour and just generally showed an interest in everything, right down to the bagels. Hurray for her! Next time, I'll make her try Rock Band. Also next time, we won't be so exhausted from socializing so we can go for runs!

Having Julie in town was a hoot, too. I spent a lot of my time with her and Tina, just generally laughing it up and throwing our opinions out about everyone and every thing. Good times.

Uncle Mark and I talked a lot about the Disney World Half Marathon we're running in January. Turns out, in addition to us and my mom, his daughters Dina and Amber are planning on running in it. This'll be too much fun!

Andrew enjoyed meeting people and demonstrating his magic skills. At some point, he even had Jana and Ian practicing the disappearing coin trick. Too cute.

The most difficult part of the weekend was, of course, the memorial itself. We went up to Andrew's parents' land near Fairplay and sang and talked of our memories. I started to get upset about scattering Grandma's ashes. Not that I thought it was a bad idea; I knew it's what she'd wanted. It just is hard to say goodbye, I guess. I felt angry about not having her with us, and I hated thinking about everything she doesn't get to see. I know I'll move past those feelings and be able to enjoy her memories, but it's just so hard sometimes, and I feel so mad that I don't get to have her around anymore. I wish I could say more, but I'm so emotionally drained! It was a toughie, for sure.

And now... now things have quieted down. Some family is leaving already tomorrow morning. This means I'll sleep in, wake up slowly, and then reach out and connect with those that are still hanging out in town. I'm wiped, and I think it's time to cuddle up with a book and then head to sleep.

Goodnight!