Ouray

We spent a few days in Ouray at the end of July.  Ouray's one of our favorite places.  I think its the most beautiful part of Colorado, and once you're there everything is so close. The last time we were there was 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Logan, but we're thinking we should make it an annual vacation spot.  I grew up going to the same lake in Maine every year, and have such fond memories.  I think its nice to have that one place that you return to again and again.
   

Amelie's first climbing trip.  We went to the local crag in Ouray-- it was not great, but good enough for a few climbs.

Logan, Amelie, and me on a (very sunny) hike overlooking town

Amelie & me at the park

We did a beautiful hike up Yankee Boy Basin.  Mark and Buddy climbed Mt Sneffels, a 14-er.  Kenny & I carried the kids and made it to a lake below Mt Sneffels.

Trudging up the road. We moved at a snail's pace.  Logan is really heavy, and I am very out of shape.  Mark carried him the next day and practically ran up the mountain.

Lake below Sneffels.  Logan took this picture!  Usually his pictures are of feet, but this time he framed it perfectly.

Kenny took a pretty good picture too

Kenny & Amelie

The group reunites on the way down

Kenny, me, & kids in Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin

The next day we drove around and hiked up Blaine Basin towards the north side of Mt Sneffels.   

There were lots of raspberries and even a few mountain strawberries along the way. 

We made it!

Logan was playing with Kenny's phone and refused to look at the camera.  I bribed him with fruity snacks to get him to look for this picture.

Amelie- 1 month

At one month, Amelie spends most of her time sleeping. Mostly in my arms. I thought I'd get one of those second babies that's perfectly mellow and content to just sit in the swing or buzzy chair. Not so. She wants to be held all the time.  But Logan had to be held and bounced at all times, so I guess she is easier. I went back and read about Logan at one month, and its funny to see how similar they are--neither great sleepers, both good eaters, both sensitive to something I'm eating.  I feel like I'm trying to figure it all out for the first time, only this time I know not to worry about it... it all gets worked out eventually. 

Amelie & Levi

My friend Beth and I were pregnant at the same time and had our babies 8 days apart. Levi came first on June 20th, and then Amelie on June 28th.  While he's only 8 days older, he's about twice her size. He had a head start-- he was born at 8 lb 11 oz compared to Amelie's 5 lb 9 oz.

Amelie 3 weeks, Levi 4 weeks

Levi 5 weeks, Amelie 4 weeks

Betty Bear hut

Amelie's first vacation was at 3 weeks to the Betty Bear hut, which is one of the backcountry huts in the 10th Mountain Division Hut system. The 10th Mountain system has about 20 huts around Colorado, and they're really popular in the winter for backcountry skiing. "Hut" is a bit of a misnomer-- most of them are really nice cabins, albeit without indoor plumbing. We took our first hut trip a couple years ago when Logan was almost one. Eventually we'd like to visit all of them.

Most of the huts sleep 16, so if you only book a few of those spaces, you could end up sharing the hut with strangers. While our kids are really cute, they're a little less cute when they're waking up crying every 2 hours in the middle of the night, and we didn't really want to share that experience with others. We watched the online reservation system and waited until the last minute to book to ensure we chose a hut we'd have to ourselves. We had a few options, and decided on Betty Bear because it had the nicest views and the best sleeping arrangements (3 private rooms in addition to the communal sleeping area) should another party sneek in a reservation at the 11th hour.

While you have to ski in during the winter (sometimes as much as 10 miles), you can drive right up to many of the huts via forest service roads in the summer. We made sure we picked a hut that had road access. We did not, however, look at the condition of said roads until after we had booked. It turned out 4WD was highly recommended for access to this hut. At first I scoffed at this; maybe a regular person needs 4WD, but not a highly skilled/ reckless driver like Mark. Upon digging a little deeper and seeing pictures of the stream crossings though, we decided we'd better bring the van out of its early retirement.

Mark spent a day working on the van and getting it going again, and we drove it around the neighborhood for good measure. It was ready for our adventure! Until it wasn't. The morning we were due to leave, it would not start. So, we loaded into the Honda Civic with a mountain bike on the back as our backup plan in case Mark had to go for help.

The hut was about 15 miles west of Leadville. We figured an hour and a half to Leadville, another hour for the 15 miles on bumpy roads, and we'd be there in about 2 and a half hours. It ended up taking 5 and a half. We vastly underestimated how often we would have to stop to move rocks, evaluate the options for getting over a particularly bad section, and build dams to redirect streams (which did not work anyway). Logan was a funny commentator during all of this. "You don't drive on rocks, you walk on rocks!" He also learned some new bad words during the particularly tense sections that he quickly started repeating. In the end we only got there because we couldn't stand the thought of turning around and going back over what we'd already navigated.

Around hour 4, we crested a hill, came around a bend, and ran into a pretty good sized river flowing across the road. It was about a foot deep and 30 feet wide.  We had our doubts, particularly since we once killed a rental car trying to ford a similar body of water while on TDY in Phoenix, but the Honda made it!

Betty Bear hut. We stayed 2 nights and had the place to ourselves.  There was no TV or internet-- that was my favorite part.

View from the hut

Inside the hut. There was one big room upstairs that included a living room, kitchen, and dining tables.  All the beds were downstairs.

There was a cart by the road to transport all our stuff up to the cabin.  My dad had a cart just like this I used to ride in.

There was a really pretty little lake near the hut. Unfortunately, the mosquitos really liked it too.

Logan & Mark rock hopping around the lake

Logan loves lakes. He was undeterred by the freezing water.

There were a million wildflowers... more than I've ever seen

Hiking.  We attempted to make it to the top of a nearby hill.   There was no trail, however, and after bushwhacking through dense forest with many stream and fallen log crossings, we decided to head back along the road.

Making s'mores

Logan

Me and Amelie

Mark & Logan

Uncle Mike

Uncle Mike came for a visit, and Logan just LOVED him.  It was really funny to watch.  When he was playing legos, only Uncle Mike would do as his assistant builder.  When we went hiking, Logan had to ride on Uncle Mike's shoulders.  When it was time for a diaper change, Logan wanted Uncle Mike to change it.  What an honor. Logan also got  Mike to play his favorite game, where you get the ball stuck in the tree and then throw things at it until it comes down.  Mike ended up climbing a pretty tall tree to get the ball down, much to the amusement of all the kids. 

Grandma & Grandpa A's visit

Karen & Marshall came to visit for a week, and were a huge help with everything from cooking to laundry to playtime and baby holding.  I didn't make a meal all week. We kept busy with little activities every day... here's the recap in pictures:

Hiking at Three Sisters.  Logan got some good swings from Grandma & Grandpa, and then scaled the Middle Sister with Daddy and Grandpa.  These days we keep him going on hikes with trails of M&Ms.



Conifer started a new free summer concert series at Meyer's Ranch.  Its on alternate weeks from the Evergreen lake concerts, so now we have music every week.  Conifer is a little more rural/alternative than the Evergreen crowd.  There was a big hula hooping and ribbon dancing contingent.  We tried to get Logan to hula hoop but he wasn't too interested.  That's probably okay.



We went for a walk/bike ride along the creek in Morrison and Logan found a tree to climb in the park.

Taking a break at the Morrison park



Riding like the city folk with Daddy while we wait (forever) for our food at the Blue Cow in Morrison.

Logan is in love with trains, so we decided to ride the Georgetown Loop Railway from Silver Plume to Georgetown. 

Its a long way down.



Crossing the big bridge

After the train ride, we headed up Guanella Pass.  Our plans for a longer hike were averted by mosquitos and rain... we took a quick walk instead. 



On the other side of Guanella Pass we stopped at Coney Island for ice cream, finally fulfilling Mark's dream of eating at the hot dog shaped restaurant.

Logan thoroughly enjoyed his ice cream at Coney Island

We headed down to Evergreen lake for ice cream and a walk.



Paddleboating at Evergreen Lake.  This is one of those things that looks more fun than it actually is.  Granted I'm out of shape, but it was pretty tiring pedaling.  

Hiking at Mt. Falcon.  Logan often bikes on our hikes these days-- its the best way to get everyone to go at the same pace.  On the big hills, Mark holds the back of his shirt to slow him down. We made it all the way to the outlook and then raced back as the rain moved in.



Lookout at Mt Falcon.  We did this same hike when Logan was first born.

 

Mt Falcon lookout

Grandpa was brave and jumped in the wagon with Logan for the big ride down the hill.

Playing baseball



Playing in the treehouse with Grandpa.  Grandma spent some time up there too.

Mike & Wanda came to visit and brough presents for everyone.  Amelie got 2 cute outfits, and Logan got a pirate kite.  The kite was a big hit.  Kites have really improved since my younger days-- Mark & Logan got it flying quickly without too much running back and forth to get it to take off.

Miss Amelie.  She spends most of her day sleeping.

Grandpa brought home a dozen doughnuts, and Logan went straight for the chocolate sprinkled one.



Karen and Amelie Karen




Amelie




Mom & Amelie in matching purple.  I need to get some ruffles.