He Still Loves Me

Poor Todd. He puts up with a lot. It's always my job to empty the motorhome after a trip since it's his job to head back to the shop and make some money after we just blew a bunch on a trip:). Well, after we went to CO, I did my job. Or so I thought. A few days later, I remembered that I left soda pop in there. We often do that in the winter since we know we'll return to the dunes shortly and use the drinks then. It dawned on me that the summer heat would not be kind to those cans of soda. I mentioned it to Todd. Sure enough, he goes out there and cleans up the mess from the exploded pop cans. What a nice guy!

And, ...if that wasn't enough. On Saturday, he was moving the motorhome to it's parking spot out back. As he walked by the fridge, he got a whiff of something. What does he do? Opens the door and INHALES DEEPLY. Peeee- uuuuu. What is that awful smell? If that wasn't enough to gag him, he searches and finds hamburger meat rotting in a shelf in the freezer. Todd starts dry heaving...yacking...whatever you call it....all the while...running back outside for fresh air. He says he has never smelled something so bad before.

When we were in CO, I guess a friend had given him some of his hamburger meat from the ranch and he'd put it in the freezer. The problem was that I didn't know it was there. I didn't bother to check the shelf by feeling around...which is what I should have done since I couldn't see anything from where I stood.

Poor Todd.

Lucky Catherine.

Todd cleaned up the whole mess, trying not to gag the whole time. SERIOUSLY. He brought the plastic bin/shelf inside the house to bleach it. I couldn't believe just how bad that alone smelled after the meat was gone.

Yes, I am glad he found it and not me. I am glad he found it NOW and not in 2 months when we were ready to use the motorhome again. Could you imagine how bad that would've been? I am glad he was willing to clean it up and didn't even yell at me to go do my job properly.

He loves me despite my shortcomings. He loves me enough to clean up rotten meat that I should have taken inside in the first place.

At It Again

Sierra never ceases to amaze me. Probably cause I wish I had her riding skills. And, she always looks so dang cute out on those horses. The other day I catch her out on my horse trying out a bareback pad for him. Yes, I bought it for ME to use...so I could work on my skills....on my balance. But, there she is making it look so easy...in her swimsuit, nonetheless. Someday, maybe....I'll grow up to be like her.

Time To Head Home

The original plan was to just head home on Tuesday, but our fun friends had better ideas.

We hit the local rec. center in Durango for some more swimming. Lance gave Zane piggyback rides around the whole place....while they chased and tormented the girls.

Wes' confidence grew a lot in the water as he learned to relax and have some fun!

Todd and Wes coming down the slide.

Sierra, Kadee, and Hannah.

Then, when we finally got around to driving home, we had to stop again. Who can pass by a scene like this? It was a local elk farm. So, we stopped, took photos, and bought elk jerky.

We ended up getting in around 12:30am Wednesday morning. Poor Todd...that was a lot of driving. But, we had an AWESOME trip to Colorado It was our family's first time and I'm sure that it won't be our last.

Our Most Fun & Wild Day in Colorado

We all went white water rafting in Durango. Yes, it was a "mild" run since we had Weston with us, but we still had so much fun. Everyone loved it. We had spashing wars with the other families that were in other rafts. The water was very cold but even Wes asked for more splashing. I think he liked splashing others more than he liked being splashed, but don't we all?!

We went to the Durango Mountain Ski Resort to ride the Alpine Slides. But, we were quickly distracted by the bungee jumping on the trampolines that were at the bottom of the slopes. We all had to give it a try. It was soooo much fun. The older two and I even tried doing flips. It was such a rush. Many of the kids ended up doing it twice.

Now, poor Wes, was a different story. He is our reluctant boy, but we being the mean parents we are, pretty much forced him into going. We told him how much fun he'd have....all the while he is crying and saying "not too high." Are we horrible?

But, boy, am I glad we made him give it a try. He LOVED it! It was so cute to watch.

Totally different kid here. He ended up being one of the kids to go TWICE!!! And, he did end up going HIGH (relatively speaking).

Todd even talked me into going. Here's my attempts at flipping....do I look like a fish out of water? That was hard to do, but it was A LOT of fun.

We rode the chair lifts up to the top of the mountain to get ready to slide down on the "Alpine Slides".

We had fun sliding down, but the line was ridiculously long and so we only did it once (that's when we went back and did some more bungee jumping on the trampoline).

It was a VERY fun day!

Enjoying the Beauty of Colorado

It was hard to believe all the water that was up there in that area...I guess cause I live in a dessert. But, there were waterfalls in every corner. We stopped and played at one. The men got into a splashing fight - by throwing in large rocks next to the person that they wanted to splash. Yes, they never grow up.:)

Sierra went worm-hunting for the upcoming fishing trip. They found several more for us. Unfortunately, the fish ended up liking the power bait more. Anybody need any worms?

I tell the boys to pose for me - poor Wes gets a headlock hug. ouch.

Zane tried to be so patient while he was fishing.

Todd was setting up the lines. Zane was holding one pole for a while. As soon as he threw another pole in, that pole got one. He quickly gave that pole to Zane to bring it in, but Zane says Dad still caught it. ?? Versus the other pole that he had been holding...that Dad also put the bait on. ?? I guess Zane hadn't held this pole long enough to consider it his. Poor kid. He really wanted to catch one.

Zane still had fun holding the fish.

Sierra's first fish - She was not enjoying holding it too much.

But, by the 2nd fish, she was a pro and could smile with her trophy. Way to go Sierra.

Wes just had a lot of fun wandering around....dragging a fishing pole (without a hook on it) behind him. He kept saying that he was fishing. He must've realized something wasn't working, because by the end, he switched to the net. Where's his fish?!

Lance didn't even try fishing. He spent all his freetime mountain biking up there. He really enjoyed it. Bro. Morris (avid rider to the left) said that Lance is a "natural" at it. Funny....Todd says the same thing about Lance on his cycle. I guess Lance needs to start spending some more time out on the trails.

L to R: Nelson, Lance, and Bro. M

Happy Fourth of July

On the Fourth, we headed to Ouray for a little bit. Ouray is another cute, very small town just north of Silverton.

We browsed the little stores that lined the main street.

We ate some yummy ribs that made a mess all over our faces.

We went swimming in their hot springs. We expected it to be more "natural" but the town had made a pool with the water from the springs - that even had slides, etc. So, it was really like swimming in a warm pool, but we had a great time.

After swimming, we went back to Silverton and browsed it's main streets. We had eyed this store the day before. We couldn't wait to check out the Bigfoot stuff:).

Wes (already fearful of anything in costumes) did not like these guys, but we coaxed him into a photo. I think it helped that these did not move so we could convince him that they were just statues.

Next, the ol' miner called out to us to "Come Sluicing."

Don't ask me to tell you the difference between panning and sluicing. I already forgot....if I even understood in the first place. But, either way, the kids loved it. They got a big bag of mining dirt and were able to sluice through it. They came out with several cool rocks!

We had a great time sluicing, but Sierra was disappointed to find out that the rocks weren't really worth anything:).

We hiked the ski slope again and had some fun with the dandelions.

That night, Silverton put on an AMAZING fireworks display. Sorry, my photos don't do it justice. We just kicked back right in front of our motorhomes and enjoyed the view.