Holy cow! Have we seriously not posted a blog since MAY!?! What have all you faithful readers been doing with yourselves?!?! It must have been a dry and lonely summer for you. . . Well, good news is, we're back!! Since I can't update you on the WHOLE summer, here's a shot at getting you caught up on the past few weeks.
At the beginning of July, we took at trip with Mike Piel and his gf, Emma, to Mike's family's homestead near Buffalo Wyoming. Mike's family has had this land since the 1800s and they use it as a family retreat. It has about eight cabins plus a mess hall situated around a big green open space. There are creeks and mountains and hikes on their land. It's truly an oasis! While we were there, we did a lot of relaxing and playing ping pong. The boys also did some fly fishing, but weren't super successful (i.e. they didn't catch any fish). We also went for a couple of hikes. The longest hike turned out to be bushwacking up a mountain because we couldn't find the trail. We climbed over logs, through boulder fields, through brush and up loose dirt hills, but we finally made it to the top! The view was awesome up there and, happily, we found the trail for the journey back down.
The weekend after that, we headed to Oregon for James and Jamila's wedding reception! We stayed with Mariko and Colin and had fun seeing their new condo and hanging out with them and their two dogs-- Buster and Molly. The first day we arrived we went bowling (for some relief from the heat) and then went to dinner and a unique Eugene restaurant. The next day we checked out Saturday market and had donuts at legendary Voodoo Donuts. This donut shop has really unique flavors, like bacon, grape and fruit loop donuts. I got rainbow sprinkles because I'm boring, but Mike was more adventurous and tried the Tang flavor. Then, we headed to a gorgeous vineyard about an hour away. We wine tasted and then went back home to get ready for the party! Their reception was wonderful and everyone had a great time celebrating the newly married couple. A highlight for me was when Jamila told Mike to stop standing so close to the cake; I think she was worried he was going to sneak a bite! On Sunday we went and enjoyed the coast and then grilled at Mariko and Colin's place. Monday was spent shopping at the tax-free outlet mall and then catching a plane home!
The weekend after that, we made another trip to Wyoming. This time it was to visit my dad and Crystal at their house in Saratoga. Our trip had been rescheduled, so we didn't get to float the river as we had previously planned (the river was too low), but we did manage to go on a wonderful hike to a waterfall (well, more like a rocky river) and Mike had fun fishing in the North Platte all along the way. Mike caught quite a few brookie trout and broke in his new fishing pole. We also went to happy hour at the historic Wolf Hotel and enjoyed relaxing and watching movies with the family. Another highlight was going shooting at the gun range-- I am actually a decent shot! My dad is also building a new deck on their house, so Mike got some tips for when (if) the time comes to build our own.
Weekend after that, we headed down to Canon City to camp out at the local KOA before our rafting trip the next morning. The camping experience was pretty funny because it was definitely not camping as we know it-- there was a "live music hour" with a guy playing a guitar with an amp across from our site and a dessert social to go along with it. There was also a store about 200 yards from our tent! Oh well, it served its purpose and we woke up the next morning, packed up, and headed to the rafting site. Rafting was a ton of fun!! I always forget how much I love whitewater rafting until I do it again. We went through some class IV rapids (V is the highest), so there were definitely some scary parts (for me at least), but we had a great guide (from Nepal) who navigated us through all the hard parts well. The only incident we had was Mike falling out of the boat! We were in a rough patch and he slid off the back of the raft, but luckily he was holding on the whole time and, as soon as I convinced her to stop laughing, our friend Amy pulled him back in the boat.The last weekend in July, we went camping again. This time we went with James, Jamila, Anna and Beth to one of our favorite spots-- Camp Dick in Peaceful Valley (right outside of Jamestown). I like this spot because it's close to Boulder and it's gorgeous. We had a wonderful campsite away from all the other campers and we spent the weekend relaxing and eating as much traditional camp food as possible (hamburgers, hot dogs, s'mores, etc.). The rest of the group took James' Jeep up four-wheeling to a reservoir and a lake, but I had to catch up on schoolwork, so I hung out at camp and read. James had some other friends come meet up from Denver so there were other vehicles to go four-wheeling with and, from what I hear, it was an awesome trip!
Last weekend we actually stayed home (shocking, I know), but we still had some excitement-- We bought a new car!! Well, actually an SUV. We weren't sure exactly what we wanted when we headed out, but as we started looking at the options and test driving, we decided that we definitely wanted a CR-V, which meant all it came down to was the color. I wasn't seeing anything I liked until finally at a dealership down south, they had THREE green ones, which was just what I was looking for. We ended up with a 2007 CR-V with a green exterior and tan, leather interior. It has 39,000 miles on it so it should last us a really long time! I hope so at least because I really hate car shopping! I would post a picture, but I can't find my camera right now. . . so pictures to come soon. After we bought the car, we went to Lindsey Gardner's housewarming party, which turned into Lindsey and Anand's ENGAGEMENT party!! We were super excited to hear the news! They are a great couple and we definitely wish them all the best :)
This Monday we went to dinner at one of our favorite places--Buffalo Wild Wings--to celebrate Bryan's birthday (Happy Birthday, Bryan!) and then spent some QT with the Milburns on Tuesday night. Tonight, we are headed to the end of the season kickball party and then tomorrow night is my high school reunion. I can't BELIEVE it's been ten years already!! I also can't believe summer is winding down, with kickball being over and no more camping trips, it's definitely feeling like fall is just around the corner. But, fall means football and snow, so that's okay with me!! I hope summer is going well for you too and let us know what you've been up to!
