Labor Day Weekend

We went to Helen Hunt Falls on Saturday with friends for another "Nic-Lic"-two in one week!
The kids had a fabulous time playing by (and in) the creek. They both carried big sticks, but there wasn't much speaking softly!

This was our beautiful picnic spot-sun, shade, nice and flat with big rocks to sit on. With the gorgeous scenery it was absolutely perfect! The weather was wonderful-I would probably be able to be persuaded to picnic every single day if it would be just like this.

The kids weren't the only ones who enjoyed playing in the water. Joel may have spent some time in there, too. We had to cross the creek to get to our picnic spot, and let me tell you, that water was COLD! Completely clear, clean, mountain run-off. Just walking through it and I couldn't hard feel my toes!

Both Carson and Josie had a blast. The water was only about 4 inches and the bed wasn't too rocky. I tried to convince them to wear their Crocs but they were having none of it. However, it was a little too cold for sitting in, but definitely great for splashing and running around.

The little pool they were playing in ended in this tiny waterfall. Isn't it precious?

We ended the day by going to the Colorado Springs "Balloon Glo". If you have never been (this was our first time) I highly recommend it! I got zero decent photos of my family-my camera doesn't do so well after dark with just the flash. However, the whole point of the Glo is to inflate all the hot air balloons and then when the crowd counts down and says, "Glow!" all the pilots flare simultaneously and all the balloons light up. It was really neat. This was a fun pig shaped balloon. We also saw an enormous Energizer bunny, but my camera died, so no photos of that. It was a bad camera night!

This was the first balloon to light up. You can see it isn't quite dark yet. There was a million people there, but we still were really close to several balloons. This one was nearest.

The balloons once they were all inflated. We could see about 15 from where we were standing. Those things are huge! Carson loved the "balloons and fire!" . Typical boy.

We relaxed on Sunday and then Monday it was off for family photos. My friend Lindsay offered to take our pictures and I couldn't pass that up. We went to Fox Run Park. I had been there before, but I had never been to the lake side. It is an absolutely terrific place to take photos! Two lakes, and a cute little creek. All the photos here are mine, that is why they aren't the greatest. I will post some of her's when I get them from her.

The little creek. After Saturday Carson just kept begging to get in the water. It was really hard to get him to look at the camera. Photos near a creek might have been a bad idea, since his memories of the falls were still so fresh. We did let him wade a little at the end.

Finally! He stripped his shoes off as fast as he could! We tried to make it quick, there was a bunch of people. The weather was windy but I think she got some good shots. Carson and Joel are not very photo friendly so I didn't want to drag it out. After all the forced smiling I thought they deserved a little play time.

Cute, though, isn't he? He snagged this hat from his friend Kegan and I thought he looked pretty swell. I think he thought so, too.

A fun pic of the kids near the end. I played around with this in a photo editing program and changed it to black and white and made it look like an oil painting. It looks really cool, but since the photos on here are so small it didn't translate well. I can email you one, but since it also looked cute un-retouched, here it is.

So that was our Labor Day weekend. It was pretty great. I could do it again this weekend, but I would leave the boys at home for the photo part!

"Nic-Lics"

I have never been much of an outdoor girl. I don't care for dirt (which seems abundant out there for some reason), I can't stand bugs and/or animals and I am allergic to grass, dust, pollen, mold and pretty much anything else one finds outside. I do love to run outside, but that could just be because I can't run inside! No, really, I love the mountains and the view, and I don't have to sit on the grass or dirt. I don't do camping-really, is there ever a good reason to have to pack up everything that has a perfectly good place in my house and leave behind electricity and running water and sleep on the hard ground? I don't think so. I cannot be persuaded, so do not leave comments stating that trailer camping is any different. Maybe you don't sleep on the ground, but I still can't figure out the packing everything up. Also, vacation = not cooking. When you camp, you have to cook your own food! That definitely makes me feel gypped. Yeah, not a big camper.

When I was a teenager, it was even worse. One day, in the car, my mom mentioned having a picnic. I slumped down in my seat and grumbled, " I hate picnics. Why do we have to have a picnic?" In my own defense, as with camping, picnics meant not really getting to eat out. I loved eating at a resturant (even fast food made me happy, actually it still does!) and going on a picnic meant packing up all your own (boring) food and dragging it somewhere to eat in the dirt and grass. Yuck! Well, anyway, I was just about to start my plea for why we should skip the picnic, when I hear a little voice from the backseat say incredulously, "Lara hate nic-lics?". As if to ponder how someone could hate cute babies or chocolate. It was my sister Kelly, who can find joy in most things, and even at the age of 2, couldn't comprehend how her older sister not only didn't like eating outside (most likely at a park, a huge source of happiness for a toddler) but detested it! Oh, yeah, I felt about two inches tall. I felt like I had stolen some of her innocence. Anyway, in our family, after that time, anytime a picnic is mentioned, someone has to say, "Lara HATES nic-lics". And then laugh hysterically.

Since then, I have gotten over some of my distaste for eating out of doors. I still don't want to picnic when it is windy, or cool, or might be thinking about raining. I also need shade and a nice clean table. But hey, it is still an improvement, right? But I can't honestly say I hate them anymore. As a matter of fact, we had a rather nice picnic last night. Joel had CQ (a 24 hour shift) and we like to have dinner with him when he is working. So I packed up my picnic basket (Joel bought me a really nice one complete with actual plates and silverware, cloth napkins and cups, for my first Mother's Day.) and my Longaberger. We had dinner in the park and I took a casserole and fresh chocolate chip cookie bars and we dined at a relatively clean table under a tree. It was actually nice. Picnics are always improved in my mind when one takes something besides sandwiches and you can use real plates.

So am I reformed from my anti-picnic attitude? Sort of. I think part of it is living in Colorado. Everyone here adamantly loves the outdoors. And it is hard to resist. Still a resounding, "NO" on the camping front, but I think I can live with eating outside once in a while. I also really like a picnic inside. Part of it is because I don't want my children to have my same snobby attitude, I want them to enjoy simple things. And part is, it reminds me of my family. My dad loves to go places and my mom loves a picnic. We did a lot of picnics growing up. I always thought it was just to save money but I see now all the pleasures something like that can have. It can give you a new appreciation for things (like how easy it is to just dig through the fridge!). But also, I think I do them because, in some small way, I want to redeem myself from that tiny voice saying, "Lara hate nic-lics?" This one's for you, Kelly.

P.S. Hope you weren't looking for a spiritual connection here, or you will be disappointed. Sometimes a girl just needs to ramble...