Pingree Park Weekend

This past weekend Leo and I took the opportunity of a free weekend to go camping....quite possibly the last time camping for us until our tent will be occupied by 3;) Since I have the privilege of carrying our little guy Leo also let me pick what I wanted to do. After much thinking over the endless possibilities that CO offers I settled on a trip down memory lane and summers of Imel girls past....camping near Pingree Park. For those that are unaware of the former workplace of LJ and I, Pingree is a beautiful place that is at the dead end of a 16 mile dirt road off of the Poudre canyon that is a little slice of heaven. It is also the Colorado State mountain campus. No TV, no cell phones, no internet...just beautiful wilderness.

We started our weekend with Leo getting in a little fishing on the Poudre River while I cooked up lunch before heading up the dirt road. Even though it was mid-day and he was not expecting much Leo managed to catch his first rainbow trout...actually he caught 2 within a few minutes with alot of bites in between!! It was alot of fun to watch him in action:)

Then we headed up the road and ended at our camp for the weekend. We remembered the rain tarp this time but no tent stakes...nobody is perfect all the time I guess;)

After setting up camp and gathering wood for the night we went on a hike around the Pingree valley and I gave Leo a tour of the sites. Leo and I with the valley and Mummy pass in the background....can you see the mummy in the mountain?!

Just a pick of my cutie staying warm by the fire...

In the past Leo has always correlated camp cooking with hot dogs....So I had to open his mind to the options of camping culinary delights....the Foil pack!!! For those of you that are also in the dark about this tasty meal by a tent it is a packet that you can make with pretty much just about any combo of meat and veggies. We choose ground pork with potatoes, onions, mushrooms, squash, herbs, and carrots. You put all that in a packet that you make from aluminum foil....toss it in the fire....sit back and have a beer (root beer in my case) ...and before you know it you have a hot well rounded meal that is cooked to perfection. Leo is a self proclaimed foil packet convert!

The next morning we started off on our hike to Cirque Meadows. Here is the view looking back at the valley from the start of our hike.

Although I LOVE hiking and camping...doing these things in the 3rd trimester is sometimes a bit challenging. I think that my expression in this photo explains how I felt at times. But it was worth it! I would rather be in a little pain than spend our weekends on the couch any day.

Leo and I at our final destination....Cirque Meadows. The meadow is so pretty with the stream at your side and mummy pass ahead. We just sat back and took in the view.

As a final farewell from the valley, on our way back home we were delighted to spot a Mom Moose and her calf. We are always excited about wildlife sightings and this one was one for the books!

And Leo could not drive by the Poudre river on the way home without stopping to cast in just a few more times;) Leo caught a total of 3 trout this weekend. Here he is with the last trout that he caught....the first of many to come I am sure!

Does anyone else get excited for coming home to drywall?!?

Well...I do! Here are the latest pics of the basement finish. It is a little slice of drywall heaven;)

Elk Mountain Hike

This morning Leo, Emily (fellow ophtho resident) and I went out for a hike at nearby Elm Mountain by 3 sisters outside of Evergreen. It was a beautiful day for a nice afternoon hike. Here is a pic of us at one of the lookout spots on the hike.

And if any of you have spoken with me this week you know that the excitement in my life (other than our huge baby that is) is our basement. It is like Christmas every day after work to go down there and see all the progress made. We are loving it and cannot wait to watch some college football down there! Below are pics of the guest room ceiling, the family room looking at the hallway to the bedroom, the staircase wall that was torn down this week, and the bathroom (that is right...your eyes do not fool...the bathtub is installed...pretty sweet).

...and yes...everyone will have to put up with my construction blog updates until the basement is done. Sorry, but I just love seeing our project get finished after what feels like so much planning.

And as our latest baby accomplishment for the weekend I am glad to say that the name list is down to the top 9....but my lips are sealed;)

Babies and Basements

This morning we had another ultrasound to look at our little guy... but he is not so little anymore:) He weighed in at around two and a half pounds and is in the 80th percentile for size....Eekkkk!! It is amazing how much bigger he has gotten since the last ultrasound. He was moving around quite a bit though and tucking his head down so this is the best head shot that they got. I guess that he just wants to keep the ladies at bay as long as he can from his handsome mug;)
On another baby note... the hospital baby population is booming! In one of the areas that I work (soon not to work in thanks to my new full time Cardiology job) 3 out of the 5 female pharmacist that work there are preggo. I guess that contrary to popular belief chemotherapy drugs must be good for fertility...who knew?! This past weekend I got to go celebrate the upcoming arrival of Baby T at a tea house downtown with all the girls. It was tons of fun to celebrate with Jenni the arrival of her little guy...aka our little guys new best friend;)

On a totally different note we started construction yesterday on finishing our basement for more comfy diggs for future visits from grandparents, family and friends. Leo and I are really excited to get the extra space.... or at least that is what I am excited about...I think Leo is more excited about all the new electronic gadgets that he "needs" to buy for the family room. We will keep you updated as construction moves along and when the Mile High Sooner B&B is open for business;)

Family Visit #2

We just completed our revolving door of visitors for the summer with family visit part deux from Leo's side of things. We kicked things off with a camping night down near Deckers on the South Platte River. It was a scenic drive down to the camp along the river with deer and wild turkey sightings and the campground was a great combo of trees, water, and rainbows (we got a double rainbow before we left...I think that it was the camps way of asking us to stay a bit longer).

Leo and I taking in the view of the South Platte.


We do have a chronic camping problem in our household however....we always leave our home for camping and somehow, the majority of the time, manage to forget our rain tarp. So this time we had to come up with a resolution because it was raining on and off all afternoon. Our resolution was an ingenious combination of trash bags and electrical tape that kept us totally dry! I think that we should start to market our WT camping tips and tricks because I am sure that there are tons of people out there that want to look this good when camping...honestly...who wouldn't?!

Since we were on the Platte we also took advantage of some fishing. And by we I mean mostly everyone but me because lets be honest folks... my fishing career came to a halt when I hung up my snoopy fishing pole. But don't worry...I enjoyed laying on the shore reading my parenting books...hopefully some of the tips I am reading about will help me maintain my sanity in a few short months;)

The mountain view from a scenic outlook at Golden Gate Canyon State Park outside of Golden.

The boys eating some dogs at the MLS Rapids game on Saturday night.

On Sunday the guys had a golf day playing 18 holes at Denver City Park while this preggo lady got some much needed R&R in the cool quiet of home. I heard through the grapevine though that it was a nailbiting 18th hole finish of the boys golf scramble;)

Thanks again for the visit!