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DJ and I discovered a shared love a couple years ago when we started going camping. We both love doing the outdoorsy thing so we bought a tent and some other camping necessities while we were still in Albuquerque and since then have gone a few times. Well, we hadn't gone since we moved to Laramie, much to my dismay, being that this might as well be the outdoors capital of the world with all the outdoor activities that you can do around here both in summer and winter. So when I found out that DJ wouldn't have to work this weekend after all, I jumped on our one last opportunity to camp this summer. I also figured that since Jayden was a little older now it might be easier then it would have been at the beginning of summer.
We initially planned to get a little more time in the mountains and head up there to camp but then changed our minds and decided on Kurt Dowdy State Park. This was one other area that we hadn't been to yet since we moved and I didn't want another year to pass before we got to go. It's a well known area in these parts so I figured we should check it out. (That sentence could be said with a western drawl; it has a certain John Wayne vibe to it, dontcha think??)
Anyway, the camping trip was a success!
But I will not be doing it again. Ha.
I learned something on that trip. In my brain, now that I've had a child, I feel very differently about things that crawl on me in the middle of the night. There was a whole new level of freaked-outedness that I've never experienced before, prior to sharing a tent with a baby. And I decided then and there in the middle of the night that I would not be tenting again with babies. I just got all freaked out by the bugs and worrying that they would attack my baby in the middle of the night when we had barely any light to see what creatures we could feel and not see. I'm shuddering just thinking about that.
But as it is, the one time that we have gone with Jayden was a lot of fun and we've decided that Jayden absolutely loves being outside. He is so happy the entire time and is constantly wanting to see everything. Here are some pictures from our adventure!
DJ is using his special cooking techniques for making an extra yummy campfire dinner of beef, potatoes and onions. It turned out pretty tasty!
At one point it looked like the fire was going to win but thankfully, it did not.
Jayden pulls himself up in the play pen now! Once he gets to his feet, he always looks so proud of himself and we always cheer for him. It's so cute.
Even after a pretty restless night, he still woke up happy!
The next challenge was to make breakfast over the fire. That was a bit more challenging then the dinner especially because we had exactly 4 pieces of firewood left over. The pinecones came in to save the day.
Whereas the night before we had to worry about the fire destroying our meal, breakfast's worst enemy was the smoke.
I was loving Jayden's style on our camping trip. Ha.
Love those yummy little legs!
While we were waiting for our breakfast to sloooowly cook, we had smores!
Jayden's little face just lights up when his daddy is around. Melts my heart.
This babbling creek babbled all night long - I couldn't decide if I liked that or not but it was definitely pretty!
Play I Spy! Can you see the chipmunk? This little guy was super friendly and even came up all the way to DJ's shoe when we started feeding him some of our breakfast burritos.
I loved how he would go over to this little spot in the dirt and wiggle all around like he was taking a dirt bath. It even looks like he was giving me a wave in this picture!
And this picture has absolutely nothing to do with camping except that these gorgeous blooms were waiting for us when we got back. Love!
Jayden enjoyed his swinging experience at the park this past week. He eve tried out the slide once - he probably needs a few more months before he's slide ready. But the swing he was digging. Here's the story in pictures!
My mom came to visit this past week and I just had to show her the amazing mountains that were practically in our backyard. We spontaneously decided to drive up there one afternoon and boy, am I glad we did! We saw these!
We both decided that we could die happy now. Ok, maybe that's a bit dramatic but we were ecstatic to see such amazing animals on our drive into the mountains. We spent a good 30 minutes just sitting on the side of the road taking pictures. In Sherry-like fashion, my mom got uncomfortably close to these giant animals to get these great photos. (She's known to make our family very anxious as she strives for the perfect photo. In this case, I just let her do her thing. Who could blame her??) Oh, and lest you think she was actually inches from these animals, I will reassure you that she actually has a great zoom lens on her camera so although she was close, she was not THAT close.
Amazingly enough, DJ and I finally took a drive just 45 minutes west of Laramie and found an oasis of sorts. It surprised us when we found that we were that close to a completely different landscape! Mountainous (read: Sound of Music-esque), lots of trees, great wildlife, gorgeous wildflowers and the list goes one. We just couldn't believe it took us that long to find it. Granted it was not easily accessible 7 of the 12 months that we've been here but still, it really shouldn't have taken us this long. I can't wait to spend more time up in the mountains!
Please excuse the shocking whiteness of my legs - they don't see much sun. But seriously, couldn't this be a scene from Sound of Music?? I felt like I was in a setting for a movie!
Jayden is all about the waving these days.
Most of the snow had melted by now but there was still quite a bit for being the end of July!
I couldn't get enough of all the different varieties of flowers - wildflowers are my all-time favorite!
We went on a great little hike; we just didn't know up front that it would require hiking through some snow that was still covering the trail!
These gaping holes definitely freaked me out since we were walking right over the top of these drifts!
See how tall this drift still is??
It was crazy to me that we could practically drive all the way to the top of the mountains that we can see from our house and it only took us about an hour to get there. At this point we are 10,800 feet high.
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