Religion...

 Some people believe you have to go to church to know God and be spiritual. I have always thought that this (pic above) is what church really is. I often think 4 walls and a roof actually impedes my connection with God instead of strengthens it. I feel closer to God and myself after my 5 days in the mountains watching this amazing natural world, which seems to just know what to do to keep going, than I have in the last 12 months. I am thankful for the wonder of this planet and all that is in it.

Estes Park Extravaganza

 

On the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, we sadly said goodbye to Poppa and headed out for Estes Park, Colorado. As Poppa headed back to the 100 degree heat of Texas, we headed for the cool dry air of the mountains. After skirting a tornado in Eastern Colorado we arrived at the YMCA of the Rockies with a little daylight to spare. The boys immediately gravitated to the huge boulder right outside our cabin and that is where they spent all of their free time during our stay. 

After some much needed rest, we decided to brave a mountain hike with both the boys. For those of you who have ever been around them both at the same time you might say "Have you lost your minds!?"  Possibly.  It could be that we were just adjusting to the altitude and the blindness that the beauty of the mountains brings to us or possibly we HAD just lost our minds but we did it anyway. It was fabulous. We all made it to the top of Bible Point in one piece and it was well worth it. At the top is a memorial to a man who spent much of his time there. Part of the memorial is a mailbox containing notebooks, pens, a Bible, and an invitation to leave a note. Quinn wrote "I love Bible Point".  What more needs to be said? 

 

The best thing about the YMCA of the Rockies is that they have a daycamp for the children.The boys spent 2 days of their vacation tooling around the Y camp with other kids their age and over enthusiastic college age camp counselors. They loved it and don't tell but WE loved having 2 days to ourselves as well. We spend one entire day on an 8 mile hike into Rocky Mountain National Park through alpine lakes, waterfalls and boulder fields.  Something we used to do almost once a week before we moved to corn country and had kids.

The last day that we were there the kids turned in their Junior Ranger booklets that they had been dutifully filling out all week to receive their official Rocky Mountain National Park Junior Ranger badges. These look especially amazing on their official Junior Ranger Vests Grammy brought them from the Grand Canyon. After that, Nolan told everyone, and I mean EVERYONE that we saw,  "Guess What?! My brother and I have became official Junior Rangers!"  Most of them were as proud of him as he was of himself.

If you ask each family member what their favorite part of our vacation was this is what you will hear:

Quinn: "Everything but especially going to Bible Point!" 

Nolan: "Getting my official Park Ranger Badge & making my rubber band gun at the craft center "

Jim: "Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park."

Karen: "Being in the mountains, hiking, and not using a hair dryer all week."