Summer Adventures! August!

August held a few small adventures too!

My birthday! We went to the Lumineers concert at Mile High!

 

You can almost see the band from here!

Adam and I did a birding and biking day at Golden Gate Canyon State Park!

 

I tried my first hot dog! My first hot dog, you ask!? Well, perhaps I had one as a child, but since I've been old enough to choose my own meals, I have never chosen to eat a hot dog. They are disgusting. But this summer I had a dream that I was eating a hot dog and it was delicious! That was the whole dream, I ate a delicious hot dog. So I bought some really fancy hot dogs from Whole Foods and Adam grilled them up and we put on some fancy toppings and I ate a hot dog! I was not a fan. I could eat another one if I had to, but I still don't think I will choose to eat hot dog. 

 

And finally, to wrap up the month, Adam and I went camping near La Veta, in Southern Colorado, with our friends Dana and Henry. We also tried to climb West Spanish Peak, which is almost a 14er. Adam succeed in summiting the mountain, but it was way too hard for me. The last mile+ is vertical rock piles. The camping part was very pleasant, relaxing, and I finished a big warm camping quilt while we were there!

 

West Spanish Peak looming in the background. Bedraggled Laura in the foreground. Photo by Adam.

Adam at the top!

I mean, are you kidding me with that rock field? Adam is up there above me

 

 

 

 

My finished camping quilt - Four Seasons

Me, Adam, Henry, and Dana

Summer Adventures! Summer Camp

 La Foret: July 23-26

 When we got back to Denver, I went back to work, but Mom, Dad, Paul, Sarah, and the kids went down to family camp the very next day. I went to join them for Wednesday night through Saturday morning. I mostly just relaxed, read books, hung out with the kids, but I did lead a little class on how to use the Merlin birding app, which was a big hit! I also attended a class about cults, which was very interesting. 

There was a camp project to make a community quilt, and Aurora and I made a block for it!

Then we went to make bottle rockets

Red-tailed hawk on the porch

Orion took this picture of a relaxing moment- Paul sorting stickers, Me reading, and Aurora playing a game on her tablet. Orion's bike is in the background

Sarah doing giant bubbles with Aurora

 

Summer Adventures! Washington DC

 Washington DC: July 15-20 

Next up, Chris and Sam got married! Our family flew to DC and did a little sight-seeing before the wedding, and Adam joined us after his business trip in New York.

I did the photos backwards again, so start at the bottom : ) 

Sunda, July 20th

There was a nice wedding breakfast, then we all got packed up. Adam and I were ready first, so we took the kids to a museum nearby called Planet Word. I really enjoyed it! It was all about words! They had really interesting interactive exhibits. I would go back again. The four of us went to the airport, met up with the rest of the fam, and flew back to Denver!

 

Aurora and I singing Karaoke to Ring of Fire (Her Choice)

Two Peas in a Pod

Saturday, July 19th

We walked to a donut and breakfast place and got some amazing donuts! Adam and I walked to the Lincoln Memorial, which was insane, it was so hot and humid. We took an Uber back to the hotel and got ready for the wedding! We dressed up fancy, it was a short ceremony, and then we had a very nice dinner and party at the reception!

Brian, Adam, Sarah, Me, Paul : )

Mom and Me

Paul REALLY enjoyed helping people with the photo booth.

A moody arts shot

Sam and Chris!!

Mid-mod??

Flower girl

Ring bearer

YUM

 

Friday, July 18th

We checked out of our Airbnb and went to the hotel where the wedding would be. A bunch of us went to get pedicures. Adam arrived and we went to the National Portrait gallery, which is across the street from the hotel. Then we walked down to the National Mall and found a cute garden and just wandered about a bit. Then we went back to the hotel and got fancied up for the Wedding Welcome Dinner in the hotel bar. 

Hanging out at the Welcome Dinner

Adam and I

Looking sharp!

Just a pretty building on the Mall

Adam and I found some beautiful flowers in a fairly secret garden on the National Mall

Thursday, July 17th

Paul and I took the kids to the National Zoo. Sarah wasn't feeling well, and honestly, it was incredibly hot and humid, so no one else felt up for it. I really wanted to see the Giant Panda. We all did something we enjoyed, Aurora stood in the misters at the zoo for probably close to an hour. Orion got to see all the animals in the reptile house. And Paul got to pose in a meerkat family cutout.

That evening, we had planned to have Paul and Sarah have a date night while mom, dad, Phoebe, and I babysat the kids. We did our part, but Paul and Sarah went to the ER instead of a on a date, because Sarah had severe Strep Throat. They got home around 2am. 

Little Angels getting sleepy

We had a lovely dinner at Chez Laura Italian Restaurant. Spaghetti with red sauce, frozen pizza, and bagged salad! Yum!

We took the kids to the zoo on Thursday. Aurora loved the idea of taking a picture so it looked like I had panda ears. Did we succeed?

Wednesday, July 16th

 We went letterboxing in the neighborhood right around our Airbnb. Then we went out as tourists. We started at the US Botanic Gardens, then me and Phoebe went to the National Museum of American History. We saw the first lady's dresses and Julia Child's kitchen. Next I went and met up with Paul and Sarah and the kids at the Museum of Natural History. We saw a really interesting exhibit about cell phones! We went to family dinner at the Dubliner.

Dinner with the family at the Dubliner. Matt, Orion, Mom (Cindy), Cliff, Sam, Chris, Dad (Craig), Paul, Phoebe, Sarah, Aurora, me!

We went to the US Botanic Gardens

The kids and I found a letterbox around the corner from our Airbnb

  

Summer Adventures! Oregon

 Sometimes I forget I have this blog!

 Here's some adventures I had this summer, mostly in July!

Crater Lake: July 2- 7

Adam and I flew to Medford, Oregon, to spend some time with his Uncle Jim. Jim took us to Crater Lake National Park, a Redwoods forest, the Oregon Coast for fireworks, on a jetboat tour, and to the cute town of Ashland. It was a great visit!

Below are some pictures from the trip, but I added them in reverse order, so just go ahead and scroll on down to the bottom and work your way back up here. 

 

Breakfast by the river on our last morning

Jet Boat tour

Jim, Adam, me, and several dozen other people on the Jet Boat!

This is a photo of a Peregrine Falcon, can you see it? Jim monitors falcon's nests.

The Oregon coast!

The coast was really chilly!! We watched fireworks from the beach, and also all the other people on the beach's fireworks. It was like a double show.

It's so big!

This is a felled tree!!

Jim's house with a crazy sunset!

Crater Lake

Looking out at Crater Lake.

Adam and Uncle Jim at a brewery near Medford