colorado adventure part 1 - the hike

Our Community Life Group left last Thursday for our summer trip - a 10 hour drive to Colorado.

We were headed to Grandby, Colorado - near Grand Lake and Winter Park (I think?)

14 adults in 2 vans.

The trip up was girls in one van, guys in another.

One van watched movies most of the way - I bet you can guess which.

The girls van was quite lively...stories, music, junk food and carrots, catch phrase, the "things" game

10 hours didn't seem near as bad on the up as it did on the way home.

We arrived at Matt's grandparents' cabin late that night.

The next morning we headed out for hiking.

We had a hard time keeping up because my husband liked to stop and do things like this...

(he's sipping water from the little waterfall in case you can't tell)

We stopped and debated whether to keep going.  

Some decided they wanted to go further to see the falls.

Others turned back.

I was in the group that turned back, strongly influenced by my non-hiker husband.

We took a different route back and ended up coming across some great spots.

My legs were jello by the end. I think we hiked approx. 8 miles.

But Laurel and Justin decided to sprint it out to the end.

Crazy people.

Then on our way back to the cabin....

A 16 year old girl driving a big Dodge Ram truck wasn't paying attention and didn't see us stopping in front of her.  She never even hit the brakes, and pushed our van about 30 ft. forward almost into the first van- we're pretty sure she looked up from whatever she was doing and there we were.  Shannon, Kendall and I were in that back seat - and it was quite possibly one of the scariest things I've ever experienced.  Like a bomb went off behind us and glass went everywhere.

We are praising God for his protection as we all went away with nothing more than some sore necks.

The van ended up being totaled.  We were stranded in CO - 14 people and only a vehicle for 7.

After hours on the phone with insurance, rental companies and auto body shops - while the rest of us sat in shock - we had a plan.

Laurel's brother drove all the way to bring us another vehicle and we bought him a 1-way ticket home.

We had the 2nd vehicle by the next day at noon.

The rest of our trip coming soon.

he loves the ipod

speaking of moving up in the world...check out what Mason's into lately..

He likes to "borrow" Taylor's princess "Ipod"

And of course you have to listen to the princess Ipod with a princess tiara on.

I am actually quite shocked he doesn't have the usual princess shoes on too.

If only his sister was a little more accepting of him borrowing her things.

So I introduced my Ipod to him.

With an episode of Cailou on it.

He has to wear a stocking cap to keep the head phones on.

This has already come in handy in the car a few times,

 and winding them down for bed while we were camping.

There's nothing cuter than a 2 year old with an Ipod.

big boy bed

Mason never once climped out of his crib until about 2 weeks ago.

That's pretty good for being almost 2 1/2!

By the time he DID climb out, we didn't really care.

We figured we might as well just take the side off his crib so he can just get in and out easier now.

He's movin up in the world - his crib is now his BIG BOY BED!

And this is what he thought about THAT...

sorry for the blur on these - he was just too excited to hold still!

He has done GREAT - way better than Taylor did.

He stays in bed all the time.

Except for when he falls out of bed - but doesn't wake up and we find him curled up on his floor.

The first day he had his "big boy bed" he was so excited to go take a nap - he was asking hours before it was nap time.

Can't believe this little guy is getting so big!

sniff, sniff...

lake weekend #1

slowly catching up on pictures...

Here is our weekend at Council Grove Lake with our friends.

Meet Poncho.

Poncho is one cool dog.

But did you know bulldogs can't swim? I guess it's kind of obvious if you look at their bodies, but I don't think I ever realized that.

So Poncho stayed ashore - and Mason helped him have a good time still.

This is where he was the happiest-  hanging out on the ladder, KIND OF in the water.

We spent the weekend with some great people - who the kids became quite fond of.

Ed and Marilyn live 2 houses down from us.

Their son is one of Dave's best friends from high school.

 

This was their friends lake house - and I was in love with this sun porch overlooking the lake.

You wouldn't believe this lake house.

A 20 foot camper with this sun porch built onto the front/side of it and a bigger bathroom built on.

If you go through that doorway, you are in the camper - with the small kitchen to your left.

Oh, and we found our dream house.

We've fallen in love with several similar ones.

And have high hopes that Dave will someday build us a house.

But for now, we look and dream.

Rustic, cabin style, lots of windows, 2 stories, wrap around porch, open truss wood beam ceilings, big 2-story stone fireplace.

On a lake like this one would be even more perfect - but we won't get picky.

Mason wasn't too happy and didn't want to ride, but we were just SURE once he got going he'd like it and calm down...

we were right.

although he's still not happy in this one...

This was just a warm-up weekend for our week in Michigan, at Dave's brother's lakehouse, over the 4th!

We can't wait to get there - but we CAN wait for that 16 hour drive we'll be making with the kids.

We probably should try to change our attitude from this...

"we'll never make it to Michigan alive"

"we are all going to kill each other"

"I don't know how we're ever going to make it there"

"what were we thinking saying we were going to drive?"

Surely we'll make it though - right?

You can start praying for us now if you'd like.

old fashioned pineapple upside down cake

I've never shared a recipe on here before - well, I don't think I have anyway.
But I figured this is a good one to share.

I haven't had pineapple-upside cake for years. 

Probably not since I've lived at home.

My mom used to make it all the time - it was SOOOO yummy!

For some reason, I just decided to make one and see if I liked it as well as I remember.

I found this recipe.  It's called Old Fashioned Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

Here's what you need...

4 eggs

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 (20 ounce) can sliced pineapple

10 maraschino cherries, halved

1 cup sifted cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 teaspoon almond extract

It said to use a heavy skillet with a heat-resistant handle because you put the skillet in the oven to bake the cake.  I used a cast iron skillet from our camping bin.

Melt the 1/2 cup butter over very low heat. Take it off the heat and sprinkle brown sugar evenly all over the pan.

Then arrange the pineapple slices to cover the bottom of the skillet.
Then put the cherries in the holes. 
If you happen to have a 2 year old little guy begging to help you, he can do this part.  But make sure he doesn't chew up a cherry, decide he doesn't like it and then plop the chewed up one in a hole.  That's a little gross. 

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Separate the eggs into two bowls.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites just until soft peaks form. Add granulated sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form.

 In a small bowl, beat egg yolks at high speed until very thick and yellow.

With a wire whisk or rubber scraper, using an over-and-under motion, gently fold egg yolks and flour mixture into whites until blended. Fold in 1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine and almond extract. Spread batter evenly over pineapple in skillet.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 325, or until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertip.

Loosen the edges of the cake with table knife and cool it for a few minutes before putting on a serving plate.

Enjoy!