Rainy Camping Trip

Stan fit one more camping trip in before the baby came. It was a very rainy weekend for all of our area in New Mexico. Stan has gotten captivated by the idea of dutch oven cooking and decided to try it out on a camping trip with Scott. It turned into quite an adventure with many lessons learned. (eg: Lighter fluid is a must if one is trying to do a dutch oven meal in a rainstorm...)

They headed out on Friday afternoon and found a good camp spot, set up camp, got dinner cooking, and then the rains came down! With all the craziness surrounding trying to set up camp and cook, there is no picture documentation. Because of the rain, the coals on the dutch oven kept going out so Scott had a cup of noodles for dinner. Stan held out until about 10 pm when the meal finally finished!

The morning brought much needed sunshine.

An experiment of eggs and toast, edible but won't be trying again.

They went for a little walk while they were waiting for a cheesecake to cook.

Stan really wanted to try a cheesecake, and try he did:

(This first cheesecake turned out okay, but we knew that there was a perfection out there to be had. It was the first of many cheesecakes to come...)

After they went on a drive and cleaned up camp, they stopped for a little fishing at a fish hatchery. Scott caught a big one!

I love how he is holding the fish in this picture. Just love my Scotty.

We cooked up the fish when they got home and it was delicious!

Around Albuquerque July 2017

This July was a little more calm than most summer months for us because I was getting close to the baby coming. We still had lots of fun, even when we were just hanging around.

"Look! I tied Daddy's tie!"

Sharing the car by each taking a leg of it.

Scott in his cool shades

Just a kid and his prune juice

We had a mud cake that Sterling helped himself to when no one was looking.

We started to get in the habit of making beds and Scott was so proud he did this all by himself!

I asked Sterling what he was doing from the other room and he just responded "di" (this). I came in to find him intently coloring.

Scott really, really, really wanted to paint my nails. He did a pretty good job :)

While Scott and Stan were backpacking, Sterling played for at least an hour with this walkie talkie. He was sure talking up a storm on it.

Loving the shades

We walked to a park one day for my exercise. The boys loved playing and were so so cute. I love how well they play together.

Yet again, playing together.

Sterling was "reading" this book while I did my hair.

Father and Son Backpacking

Stan wanted to introduce Scott to the ways of backpacking. They headed up on Friday afternoon near San Gregorio Reservoir.

On their way! Sterling was so sad to not go with them.

I love this picture! A nice man was impressed that these two were going backpacking and offered to take a picture.

All set up. You can see the radio antenna wire hanging down to the right of Scott.

Stan and I were able to visit a couple of times during the trip on the radio. That was super fun!

Dinner time...and looking at the antenna

Up in the morning and ready for hot chocolate and oatmeal.

A view of camp

After breakfast, they headed on a hike to the reservoir to fish a little.

Recent rains had made for a muddy hike.

Scott's shoes got so much mud on them! He gained about an inch in height :)

This cute hiker. He had a compass so that he could help figure out which way to go.

They had a great time and Scott has talked about going again next year ever since. I love that Stan does these things with Scott and that Scott loves it.

Fishing at Shady Lakes

Stan wanted to take Scott somewhere where they could have a successful and good time fishing. There is a lake here in town that stocks trout and they went to get some good fishing in. Sterling and I held down the fort at home. They came home with a haul and we had a delicious dinner.

"Hello Mr. Fish!"

He is just so cute!

Proud fisherman

Gourmet meal in the works

Pagosa Springs Camp Trip

We decided to do one last camping trip before the baby comes. It was a perfect time. We have wanted to go up to southern Colorado and rain was in the forecast. We lucked out and just missed it minus some as we were setting up camp.

Right as we found our nice little camping, this beautiful rainbow showed up

It was actually a double rainbow that you can barely see it in this picture

This cute kid

Our tent setup

Because the ground was wet from the rain, we set up a fire in this little pan

It made a nice little fire spot

Bottom's Up

Bedhead

Breakfast Burritos, yum!

We saw some wild turkeys!

Ready to hike with his shades

Scott ended up hiking most of the way

Me and my boys

The river

Scott wanted to fish just like Dad

"Here fishy, fishy."

Our one catch of the day

Scott loves climbing up any thing that looks like climbable. He is a little monkey.

Master of the rock

The terrain by the river was what we call "punchy", super crowded with fallen trees, rocks, and lots of vegetation. So after doing a little hiking with the boys, and them getting a little antsy and wanting to do things I didn't want them to do, I decided I would take the boys back to a meadow to have lunch.

"Help?"

Such a beautiful day!

Hiking boys

8 month pregnant Mel and a Sterling boy

He thought this feather was so neat.

We had to hurry and take our tent before it rained and we just got it done. We went for a drive through some nearby mountains and fell in love with southern Colorado. It was sooooo beautiful.

We are definitely going back to this heavenly haven again.