Recently in Kids Category
What was on my mind -- getting as high as possible atop the Rocky Mountains. What was on my daughter's mind -- a headache from the altitude. I love mountains, I've always been more of a mountain person than a beach person. Unfortunately, for my beach-loving daughter, most of our family live in the mountains, and therefore we vacation there far more often.
After meeting my brother and sister-in-law, their granddaughters (my grand-nieces) and my sister-in-laws parents, we all piled into two vehicles and left Denver headed for the mountains. We crossed the continental divide at Berthold Pass and the kids threw snowballs at each other.
We spent the night at Shadow Mountain Lake/ Grand Lake. the town of Grand Lake is a great little town. We went through the Kauffman museum in town. I figured that this Ezra Kauffman may have been related to my Kauffman's back along the line. (I'll have to look him up when I get back home).
We all seem to like waterfalls a lot, so we took a short hike to Adams Falls on Monday, and I planned a longer hike (6.8 miles) on Tuesday to Cascade Falls in RMNP (elevation maybe 8500 ft.) for just the four of us. (Greg's crew having gone back to Denver.) The falls were wonderful, but hiking in the Rockies just isn't the same as hiking in PA. The combination of altitude and a cold had Gretchen gasping for breath. Poor kid, but she's tough and she's a trooper. However the 1 mile hike that I had planned for the day at 12,000 ft. had to be cancelled. We did at least get out of the car and took lots of photos.
As we drove up the mountain, Gretchen at first couldn't believe that the road went above the tree line. Then when we got there she was very dismayed to see snow BELOW us. "That's just not right."
In the park, we did get to see lots of wildlife. We saw two moose while hiking to Cascade Falls, and many herds of elk along Trail Ridge Road. We also saw marmots (sort of like a groundhog) and pikas (squirrel-like). The only thing that I had hoped for but didn't get to see were bighorn sheep.
Anyway, our trip through the park concluded at Estes Park. More on Estes Park later....
Photos are on Flickr at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/nhallberg/sets/
After meeting my brother and sister-in-law, their granddaughters (my grand-nieces) and my sister-in-laws parents, we all piled into two vehicles and left Denver headed for the mountains. We crossed the continental divide at Berthold Pass and the kids threw snowballs at each other.
We spent the night at Shadow Mountain Lake/ Grand Lake. the town of Grand Lake is a great little town. We went through the Kauffman museum in town. I figured that this Ezra Kauffman may have been related to my Kauffman's back along the line. (I'll have to look him up when I get back home).
We all seem to like waterfalls a lot, so we took a short hike to Adams Falls on Monday, and I planned a longer hike (6.8 miles) on Tuesday to Cascade Falls in RMNP (elevation maybe 8500 ft.) for just the four of us. (Greg's crew having gone back to Denver.) The falls were wonderful, but hiking in the Rockies just isn't the same as hiking in PA. The combination of altitude and a cold had Gretchen gasping for breath. Poor kid, but she's tough and she's a trooper. However the 1 mile hike that I had planned for the day at 12,000 ft. had to be cancelled. We did at least get out of the car and took lots of photos.
As we drove up the mountain, Gretchen at first couldn't believe that the road went above the tree line. Then when we got there she was very dismayed to see snow BELOW us. "That's just not right."
In the park, we did get to see lots of wildlife. We saw two moose while hiking to Cascade Falls, and many herds of elk along Trail Ridge Road. We also saw marmots (sort of like a groundhog) and pikas (squirrel-like). The only thing that I had hoped for but didn't get to see were bighorn sheep.
Anyway, our trip through the park concluded at Estes Park. More on Estes Park later....
Photos are on Flickr at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/nhallberg/sets/
I can't believe itj's July and I haven't posted on this blog since March. Apparently, vacations are the only break I get. Spring was a blur of softball, gymnastics, and more softball. Gretchen played JV (junior varisity) softball and is now playing ASA (American Softball Association) summer ball. Brandon, as usual, spent the spring umpiring for Little League baseball. And Brian, President for Tri-County Little League for the past six years or so finally handed in his resignation effective the end of this season.
As I write this we're on vacation in Denver and have tickets to a Rockies game in a few days. It used to be that I didn't like baseball at all but after 14 years of having at least one child playing ball, I find the game is starting to grow on me. However, I think it's stil safe to say that I'll take a book along to the Rockies game on Monday.
As I write this we're on vacation in Denver and have tickets to a Rockies game in a few days. It used to be that I didn't like baseball at all but after 14 years of having at least one child playing ball, I find the game is starting to grow on me. However, I think it's stil safe to say that I'll take a book along to the Rockies game on Monday.
I once had a friend tell me I was the most fair person she knew. Hopefully, this is a trait that my son has inherited. Since the age of 13 he has been umpiring Little League baseball. He loves doing it. He even used to dream of being a major league umpire - it takes an unusual kid to dream of being the umpire not the player! Since the end of Little League season in July, Brandon has been without employment. Something his Dad and I have been rather annoyed about, by the way. Well, at Penn State, Brandon talked to someone at the intramural office who probably couldn't believe someone with his own umpire gear and five years of experience had just walked through his door. So now he's employed as an umpire once again, this time for PSU Intramural Softball.
I'm not one of those mothers who jumps up and frets over every bump & bruise. They are children, they'll get lots of them! Also, I personally have a pretty high tolerance for pain (I get cavities filled without using any painkiller; 37 hours of labor, no painkiller, etc...) A few years ago, I fell at the beginning of a 5K race and cut my eyebrow. I ran all 5K before going to the ER and getting eight stitches. And that's the story, my kids are sick to death of me referencing. As in:
Since the swelling hadn't gone down the next day, I took her to the doctor, who sent me for x-rays. Again, this is not an uncommon drill. Each child has had many x-rays of ankles, knees, wrists and nothing was ever broken. This time, however, it was a fractured ankle. The nurse looked at the x-ray and commented that she must have a pretty high tolerance for pain. Yes, and apparently she gets that from me.
Child: "Mom, I hurt my wrist in gym class, should I stay home from basketball tonight?"It's this tendency NOT to over-react that has rubbed off on my children. Perhaps not to anyone's benefit; they no longer speak up when something is really hurting. Four weeks ago, my girl arrived home from gymnastics with a swollen ankle and was unable to put any weight on it. (Bad dismount off of the balance beam). She's twisted ankles before, I know the drill - ice it, elevate it. I did this and sent her to bed. I have friends that would have had her in the ER immediately. As I said, that's not me.
Me: "Suck it up. I ran over three miles with blood running down my face. You're going to go to basketball."
Since the swelling hadn't gone down the next day, I took her to the doctor, who sent me for x-rays. Again, this is not an uncommon drill. Each child has had many x-rays of ankles, knees, wrists and nothing was ever broken. This time, however, it was a fractured ankle. The nurse looked at the x-ray and commented that she must have a pretty high tolerance for pain. Yes, and apparently she gets that from me.
