The Wildflower Capital of Colorado.

My family and I recently took a five day vacation to Crested Butte- a five hour car trip through some beautiful country to the most gorgeous town I've ever seen. My parents are long-time veterans of Crested Butte, and everywhere else, it seems, but it's been nearly ten years since I've been there, and was very excited to show Gabriel around. By the time we left, he had a deep tan, a habit of smelling every flower he came across, many a bug bite, and an itch to go hiking again (I hope!). We saw a lot of different sides of Crested Butte, and I enjoyed every minute of the trip, especially when we saw some wild animals (we saw a porcupine, a buck, a doe, a marmont, a wild turkey, a falcon, and a lot of mountain swallows and voles, phew). Of course, we also appreciated the countryside, and as CB is the "Wildflower Capital of Colorado," there was plenty to love, smell, and learn about.

At a chilly lake with grandma...

We saw a wild porcupine! Sorry for the bad quality, it was way zoomed in and cropped. How neat, though.

Gabriel found a secret hiding spot.

So lovely.

Electrical Storms.

Last night, there was an intense thumderstorm a few miles east of our home. For 45 minutes, there was non-stop rolling thunder and clouded flashes of lightning. I've never seen anything like it, and knew I had to get my video camera set up to download onto my computer so that I could share.

(Just pretend I spelt "storm" right in the title for now.)

These two photos are from a very interesting article I found here about a volcano erupting in southern Chile during a midnight thunderstorm.

Spooky!

Happy Birthday!

This 4th of July marked my darling Gabriel's first ever birthday. A party was thrown, many tacos were eaten, sparklers lit, cakes baked, iced, and annihilated, and gift-paper torn to shreds. It's so fun to watch the next generation come into bloom. The youngest, Gabriel, has been anything but left behind by his older friends and relatives. Seven-year-old Mary and four-year-old Amara are the two regulars at our family parties and barbeques, and have both taken Gabiel under their wings, helping show him how to unwrap presents, squirt with pool toys, and even how to walk!

And the cake! A chocolate banana cake with cream cheese-nutella frosting. We tried to get fancy and write with homemade colored frosting, but it came out so ugly that we decided to turn it into a Jackson Pollock cake. Luckily for the public, we didn't get any photos of the cake itself, just many cute ones of Gabriel's first encounter with a whole pile of chocolatey goodness.

As always, the gentleman with his spooney table manners:

The day after our party, we just had to go through all the new toys, clothes, and cards again. Among the booty was an adorable Hawaiian shirt and shorts set from my aunt's recent Kauaiian honeymoon. So, of course, we had to get out the ukulele and play dress-up...

Makes you want to grab a Piña Colada and do some hula dancing, doesn't it? :) What a year it has been. I've been doing a great deal of reflecting, and may turn it into a cheese-filled post sometime this week. Stay tuned.