Absence Makes the Heart Grow...

...fonder? frustrated? Yes, we have been absent from our blog for quite some time and we deeply apologize. We kept forgetting to bring our camera places, and who wants to read a whole blog full of text, right?

On that note, we'll start off with a bunch of text. Probably the biggest event of note is that Jeff started school! He started with a week full of meetings back in the middle of August and started with students around the 21st. There are a ton of new things to get used to- open campus, shorter schedule, 'unscheduled' time, and team planning just to name a few. But he's enjoying his students and fellow teachers, so that's great. We went to our first AHS football game and it was fun to see even more of the culture of the school. Jeff will probably blog more about specifics later.

Avery's been adjusting well. While she enjoys lots of mommy time, she hasn't really had much yet as we've had all of the grandparents in town. My parents came for a long weekend and we got to go to the Coors Brewery in Golden. Not too exciting for a two year old, but fun for the rest of us!! We also got to spend some fun time celebrating my mom's birthday- I haven't gotten to be with her on her actual birthday in about 10 years! So it was quite a treat! Here's a funny picture of Avery in front of Coors- still hasn't gotten that natural smile thing down yet.

Then Jeff's parents came in town for a week! Avery loved all of the attention and the affirmative responses to her incessant question, "Come play in my room?" Ma and Pa get very tired of it, but grandparents seem to have a high tolerance! Yeah for grandparents! With the Smith's we got to go to the Denver Aquarium and several tasty, strip-mall restaurants. Just by coincidence, we kept researching new places to eat, and they all ended up being located in strip malls. Ya probably had to be there, but we thought it was funny.

And finally, since Jeff and I were both going to be home all day today, we decided to continue marching down our list of touristy Colorado-y things to do. Today was a trip to Mt. Evans. It's Denver's answer to Pikes Peak- only about 50 miles away and 14,240 up! The beauty is that you can drive almost all the way up and then you only have to hike the last 130 feet in about a quarter of a mile. We saw Big Horned Sheep, Mountain Goats, and a Yellow-Bellied Marmot!

We stopped at a lake right before the summit and Avery was a trooper- hiking down to the lake, all excited to be out and about. Then we got to the top and started the final hike- very windy and about 35 degrees- she was not a trooper. But, we made it to the top and had fun, overall! Here are some pictures... Avery at the Summit Lake...


And the Smith family on top of the mountain that you see behind Avery in the above picture. Yeah, the lake you see below us, is the one Avery is sitting next too, neat huh?

Above is Avery faking us into believing she's going to be a great hiker! This is her on her way back up from the lake. And then below are some shots of the Smith fam on top of the mountain!

Read More 4 comments | Posted by Jeff and Steph edit post

4 comments

  1. j.ro on September 3, 2007 at 5:05 AM

    Talk about the world righting itself again ... yay for the smith family blog! You're all looking so good!!

      
  2. Bob Thompson on September 3, 2007 at 10:04 AM

    Seeing those mountains makes me so grateful I have these majstic cornfields to look at on MY drives... *sigh*. Miss you!

      
  3. The Way EYE See It... on September 3, 2007 at 5:51 PM

    Very neat pics! Glad to hear more about the adjustments. :)

      
  4. kelly dwyer on September 4, 2007 at 6:55 PM

    Im glad that you are taking advantage of all the tings that CO has to offer! Including the srip mall resturants!! So many people move to a new place and tell temselves they will do te touristy things later... and then later never comes or laziness and routine set it. I am all about being a tourist in the place that you live!! Yeah.

    And I do find the irony in the strip mall resturants!