Emerald Bay hike

One day we hiked out of Emerald Bay (I don't remember the name of the trail).  It was a beautiful little lake we went to and the boys did great hiking.

Rosie and Jay were there with 2 week old baby Alice.  I was so impressed!  And so happy to get to see them and meet our new niece!

Tahoe

In August we had an awesome week at Tahoe with the Smiths.  We missed Sarah and Toby and Claire, but I guess being close to delivering a baby is a good excuse.  :)  We rented a house right on the lake and it had incredible views!  The house was up on hill and had a path down to our private huge deck and dock.  In typical Smith vacation style, we played hard doing a great variety of fun things.  

We kayaked most every day we were there.  It was all fun, but I think this was my favorite activity.  It is just so peaceful and quiet and beautiful.  Also, the boys loved it too so we could do it all together.  Zach liked to ride in the double kayak, and Oz could sit with me or Cal (or whoever).  So fun!

Zach and Grandad

There were lots of spider webs around.

I was not too excited when this was found in the house.  UGH!  It was HUGE.  That is in the bottom of a normal sized glass.  I'm so squeamish about spiders!

Excited for his first time in the kayak

Oz and Grandad

 Zach was really brave and loved jumping in off the dock.  He and Oz both did some jumps off the stairs going down into the water.  

Warming up.

Calli and Calvin

 Zach even jumped off the end of the dock, which was about 6-8 feet above the water.  Big jump!  Especially since the water was SO cold!

We all had fun with the dock jumps.

Pete and Roque

Cal on the paddleboard

Zach sailing with Grandad

Austin sailing with Jay, singing made up pirate songs.

Playing by the dock

More to come...

Wild Basin

On our last available Saturday of the summer we headed up to the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was another last minute trip so we were a little slow getting out the door.  In order to park in the area we wanted to hike in we would have needed to get there much earlier, so when we got there it was going to be an additional 1+ mile hike just to the trail head.  Fine for us, but not so much with the boys.  So we decided to park down the road a bit and explore and have our picnic.  By the time we were ready to head out from there, we were able to park at the trail head and do our hike.  Austin made it to the first 2 falls, the upper and lower Copeland Falls, but he was tired and not in the mood to keep going.  Zach however was really wanting to keep going so we decided I would hike the rest with Zach and Cal and Oz stayed to play by the stream.  Zach was such a trouper and cruised all the way up to Calypso Cascades.  It was about 4 miles and he probably went further with his exploring on the side.  I could see clouds building and had to hurry us back down to avoid getting soaked.  We got sprinkled on and it started to really pour just as we got to the car.  Whew!  It was beautiful and we are particularly glad we made it up there as it would be impossible to get there now between the flood damage and government closure...  (boo).  

Boys being boys.

Definitely moose country.  (see the track?)

The boys had to hop across this stream many times.  Too fun.

They were running up the trail.  Love the enthusiasm! 

Lower Copeland Falls.

Upper Copeland Falls.

One of Zach's side trips off the trail to explore. 

Zach kicked a rock up the trail for awhile and this chipmunk kept chasing it.  It's like it thought the rock was food.  Zach thought it was so funny.

We made it!  Calypso Cascades.

Zach was such a fun hiking buddy!