Adam started school this week!

So of course, I had to take back-to-school photos. Since Adam isn't a kindergartner riding on the schoolbus for the first time, I don't have any cutesy photos like that. But I did catch Adam heading out the door on his way to class...

But don't be mistaken...I had to actually convince him to smile for me (it's never easy)...hence the photo below:

Adam waving his hands and saying "Hurry up and take the photo!" Hilarious!!

Hi Ho Hiking!

Adam and I have been taking advantage of the amazing summer weather and beautiful places in Colorado!! There is so much to see and do, so we crammed in what we could before Adam starts classes (next week!!!). Betty is coming next weekend for a visit (our first visitor!!)- get ready Betty because we are going to be doing some walking!

We went down to Colorado Springs last week to visit the Garden of the Gods, a National Natural Landmark. We packed up a picnic and did a few hikes- we even saw a group of bighorn sheep on a hilltop in the park- very neat!

Just some perspective- you can see some of the paved trails and the rocks that rise above

You can't really see, but in this image there are 3 other bighorn sheep

 We also spotted this ever-so-tiny lizard who was too tired to move!

Adam and I have also managed a few more trips to Rocky Mountain, where we've listened to a ranger program on the Mountain Pine Beetle, a beetle that is killing off some of the older trees in the park, and another talk on the black bears of Rocky Mountain National Park. Apparently there are only about 20 black bears in the whole park! We also saw one bighorn sheep (it was a young ram, between 2-3 years old so his horns aren't as impressive as the ones we saw in Garden of the Gods) and listened to a talk about them. There are about 200-300 in the park, but they hope the population grows. Definitely no shortage of elk though, as we saw more elk off of a trail when we were hiking.

Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain

A female elk that was right off the Nymph Lake trail- she was with a group of about 5 other elk!

Nymph Lake in Rocky Mountain- lots of lilypads and you can see in the background the trees that have been killed by the Mountain Pine Beetle.

A tree stump from a tree that was killed by the Mountain Pine Beetle- you can see all the holes that they've burrowed through the tree! The NPS has been cutting down dead trees along trails so they don't fall down on people 

Dream Lake- the water was so clear!

Another view of Dream Lake

Here's the bighorn ram that was across the road from us! He hung out for a while, trying to decide if he was going to come down or not...he ended up taking off after half an hour! The rangers said we were lucky to see him because it was the first sighting in 18 days!

Sheeps Lakes in the park- apparently the sheep come down here, not to drink the water or graze on the grass, but to eat the mud for its nutrients!

Adam and I are going to try and check out more of the local hiking trails. We've only been to Chautauqua trail here in Boulder a few times, but there are several in the area that we hope to visit. Here are a few photos from the Chautauqua trail- right up against the mountains! Gorgeous! Adam and I did the hike up to the Royal Arch yesterday- it was uphill and a natural stairmaster for sure! I can still feel the burn! =D

Sweeping views of Boulder below! We were definitely up high!

Our fellow hikers enjoying the views

And finally, rather than repost about our trip down to South Fork from the end of July, I'll post photos of my Week in the Life Project that I am just about finished with. I want to add a journaling page to one of the sections and then I'll be about done.

REI Garage Sale

Yay! Today Adam and I got up early to stand in line for the REI Garage Sale- where they sell all the stuff that has been returned to the store. One of the employees joked and told us that REI actually stands for "Rent Everything Indefinitely" because a lot of people buy things, use them, and because of their 100% guarantee return policy, they then return them. We saw a sleeping bag that was 5 years old!! The reason for return- it wasn't warm enough. Apparently took 5 years to figure that out, huh?

Adam and I made out with some goodies- we were looking for hiking shoes, winter boots, and snowshoes. Adam got a pair of Salomon waterproof winter boots, which will come in handy during the Colorado winters. And I was excited because I found a pair of Keen hiking boots in my size and pretty much brand new (sometimes shoes at the garage sales are really worn down!!)- which is great because I am pretty sure Keens are the only hiking boots that would fit my wide feet! I also found a pair of snowshoes- they were more than I wanted to spend at around $50 but I think I'll make good use of them this winter!

Crafting Time!!

Aside from visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, taking day trips out to Fort Collins, settling into the apartment, and reading books that I checked out at the library, I've also been pulling out my scrapbooking supplies! I am hopeful that I'll eventually complete my Galapagos album and also start on the huge project of documenting our experiences and life in Ecuador.

I've been keeping up with Project Life (taking a photo a day, including additional scrapbook pages, etc.) and I recently joined Ali Edwards in her Week in the Life project.

I also made a makeshift white board! Adam wanted to buy a white board to write down our to-do lists but I wasn't able to find one at the thrift shop or on Freecycle. Then I got the idea to make our own, since dry erase markers work perfectly fine on glass and I had a bunch of extra picture frames with us to Colorado! Here's the result:

I liked the quote in yellow and saw something similar on a blog I read- decided to include that on our "To Do" list...fitting right? =D

And here it stays until Adam gets around to hanging it on the wall. It's been working out great for us so far! Way cuter than the bland white boards at Target!

New Belgium Brewery- Fort Collins, CO

While at the Rocky Mountain National Park, we decided to continue our day out by heading to the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, CO. New Belgium Brewery was founded by an electrical engineer (hey, perfect for Adam) and the brewery is decorated with bicycles and such because the story goes that the founder got his inspiration while riding on his bicycle in Europe. I like that they are about environmental sustainability and being a responsible company in their community!

Here is a little something from their website about being alternatively empowered and environmental stewards. I like it!

At New Belgium we believe, to be environmental stewards, we need to:

• Lovingly care for the planet that sustains us.
• Honor natural resources by closing the loops between waste and input.
• Minimize the environmental impact of shipping our beer.
• Reduce our dependence on coal-fired electricity.
• Protect our precious Rocky Mountain water resources.
• Focus our efforts on conservation and efficiency.
• Support innovative technology.
• Model joyful environmentalism through our commitment to relationships, continuous improvement, and the camaraderie and cheer of beer

They were all booked up for their tours but Adam was still able to go sample some of their beers. In California, Adam was able to get their Fat Tire beer at Trader Joe's, so he was excited to try out some of their other beers that they have. There was one beer that Adam did not like...he said it tasted like sour socks. Haha. 

I don't drink beer, but I loved taking pictures of all the colors. Too much aperture. =(

Check out the cute bicycle themed tokens that they give you to exchange for more samples. Quite a lot of beer for Adam!

Rocky Mountain National Park- Get Excited!

Adam and I took a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park today and it was fabulous!! It is about 45 miles from Boulder and we decided that we'll probably do a lot of day trips to go hiking and photographing (and possibly snowshoeing in the winter). As a result, we picked up a yearlong pass to the park and are excited to go back again sometime in the next week or so for our second visit to the park!

We were only at the park for about 4 hours today and in that short time we saw a couple marmots, a few deer, and a ton of elk! We were primarily on the Old Fall River Road, Alpine Visitor Center and the Trail Ridge Road (since the Bear Lake Road and trails were packed with visitors in the morning and it started raining in the afternoon).  So glad we got an annual pass because we'll be able to back for several more visits and be able to take our time (plus I want to see some big horn sheep)!

Marmot popping out of his hole to say hello!

Colorado- Home Sweet Home

Adam and I have been in Colorado for 3 weeks now! We are slowly finding our way around and getting adjusted, little by little.

Some things we love so far about living in Boulder:

1. The public library is a mile from our house! We already have our library cards! =D
2. The Boulder Creek Path, a running/cycling/walking path, runs right next to our apartment complex and takes us straight to the library and the Farmer's Market
3. Great summer weather! A little warm in the daytime, but overall quite lovely!
4. Sunflower Market is right across the street and a Sprouts is not too far away (aka California's Henry's Markets)
5. There is a large asian market about 10 miles away (yay for 30 varieties of rice and 50 varieties of soy sauce!)
6. Rocky Mountain National Market is an hour away- just picked up our yearlong pass today!
7. Awesome afternoon/evening thunderstorms with crazy lightning and thunder!
8. Our friends, the Schramms, live in Denver, just a hop, skip and jump away!

And there will probably be a lot more to come as we get out a bit more. To be honest, the past couple weeks have been spent at Target, Home Depot, Costco, Goodwill, and of course on Craigslist in search of things to help us settle back into life in our own apartment! I would be more than happy to not see the inside of Target and Costco for a loooong time (but doubtful that it will be that long).

Some things I don't really like so far about Boulder:

1. Mosquitos!
2. Mosquitos!!!
3. Mosquitos!!!!
4. Our apartment has not been well taken care of and the linoleum is NASTY!
5. People run red lights and cyclists don't follow traffic laws.
6. It's too far from our family!

Not too bad of a list huh?

Without further ado, here are some photos of our apartment and the views from some of our windows!! I forgot to take photos of our dining area/living room...and right now it is a bit messy so those will have to wait until another time! =D

Part of our apartment complex- it's graduate and family housing so lots of tricycles and kids' toys are always out and about. Also you can see the playground equipment and the area where you can hangdry clothes.

Our apartment building- looks ok on the outside but needs some help on the inside for sure!! 

Our kitchen with the totally gross linoleum. It has cracks, holes and stains but the housing office told us that it was still considered in good condition (our resident manager had told us it was one of the worst she had seen and encouraged us to ask the office about changing it...I guess the office has low standards!). It looks and feels filthy even after mopping and scrubbing. So we are now a "shoes on when walking on the linoleum" household!

Our kitchen after getting our free microwave on Freecycle (we also scored a free propane tank)! I love  Freecycle!

Our view from the kitchen window (the building next to the playground is the laundry room)

Our bathroom. We tried to pretty it up with a lovely shower curtain!

Not a great shot but this is one of the bedrooms that we are in the process of turning into an office. So far all we have in there is the Expedit shelf that we got in the As Is section at the new Ikea in Denver! Excuse my mess!

View outside of our office room- I was sooo excited when I saw this deer munching on some leaves!

Zoomed out- you can see the deer was right next to the football team's practice field and a walking path

Football practice started today and so we get a sneak peek from our office as well as the patio off of our living room

Lastly, our bedroom. We need to hang up some frames and now that I see this photo, I think we might need some decorative throw pillows. Without that, the bed looks sad! 

More posts to come on my current crafting projects, our trip to South Fork to see Adam's family, and our trip today to Rocky Mountain National Park and Ft. Collins (to visit the New Belgium Brewery).