A Slight Reprieve

Today marked the 26th consecutive day over 100 degrees here in the Big D.  That puts us at the No. 3 spot for longest consecutive streak of days over 100 degrees in the metroplex.  We may soon move to the No. 2 spot if we hit 29 days in a row....not that I'm rooting for it but it seems unavoidable at this point.  We are all sweltering!  Running is miserable!  Thank goodness for my bike which is actually bearable to ride even in the 86 degree weather at 6 am.    Our house is sooo hot in the evening.  So I have been searching for a decent looking fan that did not cost a fortune to set up in our living room for the rest of the summer.  Surprisingly, it was difficult to find.  I finally found this one on Walmart.com but had to visit two Walmart's to actually find one in stock...and I got the last one...in an opened box!  We are enjoying the new fan which has cooled our living room off by about 5 degrees!

Vacation Day 6 - Mine Tour/Yankee Girl Mine

On our last day of Ouray Vacation 2011, I decided to go on a 4 mile run to soak up as much cool 50 degree running weather as I could. Somehow the 4 mile run turned into a 6 mile run along the river trail and up a hiking trail. How great to see Mount Abrams in the early morning light while running along the Uncompahgre River! Later we met at the big house and then headed out for the Bachelor Syracuse Mine Tour. Unfortunately, the tour used to be a lot longer and you got to see more of the mine. Still it was cool to go deep into the mountain. We also had lunch at the barbecue place up there and had great time eating and hanging out. Then we headed on a "short" trip to Yankee Girl Mine on the other side of Ouray. This may or may not have involved four wheeling in the Expedition with Justin at the wheel and me yelling :) We explored at the mine, took pictures, and then loaded up to head back to town. That evening we had pizza and wings and played games to celebrate our last night together!

 Love this one of the Morris kids!

 Bachelor Syracuse Mine

 They Can Will Kill You became the running joke!

On that great getting up morning....

 Yankee Girl Mine

 How cute!  I love Grandmom's face!

 More Yankee Girl Mine

I love this one with little Junie running!  She looks so small.

Vacation Day 5 - Owl Creek Hike

No trip to Ouray would be complete without a family hike!  So on Day 5, we tackled an "easy" trail....Owl Creek.  Kyle assured us it was an easy trail and the kids would have no problem.  Perhaps the 5 year olds had no problem but the 3 year olds and adults did not consider the uphill switchbacks for most of the hike as easy!  All kidding aside, we had a great hike despite the on and off drizzle.  We also enjoyed playing in and around the creek at the turnaround spot.  That evening we ate at our favorite Ouray dining spot, Buen Tiempo.  We topped off a great day with ice cream at Mouse's!

Owl Creek Trailhead...Maybe crazyuncle will post his group shot at this spot!

 Walker...which way do we go?

 View of Ouray from the trail and through the drizzle.

 Owl Creek!

 Kara and Baby Ford throwing rocks.

 The kids enjoying ice cream at Mouse's!

Love that smile Baby Ford :)

Vacation Day 4 - Cascade Falls

On vacation Day 4, we decided to take it a little easy and spent the day in town and visiting Cascade Falls.  The falls was very full this year and beautiful.  We had a fun time hiking around the falls and a bunch of us hiked up a trail we had never been on before.  The trail took us to an overlook over the town of Ouray and then up to a ledge that lead under the falls.  Later that day we shopped around in town and attempted to get a pedicure!  Who knew the going price of a pedicure in small town Colorado is $50! 

 Cute little Bella!

 Deuce and Chappy!

 Justin crossing the river.

 View of Ouray!

 Fiver aka Rita...can you tell how dangerously close to the edge she is??  Like literally leaning over it!

 I played it safe and didn't lean over the edge.

 Wait...was that me or is this??   What color shirt did I have on that day?

 Street view of Ouray while shopping.

Don't stop....

...reading!  I posted a few new posts this weekend so keep on scrolling!

Vacation Day 3 - Ophir Pass to Telluride

We had a long day again on day 3 of our Ouray family adventure! We started out in a traffic jam on the million dollar highway on our way to the Ophir Pass cutoff. We sat on the highway for about 15 minutes waiting for the road construction to clear. We headed over the short pass and had a great time playing on the snow at the top. Justin used his jacket as a sled and then we all had to try! It was nice and cool at the top! We stopped for pictures in the forest on the way down. Then we had lunch at our traditional spot in Telluride...Baked in Telluride. The pizza and pastries were delicious as usual! After lunch we headed over to the Bridal Veil Falls lookout for more pictures. The waterfall was beautiful and very full due to all the snow! Then some of the crew headed back to Ouray while the rest of us decided to go up the gondola to Mountain Village. It was beautiful at the top and we looked around the village for a while. Then we happened upon a rock climbing wall and again, we all had to take a turn...even Aunt Kathie :) Justin and Caleb made it all the way to the top. I got scared about 2 feet off the ground and Justin had to rescue me. Then we got ice cream and headed back to Ouray.

 Sledding!

 Walker 2011

 Uncle Keith sledding...nice :)

 Me and Daddy at Ophir Pass.  I think we look alike in this one.

 View on the way down.

 Pictures in the Aspen forest.

 Yummy!  Baked in Telluride!

 Bridal Veil Falls.

 The Grandparents at Bridal Veil Falls.

 Me and J at the top of the ski slopes in Telluride.

 Cookie and the two little cookies.  On the gondola, Kendall informed us she was a chocolate chip cookie :)

 Telluride.

Rock climbing...J & Caleb on top...B&K underneath.

Vacation Day 2 - Corkscrew Gulch to Animas Forks

We really packed it in on Day 2 of our Ouray vacation! My parents arrived the night before and rented their own jeep. They got an open jeep and unfortunately that meant a dusty, hot ride! Granddad also rented a jeep since Randy's had broken down the day before and had to spend some time in the shop. We loaded up early and headed over Corkscrew Gulch. We had a picnic on the way, drove through the snow, and enjoyed conversation with family. Then we took a shorter trail out of Silverton to Animas Forks. Bella and Kendall were very excited to see the "ghost town"! We explored Animas Forks and B&K and I played follow the Lindsay and sang about being rule breakers! Justin was driving Granddad's jeep that day and he really enjoyed the 4x4 roads! However, he did get a flat tire on the way out of Animas Forks. Lyndsay and I were sure to fully document the incident from all angles. On the way back into Silverton, we saw a black bear up on the mountain! I had never seen on in Colorado before and we all took turns watching it through the binos.

 

 On top of the pass at Corkscrew Gulch.

 Justin hiked up at the pass to get a closer look at this cross.

 Posing at Animas Forks for Crazy Uncle.

 The Big House at Animas Forks.

 Typical Crazy Uncle...anything for a good "water" shot.

 Follow the Lindsay!  We are rule breakers!  I think this one is very Sound of Music!

 The Flat.

We watched this guy buy a 12 pack of Bud Light and strap it on the back of his bike and ride off!

Clear Blue Skies

When I think back on my brother's death, one thing that continues to stick out is the weather in the week that followed.  Ben died on March 6th, 2011.  During the next week the skies were a perfect blue, no clouds, and the temperatures remained in the high 60's.  Basically, it was perfect, spring, Texas weather.  It struck me at the time as wrong, so opposite of the feelings surrounding my family.  The morning my father told me that we had "lost" Ben that night was a bright, cloudless sunrise.  That day I wished it would it rain. 

I clearly remember standing near the grave-side of my brother shortly before he was buried with the wind blowing my hair, looking up, and wishing to see gray clouds that would block the bright sun that shone that day.  I could not understand how the sky could be so bright when the world seemed to be falling around us. 

After Ben's funeral, I was standing outside the church speaking with Steven and Halie.  It was extremely windy that day but again a perfect, clear, blue sky.  Why wouldn't the skies weep with our family? 

Remembering the entire week continues to seem like a movie to me.  It was a perfect scene with the brightest blue sky against our black dresses.  And like a movie, unreal to me.  How could this be?  Did I really throw a long stem red rose on the light brown casket of Ben?  Is he really buried in a cemetary a few miles from my home?  The answer is yes.  I ride my bike by the unmarked grave of my 22 year old brother.  His grave remains unmarked.  The suddenness of his death leaves us all unsure of how to commerate his life.  The suddenness of his death leaves us all putting off this final marker.

Vacation Day 1 - Yankee Boy

I finally got the pictures from our vacation off Justin's computer and on to mine...so let the blogging begin! 

Day 1 of our Ouray reunion vacation was definitely one of the best!  We spent the day at Yankee Boy Basin, one of my favorite places.  We loaded up the jeeps and endured a hair raising ride with Crazy Uncle up to our normal exploring spot.  The day was spent enjoying the twin falls, hiking, picnicing, and posing for pictures!  The weather was perfect meaning we wore our jackets all day!  I have so many memories from this place!  One that will always stick out is when I was probably 15 or 16 and Crazy Uncle let me and Katie drive his blue jeep on the 4x4 trail.  I remember being scared b/c I couldn't see the road over the front of the jeep going up the mountain.  I'll also always think of the day that Kara, Jordan, and I hiked straight up the mountain with no regard to a trail.  Our parents said we would never make it to the ridge...but we did despite encountering bushes, swamp, and avalanche territory!  Now I have new memories to fill the basin of watching Bella and Kendall enjoy the same simple dam building and river wading that I enjoyed as a child.  This was a perfect way to start a great vacation!  Can you believe the sky in these pics??

Beautiful San Juan's

Cookie and Bella building a dam

Posing

The Twin Falls