The Mike Tyson of the Animal World

This past Saturday, we went for a quick trip to Castlewood Canyon again (hiked different trail than last time) and then couldn't resist heading up into the mountains, at least a little. So, we make the quick drive up to Evergreen to our favorite park. We normally stop at the first part of it where there are these great rock formations that are fun for climbing. There are difficult parts, which challenge Mary and Sam, as well as Clay even, although less and less, since he goes rock climbing almost every day at our rec center. There are easy enough parts though for Annie and Ellie, who love to go rock climbing, and fancy themselves as being quite adept!

This trip, we decided to head a little further back into the park, just to see if there were any other neat areas or rocks for climbing. We got just a little further in, and came upon a huge herd of elk. There were tons of female elk (cows) and one bull elk (the male.) He was HUGE!!! There were other bulls, but they couldn't get too near the harem. (Yes, that's really what it's called in the elk world.) They were in the woods right next to the road, as well as on the road, and the hill above us. We saw a biker, who wisely stayed tucked behind a bush till the big daddy bull went running after another bull who was trying to get next to one of his *ladies.* We kept hearing this high pitched yelling, and I thought a child had surely gotten away from her parents and was terrified by all the large elk she was surely surrounded by. I'm feverishly looking for this little girl, when Bo busts up laughing. It's the big guy himself...

That HUGE bull with his 7 point on each side antlers screaming like a little girl! The kids were dying laughing at the howling this guy was doing. Annie would imitate it, as well, and then just bust up laughing.

We sat and watched this herd for about 45 minutes. It was hilarious seeing the big guy go running after the other males who were skirting his harem, howling all the way. He'd then come back to the harem and squeal at them, and make them come in closer, I imagine so he could keep tabs on them. We later spoke with the wildlife rangers who came driving through, and they shared how the other males were trying to enter the herd, but the bull was not yet letting them. We took plenty of pictures, but I'll just share a few.

Bawling at the cows...gotta keep 'em in line (Big bully!)

Had to share this picture of my little ladies. (This was earlier at Castlewood Canyons.)

My baby is sixteen & I lost my job!

September 16th....My oldest baby turns 16! We officially celebrated Clay's birthday the weekend before by going climbing and hiking at Castlewood Canyon, then going out for pizza, but celebrated with cake and ice cream on his actual birthday. Oh, and speaking of cake...my position has been downsized, outsourced, I've been let go. Clay asked Mary to make his birthday cake this year. (WoooHOOOO!) And not just any cake. He wanted a checkerboard cake. Think Vans Old Schools. She is one messy baker, but she got the job done. Clay loved his cake (and I loved not having to bake it!)

The checkerboard cake is taking shape

Clay being a 16 year old goob

The finished product

Obligatory picture of the blowing out of the candles :)

One of our new favorite places

As homesick as I have been, I cannot deny that Colorado is amazingly beautiful. One of the things our family has really enjoyed since moving to Colorado is hiking and climbing, each at their own level. One of our new favorite places is Castlewood Canyon. After a short hike, you come to a beautiful waterfall, and there's plenty of fresh, cold water to splash around in.

P.S. In case you didn't know this (I didn't!) you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

Mary Bakes!

That's right! Here's Mary, showing off the Red Waldorf cake she made, which just happens to be my favorite.

My Cup Runneth Over

I finally have some pears!!!! Look how beautiful they are. We had some sliced pears with lunch, and then the girls and I went and collected a couple more pears that were close to being ripe. (A lot more fell off the tree when we were picking them, so I brought them in, in the hopes that I could get them to ripen soon.) There were enough that were close enough to being ripe...not to be eaten fresh, but they cooked up beautifully into a cobbler.

Country Pear Cobbler

Filling:

3/4 C firmly packed brown sugar

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Dash cloves

2 Tbsp lemon juice

6 to 8 medium pears, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

Topping:

1 C flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 C buttermilk

3 Tbsp margarine or butter, melted (Who am I kidding? BUTTER!)

1 Tbsp sugar, if desired (and yes...you do desire)

Light cream, if desired (and yes, I did desire, but not enough to run to the grocery store)

Combine all of the filling ingredients, except pears, in a large skillet. Stir in sliced pears. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until hot and bubbly, stirring gently. Remove from heat and set aside.

Make topping. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, and soda in bowl and beat on low speed for about 30 seconds. Add buttermilk and melted butter. Continue to mix on low for another 30 seconds, or until blended. (Don't overblend.)

Pour hot filling into 8 or 9 inch baking pan. Spoon topping over filling and sprinkle with that extra 1 Tbsp sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until pears are tender and bubbly and topping is done...all nice and golden brown. Serve warm and top with light cream, if desired, or a la mode.

I also had a sweet surprise from one of my "new, old" friends. I'll explain that first. I've known Erin for 2 years online. We're both members of a China adoption group, and we both brought our girls home within a couple months of eachother. Now that we live in Colorado, we only live about 20 minutes away and were able to get together one day this summer before she had to go back to school (she is a teacher here in our local school district.) Well, she dropped in to congratulate us on receiving PA, and she brought me flowers! How sweet is that?




I am one blessed gal!

Doing the Snoopy Dance

That's right, folks! We got PA! That means China has given us to go-ahead to proceed with our adoption!

Here is our timeline so far:
8-28-08 Letter of Intent
9-8-08 PA

Now, please pray that everything on the US side starts flooding my social worker's mail box so we can really get rolling. Seriously, though. We do covet your prayers. This adoption is going to be quite different than Ellie's, I'm sure, but we look forward to what God has in store for us.

Mom's New Hairbrush. Take One.

The Cast of Characters



One ratty, 1.5+ year old hairbrush that had a "comfort" gel handle that mysteriously began to get squished out after the first week of being owned. (Through no fault of its own...simply that it's Stretch Armstrong-like feel proved too tempting for a two year old.) It has since been bandaged with toilet paper, Dora bandaids, surgical bandaids, tape, and now is currently wrapped in bandaging tape.

One fabulously put together and perfectly coiffed Mom

Annie: a spunky, sassy, 3.5 year old with lots of dramatic flair
and a messy mop of blonde hair





One shiny new hairbrush

Annie: Mom, why did you get a new hair brush?

Mom: Because somebody squeezed all the squishy stuff out of my old brush.

Annie: Oh, I'm sorry. (Big smile) But didn't you know there was a monster in it? I squeezed all the monster out.

Mom: Really? I had no idea there was a monster in my brush! Thank you so much, Annie.

Annie: No problem, Mom. You're welcome. (Begins to head out of the room, but turns back around to say...) Glad I could be of help!





P.S. Just have to add that after I took Annie's picture she said, "That's a good one!" Good grief, that girl is cute!