Durango!

Our little strawberry patch is actually producing berries this summer. It's amazing! They're cute and delicious and such a treat. Sue and I picked this large bowl of strawberries just before we left for Durango, thankfully we were driving so we brought most of them with us!

 We recently got a Honda Pilot and the boys really enjoyed the extra space and the technology built into the car on our almost 12 hour drive. They could play baseball on the Playstation while driving through the most boring parts of far western Kansas and eastern Colorado.

 I can appreciate the openness and the beauty of so much space....but after a while, I was ready to see some mountains!

 The boy were we excited to climb out of the car when we arrived in Durango! We ate supper in town the first night and then drove out to the house to settle in.

 By the afternoon of the next day we were finally ready to go on a hike. The morning was full of activities like eating breakfast and going grocery shopping for the rest of our meals.

 The boys were excited to hike. Levi had endless energy and was always ahead of the group! Noah quickly realized that there's less oxygen up in the mountains but he powered through and kept up.

 Up and up we went!

 Noah cracks me up here, I told him, "Hey, why don't you point at that mountain way out there and I'll take a picture?!" He looked at me like I was dumb and crazy and this is the picture I got. :-)

 There was lots of group map reading.

 And so many lovely flowers on each of the hikes we took. How such beautiful and delicate flowers grow out of rocks is a wonder to me.

 Rain drops were falling and thunder was cracking loudly above us so we headed down.

 Levi helped me make a strawberry rhubarb crisp for dessert.

 Mmmmm...it was so tangy and good!

 Aunt Susan taught the boys how to play Charades, it was good fun and made the boys think.

 Levi and Susan's faces in these photos crack me up!

 The next day we traveled to Mesa Verde National Park. What a place!! This sculpture outside the visitors center was simply stunning and depicts how the Ancestral Puebloan's climbed up and down the cliffs.

 From the visitor's center we had a good 20 minute drive up to the mesa.

 It was a gorgeous day in a gorgeous place.

 Our guide, Ranger Michael wasn't the most informed guide on Ancestral Puebloan life but he clearly loves his job and is passionate about...well, everything.

 We toured Balcony House, mostly because the tour was an hour (short enough for the boys to handle) and it requires you to climb ladders and crawl through tunnels (adventure to keep the boys engaged). Lucky for us, it was also one of the tours that we could do without waiting four or five hours.
Looking down from the 32' ladder while Sue, Tim and Ben climb.

 Levi and I kept busy taking photos....he liked the adventure, but he didn't like that you couldn't lean on, climb on, or touch any of the archaeological site. :-)

 This is a kiva, a room where the Ancient Puebloan's did religious rituals. Each of the houses we saw had one.

 I really, really, really wanted that guy in the blue jacket to move so I could get a better photo....

 Levi crawling through the tunnel!

 The views from the top of the mesa were stunning.

 And the last ladders to get up back on top of the mesa at the end of our tour. The amazing thing was to imagine the Ancient Puebloan's using foot and hand holds to go up and down the cliffs with their children and all their food and supplies. Very impressive and amazing.

 We walked around another site at Mesa Verde that didn't require a tour guide.

 Then it was back to the house, and for Levi that meant back to helping in the kitchen! He helped Sara make hummus,

 and then helped mix up pita,

 and eventually, helped fry the pita!

 The boys and I learned how to play the card game Golf. It was fun and I pretty much caught on. :-)

 We had several deer that stopped through each morning to nibble leaves in the front yard.

 Time for another hike!

 Levi was sour to start the hike because he wanted to carry his own Camelbak Pack (so he could have his very own water and not share with anyone). Well, pretty soon I caught him eagerly drinking from the Camelbak Grandpa was hauling. :-) Apparently, he got over it.

 He did find some coal, so as I followed him on the hike, I would find his name written on rocks.

 It was a great hike, lots of easy ups and downs and rocks and flowers.

 In the afternoon, Ben, Noah, Sue, Sara and Josh went white water rafting, after Levi and I dropped them off we went to check out the skate park. We'd happened across it earlier on a walk along the river, so he wanted to go again. It was a 7 or 8 foot drop into the one he's in and 10' at the far end of it. Some people at the park were actually quite good at skate boarding and BMX biking (or whatever that's called...) Levi and I were very impressed.

 Near the skate park is a bridge over the river so we hung out until our rafters went by, here they come!

 There they go! They reported that it was a fairly low-key rafting trip. There were a couple spots with rapids, they all enjoyed it and Noah is ready to do more rafting!

 Levi and I also checked out a few shops near by, he liked this candy store a lot! Eventually we got some ice cream and then it was time to go pick up the rafters.

 We did find a spot where Levi could put his foot in the cold river water - he reported that it was FREEZING!

 Back at the house, more charades! :-)

 And more cooking!

 Levi kept busy. Noah often was either listening to the adults visit or downstairs playing video games. We tried to limit his screen time, but felt like we found a good balance for everyone involved.

 The next day we headed up to Durango ski resort to take in their summer activities. This is looking up where the ski lift went. The clouds looked threatening and there were a couple rumbles of thunder, but the rain stayed away! Although the weather was chilly!

 I snapped this as Noah and I were riding the ski lift. I held up my phone like I was going to take a selfie and simply hoped that I'd get a decent view. It worked! There's Susan just behind us and you can see the ski lodge and the mini golf!

 At the top of the lift!

 We hiked around beyond the ski lift for a while. It was a good thing we did because we found snow!

 And an abandoned snowboard! Hahahaha. So the boys took turns snowboarding down this little patch of snow.

 Adults had to help them start and catch them at the bottom,

 the boys loved it but really wished the snowboard held their feet better. We reminded them that we were lucky to have found it and have the chance to enjoy the adventure.

 Josh gave it a whirl too - he actually knows what he's doing - and he did a great job!

 Then we happened upon a place where water was coming out of the mountain.

 Grandpa challenged the boys to a boat race - a mini version of the popular boat races from Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp. Noah, Levi and I think Josh too, each found bits of wood to be their boats.

 Then they raced them down the little stream. I have no idea who won, but it was fun!

 Then it was time to go sliding down the mountain.

 The slide takes you from the top of the ski lift all the way back down to the lodge on a sled thingy that you can make go fast or stop.

 We ate our picnic lunch and the boys took part in a variety of activities. Levi did the bungee jumping several times.

 They both went back up the ski lift and came racing down!

 Noah surprised me by doing the zip line, it makes my heart race just thinking about it!

 See that balcony type thing on the tall part of the building? That's where the zip line starts.

 There were lots of straps and harnesses and lots of instructions given but he was very even keeled afterwards about it. The adults were all pretty impressed and he acted like nothing had happened!

 Noah watching Levi do more bungee jumping.

 He got pretty high!

 Noah finished up with this challenge course.

He was harnessed in, but you have work through challenges while hooking on and off of the wire above. He enjoyed it, but said it was much harder than it looked.

 The views from the ski lodge were amazing.

 Then we went on over the pass to Silverton. A tiny little town named for it's role in the gold and silver rush long ago.

We walked around a bit, wondered about a snack and then found a funnel cake shop!

 Noah showing off the chocolate and peanut butter funnel cake.

 On the way back from Silverton we stopped off to check out a lake. Thinking we'd see this lovely blue lake, I was surprised to find several things as we walked toward it: snow on the ground and snow falling, and the lake was still iced over!
Since ours was the only car heading back to Kansas at the end of our time in Durango, Susan got to ride with us! She worked on her laptop while the boys raced cars on the Playstation. Crazy all the things that can happen in a car these days.

 But wait. We happened to have a toaster along and we also had pop-tarts, so we decided to give it a whirl! It was really funny, but sadly the toaster wouldn't cooperate.

  Either it wasn't getting enough power to make it work, or it died. It provided pretty good entertainment for a few minutes, though!

 We got home early in the evening and started working at getting ourselves back into our normal life. Laundry, Wilbur, chickens and we picked another big bowl of strawberries!