We went on a new adventure today.   My sister and Kev had told us about their experiences Letterboxing in Virginia.  I’d never heard of it before, but it sounded like great fun.

It’s kind of like geocaching, except instead of using GPS, you follow written clues.  I found two great websites which list letterbox sites all over the country.  Letterboxing and AtlasQuest.  I went to the website and quickly found several in our area.  They provide you with clues to locate a hidden box which contains a stamp.  Many people handcarve the stamp.  Sometimes there is an inkpad in the box, but we brought one with us and our own stamp.  Once you locate the box, you take the stamp from the box and stamp your own little book.  We bought a small sketchbook to record our letterboxing finds.  We also used our stamp to stamp the book that was with the letterbox.  We had a plain letter b.  We need to get adventurous and carve our own stamp.

David read us the clues.  This was a great first adventure as the box was very near the parking lot where we’d parked.

Davey was right by his side with our little book.

We were directed to a line of pine trees and then to a specific space in between two of them.  Once there, we looked behind a bush and found:

Davey looked behind the concrete block (we checked it, but this would have been more dicey in Oklahoma.  It’s not so snakey here – or at least not so poisonous snakey).

His hand emerged holding the container.

We were all so excited!

We did our recording of information and stamping.

Then it was time to carefully put it back.

This was great fun.  The directions for this clue were great and we had no trouble.  Some of the boxes will involve longer walks or hikes.  I’ve got a couple of relatively short ones ready to go for tomorrow.  I think one will be about a mile walk which should be just about right for Davey.

So I highly recommend this and am so glad I learned about it.  Davey found it to be a great “treasure” hunt, and he is excited to go again.

Yesterday morning we went to Buffalo Bill Days in Golden.

It was fun.  It got pretty hot though, and Davey was either a little tired or just hot because he was rather grumpy.  This was pretty much his expression throughout the morning.

There were a few highpoints though.  We watched a parade for awhile.  He liked that – for awhile.

I had to show Mom the “extreme librarians”.  They were from Jefferson County Library and they danced around.  They were fun.

Davey enjoyed the bouncy houses and he rode on his first small ferris wheel.

He was a little unsure at first.

He settled in and had a great time though.  I like this picture of David looking up at him.

It was a fun festival, but we got out of there before it got too hot.

Then last night our library had an end of the Summer Reading Program party at the outdoor water park.

Davey spent some time on this slide.  He always starts out very cautiously, and he basically scoots down instead of sliding.  He keeps at it though and builds his confidence until he is whooshing down pretty quickly.

Davey’s swimming teacher was one of the lifeguards there last night.  Davey loved this.  He would grin and wave at her from time to time.  He pretended like he was at swimming lessons.  I didn’t get pictures of this, but he practiced his crawl stroke.  He does it very slowly and deliberately.  Then he’d put his face in the water.  He did that several times.  4 weeks of swimming lessons have helped him immensely with his confidence in the water.

I just really liked the light on this picture.

There was a bubble station as well.  He liked me to blow bubbles and he tried to whack at them or dodge them.

It was a nice evening.

I have not posted in several days, and it has resulted in a build-up of stories about which I want to blog!

I’ll go back to Saturday and our trip to Leadville.  My brother and his wife ran the Leadville 1/2 marathon.  At least we all thought it was a 1/2 until the night before, when they learned it was a “Heavy” half and so a bit over 15 miles long.  They started at 10,000 feet and ran up Mosquito Pass to 13,000 feet!  They did great – that altitude was crazy though.

David, Davey and I went to cheer them on.  We missed them at the 4 mile rest stop, but it was also the 11 mile rest stop when they came back, so we hung out there and waited for them.

We had to entertain Davey as it took them abit of time to climb that almost 3,000 feet and then come back down.

Here’s what they climbed.  Switchbacks to the tippy top.

So to pass some time, Davey and I decided to create a sculpture/bridge/castle.

We created quite a masterpiece.  Dandelions, rocks, and wood were our media.

Davey found a Christmas Tree Rock to add to our piece.

It was dusty and dry up there, and we all got pretty dusty ourselves.

After awhile, here came Michael and Holly!

After they passed through, we returned to Leadville to meet them at the finish line.

I’m going to blame this photo (and the other 4 David took) on the effects of high altitude.

I look thrilled don’t I?

So we waited in town, and when they approached the finish,  Davey was ready to greet them with high 5s !

They finished strong.  Pretty cool.

Saturday we made our first trip to Berry Patch farms.

What a fun farm. There were some chickens, cats, and dogs running around and also this fine specimen of a turkey.  He was incredible.

Davey was striding along – ready to pick strawberries!

The strawberries were small and just perfect for little Davey eatin’.

and he ate, and he ate and he ate

It is an organic farm so he only ran the risk of a little dirt.  We heard parents all around us saying, “stop eating those!  Don’t eat so many strawberries!”  They were pretty irresistible though.

He paused briefly for a picture with me.

but only briefly.

We did pretty well and had somehow managed to pick them faster then he could eat them.

I have a feeling we will be back there a couple more times at the end of July and in August when they get their next round of strawberries.  And raspberries!

Davey was very excited to help Daddy vacuum this morning.  It was his first time to wield a vacuum.

He thought this was pretty fun, but the vacuum was a little noisy for him.

Yesterday Davey and I went to the Rock Creek Farm Preserve.

Davey wanted to have a picnic, and it needed to be just right.  He did not want to eat at the picnic table.  He wanted a picnic blanket spread out on the ground.  It was a little chilly in the shade so I went scurrying back to the car for a long-sleeved shirt.  The picnic blanket doubled as a blanket for his legs.

Davey likes to wear “Daddy’s ballcap”.  “Mommy.  Daddy  made it the right size for me!”

After we ate, we went exploring.

Davey cooperated for a “Davey stand there so I can take a picture of you with the lake behind you” shot.

Davey picked up rocks.  “Mommy.  They are for my rock collection!  I’m starting one today!”

We looked at cattails.  That word was a source of confusion, but we got it straightened out.  No animals were harmed in the formation of the cattails.  It took me awhile to convince Davey of this.

Ok David and Davey are now in the dusting phase and I must go help!

It’s May 1st.  I am not sure how that happened.  David and I start our summer semesters tomorrow!  It’s been a nice break.

Yesterday Davey and I decided to begin to learn about the world of frisbee (Disk) golf.  I’ve heard several people talk about it and apparently there are lots of courses around here.  Davey and I thought it sounded like great fun. (I’m lucky.  Davey pretty much thinks everything sounds like great fun.)

We went to a sporting goods store and bought a starter set of 3 disks.  Putter, mid-range and Driver.  (David claims he can’t tell the difference, but I can definitely tell the putter feels different.  I can throw it straight.  It just wants to go straight.)

Davey and I were excited to go try out our new frisbees.

We went out and I showed him how to throw it.  However, I am not exactly the most experienced or capable frisbee thrower – not the best frisbee throwing teacher.

Davey kinda preferred running and chasing the frisbee over throwing it.

Then we got David out there to play with us.

He’s not too excited about the possibilities of frisbee golf yet.  Davey and I are still working on recruiting him onto Frisbee Team Bieloh.  (But isn’t the sky pretty and look at Davey ready to run.)

And check out his form!  He has to admit that he has such potential.

Talk about potential!

But mostly he still prefers running.

Davey and I were ready to go play this morning.  However, it’s pretty chilly today so we may wait.  We have a slight chance of snow this afternoon.  Snow! Again – May 1st?  Really?

It’s Friday in Mannford.  It’s really windy and muggy today!  We haven’t felt muggy in awhile, and I kinda like it.  The back of my neck is starting to sweat though, and I think David has already had a shirt change after taking Davey to the park.  We may experience some Oklahoma storms tonight.

They walked to the little park in the neighborhood this morning.  There’s a merry go round.  I don’t know if Davey had been on a merry go round before.

They both got a little dizzy.

There are also see-saws!   Unfortunately there wasn’t anyone around to provide more of an equal weight offset to the 37 pound child.

So it’s a nice day.  We just got back from Walmart.  Davey has a new train and he’s now building it with David.

I’m typing this on David’s mac.  I feel like an imposter on a mac.  I can get around, but it doesn’t feel very comfortable.

Think I will go knit for awhile.  I’m turning the heel on I-70 Sock number one.  I’m still mesmerized by the self-stripingness of self-striping yarn.

Headed to Oklahoma.  We stopped for the evening in Salina, Kansas.  Davey actually went to sleep very quickly.  He hasn’t napped in quite sometime and that almost always includes never falling asleep in the car.  He didn’t today either.  David and I didn’t fall asleep either, but we would have liked to.  We traded off on driving this afternoon a couple of times.  I love that big open sky, but the straightness of I-70 can become monotonous.

Tonight in the hotel, Davey had his juice, Winkie the Rockstar, his Maine pillow, and his books.  He was feeling pretty much at home.  He loves the whole hotel thing.  It’s very fun for him.   He said that he wanted his own bed and he pointed with his entire arm to show us where he wanted us to sleep.  “Over there Mommy!”  I hope he sleeps well.

Lately, he likes to talk to Timber.  He and David started this.  You have to close your eyes to talk to Timber.  He scrunches them tight.  He says things like “I love you Timber.  I miss you.”  This sometimes leads to questions about Timber. He asked if Timber pooped in dog heaven.  He wanted to know what kind of bed he slept on.  He told us that Jesus is there and if we are really lucky that the angels will bring Timber back for a visit.  I think he gets this from a wonderful book by Cynthia Rylant called Dog Heaven. (Our great friend Angie sent it to us after Timber died.)

He likes to talk to Timber, and he likes knowing that he is in dog heaven.  I like listening to him.

So it’s time to rest up for the last part of the drive tomorrow.  I have no pictures to post as I didn’t take any with my camera today nor did I remember to bring a cable so I could download any pictures had I taken any!

I did knit quite abit.  I started a pair of socks with some self-striping Tofutsie.  It’s great fun.  I am just working them in simple stockinette so I don’t have to look down too much.  Cuts down on carsickness and headaches!

Have a happy Thursday!

This morning we decided we’d go exploring  (We are out of school for a couple of weeks).  So I googled  “Boulder –  hikes for children”.

I came up with what looked to be a great 1 mile loop at Bald Mountain outside of Boulder.

I printed out the directions and the map.  Davey loves to study maps so he immediately took that off my hands.

A nice thing about where we’ve moved is that we’re pretty close to Boulder so it wasn’t far to drive over.  We went through Boulder and followed the directions which began to lead us up a switchbacky mountain.  We somehow missed the turn and had to go back down the mountain where we finally found the Bald Mountain trailhead.

It was pretty desolate out there.  Beautiful though.

So we began our hike.  We walked a little bit up the hill.  We were not yet out of sight of our car.

Then we saw this sign regarding Mountain Lions.

Now – I am used to the coyote warning signs which are posted all around the open spaces areas by our house and formerly by our apartment.   And – I blogged about this – I met up with a coyote one day.  We were 40 yards apart, but I did see one.   So…I take these signs seriously.

The sign said: “Mountain Lions have been sighted around this area and they present a threat to visitors and their animals.”

Now the sign also said that the chance of seeing them was “slight”.  I never even noticed that part of the sign until I downloaded the pictures from my camera once we got home.

I was too busy skimming on down to the part where it advised me to “Never run from a mountain lion.  To fight back.  To never turn my back to a mountain lion.” And – “throw stones and sticks if the lion acts aggressively.”

Davey took one look at the sign and said “Wildcats!”

David started reminding me about the book he read last year.  It was about the mountain lion problem around Boulder.  There have been a few attacks on humans.  There have been “dogsnatchings”.

David continued by explaining how the mountain lion will watch his/her prey for a long time.  Silently.  Then suddenly when the time is right – he will take a couple of long jumping strides and pounce.  David added that the mountain lion goes for the back of the neck.

We pretended to ponder the situation.

Then we hightailed it back to the car.

We had Davey sandwiched between us.

I’m pretty sure there was a mountain lion behind these rocks (or maybe he was in the tree).

Back to safety.

Lunch and then the  park.

The wilderness ain’t for wimps (me).

Today was the day.  T-Rex was free of his shell.  David and Davey were downstairs a little before me this morning so I didn’t actually see the little T-rex come out of what remained of his shell.  The water was getting kinda murky though and it was definitely time.

Meet little T-Rex. (It’s amazing how much fun we’ve had waiting for this guy to come out of his shell.)  It is interesting that despite being a rubbery/plastic guy,  he is still a bit cold and soggy even after hours out of the water.

That didn’t stop Davey from having fun playing with him while I took some pictures.

“Rawr” or whatever sound it is that a T-rex made.

Small pleasures.

Then we decided to go to the park early to try to avoid the wind.  We didn’t quite succeed.  It was gusty, but I guess not quite as windy as it became this afternoon.

We checked out a new playground.

We ran around on the football/soccer field.  Davey ran and ran and ran and ran.

Davey never gets tired of playing chase.

He loves to say “last one there is a ‘rot – ten’ egg!”

He ran the 50 yard dash.

I watched him running down the field, and I took a series of pictures.  He just loves to run and move, and it’s just fun to watch.

And still he kept on running.

And then he stopped and was probably wondering why the heck we weren’t following him!

So we did.