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.

Today we decided to check out the Mile High Flea Market.

When I go to flea markets I always hope to find fun little treasures amidst old junk.  There was not much of this at this flea market.  It was pretty much just – well – new junk.  There were a few sections where people had brought in some old/used stuff, but I didn’t find anything.

That was ok though.  It was beautiful out, and we enjoyed walking around.

Plus there was fresh kettle corn.  That alone may have made the trip worth it.

And even better?  A couple of carnival rides that were just Davey’s size.

He loved it!

The first time he rode the second ride, he “chauffeured”  a little bitty boy.  Davey checked on him pretty frequently to make sure all was well.

I like his expression here.

Lunch at El Jardin.  Very good Mexican Restaurant.  Now home.  I went to the library to replenish Davey’s books.  Davey and David are “rassling” at the moment.