Kitty one month later

I'm getting a back log of kitty pics, so I better dump them into another cat post. Ha! He's about five and a half months old.

I took this one real quick before we went to Dalton Lake since we had returned to the house for my forgotten camera. It appears Trouncer had really been missing us...not.

This one is the absolute best. Noah put the cat down in this position right before bed and he just stayed there! Terry was playing with him, lifting and dropping his little front paws and they just dropped to the couch. He was completely limp, like a sleeping baby. Terry used to always do that with our kids when they were itty bitty. A few minutes later when we were upstairs putting the littles to bed Trouncer was still just laying there like this. I actually sort of wonder if he wasn't always feeling the best. I did go ahead and get him that powerful belly antibiotic I previously mentioned and I think it's worked - the litter box smells less and there haven't been any messes. So perhaps ever since got him a month and a half ago he really did have some sort of yucky GI bug like Giardia, though we don't know what it was since we didn't test.

Just about a week ago our apple tree finally started turning yellow, just overnight. While the kids were playing outside that evening, they put the kitty in the tree. 

You can barely tell there's a kitty in there until you see his one little yellow eye. He he! 

Peek a boo kitty. 

Such a fierce kitty, attacking the twigs and leaves!

Samuel was showing him where the good leaves were. 

Such a cute little tongue! 

I caught him yawning but I thought it looked like he was laughing... 

...so I made this. :D 

Two days ago Trouncer was napping on the school room couch while we were doing school when Luna started licking his butt. Ha!! Then they started fighting, rolling around, meowing and growling.

That night they were snuggly friends once again. So cute.

Today I was sitting in the recliner with my coffee before we started school. Kitty was sleepy after playing in the garage all night and it didn't take long for him to close his eyes. Ha! 

Dalton Lake hike

Last weekend, Friday, October 14, we went on yet another fall hike (Deerfield Trail was the weekend before). Originally I had wanted to go to Spearfish Canyon since we hadn't done our annual-ish fall hike there yet (2012, 2014, 2016 - so, every other year apparently!). We didn't leave until after lunch and after stopping for some snacks and at the bank, it was overwhelming to think of driving an hour north. I suggested we drive up nearby Nemo Road to Dalton Lake and immediately we made that decision.

We parked just east of the lake, parked, glanced at the map, and started. 

I hadn't been there at all since I was a very young girl when my family used to stay at my dad's hunting buddy's cabin up the hill. And actually, I don't have any memories of the lake itself, just playing in the creek below the cabin, so I had zero clue about where to hike. I think I had remembered that my biking friends had gone up there before...

 Once we walked through the field we reached the edge of the trees where a stream came out of the lake's dam.

This was the first hike where we let Luna completely off the leash since there were no other people around. She did great, thanks in great part to my dad's training of her to stay nearby and come on call when he watched her during our Utah and California this summer.

Samuel pointing out the funny cattails. We had lots of fun with them later... 

We went up to the bridge over the dam first.

Pretty little green lake. We should've brought fishing poles! There were tons of fish. 

The littles had fun throwing rocks and sticks down the spillway. 

Next we followed the lower path from the fork beside the dam and came to a dock.

Looking back east at the bridge and spillway we had just been at. 

The opposite half of the lake. 

Luna surprised us by voluntarily going into the lake and even playing with the submerged tree branches and moss. She needed a bath that night. The cat got one too. Ha!

The path ended at that dock so we headed back to the fork to take the upper path. 

Just starting out on the Centennial Trail.

The trail switchbacks up the hillside until the lake is out of view. So pretty, green, and peaceful from above!

Walking walking walking.

All we did for about a mile was climb up, up, and up. We would've had quite the view were it not for the trees.

We brought Samuel and Ezra's bikes but needed to leave Samuel's at the trail's start since it was too steep. He therefore sped along on his own two legs, chasing Ezra and Luna. You need a Strider for a trail like that but Samuel is quite the little runner.  

There had been extensive forest clearing on the hillside, but it was nice because you could see further.  If I had been by myself I would have probably climbed to the top of the hill, which was probably between a quarter and a half mile climb, just to see the view. But of course we didn't do that. I spy little Luna. She had such a great time.

We walked and walked and then stopped to consider the Avenza trail map on Terry's phone, trying to figure out where the trail went. We also considered bushwhacking our way straight down the hillside. In the end we had to turn around after a mile and a half or two but only after we came into some beautiful fall color and it was really getting interesting. Bummer. I never want to turn around but we finally did. I did quite a bit of video recording of Samuel running, Ezra riding, and Luna racing. They had such fun.

Some of that beautiful fall color...and Luna. 

Cute Ezzie with a birch or aspen trunk. 

I worked extra hard to put all the short videos I took into one longer video. They were too cute to delete and since I haven't made family video DVDs in years, this blog has sort of become our lives' archive.

I walked along ahead with the littles, trying to keep up with them and make sure they weren't eaten by mountain lions. Here they are almost at the bottom of the trail, waiting for me. And oh Luna looks like part of the sunny grass.

Same place but different perspective. I like the trail and trees and skies...and boys of course. :)

We came back down to that first bridge over the creek and discovered what cattails will do if you touch them. They totally explode! I don't know how I never knew that before! None of us did. Very entertaining. There may be a lot more reeds there next year because of us... Ha!

Again, these videos were too cool to simply delete or forget in social media, so I collected them all here.

I left the kids to play with the cattails and water and visited the bathroom but on my way back to them fell in love with the sun in the grass field. 

It was so hard to capture how golden and twinkling it all was. 

The grass was crazy tall! I tried to get Luna to sit for a size comparison shot but she kept coming towards me.

Pretty golden grasses.

I loved it! 

Trying to capture the variety of colors in the fall grass.

The grass was as tall as those boys on their bikes! 

So we far as I can tell, we hiked most of that portion to the right of Terry's finger. If we had kept going we would have come out on a road, but then we would've had to walk back down the road to the parking lot. It probably would be a lot of fun to bike.

We should explore more of the Centennial Trail because look at how big it is! 

We got back in the van and drove further down the gravel road to where the turn off was to my dad's friend's old cabin. I wish we could've gone beyond the gate to explore! I remember that road being crazy steep and what seemed treacherous. After that we turned right and followed the road miles back to where Terry and some youth had biked several years ago with Ed from Elkcreek Trail. I cannot believe how far they biked that day. Crazy. Anyway, it was a good day. We went back to town and rewarded ourselves with some Culvers for dinner. The kids seem to need some incentive to hike out in God's beauty. Eye roll! 

a fall day at the ranch

 Saturday October 7, the day after we hiked at Silver City, we went out to the ranch for a long overdue visit. After probably twenty years, Terry's parents had upgraded their living room with new carpet and furniture. It looked great but I forgot to take any pictures. Whoops! 

We also rode the roller coaster for one last time this season since Jerry wanted to winterize it. Samuel and Ezra have historically been pretty terrified of the roller coaster, but for some reason this day they both rode it. And Ezra rode all by himself and rode for several different rounds! Samuel was emphatic with Grampa that he only wanted to go four times around and then he was absolutely done.

Look at that adorable smile on Ezra's face! What a big boy.

Daddy started and ended with Ezra. It was quite a step for Sarah to ride the roller coaster too. Oh, and zooming in on Evie's face is pretty funny.  

Samuel watched every single run from beside Grampa but he was totally not going to be talked into going again. It worried me that Luna was up there but apparently she knows how not to die by staying away from the coaster when it goes by. 

While we waited for some neighbors to arrive we walked over to Snap's grave. That's especially sad for Noah, but all the kids tended to his grave by collecting more rocks to put over him. 

Jerry had invited some neighbor's to come for their first roller coaster ride and that's them riding. It was a gorgeous day.

They rode over on this old truck with three dogs and six people! The four in the back were actually sitting on lawn chairs. Ha!

After lunch and some cards, Terry and I took our kids plus Grace on a four wheeler ride. Those distant trees are my favorite part of going out there.

We always take a break in the trees and imagine how perfect it would be to have a house right there. 

We had a boys and girls 4-wheeler.  

I got stuck in a rut on the slope of a hill and didn't feel comfortable getting out of it so I had Terry come back and drive it out. It was no problem for him. Here's the kids just waiting. Terry's grandparents place is behind them.

We drove around Terry's grandpa's old car parking lot. The sun was so golden on the yellow trees and four foot tall grass that I had to go take a look. 

A old corral or shoot in front of a row of fall trees. 

A panoramic...

I climbed up on something to try to see what was beyond the old truck. I was a little worried about going into such deep grass. Snakes and such... 

Looking left at all those old out building. I wonder what's still in them? 

There was an old boat floating in the grass behind me, and beyond that is Evie and Grace impatiently calling me to come back.

How cool is Grampa's old plane?!!

I didn't want to be done yet so we went back up the hill and drove around a little longer until Shari texted me. 

What a picturesque day.