Fall is coming to the mountains

The mountains here in Colorado are beautiful in the fall, known for their groves of aspens that turn golden. There isn't too much variety in trees, except for evergreens/pines and aspens, but the contrast of dark green and yellow is stunning. We were fortunate to be able to take three nights/two days to go west a bit to Frisco, and see some of these colors starting to come out. It's still very sunny and warm in Colorado Springs, but 3-4,000 feet higher in elevation the temperatures have dropped and the trees are changing.

Thanks to some kind folks that we know from Wheaton, we have a place to stay in Frisco (town next to Breckenridge). It was really fun to be there at a different time of year, since our last visit there was December 2013 with Dad and Mom H. What a great small town! Lots of outdoor activities to do, and tons of hiking trails. We wish we could rent bikes and explore, or get a little boat and tool around the lake, or head out for a long day hike... but that is for the future (when we don't have small children...). So instead we contented ourselves with short walks near town, lots of playground play-time, picnic lunches, and the gorgeous road trip winding through the mountains.

Whole Foods was right next to their house and has 25 cent coffee this month, so we were there a lot...

There is a large reservoir adjacent to the town (created in the 1960s and now covering what had once been the village of Dillon). Thus the name is Dillon Reservoir. It's amazing to be in the mountains and be lakeside! "Okay, let's move here," I said to Jim, jokingly. One morning we walked around the harbor, played at the park and had a picnic lunch. It was windy and sunny, and the boats were bouncing in the water and there was the familiar sound of metal & ropes clanging on the docks. I almost thought I was back in Mill Bay, BC. If only!!

Timo is his element - throwing rocks into the lake!

At the house, Timo's favorite thing was to race cars on the wood floor. Since we have carpet at our house, this was a real treat. And Mattias practiced going up stairs, yikes!

The next day we walked on the trail along the edge of town, and stopped at another playground for playtime and lunch. 

When we were here two years ago with Dad and Mom, we snowshoed on the trail leading up into the hills. It would have been beautiful to do that in September amidst all the aspens... (but alas my back was bothering me and we didn't want to risk carrying both boys in the backpacks)

And the answer is...

Erik Petersons! 

[In answer to, "Who is going to come visit us next?" See here.]

All weekend, Timo wanted "Mr Erik" to read to him. This book is one that Erik and Jane sent us when Gemma was born.

It had been 8 years since we last saw Erik (and his now-wife Jane), back when we lived in Wheaton in a basement apartment on Wesley Street, 2005-2007. Our first year there, Jane and her college roommates lived in the 3rd floor apartment of the house, and the next year, Erik and his roommates were in that apartment. Erik and Jim met together regularly. It was SO great to see him again and share life together for 3 quick days. One of our mutual loves & interests is in cooking, and making things from scratch - so we had a lot to talk about and compare notes as to what things are regularly going on in our kitchens. We agreed that the main answer to that is, of course: "washing dishes". But such is the task of cooking!!

Of course, we had to take a walk through the main part of Garden of the Gods, with a picnic lunch. Amazingly, it was a chilly & cloudy day (the only chilly day we have had in months!) but it was still beautiful.

Once again, Timo asked, "what's this sign say?"

Lunch time, and the first of 3 picnic meals with Erik (that's the only way to maximize outings and mealtimes with little kids' schedules!). Hey Mom, recognize this spot? This is the same table we sat at on our very first picnic in the park, with you in August 2013!

Erik definitely has a calm, relaxed, comfortable manner - and both our boys took to him and enjoyed him easily. (Thank you, Erik!!)
 

What's that face, Jim?! Oh, it's because Mattias is grabbing your ear.

Back at home - making applesauce. We do this regularly in our house, but I have never taken the time to can it, even though I have been wanting to for a long time (and we have everything in the house needed to do so). Since Erik and Jane do a lot of canning, Erik did a primer lesson with me and we canned this batch. Hurray! One of my life goal's accomplished/begun! 

The other thing Erik taught us was how to make homemade sauerkraut, which is another item I have been wanting to try, ever since Karin Svenson told me about it a few years ago. And we're not just talking cabbage in brine - we're talking green cabbage, purple cabbage, beets, carrots, onions, and garlic, with sea salt. Incredible and colorful!! Well... we hope so... the first batch is still fermenting and we have yet to try it. (It takes a couple of weeks until it's ready. Another post coming on that.)
 

Second day's walk and picnic lunch was on Colorado College campus. It was back to our usual warm and sunny this day. We sat at a bench on a patio overlooking the soccer field, and up to the mountain range.
 

That evening, after a full afternoon of naps (for the boys) and cooking (for us 3 adults), we headed out again for a picnic supper and playtime at America the Beautiful Park.
 

...it's just iced tea...

Sunday morning was church, and that afternoon Erik's brother Bruno came by to pick up Erik. Bruno and Jim were classmates from elementary school (or "grammar school", as Jim says) all the way through high school!! Now Bruno and his wife live near Pagosa Springs, Colorado (about 5 hours from us). We had a great afternoon catching up and talking all things Colorado and Wheaton memories - and Bruno got us inspired to continue to explore Colorado. Then the two brothers were off for a night of camping, before they both returned home the following day.

Erik, it was amazing to have you here! Thank you for coming! (And thank you to Jane, and Meredith & Eliza, for loaning him.)

Mattias is getting there!

Mattias is getting ever more mobile and stronger since turning 10 months old. He wants to be involved in whatever Timo is doing, or wants to get into all the non-toys (garbage can, electrical cords, kitchen cupboards) and often goes to the door and starts "talking" and banging on the door to be let outside to play. His favorite spot in the front yard is right at the corner of the flower bed, where he sits in the mulch and plays with the rocks around the border. In that backyard, he goes all over (and it's a big yard!), finding sticks and pushing his cart. He is good at going up stairs, but hasn't figured out going down, and thus has bonked his head a few times. At the park, he loves to climb stairs and go into tunnels, or sit at the top of the slide, getting increasingly excited. I need to get a photo of that. We are glad that the weather is still warm and sunny this month so we can be outside every day.

On this occasion, he pushed his cart all the way to the back of the yard and over onto the grass. He was SO excited to stand at the fence by himself and investigate the weeds and fencing.

And a quick photo of Timo, engaged in one of his favorite kitchen activities - emptying out the drawer with cooking utensils and tools. "Oh, Mommy! What's this one do?" he asks. By now he knows the answer to most of those questions, so then I turn the question around to him and he answers. Then we talk about cutting biscuits and grating carrots and cutting bread and squeezing lemons and opening cans - paying particular attention and care to which items are sharp. And then he dumps it all back in. (I've given up on organizing this drawer! As long as it closes, I'm happy.)

Soccer! It must be the fall season!

Hurray, it's soccer season!!!! (How many exclamation points can I add so that you sense our excitement?! See, there's another one! And another!) We attended a Colorado College women's game at the beginning of their season, on a Friday afternoon. We love that we live less than a mile from campus. It's not Wheaton or Duke or UNC or Indiana, but we'll take it! The women's team joined Division 1 last year in the Mountain West conference, which is pretty unusual for a college of 2,000 students. This was early in the season so it was a non-conference game (which, sadly, they lost 3-0). So wonderful to be outside, at a grass (!!!) field, sitting in the "stands" with students and families. 

Timo was really, really excited and insisted on bringing his little soccer ball and wearing his new (hand me-down) Adidas soccer shoes and kicking the ball throughout most of the game. Fortunately the seating is benches built into the side of a grassy hill, so there was plenty of room for that! And plenty of room for us to eat our picnic supper at halftime. Sorry, Mom, no cold chicken and roast potatoes, it was just sandwiches and fruit. Hopefully we can fit in another game this season (they don't have lights, so most of the games are early afternoon or Sunday mornings.)

This photo was at the start of the game when Timo was still sitting quietly. Once it got going, he didn't sit down again.

Anytime there was a goalie punt or high kick, Timo would raise his hands and shout out, "Whoa! Big high one!" After some initial 'looks', the students nearby got used to him and didn't seem to notice.

Jim turns thirty-something!

Happy Birthday, Jim! Yep, he's 37 years old now. He got back from his trip to Uganda late on the evening of Sep 1st, so a few days later - when the weekend arrived - we finally had his birthday meal and dessert, and opened his presents and all his cards from family. (Now for the hard work of deciding which book on his Amazon wish list he is going to get with his gift card. Thanks to Katie and Noah!)

The dinner - a surprise meal of new recipes, as always - turned out to be both amazing and disappointing. We had a main course salad with fresh kale, roasted leeks and beets, sun-dried tomatoes, lentils, pumpkin seeds and a lemon-maple-tahini dressing. Amazing. Oh, and maple-glazed carrots. I also made naan dough and was ready to broil it in the oven (okay, so I've made it once before, but it had been so long, I considered it a 'new' recipe again) - but after an HOUR, our oven still had not gotten hotter than 400 degrees. Time to call the Landlord. So... we had baked bread circles, or whatever you want to call them. They tasted fine, but just worlds away from real naan. Disappointing. During dinner we dreamed up a plan for our future backyard patio and outdoor kitchen, complete with a brick outdoor oven. Oh, and then we had chai, too (Timo had it for dinner. A complete meal. Tea and bread.).

Isn't he the cutest! Look at those little curls coming in the back!

And Timo with his crazy hair, too.

This year we decided to split up the dinner and the dessert into two days, which was fun (and kept us from stuffing ourselves silly in one meal). Sunday afternoon teatime was chocolate cake! It was a new vegan chocolate cake recipe, using coffee as the liquid and baked in a Bundt pan. Very rich and moist and delicious, if I do say so myself. Paired with soy vanilla ice cream, which we just discovered at Trader Joe's.

 

We froze a quarter of the cake for another time, and then I sliced up the rest, and Timo & I ran around to some neighbors to deliver it. Very fun time, and we ended up having a nice visit and conversation with some new neighbors at the end of the street who have a 1 year old son.

Follow up: a walk for Gemma's birthday

On the morning of Gemma's birthday, the boys and I met Fiona and Megan & Emmalyn at the main section of Garden of the Gods for a walk and picnic lunch. How wonderful to have such a friend to spend the morning with!! It was a really sunny, warm day but that didn't stop Megan and Timo from running and hopping all the way. They both were also very curious about all the signs along the trail ("rattlesnakes may be present", "protect our natural resources", "Stop, climbing gear and permit required"), and the rock climbers we saw at several points. It reminded me so much of our first trip there, and Gemma's joyful inquisitiveness about all the same things.

Fiona brought pink sugar cookies for us all - which of course we had first thing at lunchtime!

 

View of the rocks at a pull-off point on our way back home

And - remembering back to August 2013... We had just arrived in Colorado Springs (with Jaja, who drove out to help with the move) and spend the first Sunday morning on a walk and picnic lunch at the same location.

5th Birth-Day for Gemma

Our minds have been full of Gemma these past weeks, as we have been anticipating this Day, her Birthday. Though she is no longer on earth and in our home, September 1 will always be her birthday, and she will always be a part of our family.

I recently heard a recitation of this poem, and it struck me - struck me fully - as beautiful, true words that I can hear Gemma saying for her own life. She was taken from us in the night - but her Creator was there, guiding her path, and there was LIGHT. I don't mean that in a metaphorical sense - I mean that literally and with forceful reality. These words are more true for her now than ever before!! 

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!  
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
    At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

you formed me in my mother's womb.

I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration - what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread before you,

The days of my life all prepared

before I'd even lived one day.

Psalm 139, verses 7-16, The Message version

Hallelujah! Amen and Amen! We say that only with many, many tears and trembling.

...And now, for some fun pics of our beautiful, goofy, sweetie-head.

9 days old!

6 months old and starting to eat solids

10 months old and walking!

First Birthday - a chocolate ice cream cone at local shop in Bloomington, Indiana, with some colleagues of Jim's from the university. Gemma took one lick of the ice cream, and then went to go play.

One Year Old pic at the rail-trail bridge

20 months old (and finally getting more hair)

Second Birthday, at Granddad and Nonna's house in Wheaton, IL. We had a few friends and family gathered to celebrate with balloons and cake and M&M's, thanks to Nonna's initiative. Gemma hadn't figured out how to blow out the candles, but she had no trouble eating up the cake and asking for a second piece!

2 1/2 years, after nap snuggles with 6 month old Timo

2 1/2 years old, in Durham

almost 3, in Colorado Springs (helping get Daddy's birthday supper ready)

3rd Birthday - in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We had friends Miriam and Karen join us for presents, birthday hats, and a "chocolate cake with pink frosting", Gemma's requests in the months leading up to her birthday! This time she definitely knew how to blow out the candles!