Black Canyon

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Forest is turning out to be one of our favorite family outings. It is a gorgeous canyon area just outside of town with many great hikes & views. This was my first trip out & my mom's too. My dad & Luke had gone out on a hike the day before & returned insisting we all go back the next day. They were right! It was so spectacular. And the lighting was amazing since we went in the late after noontime.

For the nature lovers:

I don't know if you can tell by these shots, but the distance down to the river is about 1/2 a mile. (The river is barely visible in the very bottom of the valley-it's the white spots.)

Who's your daddy?

Mom pretending to be scared.

Family shot, amazing backdrop.

A Thorkildsen classic family photo-Joss being difficult & Trip in lala land.

Trip took a Fall

Poor Trip-it was a rough afternoon for the little guy. On top of new little canine teeth coming in & a snotty nose, he had his first bloody indecent. He was figuring out riding the little tricycle on his own, and doing quite well really. But all the sudden his weight just slightly shifted & that tiny bike popped right out from under him & he went over the handle bars to land on his face on the back porch. He was just shaking & screaming & we thought for sure we were going to have another snaggle tooth on our hands. But once the bleeding slowed down we could see his teeth were intact. Saved by his lip! These pics were a few minutes after it happened. Luke took a few yesterday that I'll have to load later. It turned into a giant blood blister after a day or 2. He is healing up quite well. Aside from looking like a duck with a little beak for a few days, you'd never know what happened!

Ice Cream You Scream

We all scream for Ice Cream! Jossi loves chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. So after a very brave trip to a new doctor in a new town we had a date to Cold Stone (the only Ice cream shop in town-side note). She was so thrilled when she saw blue ice cream. Blue is by far her number one favorite color right now. So she got a mixed scoop of blue cotton candy & chocolate ice cream with rainbow sprinkles-they don't have chocolate sprinkles there! She was the happiest girl on the block. I had to get a few iphone shots.

For the record I got coffee & chocolate ice cream with almonds mixed in on a cone-amazing!

~KJ

First Farmer's Market Outing

And the first of many! I LOVE the market & picking out fresh produce to cook with. I am so hooked. There is so much great produce to choose from. You can just pay for it & eat it on the spot because everything is organic. "Just dust it off & pop it in your mouth" an old farmer told my mom about her purchase of little cherry tomatoes. There is a Saturday market & a Wednesday one too, but last week Wednesday was a poor showing. I don't know if it was the rain or what. But we ventured out anyways, ever-ready to meet people & make friends (and pet new doggie friends-Trip's favorite part). These shots are of Saturday-perfect weather.

Thanks dad for introducing us to chocolate bread-the kids don't know & what they don't know won't hurt them. They love it! So I was inspired that I tried some banana bread & added freshly grated yellow squash & an extra bit of brown sugar. And they LOVE it! The smell of sweet success. Who knew it smelled like yummy fresh bread?



Oh p.s. I am trying to get a Scentsy booth lined up so I can get some business going out here. Wish me luck!

~KJ

This goes out to the Brothers of the Duckhood

On Labor Day once my parent's sad departure was over we headed out to the local pizza joint to cheer ourselves up. The food was amazing at Phagre's-the kids ate sooo much! Then we went to the park for a little fresh air. We came around the corner & you would not have believed your eyes! The wild geese had taken over the pond at the park. Kolbe & Luke were both at attention & drooling instantly, Luke yelling "Ker! Get the camera! You gotta get a picture of this for the duck brothers!" It was so awesome to see so many big birds all in one place. The honking was defening & the feathers & poop covered the ground. Then we had to head over to the river

so Kolbe could have a swim (which Luke thinks is the equivalent of a bath!) ICK! So I thought you might enjoy these shots. Miss you guys!

On a more personal note, here's a few shots of the kids for all the women-folk.