Puerto Vallarta

The summer adventures weren't over quite yet for me. In August, through a convoluted chain of events, it happened that my parents and sister spent a few lovely days together in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We enjoyed some walks along the beach (early morning; it is hot there in August!)

One afternoon my sister, mom, and I went snorkeling at Los Arcos and saw some really interesting critters.

On the first evening we enjoyed a dinner with people that Laura works with, who were also in Puerto Vallarta as part of the long story having to do with why we were there too. Anyway, they were staying in probably the most fantastic house I'll ever spend time in, right on the beach with amazing views and a lovely pool and an entire wait staff on hand who were nice and would constantly bring you delicious drinks and made us an amazing dinner right on site. It was super fancy and a real treat. And there were lots of nice, interesting people to talk with. Cocktail party at sunset. 

We celebrated my sister's birthday twice in Mexico, and both times there was a bona fide flare in the cake.

We ate some really good food on the trip, but the best was at Cafe des Artistes, which really was some of the best food I've ever had in my life. The best was this pumpkin prawn soup. It doesn't look like much, I know, but I would consider going back to Puerto Vallarta just to have another bowl.

We did a little bit of shopping and sat around on the beach a bit and just relaxed. It was a really nice few days, and pretty unique for just the four of us to be together. It was a bit of a pre-wedding celebration (Laura got married a few months later, blog post on its way). There is something so comfortable about the rhythms of one's own family. I think we all felt lucky to have a few days to spend together, and chilling on the beach in Mexico was a nice way to do it! Love you, family!

Boys Climbing Mountains

As soon as we returned from our Europe trip, the boys and I started hiking mountains. I continued working on the Centennials (the highest hundred peaks in Colorado) by climbing Mt. Edwards (13,850 ft) with my friend Jared. We included Grays Peak (14,270 ft) and Argentine Peak (13,738 ft)  for a lovely 3 peak day.

Then I spent a rejuvenating solo day climbing 4 13ers around Buckskin and Willow Passes in the Maroon Bells Wilderness.

While Joseph was gone to scout camp, Caleb, Isaac, and I climbed the Decalibro: Mounts Democrat (14,148 ft), Cameron (14,238 ft), Lincoln (14,286 ft), and Bross (14,172 ft) from Kite Lake. It's a relatively easy way to climb 4 14ers in a day. Joseph and I climbed them together last year.

One afternoon, Caleb wanted to hike to the steam vents from the coal seam fire on Burning Mountain (7,730 ft) near our house. We were trying to hike fast and light so we didn't bring any water with us. We successfully made it to the summit and enjoyed seeing the vents up close. The afternoon was hot and the willows were a pain to navigate and we were extremely happy to return to the car and our waiting water.

I spent another solo day hiking Willoughby Mountain (13,142 ft) from East Snowmass Creek.

When Joseph returned from scout camp, Caleb, Isaac, and I hiked Quandary Peak (14,265 ft) with him. 

Isaac heading up

Mountains everywhere. Discerning viewers can see Mounts Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross, as well as other 14ers and 13ers.

The boys were in swimming lessons for the next two weeks so I took a couple of solo trips to the Holy Cross Wilderness and climbed New York Mountain (12,550 ft), Finnegan Peak (13,346 ft), Pika Peak (13, 126 ft) and Gold Dust Peak (13,380 ft)

 Lake Charles in the morning light

Mount Jackson and the Holy Cross Ridge above the Gold Dust Lakes

 New York Lake between New York Mountain and Finnegan Peak

Me on top of Gold Dust Peak

Jared and I continued our Centennial quest with Clinton Peak (13,857 ft) and its subpeaks Traver Peak (13,852 ft) and McNamee Peak (13,780 ft)

Wheeler Lake with Wheeler Mountain (13,690 ft) and North Star Mountain (13,614) Both peaks are in my future.

Jared on the ridge between Clinton and McNamee

Mount Arkansas (13,795 ft) and the headwaters of the Arkansas River

Obligatory alpine water fall photo

In August, after swimming lessons were done, Isaac, Caleb, Joseph, and I took a short backpacking trip to the San Juans to climb some mountains. We climbed Uncompahgre Peak (14,309 ft), Matterhorn Peak (13,590 ft), and Wetterhorn Peak (14,015 ft)

Starting out

In the upper Wetterhorn basin

Eating breakfast at our campsite, sunrise on Wetterhorn and Matterhorn

Making our way up to Uncompahgre Peak

Notch and flowers on the way up Uncompahgre Peak

The sheer north face of Uncompahgre Peak

Uncompahgre summit selfie

Starting up the grassy slopes to Matterhorn. It gets rockier at the top.

Summit of Matterhorn Peak with Wetterhorn Peak in the background

Fun scrambling near the summit of Wetterhorn Peak

 Wetterhorn summit selfie

Then we joined Jared and his son Jake on a fishing and climbing trip to Mount Buckskin (13,865 ft), another Centennial.

 Ben was excited to go with us.

 Pikas are lagomorphs, like rabbits, not rodents.

 Summit shot with Mount Democrat (14,148 ft) above Joseph's head

 Fishing at Kite Lake

Fishing at Kite Lake

The next week, I climbed Mount Arkansas (13,795 ft) and Mount Tweto (13,672 ft) solo.

The week after, Jared and I finished off our Centennial season with a hike of Cathedral Peak (13,943 ft)

Since the boys have Fridays off from school, Joseph, Caleb, Isaac, and I continued climbing 14ers until the weather got too bad. We climbed Grays Peak (14,270 ft) and Torreys Peak (14,267 ft).

Weather moving in. It got cold quickly. Caleb and Joseph who waited on the top of Grays Peak for Isaac and me felt the warmth drain out of their arms, fingers, and toes.

Starting on the ridge over to Torreys Peak. Everyone warmed up as we started moving.

 Summit selfie on Torreys Peak.

Our final 14er trip of the year took Joseph, Caleb and me to Mount Bierstadt (14,060 ft) and across the Sawtooth to Mount Evans (14,264 ft)

 Summit selfie on Mount Bierstadt with Mount Evans in the background

 Heading across the Sawtooth. Lots of fun scrambling.

 The exit ramp from the Sawtooth

 Joseph and Caleb on the Sawtooth

 Summit selfie on Mount Evans

 Final look back at Mount Bierstadt (above my head) and the Sawtooth (above Joseph's head)

It was a great climbing season. Here are everyone's lifetime stats:
Isaac - 10 of 58 14ers / 10 of 100 Centennials / 2 of 584 13ers
Caleb - 15 of 58 14ers / 15 of 100 Centennials / 2 of 584 13ers
Joseph - 18 of 58 14ers / 18 of 100 Centennials / 2 of 584 13ers
Nephi - 58 of 58 14ers / 85 of 100 Centennials / 63 of 584 13ers

Summertime

Summertime in Colorado is pretty nice; it felt good to get home and enjoy some of it. We got into a routine that included an hour of scout time each day for the three older boys, which gave us some nice structure and also helped the boys to really make progress in their various ranks. Isaac finished his Wolf, Caleb earned every Webelos activity badge as well as the Supernova award, and Joseph worked on his Star. There was also a good amount of mountain climbing that happened by Nephi and the older boys, which I'll leave for another post.

Caleb and Isaac looked adorable in their Cub Scout uniforms to perform a flag ceremony at our ward July 4th breakfast.

Joseph went to scout camp for the first time and had a great time. His favorite parts were learning to breathe fire and a knife throwing game. Obviously there were no moms around.

We fit in round of swimming lessons. Joseph's butterfly started looking pretty good.

I got older!

Eating Otter pops on the patio is a nice end to a summer day.

Ben doesn't like his hands to get cold.

And eventually it was the first day of school. Seventh, fifth, and third grade.