New Quilt

This quilt has been in progress for about a year and a half, last night I finally finished it. I gave it to Viola this morning and she is pretty excited even though it was made to fit a baby and she is anything but.

It is made of vintage scarves that I have inherited from my Evie (my grandmother), Mrs. Lail (my mothers church circle leader and an amazing quilter in her own rite), and Dorothy (my former bosses mother-in-law).  Thanks ladies for having amazing scarf collections.

This is a quote from one of our very favorite children's books: One Little Mouse.

It's the prefect size for a backyard tea party.

PROJECT 54 and My First 14ers

 I (Brian) just got back from a trip into the San Juan Mountains to climb Sunshine Peak in support of Project 54, mentioned in a previous post.

 Click here for full album.

 Our efforts began early Saturday morning with several miles of hiking along a long valley that gradually climbed to the back of Mt Red Cloud.  The view below looks back toward our campground from a bit more than midway up the valley. We were about to pass the treeline.

 Here we are a little farther along and above the treeline. We left camp at 6:00am (or close to it) so I'm guessing this photo was taken around 7-7:30.  As you can see, the sun had not yet cleared the mountains from our perspective. It was much colder there in the San Juans than here in Fort Collins. At night the temperature dipped to freezing (or very nearly), but by the time of this photo I imagine it was in the upper forties or low fifties. I had a good sweat going, so I didn't mind it too much when the water hose from my backpack drained unexpectedly and saturated my side. But, the air was dry and so was my shirt before too long.

Along our way to the top of Sunshine the team traversed Mt. Red Cloud, another 14er. Here we are nearing the summit of Red Cloud.

 Group photo on Red Cloud. Left to right you see Eric, John, myself, Sam (way back), Davis, Julie (up front), Alissa, and Toby the dog. Doug also made the trip, but he was left in camp to get much needed rest; he had not slept the night before and was not in shape to hike the day.

 This shot looks down into the basin shared by the two 14ers. I took the photo from the saddle between them. In the distance you can see some trees. There, the basin forms a "T" with the long valley we climbed at the start of the day. Our campsite is out of sight to the left, behind the mountain, and the route up Red Cloud passes behind the slope to the right. We would hike this basin on the way out. And, later that day, from this vantage point, hikers might witness our team in its hour of despair, and recoil in horror! JK

 A gratuitous shot atop the ridge.

 Here we are victorious, having reached our goal, the summit of Mt Sunshine. I believe it was sometime around 12pm. The peak of Red Cloud can be seen in the background. You may have noticed that we were then short two teammates. Sam got altitude sickness between the summits and could not continue. Eric escorted him down the mountain. Sam was fine after descending the mountain and did manage to get a 14er under his belt. After all, he had a well rounded mountaineering experience, and I think that's the best you can say for it. Many thanks to Eric!

 We reached an unexpected bluff on the way down the backside of Sunshine. It was decided that we should go down one by one, for our safety, in case of falling rocks. Here, John goes ahead of the team.

 This is a view from the bottom of the steep ravine we descended. The landscape consisted of nothing but fields of rock for the next mile or more.

 We finally reached the stream bed and followed it back to camp. This photo looks back up the basin we had just descended. It the distance, to the right, you can see the bluffs and the steep ravine we came through. Grass and shrubs had returned by this altitude, but we had not yet reached the treeline, or met the incoming trail. There were several miles of hiking left to go.

 All in all, the hike took about 8hours. It was a great time.

Click here for full album

Cutting Up, in a good way

Viola received her first scissors in the mail yesterday.  I know that she is ready for it but I am terrified.

Who wants chocolate?

 Viola mixed up a delicious looking "chocolate" concoction today in the back yard.  

 This bee really wanted some.

 Anna (who lives upstairs) wondered if Charlie gets left out of photos because he is often strapped to me.  So here's Charlie.

And did you know...

...that Viola has a pet dinosaur named Yoohoo.  I would show you a picture of him but he's shy.

He's doing it!

 Charlie is a reluctant bumbo sitter.  Today he gave it a good seven minutes. 

 Way to go Charlie.

And the ever attentive big sister.

My first load on the line

 Our new apartment does not have a washer and dryer so we have gotten a portable washer that hooks up to the kitchen sink and a close line.  I would feel super green about it if I didn't wash and dry four other loads in the upstairs neighbors washer and dryer today.  Thanks Anna and Davis.

I must confess that the towels are rather crispy. 

Viola is so excited about using the close line just like in "Make-er-match"  which is what she calls Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof.

Small Chair

 Doug and Lois brought a little chair over and Viola is super excited.

Quilt Festival Fun

 The kids and I went with our good friend Lois to see an array of quilts at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival today. 
They had a huge display of Route 66 themed quilts including the Wigwam Motel which we stayed in on our Grand Circle Road Trip.

 Viola was really excited to hold Lois's hand at the festival but Lois did one better and held the whole Viola.

 This was my favorite,  I love quilts and aspen trees so what could be better than an aspen tree quilt.

 We had to get a big pretzel to be able to last through the whole convention center.  It worked wonderfully.

 Viola's favorite.  Here she is posing like one of the flower maidens.  She put that pink outfit together all by herself.  When Viola matches you know that I didn't dress her.

 Charlie was a trooper.  He is facing the front now and just looked around with out making a peep.  The ladies at the quilt festival loved him.

This photo defines the Viola-Charlie relationship to-a-T

Charlie does love Viola but sometimes her attentions toward him can be more than he can handle.

About town

 We have been taking lots of walks lately.  Today we walked into town to do some errands, the kids were so excited.  This is where we stopped for a quick middle of the sidewalk diaper change to try to stop the crying.

 

 Is that cup tiny or is Viola a giant?

Thanks grocery store Starbucks for the free sample while we sat in your chairs eating hummus and crackers.

 Then we came across an organic crepe cart so of coarse I had to stop.  We had organic banana with Colorado made Justin's chocolate hazelnut butter.  It was organically delicious.

Over Easy

Brian just got a new small ceramic coated frying pan for the exclusive purpose of frying eggs with runny yokes.  He was quite pleased with the outcome and so was Viola.

Exploring the world of cheese with holes.

 Viola has been dabbling in Papa cheese (that's what she calls cow's milk cheese) and is seems to be going pretty well.  Yesterday she chose some swiss for her morning slice.  I'm not sure that she liked it but she would never admit it.

Charlie was really sick yesterday, it's a good thing that there is a doctor in the house.

 He did have to have a few shots but he was a brave patient.

 As you can see he is recovering well.

Help Brian Summit Sunsine Peak

Brian has signed up to participate in Project 54 on August 25th.  He will be climbing Sunshine Peak (Elevation: 14006 ft) with a team from our church to raise money for the Wilderness Ministry institute and he needs donations.  If you are interested in contributing or learning more about Project 54 click here.

Apples and Snowboots

 If an apple a day keeps the doctor away then Viola really wants to stay healthy because she ate six apples today. 

 She has decided that it is now snowboot weather since it stayed in the 80's today.

Sibling Bath-time

 Viola is so excited to have Charlie in the tub with her. 

 Last night when I said that she needed a bath she jumped up from the dinner table and said "With Charlie!" and ran into the bathroom.  It's a positive change from the crying "I don't need a bath" that we have been hearing around here.

 She washes his hair and dumps water on him while I make sure he doesn't face plant in the water.