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15 Hikes in 2015

We are days away from our final trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in 2015. I was going through our ‘log book’ and realized we went on 15 hikes with our little girl this year in RMNP and surrounding areas. We hiked over 77 miles with her in Colorado and loved (almost) every moment of it.

I learned a lot about being a Mom on the trail – like how to plan ahead and also how to go with the flow. We made a big commitment to spending a lot of time as a family out in the mountains. For our family it helps us stay healthy, have fun and connect to each other, God and nature.

I’m very thankful when I think back on our list. I hope it’s even longer in 2016. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and an adventurous New Year!

Deer Mountain, 6 miles
Twin Sisters, 7.3 miles
Bear Lake to Bierstadt Lake, 4.4 miles
Indian Peaks Wilderness Area – Brainard Lake/Lake Isabelle, 7 miles
Bear Lake to Emerald Lake Lookout, 6.8 miles
Lily Mountain, 3.6 miles
Bear Lake to the Loch, 6 miles
Cub Lake, 4.8 miles
Bear Lake to Emerald Lake, 3.6 miles
Wild Basin Trailhead to Ouzel Falls, 5.5 miles
Fern Lake Trailhead to Fern Falls, 5.2 miles
Bear Lake Trailhead to Mills Lake, 5.6 miles
Longs Peak Trailhead to Estes Cone, 6.6 miles
Lumpy Ridge Trailhead to Gem Lake, 3.6 miles
Lily Lake/Lily Ridge 1.3 miles

*Miles are approximate

December Festive Family To-do List

Today is the last day of November which for us was a month packed with travel and celebration. I think I basically checked off all my festive to-do items for the month:

We loved traveling to New York! We walked and walked around the city and of course never ran out of things to see.
We celebrated Cecy’s birthday in New York and with more family when we got back home to Kansas City. We wanted to keep it simple, but we sure spread out the fun and she loved opening presents, looking at her cards and decorations, and eating cake.

We went to Springfield, MO which is my husband’s home town and where we both went to college. The day before Thanksgiving (Wild Turkey Wednesday) we went out with friends to Missouri Spirits which is a ‘spirit house’ with handcrafted drinks using fresh local ingredients.
I made a cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. I found the recipe from William Sonoma, but changed it a little bit:

Ingredients:

half an orange

granny smith apple

3 cups fresh cranberries

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

In sauce pan add the apples after you peel and dice them. Next add juice from your orange and zest from the orange peel. Add cranberries, sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Bring to boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and cover the pan partially. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, the apple is tender and the cranberries have burst, 10 to 15 minutes. This will make your kitchen smell amazing!

#OptOutside Black Friday – we had to postpone our outside fun for a day because we are dealing with icy rain, but on Saturday evening we bundled up and went to the Overland Park Arboretum’s Holiday Luminary Walk. We enjoyed walking through candlelit paths, listening to Christmas carols, and drinking Louisburg Cider. This event is also taking place on December 4-5!

In December my festive family to-do list includes:

Baking holiday cookies
Making a homemade gingerbread house
Enjoying Christmas lights
Snuggling by the fireplace
Focusing on giving

Festive Family November To-do List

Wow! The month of October was packed full of fun and memorable events. Not only did we get to cheer on our boys in blue to their first championship in 30 years by going to the longest ever game 1 of the World Series, I think we completed nearly every item on my ‘festive family to-do list’:

We celebrated our German heritage by going to Oktoberfest in Hermann, MO with a great group of friends. Hermann is a beautiful, quaint town by the Missouri River. We appreciated having a baby sitter so we could enjoy the wineries.
There are so many great pumpkin patches in the Kansas City area, it was hard to decide which to go to. We finally chose a fundraiser pumpkin patch at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Overland Park, KS. Cecy loved riding in the red wagon with our pumpkins and we loved that our money went to a good cause.
I made a pumpkin pie
We hosted a Halloween brunch for Cecy’s first birthday which is coming up in November. We invited a few of my best friends who also have little girls. The girls ate pumpkin pancakes, danced to Monster Mash and looked adorable in their Halloween costumes. I think we might make this an annual tradition!

We enjoyed autumn leaves while hiking in Colorado. Cecy also enjoyed stomping on the leaves (she is walking now!) at Leawood City Park in Leawood, KS. We were excited to find this park because the playground was built for toddlers.
We missed the parade but enjoyed the festive atmosphere at BearFest Village for Missouri State University’s homecoming.
We made a family photo book and I love how it turned out. I bought the personalized book from Lakeshore Learning.

I don’t see how we can beat the fun we had in October, buy we will try. My festive family to-do list this month includes:

Visiting Central Park in New York
Celebrating Cecy’s first birthday
Partaking in Wild Turkey Wednesday
Baking something with cranberries
Focus on gratitude
#OptOutside Black Friday

October Festive Family To-do List

Haha that picture brings back memories of last fall. My oh my was I ready to meet Cecilia and I can’t believe how much life has changed from one year ago. I really thought she was going to be born on October 28th, even though her due date was November 1. I was wrong! She was born on November 10th.

As she gets closer to her big 1 year old birthday, our little adventures are becoming more and more fun. September was a busy month for us. My favorite activity was picking apples with Cecilia! I’m planning to make this an annual tradition.

Now that October is just a couple days away, I’m making a festive family to-do list:

Celebrate our German heritage – Oktoberfest
Go to a pumpkin patch
Make something pumpkin-y
Plant mums on our front porch
Dress up for Halloween
Enjoy the changing leaves
Go to homecoming parade
Have a bonfire
Make a family photo book for Cecy to help her remember our out-of-town family

Am I missing anything?