Gosh! Summer is so busy, I don't even have time to blog! So much stuff going on! Since my last post there have been barbecues and parties galore, a trip to an island paradise, some backpacking, some hiking, a concert, baking, gardening, much familial hob-nobbing, a lovely wedding, sea turtles, and malasadas. Really, really good malasadas. We also learned a little bit about archery, put together another batch of bread, more backpacking, some Shakespeare, and have a run planned for later this afternoon (because we're having a heatwave here - clearly exercise and baking are the things to do when it's 95 degrees out!)And here, in no particular order, is what we've spent the last couple of months doing:
We went hiking a couple of times. A dayhike from Frisco
to Copper Mountain, and also a long weekend in the Flattops Wilderness (south of Steamboat). While in the Flattops we put out an abandoned campfire (which made us MAD), spooked a herd of elk, and got blown around by the wind a lot. It was quite lovely - lots of water and snow, and rolling green meadows. We went over the Devil's Causeway on the way out, which was a little freaky.
Brent also went solo-hiking recently. He spent 4 days in Grand Tetons National Park, where he didn't get eaten by bears, or have to be choppered off a mountaintop. He did an approximately 90 mile loop from the southern end of the park north past Jenny Lake and around back down. While Brent was wandering around in the mountains, my car died on the side of I-25 between Windsor and FtC at midnight. Actually, my muffler finally decided to fall off, so I just couldn't drive it the rest of the way back - sparks everywhere! Luckily, Cody and Kristin came to rescue me, so I didn't have to sit on the side of the highway for too long, but it was exciting!
We went to Hawaii for my cousin, Ceci's, wedding (her blog is here). Brent and I were only there for a few days, but the rest of the family was out there for about a week. There were lots of family gatherings - one with Mom's side, one with Dad's side, and, of course, the Wedding. So Brent and I didn't get a lot of tourism in. We went to a beach one day and there were sea turtles feeding on the rocks, so we just waded out and watched them. Sometimes there were 3 of them, just swimming around us, eating the algae and seaweed off the rocks. That was really cool. We also visited Hanauma Bay (haven't been there in years!) and Foster Botanical Garden (where you can take a walking tour of "Exceptional trees"). Super-awesome shave ice at Shimazu Store (Red Velvet shave ice with condensed milk rocks my world. Seriously. Better than many cupcakes I've had.) Malasadas from Agnes' Portuguese Bakery in Kailua (they'll make them fresh for you, and are worth the wait. Better than Leonard's - really!). I didn't get any musubi, and that makes me sad, but I ate a lot of poke, and that almost makes up for it.
We spent our wedding anniversary in Boulder this year. We ate dinner at Jax Fish House, which is GREAT. We saw Measure For Measure at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, which was really well done. It made me want to go find a text copy of the play. Then we ate dessert at Boulder Baked, which only sounds like a marijuana dispensary. They actually bake cookies to order, and were really yummy. It was a lovely anniversary!
We've had several barbecue type get-togethers with friends, family, even work! Cody smokes awesome meats, Scott's got his ribs down to an art, and I've had a complete failure at cheesy corn bake. Stupid real cheese. I should know that you have to use Velveeta!
Brent's friend, Adwyn had his annual Barn Concert 
at the end of June. Brent played in 2 pieces this year, and a good time was had by all!We took a little introductory archery class with some co-workers. It was pretty neat, and much harder than I anticipated. Fun really, maybe we'll do more of that in the winter, when there's not so much stuff going on...
Garden Update!
I can kill pepper plants really fast. Carrots are progressing nicely. Tomatoes are HUGE. Here is a picture history of my tomatoes this year. It's crazy.
We've eaten a few tomatoes, and they're great! I've got new happy cucumbers and cantaloupe too, as well as restarting my lettuce and failed zucchini. The farmers market is going full swing, and I have an entire box of apricots (only $10! for a TON of apricots...) in the refrigerator that I plan on dehydrating. We have more backpacking planned next weekend, and Korin, Charli, and Grandma are coming out for a while in the week after that. Lots of fun stuff coming up! Larimer County Fair! Switzerland! San Franciso! New West Fest! Colorado Music Festival!
Here's hoping I manage to blog before September!
Kim
