Summer Vacation 2013 - Day 3

From our first hike, we learned that the boys needed more than sneakers, so we contributed to the local economy of Estes Park and bought each some new hiking shoes. (I'm hoping that they give up wearing them so that I can inherit them)

We all seemed to be doing well with the altitude, and the boys did great on our first trial hike, we upped the ante for our next hike: Lake Helene. We left the Bear Lake trailhead and climbed up, up, up to the lake. It was absolutely breathtaking!

Instead of going back the way we came, we headed down the mountain on a different trail. The park service has shuttle busses that go from trailhead to trailhead, so you don't have to end up at your stating point. From Lake Helene, we hiked down, down, down a steep and rocky horse trail.



We spent half of our time on the trail right at treeline. At Lake Helene (10,700 ft elev) the boys played in the snow. No one went swimming, though.

GP did not like the exposed parts at all. It was a long way down to the bottom of the canyon. I'm glad he wasn't sitting six feet higher on a stumbling horse.

On our descent, we passed Lake Odessa, Fern Lake, and a pretty waterfall. Each lake had its own feel. This is Fern Lake.

Summer Vacation 2013 Day 2

On our second day, we figured we needed to take it easy and get acclimated to the elevation. Estes Park is at 7200 feet, and the trailhead is at 9400 feet. We hiked an easy 1.8 mile trail up to three lakes: Nypmh, Dream, and Emerald.

The boys had no problem walking the trails.

The views along the way and at each lake were incredible.

Emerald Lake is fed by the Tyndall Glacier, which sits another 1000 feet above the lake.

The big cliff face leads to Hallet Peak, 12,700'. It is visible from the condo and it called out to us the entire week.

 

Summer Vacation 2013 Day 1

For our official summer vacation of 2013, we ventured west to the charming town of Estes Park. Gramma & Grampa gave us a week at their timeshare there. It took 8 hours of road time to get there. It's so much nicer now traveling with the boys and their headphones.

The first day, we explored the town. One of the first stores we found was "Big RED of the Rockies". A Nebraska gear store that sells nothing but Husker stuff.

The view from the condo was fantastic. It backed up against Big Thompson River. The same river that cut the twisting and winding canyon that leads from the plains up to Estes Park. I kicked myself the entire time for pulling my fly rod out of the car at the last minute. We were packed to the gills, and I figured there would not be any opportunities to fish. I was wrong.
 

Every afternoon, we had rain showers. We came prepared with full rain/cold weather jackets, so it didn't bother us. We were thankful that we had a dryer in the condo and weren't camping the entire time.

On the night we arrived, a bear wandered into one of the saloons downtown. It was on the front page of the local paper, and since then has made it all the way to the UK. When we told our friends about it, they said they had seen it on the news here in Nebraska. Check it out: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/bear-wanders-into-bar-bar-hopping-bruin-toast-of-lonigans-saloon-in-estes-park

New Floor - Weekend 2

Last weekend, we nailed down most of the floorboards. During the week, we put in the last six courses. Seems like we went thru an entire box of nails. Between the two heater vents and a bunch of network cabling, it took forever.



Saturday morning we hit the Home Depot bright and early to get the drum sander. It was a ton of work, but nothing like the nailer. GP had fun running it. We sanded down the entry way, too - it was full of scratches and dings.

After four hours of drum sanding, we got the ginormous 4-headed random-orbit edge sander. It was easy enough to operate, but it did not have a bag. (!!!) Without the bag, it just made dust (very quickly) and then blew it out the exhaust where a bag would normally attach. Imagine creating ten pounds of super-fine sawdust and distributing the sixty-billion particles in every nook and cranny. It was JP's nightmare!

The bare oak was so clean and fresh looking compared to the existing floor. We hated to alter it with a stain. We went with "Natural Oak" colored stain - it was a better match than "Golden Oak". The kitchen matched nearly perfectly; the dining room is faded from the sun and is a completely different color. The refinished entryway boards (same as the dining room) match the new boards.

We will try to get three coats of polyurethane on it Sunday. It's looking like a nice day to spend outside in the fresh air.

New Floor - Day 2

Day two ended with a trip to the Home Depot to return the nailer and compressor. We were only a few hours late on the return.



We were able to get all but the last six courses complete before the nailer ran out of space.

 

New Floor - Day One

Our project for this weekend is to lay a new floor in the living room. We're going old-school with 3/4" red oak to match the rest of the house. Step one is to get it down, step two will be to sand and finish it.



The last time I did this, I used a manual nailer. This time we're using a pneumatic one. It's much easier on the hands not having to pound with a heavy mallet, but it's killer on the back having to be stooped over all day.

On our first day, we put down 135 of the required 380 square feet. We averaged 22 square feet per hour. I'm not looking forward to day two.

 

Speaker of the House

CP went to speech/drama camp at the high school. It was a week of long 8:00 to 5:45 days of speech and drama fun. He put together an act where he played seven different characters and acted out a story. For his final presentation, he had to dress up and look presentable. JP had to go out and get him some new clothes; with his latest growth spurt, his old ones don't fit any more. I'm starting to feel like my dad: short.

 

Blue Wall

The wall in the living room has been the same color for too long. JP decided to paint it the same blue (officially a shade of grey) as our bedroom.



We put all the furniture from the living room in the dining room. The sofas are standing on end - no better place for a cat lookout perch.

The boys enjoyed ripping out the carpet to prepare for a new hardwood floor. I was so happy to see the carpet go away. With boys and animals, carpet is not an option.

 

Independence Day 2013

I made it back from Wisconsin the afternoon of July 3rd. There's no way I was going to miss out on the 4th; it's my favorite holiday in Nebraska! MN drove out and spent the long weekend with us.



This year, the 4th fell on a Thursday, which made for a 4-day weekend. The neighbors all came over and we had a fun time keeping cool in the pool. Check out our neighbor's awesome video: http://vimeo.com/69859862

One of the huge benefits of living in Nebraska is being able to set off fireworks.

 

Summer in Sheboygan

I had to spend a few days at Kohler the first week in July. I usually stay at the hotel on the Kohler campus, but the rates jumped up due to it being nice weather and summer, so I stayed on the river in Sheboygan. It doesn't have the ambiance of Kohler, but it's on the waterfront, and there are some great restaurants within walking distance.

 

My trip was on short enough notice (12 hours) that tickets to Green Bay were the same price as Milwaukee. Both destinations are the same distance from Kohler. The Milwaukee airport requires driving thru all of Milwaukee and its construction. Green Bay to Kohler is thru farmland the whole way. No trip thru Green Bay would be complete without checking in at Lambeau.

My favorite airport for a layover is MSP. It has a place called Ike's that has awesome food and a bloody mary "The Weekender" that doubles as a meal: lime, sport pepper, green olive, black olive, pearl onion, jalabeano, celery, sausage, cheese, and a monster jumbo shrimp with a beer chaser.

Lap Dogs

JP volunteered to babysit our neighbors' dogs for two weeks. They are true lap dogs. Every time I see them, they are sitting in someone's lap. Over the 4th, we had five dogs in the house: these two, one from IL, one from across the street, and our own. The cats hate them all.



Every other day, the little girl next door would come over and ask if she could walk one of the dogs. They enjoyed stretching their legs around the block.

They don't mind cats, but the cats mind them.