Ketner Lake

If you've been following along, you'll know that Paige and like to go geocaching from time to time. Something she lovingly calls "treasure hunts". One of the things we've discovered during our walks is that there are a lot of parks in Parker, CO (also a Tree City). Then this week, while wondering what to do on Saturday, and while dropping Paige off at school, I saw yet another park. Then it hit me - we'll spend Saturday going around to as many parks as we can find in the Parker area.

It turned out that we ran out of steam before we ran out of parks. It was a blazing 95 degree on Saturday, and the wind was kicking around at a pretty constant 20 mph or so. The result was heat that you couldn't escape, and that sucked every last drop of moisture from your skin in moments. After six hours, and with two small breaks for refreshments, we located twelve parks.

At each park we took pictures of Paige playing, but also of the parks themselves. Additionally, I recorded the GPS coordinates of the parks. The result is "Paige's Parks in Parker". There's not much there right now, but I could see room for additional pictures, or even for people to upload their own pictures and make comments about the quality of the park.

I did look for a list of parks in Parker, CO before leaving, and found nothing. The twelve that we found were mostly those we already knew about. We know there's a lot more out there, and we look forward to tracking them down ... when it cools down a little.

After getting exhausted by playing at parks all day, we went home to relax and cool down for a while. When dinner came around, I asked Paige where she wanted to eat. She told me that she didn't know the name of the place, but she knew where it was at. I figured, cool, a little left vs. right fun time in the hood. Well, Page was nailing her left and right without problem, and she took me right on out of Parker, due north about fifteen minutes to an Old Chicago restaurant.

I was stunned! I'd get lost in the backyard if it wasn't for the rock trail back home. Yet here was my six year old girl, throwing down directions for a fifteen minute drive to one of her favorite places to eat. And make no mistake, it wasn't like she just happened to land there. She knew exactly where she was going, and didn't make a wrong turn the entire time. Amazing!

After dinner we returned home, and headed to bed. Well, Paige headed to bed. I'm still writing these stories. At least for ... snore.

Monday was only a half day of school. Tuesday was the first full day of school, but there's a twist to the story. Marna's Grandfather Parks passed away the week before, and so after we dropped Paige off, we went to the airport. Marna spent most of the week in Omaha with her family. Then I came back home, tried to get some work done, and then went to pick up Paige.

After school, we went to the grocery store, where I let Paige pick whatever she wanted to eat for dinner. She landed on "vegetable soup" which was really split pea soup. And she loved it!

Wednesday was more of the same, and she was coming back home with papers that she had completed during the day. We had been pretty diligent about using a "summer bridge" program during summer break, and it seems to have paid off nicely. Paige is scoring high on all her assignments. Her biggest problems are not following directions, and then towards the end of the day she tends to just do the work to get it done, not to the best of her ability (e.g. lazy).

Wednesday after school Paige had dance class, so during the day I made a slow cooker meal of scalloped potatoes. They came out tasting like loaded baked potatoes. Yum!

Thursday, I took Paige to school, and then headed to the airport to pick up Marna. When we got back home, I went down the office to get caught up for the week. Marna went and picked up Paige, and Paige was thrilled about it! That night we went out for dinner to celebrate Marna's return home (for me), and Paige's first week of school.

Friday, Marna took Paige to school, and then steadily went stir crazy throughout the remainder of the day. It's going to be really interesting to see what she does as we settle into the year, and the full days of being home alone progress. I predict that the house will either be spotless, or that we'll go broke on books for Marna's Kindle.

This next week is where things start to set in. Marna will be home. Paige will be getting used to her new pattern. We'll even do drive-by drop-off and pick-up (we don't have bus service) at school. No matter the outcome - congratulations Paige, for your first week of first grade!

Slowly but surely, we're establishing an annual camping trip for Marna, Paige and I along with Grandpa Rich and Grandma Janelle. The last time we went, it was at an old childhood favorite campground called Lynx Pass. Lynx Pass Campground happened to be closed this year due to beetle kill, so we headed down the road (3.35 mi straight line per my GPS) and found ourselves a different place to camp.

Marna and I were responsible for one breakfast and two lunches during the two night trip. We could have used grandpa and grandma's stove, or even gotten our own, but among our favorite breakfast recipes at home are casseroles. With that in mind, I started researching how to make a casserole while camping, and landed at the dutch oven.

If you're like me, you've probably heard about the dutch oven a lot of times before, and you may have even seen one on television or at your own campground, but you've never tried your hand at it. My research suggested a pre-seasoned dutch oven by Lodge Logic, which we picked up at the local Bass Pro store along with a few other items.

The oven came with a recipe book, and I figured it was best to stick to the safe route for my first time out, so I took the first breakfast recipe in there and Marna gathered the ingredients while grocery shopping for the trip. When our morning for breakfast came along, I was pretty excited to try out this new cooking direction.

Surprisingly, at least to me, cooking with a dutch oven is pretty easy! The heat is supplied by charcoals - and the instruction book was very clear that the quality of the coal will impact the quality of the cooking. Per some recommendations, I picked up a charcoal chimney starter. Wow! Who invented that gem? If you're going to try your hand at the dutch oven, you need one of these things!

One bag of charcoal, and two pieces of paper, and some patience later, and I had heat for my oven. In fact, that was the hardest part about using the dutch over - patience.

I threw some coals under the dutch oven, and started dropping in ingredients. Before long I was ready to put the lid on, add some more charcoal, and let it sit. The result was one good tasting and very filling breakfast casserole. I'm not sure I could have done any better at home. My first dutch oven experience was a hit! I'm looking forward to trying more recipes out at home and in the forests in the future.

The camp site was just a stones throw from a great little river. This of course provided ample opportunity for Paige to explore - and for Grandpa Rich to take Paige fishing. Paige took to holding fish and worms like a natural. She's still not quite coordinated enough to put a hook on her pole just yet, but she's getting much better at casting. She'll be ready for the real deal next time.

In between fishing expeditions, Grandma Janelle and Paige went on nature hikes. Paige loves picking flowers, and there was a great variety of wildflowers to be had. Paige of course will chat your ear off as well. There were a number of times we'd find Paige and Grandma Janelle sitting on a rock just outside the camp site, enjoying conversation in the sun, and talking about where they wanted to walk to next.

Marna and I really wanted to rent a camper, but things didn't quite work out, so we went with the tent option again. This time we used the inflatable mattresses we got from grandma and grandpa last Christmas, which added a degree of comfort. The temperature still dropped considerably at night, which made for some chilly times, so I think we'll make some extra effort to get a camper for the next trip.

Interesting note about sleeping in a tent, just a stones throw away from a babbling brook - the brook does indeed babble. A lot. Marna and I would hear all kinds of sounds at night, most of which I'm sure was our minds playing tricks on us. Even Grandma Janelle in the camper was sure she heard people talking as we lay sleeping. Try as might, the mute button never seemed to work. Two nights later and we were headed back down to the nice quiet city.

Marna and I partnered up to teach a bible study section of each night. We had a team called the "Thoroughbreds" which consisted mostly of kids coming out of 3rd grade. While the number of kids registered for VBS hit over 100, we had a wide range of attendance in our class, from six (6) to thirteen (13) over the five nights. The slogan for Saddle Ridge Ranch is "Rounding up questions. Driving home answers." Each night had a different question that worked to answer through games, crafts, music, missions, and of course our bible study.

To be sure, it was an exhausting process. Each night I put on a full cowboy character complete with hooting and hollering, and came up with gimmicks for the kids. And of course there's all the preparation that goes into the event too. But I think what was most tiring was simply being in charge of a bible study. The course was provided, but Marna and I were ultimately responsible for getting the message, the correct message, across in a way that kids would understand, remember, and be able to apply. In the end I think it was a great success.

Paige isn't sure she likes it yet, but we keep telling her to wait and see just how much easier it is to manage. It's clear though that the haircut has made it mark on her mentally. Today, while working at church, she exclaimed "Why hasn't anybody noticed that I got my haircut?" Perhaps the other gradeschoolers just aren't the keen yet, sweetie, and the adults too busy getting their work done. Come Sunday, I'm sure it will be a different story.

The entire program consists of fourteen different dances, but last only about an hour. All the little girls have practiced their hearts out, and are ready for the big day. There's two performances per class; one ballet and one tap. This year it seemed that Paige's class had some of the most difficult moves, including two linked circles, one inside the other, spinning in opposite directions. Despite a missing student in Paige's class, the dances went off without a hitch.

Paige has been pushing for something different in the year ahead. She really wants to get into tumbling, but mom and dad really want her to keep swimming. And as the youngest in her school class, keeping up with the older kids takes some effort as well. Then again, Paige's dance teachers tell us that she may be ready for more formal dance instruction. Put it all together, and we're not sure what the next year holds. One thing is for sure - it'll be tough to top all the cute dance pictures.

Paring down the list of friends was the next challenge. There's the group of neighborhood kids. There's the group of kids from church. And of course she has a group of new friends at school too.

We eventually landed on a mix of kids from all groups. Jamie, Faith and Paige were in the same kindergarten class. Jamie and her sister, Parker, play with Paige at church. Faith also goes to Paige's dance class. Hannah and Logan live next door, and are the kids Paige plays with the most when we're home. There were a few others invited, but five worked out to be the perfect size.

The party started off with sprinkler time, sunning time, and getting chased by dad with a giant squirt gun time. From there it moved into lunch, cake and presents time. The kids played a little more, and then the party was over. Thanks to all of Paige's friends for coming and for the great gifts, and thanks to their parents for getting the kids to the party. And of course, thanks to all the grandparents that made this an extra special day.

Also near the cache was the training location for the Parker fire department. There was an obstacle course, and then all variety of objects that had clearly been set on fire before. These items range from vehicles to buildings. There's even a multi-story structure intended to simulate an office building. It was a great chance to talk about what firefighters do with Paige.

After finding this cache we had a decision to make. We could start the trek back to home (4 miles round trip), or continue on another mile to Dairy Queen. We called Marna to see if she was interested in joining us for ice cream - and giving us a ride home. She was, and so we continued on for a nice cool treat at the end of our geocaching adventure.