MOAB!

Our wonderful friends, Jaclyn and Matt Beaty planned to meet us in Moab in the middle of September! We were really excited about this since we had heard such great things about Arches National Park! Well... we almost didn't get to make this awesome trip because Jeff found out in August that he would be moving to Kansas City for work and then I had to have an emergency appendectomy at 14 weeks pregnant (YAY!) the week before our trip! So, needless to say, the odds were stacked against us, but thankfully, we were able to figure everything out and make the trip and we are so glad we did. The drive across Colorado was beautiful and the scenery in Moab is hard to beat. We had such a great, quick trip and it is ALWAYS fun to get together with the Beatys! They are the best travel buddies.

The first arch we went and saw the night we got there. 

Boone riding in the backpack. This may have been his last trip in the pack.

Such amazing creations. For a little perspective, you can see me sitting on the bottom left of the arch.

Our family of 3.5. You can just start to see a baby belly developing!

Love this girl! Jeff and I are so thankful for the Matt and Jaclyn's friendship!

I just love this picture of him. He has seen so many neat things in his two short years.

The delicate arch, way in the background.

Jaclyn being a haus, per usual.

On Saturday, we went to Dead Horse Canyon State Park. It was beautiful! That's sort of a theme around here.

It was a hot day there, and we didn't bring any sunscreen! We weren't expecting the super hot weather since it had been so mild in Denver around that time.

Boone makes a playground wherever he goes!

The Colorado River

Our (very) minimal cabin that we camped at in Moab.

Landscape arch on our last night there. Parts of this arch had already fallen down in the 90s.

After we got back from Moab, Jeff left the next day to fly to Kansas City and begin work there. Boone and I began a 5 month nomadic life also, but more on that later! 

The Sutterfields End of the Summer Visit

At the end of August, my parent's decided to come up for a week around Boone's birthday. We picked them up from the airport and headed directly to the mountains to spend Labor Day weekend in Winter Park. We grew up going skiing in Winter Park, but my parents had never been there in the summer, so they wanted to experience what it was like.

When we got into town they were having a festival at one of the local shopping areas. We walked around and heard a bit of music.

Boone and mom checking out the statue!

The next day we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park. The weather wasn't great, but it was still a  pretty drive (and COLD at the top!)

Near the peak of the park is a gift shop and visitor center. Boone really loved the little ranger costume's binoculars!

Later that night we went and checked out a local park. It was a really neat park and Boone had a blast.

Boone playing with Dad

Probably some of the last blooms for these flowers. It was already getting chilly while we were there, so I'm sure snow wasn't too far away.

Once we got back in town, we decided to check out some things in Denver that we hadn't had the chance to see yet. One of those places is the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. My dad was anxious to see this museum, because he had heard it was really neat. 

Boone and Papa checking out fossils.

They had an awesome kids area that was free with admission to the museum. It had just opened last summer and Boone LOVED it!

Playing in the water with Nana.

Boone checking out the nature lesson.

Dinosaur skeletons! There were several and Boone seemed to really enjoy seeing them!

Boone and Nana and Papa. They all seemed to have a lot of fun!

Camping in Estes Park

Towards the end of July, we decided to head up to Estes Park and camp for a weekend. We had heard a lot about Estes Park and how much so many people enjoyed the area. We booked the last available site at the county campground, loaded up our car with gear and food and headed out.

Our campground bordered Rocky Mountain National Park. We spent Saturday driving the main road through the park. 

Boone loved the views. He definitely loves the outdoors and climbing on the rocks, so we had to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't get too far from us.

We stopped at one trail and Boone and Jeff hiked up to some snow that was still in the area. (I don't think you were technically supposed to hike up that far! But they had fun!)

It was starting to get a bit cool at this point. We heard that in the summer it is very typical to have beautiful mornings and then bad thunderstorms in the afternoon, so it was better to get out and explore in the mornings. A few people had actually been hit by lightening earlier in the summer, so we didn't want to take any chances.

My favorite picture from the weekend! So beautiful!

Our little campsite. It actually was a great campground and pretty cheap. We did get some heavy rains in the afternoons, but we still had a great time. We checked out the town of Estes Park on one of the afternoons, but we weren't super impressed. It seemed like a lot of tourist trap-type stores and it was SO crowded. We much preferred hanging out at our little piece of nature.

We are so glad we've taken Boone camping both summers so far. Although it is a lot of work, we really enjoy getting out and making some memories as a family!

Until next time (as we try to catch up),

Jeff, Emily + Boone