Sunday, September 28, 2008

Fall Colors at Roughlock



We spent a perfect fall Sunday afternoon touring the Hills to see the fall colors. We were actually surprised to see 50% still green?! Must have been the unusually wet summer? Many aspen trees had turned a lovely shade of yellow... there were many lovely reds in the bushes and vines... and of course the evergreen Spruce and pine. The area around Roughlock Falls was even nicer than previous years, having been added as an official SD State Park. A lot of money was spent improving the walking areas... increasing the viewing areas of the falls, but also protecting the natural area by creating walkways.

The following pictures speak for themselves!!
A small branch of scrub oak... some of the few orange-red colors out so far.

Looking down over the "big" waterfall area.

Daddy and Liv looking down at the creek. She mostly wanted to climb up the railing... not sure where she thought she would go after that??

Looking down into the canyon, the photo barely picks up the large moss covered boulders at the bottom. I remember wading through this water fall in August one year (1995??)... it was freezing then! Imagine how cold it would be now!

Anika was warm enough as long as she kept moving!
These red bushes were really lovely, and many had small white berries on them. Does anyone know the variety?

Looking up at the water fall from a lower area.
Grandpa had to help keep track of Liv... she was pretty busy wanting to get to the water!
This caterpillar was eating away... he'd better hurry if he wants to have wings before the frost arrives!


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Anika said...


Hunter was goofing around with Anika and Thor on the ride home and said,
"Don't mess with me boy, I know karate."

Anika replied,
"Don't mess with ME boy, I know ballet!"


At school, eating lunch:
"I love Kyle. Kyle loves me. So we are going to get married."
Mom's eyebrows raise up.
"Well, not NOW, when we grow up."
What it it with being obsessed with getting married??

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me!


Thanks Mom Morrison and Grandma Berg! I got a gift of money from Dirk's mother and grandmother... so I took a RARE Friday mid-day to check out the mall and Kohls. I really hit the bargins... so I must have been shopping on the RIGHT day! I got a dress at Herbies for $12; the fall table runner at Kohl's for $9.99 and the Yankee Candle, Pumpkin Spice scent for $12! I was so excited I couldn't wait to get home and set out a few of our fall decorations!

A late summer bouquet with the aspen log candle holder....

My pheasant feather balls (actually Christmas tree ornaments... I just couldn't resist the great fall colors!

And my new "favorite thing"... LED tea lights. They run on a very small battery... because they are LED the little "light bulb" lasts forever... It says 6000 hours?? How long in days is that anyway??


I need to back-track a little in our family current events... I missed sharing the activities of our Labor Day camp out... It was a lovely weekend up at Mystic Hills, near Custer Peak. We took the kids over to the Boondocks to let them have 1 ride each and 1 carnival game each. This is Anika going on her first roller coaster ride!

This picture of Thor is "mid-ride"... might explain the funny face of his friend John, sitting next to him!

Here is Anika's attempt at modern photography... a close-up of dad/Dirk...


Liv just after her bath/shower (not her favorite part of camping) all dressed in her first footie pajamas... ready for bed!

Last but not least, I have to remember our last ATV ride into the Hills, We headed out just after an early-ish supper, for a sunset ride to the top of Custer Peak, hoping to see the sun set as we rode back down the hill. About 1/2 hour into the ride, we came across a heard of black angus cattle grazing. Just after we passed the last few stray cows/calves I noticed a brown body, just on the other side of a tree, about 20 yards off the path we were driving on. I thought... "hmm, that isn't a cow... it's too big to be a deer... could it be an elk?"

It certainly WAS!! and there we at least 2 more elk with him. It was incredible!! Words could almost not express our joy and surprise... we've tried to be in the right places at the right times... and finally, we saw them ... in the wild! I wish I could say these photos were of those elk... but these are the elk we saw the next weekend out at Bear Country (thanks to our season pass, we go regularly, just for fun!).

This week we are looking forward to the 2nd half of Thor's braces being put in (oh joy!) ... more shopping for me to find a dress appropriate for Bethany's wedding!