Riding and Fishing and Hiking? Oh Yes!

It has been a busy couple of weeks for our family.  For me, the summer is officially over since I started back to school last week.  My first official day is next Tuesday, but I wanted to take a few weeks to get some lesson plans done before the school year gets started.  It is also good for us to get into a little bit of a routine since we haven't been in one all summer.  Hannah and I have been staying up later and sleeping in, so it takes a little while to get re-adjusted to our school year schedule.  So Hannah's been going to school and so have I.  She loves going to school to "see her friends" so the transition has been pretty smooth.  The only problem is getting used to waking up early.  This two weeks is nice though because we don't have to get up as early as we will once the semester begins so it is helping us transition.  It's also been nice because Hannah likes to come snuggle in the mornings and asks for "five more minutes."  I know that soon we won't be able to take "five more minutes," so I am enjoying it while it lasts.  Also, next week Hannah will begin her transition to pre-school.  She has no idea that it's coming, but her school does a really nice job of helping the kids move up to the next class.  

My dad came to visit over the weekend, so that was a nice little break from our "pre school routine."  We had a great time with him and got to do some cool stuff.  I was supposed to go to work on Friday because I wanted to get a little more stuff done, but then I changed my mind.  I slept in and decided to go to breakfast with Dad and Hannah instead!  I figured I may as well do it while I can because that won't always be an option once school starts. 

We went to a great little breakfast place called The Omlete Parlor, a local restaurant that's been around forever.  The food is great, the portions are big, and the prices are reasonable.  See the example above.  That's Hannah's "kid pancake" for $3.  Are you kidding me??  She barely ate a quarter of it, but at $3, who's really complaining?!  She was pretty jazzed up about it because it took up the whole plate.  Before long, she's going to be requesting "giant pancakes" from her Daddy!

We also got to do some horse back riding at the Air Force Academy, so that was super fun for Hannah.  While we were there we toured the campus, watched airplanes, saw the chapel, and looked in on my classroom.  Dad and I had a good time, but I don't think it even compared to Hannah.  She LOVES horses...and her one hour ride was just not long enough!

I got to lead Hannah's horse around, which was perfect because I am not a huge fan of horseback riding and I wanted the exercise.  She road for an hour and I walked for an hour.  It was great!

Our other big "event" for the weekend was a fishing trip.  Dad originally planned to visit during the weekend that the fire broke out here in the Springs.  I called him and said that it wasn't a good idea to come because you just could not walk outdoors, let alone go hiking, fishing, etc.  We ended up leaving because I have terrible allergies and the smoke was almost unbearable at times.  As we were headed out of town, I saw something that I will never forget.  I saw our city in flames.  It ended up working out nicely because we got to go to Wyoming to spend some time with Jon's grandparents.  His mom was also there because she was going to a cousin's wedding, so we tagged along for that too.  It is always great to see family and friends...we love weddings!

Anyway, we were supposed to go fly fishing that weekend with my Dad, but obviously that got cancelled since our town was in a state of crisis.  I was extremely dissappointed because I know how much my dad wants to try fly fishing.  We looked into a guided tour, but decided against it since Hannah wouldn't be able to come.  We will try that in a few years or when Dad is here for a longer period of time.  So instead we went to a lake in the Pike's Peak area to fish.  It was a beautiful location!  

We brought our boat, but ended up not getting to use it because we didn't have enough life jackets.  So we huge out by the water and fished while Hannah played.  It was a great day for us all!

Hannah helped Jon reel in his fish.  It was the first of the day and it only took something like four hours!  Hannah LOVED the fish!  She wanted to play with them and look at them.  We were planning to just catch and release because we didn't want to bother with cleaning them and frying them.  Hannah caused us to have different plans.  She wanted to keep them and really didn't care if they were in a bag in the cooler...she just enjoyed checking on them periodically!

My first fish!  I would like to point out the fishing pole at the bottom of the picture.  That would be Hannah's pink, Barbie fishing rod.  That's what I used to catch this guy with!

Of course, when there's a fish around you have to pet it too, right?  Doesn't everyone? ;)

Dad finally caught one too.  The fishing wasn't great because we got there during the worst fishing time, so we were pretty lucky to catch the fish that we did catch.  Also, I cannot leave without saying that I totally caught two fish, which made me the winner for the day.  Fishing is ALWAYS a competition and I was the clear winner!  There are not too many things that I can beat Jon in.  He's very competitive and pretty much good at whatever he tries...but there's one thing that can give him a run for his money....and that's fishing!

I am so glad that Dad got to visit...we had a great time and some much needed R&R before the start of the school year.  It is going to be an exciting time for our family and I look forward to the opportunities that arise in the next few months!