Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

Everyone was very excited to go back to school this year.  All three in school! 4th grade, Kindergarten, and 3rd grade  I didn't cry until I came home and saw Ruffy on the coffee table.  I was told to "keep him safe."  Fortunately, I wasn't home at all to hear the quiet house!

We started the day by going to the discovery center so that the children could earn their Jr. Ranger badges.  Afterwards, there were too many cars.  They wouldn't even let us go back to the part of the park that we wanted to go to.  So, we drove out of the main part of the park and went to Lily Lake.  Then, it suddenly hailed.  Luckily, we could eat our lunch in the car.  After a little while, it cleared off and we did the short hike around the lake. Then, we decided to go back in to Bear Lake.  This time, they would let us in to this part of the park.  After the long hike to Blue Lake the day before, the children only wanted short hikes.  Even here at Bear Lake it looked like storms would reappear. We decided to do another short hike.  This time to Alberta Falls. This is a very pretty area, but there were entirely too many people.  The numbers of people made it not quite as enjoyable.  Ev...

I always have loved the Indian Peaks Wilderness.  It's one of my favorite places.  We were fortunate to hike two of the trails while we were in Colorado.  The first one we hiked was the Blue Lake Trail.  This trail used to be 2.4 miles, but now it is somehow 3 miles one way!  But, everyone made it. First we came to Mitchell Lake.  Then, we headed up the trail to Blue Lake. Going over this part, I was worried that someone would end up with a wet foot.  But, everyone made it without incident.  That water was really rushing.  Here you can see Mitchell Lake in the background: Up, up, up we hiked! We saw a lot of beautiful and interesting wildflowers. Elephant Head Flower Grandpa and Grandma joined us on the hike. (Hopefully they hike with us again someday :) Almost to Blue Lake!  It was definitely colder at this elevation. SNOW! We met a dog at the snow that was having a grand old time.  It rea...

Today in the Juniata River....

This past Saturday was Mountain League Swim Championships.  Everyone swam very well and had a lot of fun.   Last night at the team swim party, they received their medals and ribbons.   Natalee swam very well in her IM, but was very discouraged to hear that she was disqualified.  It was really disheartening for her because she would have placed very well in that race.  But, we learn from these things.  She bounced back to place second in backstroke. Her flip turn was awesome. Natalee swam backstroke for her medley relay team and they finished first.  She also got a ribbon for her breaststroke, although she could have been disqualified in that race, too, but no official called it. Brady swam breaststroke in his medley relay and they placed second.  He got third in his IM-- there were only three boys in that race.  Nevertheless, he's improved so much this year to be even able to swim that race.  He got first in the breas...