More Colorado

Mom and I are continuing our summer of adventures in Colorado.  This week, we went for a hike at Castlewood Canyon, about 30 minutes from our house.  We tried this same hike in January 2 years ago without much luck-  turns out July is a much better time to hike if you want to avoid ice and snow.

We started out with great views of Cherry Creek and the waterfalls.

We hiked up to a partially collapsed dam that was built in 1890.  It was washed out by a flood in 1933.

We were able to hike to the top of it and this is me about 1/2 way up,

and this is me all the way at the top.  It was pretty cool- we saw falcons and hawks flying around above us.

On the way back, we stopped to play in the creek for a bit.  It was kind of a hot day by Colorado standards and the water felt really, really good.

At the other end of the trail was an old homestead built by the Lucas family.  I was kind of amazed at how small their house was- not really any room for a big screen T.V. or an x-box!

We rounded out our day by stopping by the Dumb Friends League which is a local animal shelter.  I wanted to donate some of the money I made from our garage sale last week to help take care of the animals.  We spent some time there looking at all the sweet dogs and cats.  We found one we wanted to take home but decided it probably wasn't the best time.  And dad probably wouldn't be too amused to come home and find a new dog sitting on our couch!
All and all, a very good Tuesday.

Wednesday evening, mom and I went with my friend Camryn and her family to the Highlands Ranch Ice Cream Social.  Mom thought it was good, wholesome, small town fun.  I thought it was about the best time ever!!
We got our faces painted (mine is a fire breathing dragon),

 
then the moms let us get BOTH a snow cone AND some ice cream!  Told you it was the best time ever!  We ran around the park, listened to the band, played Frisbee and stayed up waaaaay to late.

On Saturday, we were up at 5:30 AM to head out for my swim meet.  I did not have my greatest showing this week but I had fun and we scored a primo spot under the big shade trees to hang out at all day.  So, it wasn't a complete loss of a day.

Saturday night, I was supposed to spend the night at my friend Olivia's but her parent's had some kind of stomach virus so we had her over here.  (We have our fingers crossed I don't get it!)  We had a great time and got to complete Olivia's bridging to Brownies since she was sick the night the rest of our troop bridged.

Mom put us to bed around 10 and we were both so exhausted that she didn't hear another peep out of us until 7 the next morning.  Mom and dad LOVE these kind of sleep overs- everyone wakes up feeling somewhat rested!  In the morning, I went with Olivia to her Sunday school.  It didn't make much of an impression because I can't remember a dang thing we did.
Mom and dad spent the rest of the weekend getting the house ready to put up for sale.  This is the third weekend of this fun and they are getting a little tired of it all.  The house goes on the market on Thursday so the end is in sight.  Whew!