On Sunday, my dad, the boys, and I, went to the mountains to let the boys play, and to see the magnificent fall colors- specifically the Aspens. Joe had to work, so it was a great day to spend a Sunday!
We started out at a mountain park, near a river. We were hoping the boys could throw rocks in the water, but there was not really a flat spot, so we pretty much had to hold on to them the entire time. There was one little spot where it was flat, but it was small, and we couldn’t all fit in there. But, Ryan and Cole did get to throw some rocks in, and Ryan had fun climbing around on some bigger rocks, up farther on the bank. My dad even managed to take this picture of the boys and I:
This was the flat spot, and as you can see, it was pretty cramped! After the boys played for a while, we ate our picnic lunch, and then the boys played on some play ground equipment.
Then my dad said he knew of another place in the national forest, where he thought there would be some good aspens to see, and we could roast marshmallows for the boys. It was about an hour from where we were.
Ryan and Cole fell asleep for about 20 minutes on the way up, and this place really was off the beaten path. I got really queasy, because the road was super curvy, dirt, and was wash boardy. We were bounced around for 45-minutes.
But it was worth it! We saw some beautiful fall colors- red, orange, yellow, and gold. There were a lot of cottonwood trees that were turning colors too. When we arrived at the spot my dad knew, there was this entire grove of blazing, gold aspens on each side of the road which were almost touching each other. It was like a tunnel of gold! I wished I had been able to take a picture, but I was feeling so yucky, I wasn’t up to it.
We parked the car in a meadow, where the colors weren’t quite as vibrant from what we had just seen, but they were still great. The three pictures at the top of the page, are from where we stopped and hung out. I sat down and with the warm sun, fresh air, and a breeze, I felt better quickly.
Ryan loved the s’more my dad made for him- he had two, but he liked the plain marshmallows best. I think he ended up eating about eight! Cole just loved the graham crackers- he grabbed hand-fulls of them out of the package and started munching! Here are the little mountain boys enjoying their snacks:
The weather was nice, but there was a wind that would start, and it would make it chilly. After we hung out for an hour, we took a little hike on a trail that was right there. We only walked for about ten minutes- but we plan to come back next summer, and definitely camp. Here is another picture of Cole I managed to take when he was exploring, and didn’t know I was watching him:
The boys had a blast, going to the woods and just running around and playing. They were so tired when we got home, they wanted their baths, and were in bed, and asleep at 8pm- I don’t think that has ever happened before.
So far, our fall has just been beautiful. The air is cooler now during the day, and at night, but we have been having Indian Summer days, almost every day. I love autumn- it is my favorite season.