June 2007
6/19: Cooper and I had been out running errands. We were about 15 minutes from our house on a nearby highway and saw a woman riding a horse. I pointed it out to Cooper and he said "Cool! You don't see that every day!"
We took a short weekend trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado. What a great place in the Spring. The elevation of the park is about 7,500 to 8,000 feet. The dunes themselves are about 750 feet high. They are the tallest dunes in North America. Adjacent to the dunes are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains which contain a couple peaks over 14,000 feet high in the immediate area. Earlier in the Summer we visited Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park (Utah) with Cooper. Ever since then he's been anxious to visit more dunes and play in the sand.
I took this shot to give some sense of scale. Group of people at adjacent peak...some more people beyond them...one person to the right of the screen. Medano Creek is at far left of picture about 750 feet down. The creek runs only in the Spring (if at all) and is great fun to play in.
Michelle at six months pregnant.
Cooper loved playing in Medano Creek. The creek was no more than shin level deep. The water was cool in the morning but warm later in the day. Little surges of water hit every once in a while. Cooper had a great time and was covered in sand. We camped about a half mile to the east of here (to the right of the picture).
Like our last camping trip, Cooper set up his tent in our tent. We stayed at the Piņon Flats campground in the park. We also brought bikes because Coop wants to ride every day now since taking off his training wheels a month ago
We spent the day in and around Fort Collins with Uncle Jim. Cooper tried riding off-road with us near Horseshoe Reservoir but did not feel too comfortable going over pretty good size rocks.
We also took a break near the Poudre River off SR-14. Rafters and tubers were going down the river. Cooper did not express interest in rafting but later thought tubing looked fun.
Playing in the water fountains near downtown Fort Collins was fun for hours.
Michelle and Cooper traveled to Illinois at the end of June to see family. Cooper was so excited stopping at his cousin's house right away. Playing with Daniel. Daniel is wearing a shirt
designed by his sister Sarah. She designed an anti-smoking ad and it won a competition. Her design went up on billboards and these t-shirts too.
Cooper and Sarah.
Mary Beth, Adam, Cooper, Sarah, Daniel, and a friend of Michaela's. (Michaela does not like being photographed these days)
Cooper learned how to ride his bike about two months ago and loves to ride. G&G T got a few bikes ready to ride for Cooper and his cousins. Cooper took to this bike right away and wants to bring it back to Colorado. Michelle told him that there would not be room in the van and that we could get him a 20" bike when we got back home (figuring it wouldn't take long for other kids to tease Cooper about riding a girl's bike). Cooper replied matter-of-factly..."Oh, there'll be room"
The favorite event of the summer - the carnival. Coop went
on every ride this year even by himself. He loved the roller-coaster.
Cooper and cousin Merideth
Cooper and cousin Donovan
