How I found my butt muscles at 4 miles and 88 cents

Mr. Wonderful had the day off today. That usually means he wants to put some miles on his wonderfulness....and all the rest of us too. He put us all in the BMW (Big Mormon Wagon aka the Suburban) and off we went to hike the Crags. When we got to the trailhead, just on the northside of Pikes Peak, it was 57 degrees. Fifty-seven. On July 31st. Yeah.

The Caboose is showing off her smarts at the water pump. Notice her mouth--she is drinking from her camelback. At this point, I have asked her no less than 6 times to use the restroom at the parking lot. "I don't have to go!" she insisted. Unhunh. Wait for it.

Just heading out.

Along the creekside. Mr Wonderful is blessed that his boy loves to hike like he does--Boofus at 9 years old is wearing size 12/14 SLIM in Boys because he is so dang tall. Our pediatrician says that when he's finally done growing he will top out at 6'5-6'6" --Mr W is hoping that's true so Boof can carry his hiking gear someday when he's too old.

Still drinking that water...

Dakota on the trail with us...she did really great actually.

Because this is the rainiest/wettest July on record, the meadow was full of mountain flowers! Just every where you looked...

mushrooms growing on the side of a granite rock.

I wanna say these are either bluebonnets or bluebells...

No matter...they were so lovely.

Speaking of lovely...

and she's still drinking...

Indian paint brush flowers...

Boof standing in a creek...

More wildflowers~

Taking a breather with me...I was startin' to suck wind...and it was gonna get worse before I knew it. Oh, and notice the Caboose's face. What does it say? She had just whispered to Nana, "I gotta go." What did I say? WHAT DID I SAY? I knew it! But she didn't want to go--yet.

Gorgeous rock formation

Lookin at the trail ahead...see how green it is! About this point, I asked aloud, "How much farther?" to which the Bee answered, "About 4 miles and 88 cents, Mom."

More bluebonnets/bluebells I think...

Thistle that has flowered and is feathering~

An awesome trunk~

Okay so here's a story. See that big sister? Yeah, she had to talk the Caboose into peeing outside, just off the trail instead of going all the way back to the parking lot. How'd she do that? She promised her little sister three things: 1-that she'd carry her as long as she wanted. 2-Maggie Moos once we got home 3-Five dollars cash. The Caboose knew better than to ask me. Nana is a pushover for Bee.

This is where we stopped for lunch...I was told "we're almost there!" about 20 times. Looking North, we can see reservoirs and Colorado Springs.

Nana got a signal up there...and what do ya know? she started texting. teenagers.

Boof getting his hiking bandana on with Dad's help.

Now, by this time, I was satisfied with the amount of scenery on the hike. I could've headed down....but NO.
My family pressured me to keep going. I had fantasies of just dropping to my knees and rolling down the mountain to the car.




Again with the "we're almost there!" talk. SO I pressed on...but then I looked over to a ledge and saw this:

Nana had reached her goal and wasn't budging. I think Ari was checkin to see if she was still breathing.

Daisie reached the top first, with Boofus and Kent right behind. I held my position for a moment trying to decide if it really meant that much to me to get to the stinkin' top. Everyone was yelling at me to keep coming up...so I got my bahooey into high gear and got it up there....my thought was, "If I go to the top, I never have to do this hike again."

Dark clouds started to roll in about that time, and Nana took Bee and started to descend the mountain. That's one thing you do not want to be on when a storm comes...more people in Colorado are killed by lightening that anything else--did you know that?

SO I got to the Top and met Boofus and Mr W...they were so proud of me. I kept thinking, "don't pass out, don't pass out."

You can see the rain coming....this is looking North.

Daisie and Dakota at the top with Mr W...she is a first class hikin gal...always meets the challenge!

Looking East to Kansas. Oh and Kota's bum.

And how crazy are these rocks? I can't decide if they look like popsicle stix or a library shelf?
No matter, they ROCK!

Finally, at the top.

By this time, the thunder was closer, so adrenaline led the way and we were off the mountain and down to the car in about half the time it took us to get there. It was about midway down that I felt somethign I haven't felt in years--my butt muscles! And they were on FIRE! I tell ya. Muscles that have been dormant for centuries awoke as we scrambled down the mountain to the flat meadows!

As we descended, we ran into alot of Flatlanders...most of them were wearing shirts from Texas...I'm not kidding...so I warned them about the lightening and to be careful. They just smiled and said "thanks ya'll"...

by the time we got to the car (that's 2 miles later), it started pouring down rain. You know those flatlanders got soaked! It was 47 degrees when we got to the car.

And just for the record, I loved the hike. I wish we could've taken more time at the top than we did, and can't wait to go again and take our friends too. It really was a beautiful way to spend a day. I love Colorado!