Shannon Gurney Photoblog

Under Construction

It seems everything at our place is in a constant state of being "under construction."  The entire way home from our vacation trip, Ty could do nothing else except talk about his yellow chainsaw.  He talked about how he hoped it would start because he needed to cut some wood when he got home.

nice.

He's definitely his father's son...

Lately, though, Wes is starting to catch on to the construction epidemic around here.  He's learning to use all the tools in the workbench, too.  Currently, his favorites are the tape measure and the screwdriver.  AND, when his tools are in use, WATCH OUT. 

Ty knows first hand what can happen when you're too close to the little guy during construction time...

Can you see the little fingers in the corner wielding the ever dangerous tape measure?

Luckily, to Ty, it's all fun and games...especially when he's got the bigger tool.


Wait a minute...he switched tools while I wasn't looking!

Maybe he's a little more like his momma than we originally thought.

Cool!

Winner

Meet Jesse.  He is Josh's nephew and he's a BIG ornery MESS!  He was lucky enough to spend the night with us a couple of weeks ago and I kept teasing him that he was a big LOSER...mostly because he kept trying to ditch me and my camera.  NOT COOL!

Luckily, he had a response to my loser comments and his response gave me the opportunity to snap those pics I'd been trying to get all day!  Little turkey!


Yea, he's a winner all right....

Back...ON the grid

You've heard of "off the grid" right?  That's where I've been for the past 10 days.  It's been nice, relaxing, a little frustrating (for those of us attached to our computer and internet), and super cool.  BUT, the vacation is officially over. O-V-E-R  It's back to reality for me.  Back...ON THE GRID.

I'm already tired again from staying up the past two nights doing laundry, proofing photos from before my vacation, taking care of screaming kids who aren't adjusted yet,  and trying to get everything done in the earliest possible time.  Stress comes to mind.  But, I'm not one to complain or anything...

This, I promise, will be my last post of vacation photos.  There are a ton I could share with you, but a person can only take so many vacation photos, right?  These are also a bit random just like my last post.  I'm not feeling too organized yet and didn't even edit these except for sharpening and brighting some of them a bit.

So, stick with me and I promise to post something other than vacation pics really soon.

In my last post, I left off in Ouray, Colorado.  Here are a couple of shots taken during the totally rockin' Ouray 4th of July Parade.



this next one was actually taken with my point and shoot out the window of our moving SUV...it's a bit blurry, but you can see how the town is located down in the valley at the base of the mountains...


We rented a Jeep on one of the days we were in Ouray.  It was the one thing I wanted to do at some point during our vacation.  I love driving a Jeep.  We did a little off-roading and then I pretty much cruised around town until my time was up.

Another cool part of Ouray is the Hot Springs and all the waterfalls.  The boys went to the local hot springs swimming area and had a great time.  I didn't get any shots of that since I was too tired and stayed back at the cabin with Wes.

I did, however, get some shots of our visit to Box Canyon Falls.  It's a huge waterfall that you can actually walk under and see the massive amount of pressure and force this thing produces.  It was a bit scary, but we survived.  Here's what the walk looked like...


After leaving Ouray, we headed to Red River, NM.  It's a really quaint little town set at the base of the mountains, as well.  They have lots of delicious places to eat, cool local shops to peruse, and even a Go-Kart track for the boys...and Grandma?



and then the dreaded trip home...

Hiking, Chipmunks & Ouray

This post is somewhat random because I'm too tired to think of ways to organize these photos for you.  Tonight, I'm in Red River, NM.  It's 11:25pm Mountain Time (12:25am Central, which is how it feels to me!)  I thought I'd try to catch you up a bit on our trip.

We arrived in Red River, New Mexico late on the 4th...just in time to watch the fireworks display over Eagle's Nest Lake (4th photos will be in the next post).  We're now starting our trek back towards home.

In case you haven't been keeping track of our route, we started up near Creede, Colorado then moved on to Ouray, CO and now we're in Red River, NM on our way back South towards Oklahoma.  Tomorrow morning we'll be driving straight home (about 9.5 hours without stops).

The day before leaving Creede, we took a hike (all of us together) up even higher than our camp to a place called Brewster Park.  We had to keep the family hikes pretty short since Ty can only take so much of that stuff on foot...and someone has to carry Wes.  The altitude here gets to you quickly when you're hiking, which makes it tough on the kiddos.  Ty had to stop and rest quite a bit.  But, he's a trooper and didn't whine too much.

Here are a few pics from our hiking trip...

 

Ty with his Grandpa

 

The views were spectacular throughout this whole trip...and this hike was no exception.

 

 

Ya gotta have a walking stick when you're on a hike.  At least, Grandpa and Ty think so.

 

 

taking a break...

 

and these little guys are everywhere in Colorado and New Mexico.  Ty had an absolute ball trying to catch them all day everyday.

 

 

We actually saw this potty on our hike through the mountains.  Does anyone really use this stuff?  Cause there is no way...NO WAY!

And...last, here is a shot of Ouray, Colorado.  The town sits down in the valley between all these mountains.  It was seriously amazing.

 

You'll see more shots of Ouray in the days to come.  Have a great Sunday!

At One With Nature

Hello there good buddies.  I missed you!

 

So, for the past 4 days I've been trying to log on to the "very sketchy" wireless internet that was promised to us in our mountain retreat near Creede, Colorado.  When booking this location, I knew full well I would have no phone service, ABSOLUTELY NONE.  But, that was okay because I knew I'd have internet access to compensate for it.  Not so.

I've been coming to this location for about 25 years (I started coming with my parents when I was just a kid) and you'd think I'd know better by now.  Not only do we not have phone service or internet access, but we barely have electric...it strictly runs from a generator for a few hours each night.

Well, today, I'm back online.  Yippee!  Seriously - I'm doing a jiggy dance!  I never knew just how attached to my computer I was until now.  We have moved on from our mountain cabins in Creede to more modern accomadations in Ouray and I am so HAPPY!  I can finally catch up with you guys!

Here are a few to get you started... and I'll be posting much more in the days to come.  Get ready!

Day one of our trip. This shot was taken near Albuquerquie, NM.

The upper Rio Grande, near Creede, Colorado.
The best way to keep things cold in the mountains...
No words needed.
My cute mom and dad.

This is one of the cabins in our camp.  Ours was way up in the trees and it was too hard to get a good shot, but you get the idea.

 

This little guy was the cutest thing on the planet.  He is a Scottish Highland breed of cattle and was the friendliest thing ever!  He looked like a big teddy bear to me.

Guess who...

The rest of these shots were taken with my Canon point and shoot by my dad and Josh because I wasn't brave enough to hike to the top of Pole Mountain at 14,000 feet.  No, thank you.  I'll stay home and babysit.

 

 

 

 

Alright, that's it for tonight.  It's nearly midnight central time and I'm pooped.  But, there's more to come.  So, keep checking back.  See you guys soon!

Oh, by the way, noone else caught the puking bug.  AND, kristy, if you're reading this...the Expedition is still in great shape!