What we've been up to

It's been a while since I've written and that's because I've been relaxing because of a blessing in disguise. I found out this past monday that I had hand foot mouth disease. Blah, that sounds so gross! I was worried I was going to get the really painful blisters all in my mouth and be feeling miserable. It really wasn't bad. I just had a few blisters on my hands, and thought that might be what it was. I went to the doctor just to confirm because I was supposed to be babysitting for 2 different families some this past week and I needed to know if whatever I had was contagious. Lo and behold, it was HFMD just like I thought from seeing it before and I was contagious. It was a blessing in disguise because I stayed home all week and was able to get some things done and spend time with Caleb on his days off. Thankfully, the only symptom I really experienced were the small blisters on my hands and they have faded now. We went hiking and exploring on one day Caleb didn't go into the hospital. We wanted to go check out North Cheyenne Canyon Park because a couple other friends had told us about it and it's only 20 minutes from us. We went and loved the area! We did a small hike and some climbing around Helen Hunt Falls area and then drove back down to the city on some dirt mountain roads with amazing views overlooking Colorado Springs. Here are some pictures from our hiking and exploring.

Pointing out some people on dirt bikes we heard and then saw over on the other ridge. Some people hiking by us heard them and thought it was a bear growling. It made us stop and listen too. 

A resting spot after climbing up some slippery smooth rocks that usually have water flowing over them. 

View of the city in the distance during our hike

Helen Hunt Falls with the water very low

Having fun playing in the river

Broadmoor Resort and Golf Course

View of Colorado Springs while driving back down the mountain roads

Our dirt mountain roads. A lot of people were out this day biking trails and down this road back to the city.

Caleb's birthday was yesterday! We had a fun time celebrating with Krista & Daniel (Krista's boyfriend). They came from Gunnison in the morning and we met them at a place called Paradise Cove. Thanks to our friends Kat & Jobie here who told us about it. Overall it's a short hike to a pool of water with cliffs rising on the sides of it and a small waterfall running over the rocks into the pool of water. I saw some videos on youtube of Paradise Cove and the waterfall flowing usually has a lot more water than yesterday. It's just been such a dry summer so the water levels are low. Unfortunately, I only took one picture while we were there because my mind was too distracted thinking about jumping from the rocks into the water. There were a lot of other people who had the same idea to be out at the swimming hole on a hot Saturday. It didn't stay hot though! It started clouding over and sprinkling while we were there and that cooled it down a bit. After we jumped into the water we started feeling a little chilly. Although, I didn't get many pictures we did get video, so here it is! One of Caleb jumping and one of me jumping. Krista & Daniel jumped as well. Daniel jumped from a little higher up. My jump was only about 20 feet and Caleb was closer to a 30 foot jump. Some people jump from a 100 foot point into the water!

Click here for Heather's video


 And here is the video for Caleb's video


After we spent the afternoon here jumping and watching many others jump, we drove back home to the Springs with Krista & Daniel. We had a nice dinner out for Caleb's birthday with Krista while Daniel went to be with his family, who also lives in Colorado Springs, to celebrate his sister's birthday. It was a wonderful time celebrating the 23rd year of Caleb's life and talking about how much has happened.