The Blanch Herd: July 2019

Our friends, the Milcareks, who we visited at their house in New York last May, and they visited us at our house in October, were attending a conference at Snowbird for a few days. Ryan and Gregg had been texting about a possible meet up, and we were able to squeeze in a couple hours with Ryan between meetings and dinner on Wednesday, July 17th. We all hiked/walked on the Observation Trail where the kids found some fun tree forts and a swing and a "zip line" (really just a clothes line?) to imagine and play on while the parents visited. Ryan had to get up the mountain for a dinner after the hike, but we hung out with Brittany and the kids for a while longer at the park and then over pizza. It's always fun to catch up with them, even when we live so far apart. And it's fun to see the kids remember each other and quickly pick up playing and having fun together. Little Cottonwood Canyon was absolutely gorgeous this evening and we had an entirely lovely time!

The boys were up ahead of the rest of the gang.

Another shot of the boys - Ryan and Thomas and Gregg and Sam.

New fir cones - so cool!

Mountain goats stop for a pose.
Kaylie, Julianna, Cal and Sam

Playing house in the fort.

Trying out the swing.
Amelia, Cal, Julianna

Car time at the park.

Sam hitched a ride.

Now everyone piles on!
Cal, Kaylie, Thomas, Juliana, Sam and Amelia

Dinner time!

Pretty pink paintbrush!

Yowza!! All the heart eyes for this one!

3 July 2019: Paper Airplane Trail at Powder Mountain

We had a beautiful morning for a Tyke Hike at PowMow. This is always a favorite with the kiddos. We saw our first Indian Paintbrush of the season and the hiking seemed a lot shorter than it ever has - probably because the kids ran the whole way there way ahead of me!

Group shot at the sculpture. Moms this week were: Annalissa,
Jennii, Kelsey, (Grandma) Wendy, Alicia, Lupita, Ashley
and Me. Plus Jennica and Breklyn who weren't there for the
pic.

Lincoln, Theodore, Callie and Zoey - some of the big kids
in our group.

More cute friends: Bennett, Sam, Henry, Annabel,
and Norah.

Henry, Theodore, Callie and Annahlia.

Breklyn and her kids got there later, so the "big kids" pictured
earlier were actually more like "medium kids" after these
guys came. ;)

I think Cal snuck into the Kyle/Burton kids pic, but it is cute!
Norah, Bennett, Callie, Emmeline, Zoey, Theodore and Jane.

Yay!

Hiking in aspens is the best ever!

Under the treehouse on the way back up.

I've been calling these penstemon, but they're
really larkspur. Now you (and I) know!

Snack circle on the treehouse.

The conversation coming out of these guys
was something else let me just tell you.

5 July 2019: Hidden Lake Lodge to Paradise Lift at Powder Mountain
We wanted to hike on this lovely Friday day-off and we wanted to avoid potential mountain bike encounters, so we opted for Powder Mountain again, with the plan being to hike to Hidden Lake. As we were walking down the road from the lodge at the top we could see a lift in the distance that we had never visited and it looked like we could get there. So we switched destinations mid-hike and had a marvelous time exploring and enjoying the wildflowers and blue skies. The hike back up was not quite as enjoyable mainly due to the two growling bears we had hiking alongside us. They were tired after two days of Fourth of July fun so Gregg jogged back up the last long hill to the car and we short-cutted down to the main road to wait for him to pick us up. I think it was a good decision overall.

Our destination is that little lift shack at the tip
of the hill yonder.

Switchback!

A cute little cabin we saw in the trees.

Taking turns on the lift chair.

The mules ears (or arrowleaf balsam root?
I can never tell!) were lovely!

I'm pretty sure this is real penstemon!

So pretty!

bonus video!

"growling bears"

Just minutes ago he couldn't walk another step up a hill, and
now he's climbing boulders while we wait for Gregg.

10 July 2019: Green Pond Trail
Going into this Tyke Hike (our 6th of the season!) I didn't know if anyone would show up. Last year when we hiked it, only one other mom and her two boys came. This year, I had one mom text me saying she couldn't make it. But silence from everyone else on my list of nearly 50. I thought someone would come, but we ended up having a huge group! I love it when that happens! I also love when people say things like, "thank you so much for doing this!" "I love these tyke hikes!" "This is the best!" "Oh! It's so pretty!" Makes my day!

Waiting for the friends to arrive.

A spectacular morning in the mountains.

Looking greener than last year, for sure!

Most organized group shot yet! Moms that came are Leslie,
Marin, Sadie, Kelsey, Megan, Jennii, Lara, Ashley, Lupita,
Alicia and me. Whoa!

15 July 2019: Slowpoke Run to the top of Sundown Lift at Powder Mountain
We first tried this hike last year (exactly one year ago!) and it was gorgeous then with all the wildflowers so it had stayed on our radar for this year again (though I didn't remember that it was this exact time that we tried it last year). We enjoyed the flowers (not quite as many as last year, but probably because everything is a little later this year, I'm finding) and the cool breeze and the tuna sandwiches on the way. And the kids were amazing! We hiked two and a half miles and they barely made a peep (only at the beginning). Woo!

Goof balls!

17 July 2019: Brim Trail at Powder Mountain
Our seventh Tyke Hike (if I'm counting correctly) (and the second one where two moms had to run down the trail because a couple kids kept going the wrong way - and they were fast and far, stinkin' kids!). I was hoping the flowers would be out and they certainly were! This is a favorite since it's shady and pretty level and all those flowers are just so lovely!