A Smattering of Duehrings

The third day it was time for a hike to the West Peak. Back about 20 years ago I hiked to the peak several times and I decided to do it again. Eighteen of us left to go to the trail head early Monday morning. My dad went along and was going to stop at timber line to stay with any of the kids that couldn’t make it all the way.

Of our kids Maggie and Evan were the only ones to go. Maggie really wanted to make it to the top and Evan was really worried that something would happen to his daddy and mommy so he wanted to be with us. They both made it to timber line but stopped and stayed with Grampa there. Micah had no desire to go because he was sure there would be a mountain lion at the peak of the mountain. He was also very afraid of bears.

It was a really hard climb, but was so beautiful up there. This picture gives you a little bit of a perspective of what it was like to climb.

You had to place your hands and feet carefully with each step or the rocks would roll down the mountain. It took us about 3 hours to get to the top. I was so proud of the 5 kids that made it. It was not easy for them, but they didn’t give up.

Here we are at the top. (Damon, June, Greg, John, Trevin, Trey, Brittany, Caleb, and Brendon) We had a shortage of water with us and so were thankful that there was snow near the top. I sucked on snow as much as possible on the way down. I am sure it wasn’t the cleanest, but I didn’t care at the time.

Check out this cool tree we saw up on the mountain.

It was a lot harder than I remembered, but I am glad I was able to do it. It isn’t too often that Damon and I get a chance to do something like this together these days.

Each year when we went to Colorado we would hike to this meadow on the East Peak. My parents had a tree where they had all of our initials and would add the new year to the tree. When Damon and I were dating we went up there with my family and started our own tree. I went back with my parents the year after we got married and added our wedding date to the tree. We haven’t been back since so we had some catching up to do.

Sunday morning we loaded up the kids and headed up to the beginning of the trail to the meadow. It is a fun hike and is kind of an obstacle course. There are streams to cross, trees to climb over, rocks to walk on, etc. The kids loved it and only 3 or 4 of the 21 kids had to be carried.

Eli walked the entire way. He was so excited when he finally found a hiking stick to help him walk. Some of his big cousins had one so he HAD to have one. It didn’t last long since his stick was bigger than he was.

When we made it to the meadow we went to our tree and Damon began to carve our kids initials in the tree. We had a little church service in the meadow and then the kids had fun down at the stream. It was almost impossible for me to pull Evan and Eli away from the stream. They could have easily spent the entire day throwing rocks into the stream.

On the way back Evan got to ride on Grampa’s shoulders.

Molly and daddy had lots more bonding time on this trip. They talked and hummed on the way back while she tickled his neck the whole time with a flower. It was pretty cute.

The first morning after arriving we went to the Sand Dunes. It is just amazing how the mountains of sand ended up where they did on this mountain. It is beautiful. At the bottom of the sand there was some water making it a perfect beach for the kids. Most of the young kids stayed in the wet sand and the older kids hiked as far as they could before they could no longer walk. Damon took Maggie, Micah, and Evan up a ways. I stayed at the bottom to help with babies.

This year my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. They wanted to take all of their children and grandchildren to Colorado to celebrate. When I was young our family took vacations to the Spanish peaks in Colorado often and they recently found a perfect place in the same area that would house the entire family.

Last Thursday, we all drove to Hutchinson and then early Friday morning we took off for Colorado. We rented two 15 passenger vans and my brother drove their SUV with a U-Haul on the back for all of the luggage. There was plenty of room in the U-haul for everything we needed. Damon was even able to fit his mountain bike in.

I have decided that every vacation we take from now on we need to take with cousins. The drive went fast and the kids had a blast. The moms and babies rode in one van and the dads and older kids rode in the other van. The babies all did awesome and it was a very quiet trip.

We arrived at the lodge in the late afternoon and the kids had fun exploring the lodge. It was an 8 bedroom, 8 bathroom lodge.It had 3 floors and included two kitchens, a pool table, a ping pong table, a fooseball table, a checker/chess table, a craft table, etc. There was plenty to keep the kids and adults busy all the time. It was on the end of a dirt road where the kids could run free and we didn’t have to worry about traffic or people anywhere. The fear of bears kept the kids from wandering out of sight which was good.

This was looking off the back deck of the lodge. There was often deer walking by behind the lodge that we were able to watch.

To be continued…

There is something about this little girl of mine that moves my soul. Beyond a doubt, she’s my little girl. She wants to see me first thing after she wakes up, and she wants to see me last before she goes to sleep. She walks around and hollers my name as loud as she can. If she’s hurt or upset, she wants me to hold her. If June picks her up and I walk past, she reaches out to be held by me. On weekends when I am home all day, she tries to follow me around where ever I go. If I am in the garage, she sits in the wagon and watches me. If I am in the living room, she’s there sitting on the floor within eyesight. If I am in the kitchen, she is hovering about my legs.

Now, don’t get me wrong–all of my kids love me, and they all like to be with me. Something about Molly, though, is different. She seems to need me a bit more than the others. I secretly hope that never changes; that she will always be a “daddy’s girl.” Ah, I love my little Molls.