Mt. Evans a year later.

But first...some random cuteness. Check out the clashin'-est baby in town. It was chilly when we came downstairs yesterday morning and these are all the layers I could find without going back upstairs. He's a little color blind elf.
A pit stop on our way up the big mountain. We stopped for lunch and ice cream. Eli loved the blueberry muffin batter ice cream. He gave us blue kisses afterward in gratitude.
Just cute.
Looking for a fan.

Here we are a year ago today. We hiked up to the summit of Mt. Evans, at 14,255 feet. I was very pregnant. Eli was still head-up. We were more than a month from meeting him.
Today we ventured back up the big mountain with our big boy. We threw some layers on him (including his great Columbia jacket from the May Family, which is going to fit perfectly this winter), and went to hiking. It was actually snowing up there when we arrived. Think of that - snowing in August. That's Colorado.
I wore Eli's new pumpkin hat. My head is only slightly bigger than his.
Being all bundled up made us all excited about fall.
Eli loved hiking up the mountain all bundled up and riding in the front pack.
What's that face?
Our sweet mountain family.
Once we got to the top, Eli wanted to be let loose to climb. It made his parents very nervous, but he did quite well.
"Mama, let's GO!"
He's off.
He's a born rock climber.



Sweet mountain men.


We got back down mostly unscathed (as is our tradition, there was one fall. I took a spill on the way down with Eli in the pack. A lovely pack of Asian men came to my aid, and Eric wouldn't let go of the strap on the back of the pack for the rest of the hike).


And a parting video of Eli proudly signing for more fruit. He now has two signs - fan and more. We're a bit slack about teaching him signs, but we are trying for some of the major ones. His friend William just gave us two signing DVDs and Eli and I are taking a sing and sign class at the library in October, so hopefully we'll pick up some more.