Too Too Cute

While we were in Colorado Aunt Lindsee gave Sarah a new green and blue fluffy skirt, resembling a tutu.  Sarah has never had a tutu before and was excited to get to wear it.  I held her off until we got home. 

One of the first mornings back in sunny Kansas she woke up told me that she wanted to wear her "tufi" today.  I was confused about the first six times she asked me... your "tufi"?  What is a "tufi"?  Finally I just asked her to show me.  (Repeating the question and word "tufi" was getting us nowhere.)  She headed to her closet, opened the doors, and pointed at the new tutu.  OH, I GOT IT NOW!  We found a shirt to wear with it and got the outfit on...

She pranced around the house all day... spinning and jumping.

We had a photo shoot in the backyard.  She showed me some of her "moves".  I made her stand by the fence and on some stumps....

She did look very cute!  Thanks Aunt Lindsee, great gift pickin'.

Vacation Day 7 - Woodland Park and back to Kansas

Some other interesting facts about the Hastings cabin are.... The wood used to build the cabin came from an old house in Wichita, that my Grandpa, his boys and some friends helped to tear down.  The cabin has six double beds, two sets of bunk beds (one made by my Dad out of Aspen trees from around the cabin), and one single bed, allowing the cabin to sleep a comfy, (yet a little crowded) seventeen people.  The old rugged Hutch in the kitchen belonged to my Grandma Hastings's Grandma Holman (my Great Great Grandma).  My grandparents use to spend their summers at the cabin... two, three, four months of family and friends coming and going to visit them and the beautiful surrounding mountains.  The water holding tank for the cabin can hold up to 1050 gallons of water.  The dining room table and chairs were my grandparents set from their house in Clearwater, KS.  (Thousands of card games have been played on that table and stories told around that table.)  The cabin is heated by a wood-burning stove located in the living room.  And, one more thing... this cabin was built by a family that knew how to love unconditionally, accepted others (because no one is perfect), had a strong faith in the Lord, and loved God. 

(These are two older snapshots that I have from at the cabin.  They were both taken in the 80's.)

When we got up on our last day of vacation, our last day at the cabin, we packed and loaded all of our things, then hiked around the cabin a bit, and did some fishing down in the little pond.  Sarah caught one little fish and was very excited to help reel it in and throw it back.

While Sarah and Eric fished, Phoebe and I looked at some flowers.  She wanted to pick and smell them.  She was concerned when she found some flowers with a bug on them.  She didn't want to put her nose on those!

My favorite, and only, sister in the world is Lindsee.  She lives in Colorado.  I sure do wish we lived closer to each other... of course for my own selfish reasons, mostly because she is my best girlfriend, and so many times I just down right miss her.  We got to spend our vacation days together and it was great.  Sarah and Phoebe love to hang out and play with her too.  Sarah says that some of her favorite things to do with her Aunt Lindsee are... "picking flowers with her, eating snacks with her, making pictures with her, having a sleepover with her, reading stories with her, hide and seek, tag, and frisbee with her..." and the list goes on.

Phoebe was just the right height to use the lower railing on the cabin front porch steps.  She liked being able to walk up and down all by herself, holding onto the railing.  She was all smiles when she and Popee played peek-a-boo by the tall wood pile.

A family tradition for us is to take family and group pictures on or near the cabin front porch right before leaving.  Here are our family and group shots, right before we all piled in our vehicles and headed home.

And now for a little fun and entertainment... We'll just call this the before we leave this place"Kiss'n Laugh"!

Good-bye Colorado and sweet memories.  Welcome back to hot - sunny Kansas.

Vacation Day 6 - Woodland Park

From Buena Vista we headed West toward Divide, Colorado.  My grandparents, Howard and Jo Hastings bought land, and with their sons and daughter-in-laws help, built a cabin in Tranquil Acres.  My grandparents have since passed away, and the cabin now belongs to my Dad and two of his brothers.  I have many wonderful memories of going out to the cabin in the summer with my family and friends as I was growing up.  Some of our family friends that share some of these same wonderful memories are Greg S., the Tibbetts, the Brewers, the Achleitners, the Warners, and the Bergers.  I am so thankful that my Grandpa Hastings had this fabulous dream of having a cabin in the mountains!

At the cabin we use an outhouse during the daytime and the indoor bathroom at night.  We have to haul in our own water so this is a way of conserving the water.  The outhouse has been decorated and is a two-seater... just in case you may want, or need to have a "potty party".  (That is what Grandma Hastings and I use to call it if you had to go at the same time as someone else.)

My girls, especially Phoebe, loved playing in the dirt and rocks.  Thank you Aunt Lindsee for the special gift of buckets, shovels, the rake, sieve, and trucks.  (very thoughtful and entertaining gifts for the nieces)

We played some frisbee too.  We learned that Sarah is a VERY good frisbee thrower!  No joke.  She throws with an underhand zing and is fairly accurate.  I think Lindsee was wishing little kids could play on her Ultimate Frisbee team.  She would have recruited Sarah immediately.

 

We had the pleasure of meeting Eric Paul's parents, Jim and Patti.  They are so kind and fun.  Good people!  I can see why Lindsee enjoys spending time with them. 

We played the game Sequence, men against the women, best two out of three.... The women won!  We also played a Hastings favorite, Pounce.  We played this in teams too, again men against the women.  Again, the women won!

We celebrated Father's Day Saturday evening while Jim and Patti were still at the cabin with us.  Dad, Eric and Jim all liked their Father's Day cards.  After they opened the cards we made them pose for a few Father's Day pictures.

What a great day at the cabin with my family!