Labor Day: Traci Buchanan's visit and Camping in Leadville

We started off our holiday with Traci Buchanan flying into town with her boyfriend, 'Dr.' Lee Carney. They arrived on August 27, 2008. During those 4 days we took them to Boulder a couple of times, Estes Park and then camping in Leadville. This was the first time we'd seen Traci in 4 years and the first time that we had ever met Lee. Her visit was long overdue. This was also the first time that Traci had ever met Madeeha.

Here she is on the phone trying to finish up some last minute travel details.

This is one of our favorite spots...Lost Overlook Gulch. We take everyone here. It's a great place. Who knew that Traci was afraid of falling though? She wouldn't climb the rock and I had to hold her hand to take pictures because she was terrified.

There's Lee and Traci together. They look cute.

If someone doesn't keep a tight grip on Madeeha she will definitely try to jump off of the cliff.

We ventured off so that I could go potty in the woods. That's Traci behind the bright flash taking our picture as we're heading back up the trail.

Fire in the sky. Colorado sunsets are always amazing!

After viewing Boulder from the gulch, we drove down the mountain back to Boulder. We strolled the Pearl St. outdoor mall. Traci visited some shops and we checked out some performers. Then we all had dinner at Old Chicago Pizza.

One of the many performers that you will find on Pearl St on any given day. This was pretty neat. He really does look like he is being wind blown. He didn't move, but only occasionally spoke as if he were talking on his cell phone.

Traci and Lee went into the Paper Doll shop and bought Madeeha this little fairy hat and butterfly skirt. I'm not sure who loved it more, Traci or Madeeha. It's really cute.

Here we are at Old Chicago Pizza. Traci is proudly displaying the gift that she and Lee gave to Madeeha.

Hi Imran

Traci and Madeeha playing peekaboo while we waited for our pizza.

I scheduled a potluck and playdate at my house before I knew that Traci would be coming to visit us. She and Lee looked on for a while before escaping to Starbucks.

This is me and my little sweetheart, Avery. I have to hold her and love on her when I can. She's so cute.

This is Boulder Falls on Canyon Boulevard. I love this place.

We drove to Estes Park and had dinner and then walked around a bit. Daddy helped Madeeha walk the wall while Traci checked out one of the shops.

We're heading back to the car so that we can drive a little further through Rocky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately, a wildfire was raging about 6 hrs away. Unbelievable as it was, a smoky haze covered the entire area, even all over Denver. It's amazing the affect that wildfires have on the surrounding environment. It was so hazy that we couldn't even see huge mountains that were right in front of us.

We were invited by Celeste and Mike to go camping in Leadville, CO along with several of their friends. We arrived on Friday August 29, 2008 in the evening. It's a beautiful drive to this area. The weather was cool and the skies were beautiful. Traci and Lee eventually met up with us, but they first had to visit a sporting store that was having a sale.

We were just getting acquainted with the campsite. Madeeha immediately grabbed some toys and started playing in the dirt. She has never been so happy to be dirty. She loved it. She didn't bathe for 2 days and loved every minute of it. We need to take her camping again. She loves the outdoors and she had too much fun. The boy in the picture is Alec, Celeste's and Mike's son. Madeeha couldn't figure out that his name was Alec, so she called him Alex. It's hard for her because we know so many kids with the same or similar names.

Daddy is setting up our huge tent.

Madeeha is checking everything out and seeing what all she can get in to.

One of Madeeha's favorite activities was to swing in the hammock. She called it the 'slide'. A couple of pictures above she is sitting with Ryan, who enjoyed helping Miss M swing.
Later, we had to put Miss M in the car and let her pretend to drive. She was acting crazy and needed a distraction. She turned on the blinkers and lights and pretended to drive like a pro.


Lee and Traci looking cute together, again.



All the kiddies put glow sticks on so that we could see them at night if they ran off. Miss M just wanted to eat it, so we put it on her ankle. It's a great idea to have these things while in the woods at night.

There's the hostess, Celeste, who doesn't like it when I take her picture. She made all homemade meals and took good care of us. For once I wasn't in charge of everything.

Madeeha kept putting her mouth on the beer can. She did this about 15 times, but neither Traci nor myself could catch it on camera. Miss M thought this was really funny.

Sweet little kisses for Aunt Traci.

Night time: getting ready for bed


It's Saturday and Madeeha is still enjoying the hammock. She's bundled in her jacket, which she calls the 'macket'.

This is Turquoise Lake. The shore was very rocky. We didn't do any fishing, but some of our friends did. They didn't catch anything, but it was still a nice day. The lake is bigger than it looks. It curves to the right and wraps around the mountain for quite a distance.

To the left is the tallest mountain in Colorado, Mount Elbert.

Daddy and daughter sitting down, relaxing and reminiscing about the good old days.

Queen of Adventure

Saturday night: lots of sleepy people in the background who almost went blind from the camera flash.

It's Sunday. Our last day camping. We dressed Miss M in a thick suit the night before because it was very cold at night. She looked so cute and chunky. She's making daddy swing her in the hammock again.

Alec and Madeeha were dancing on top of his bear trap.

Madeeha wanted to help Celeste wash the dishes and she did so by dumping hand fulls of dirt into the dishwater.



Alec wanted me to help him find the ghost running around the portable shower. Luckily I had already used the shower before his little ghost arrived.

Alec didn't want us to go home. He's a very sweet little boy. He played with Madeeha very well. I didn't get the picture, but he and Madeeha were hugging for about 10 minutes.

Imran was trying to put away the last part of the tent. We used a shower curtain as a tarp. Madeeha made Daddy and Alec drag her around the camp.

Now she's chasing her daddy around and screaming because she isn't done riding the tarp yet.

Madeeha was very grumpy at this point. She was getting sleepy, but we were trying to keep her awake until we put her in the car seat. She thought that Daddy's Gatorade was her juice, and she insisted that she have some.



These are the trees at the campsite.

Just before we left the campground, we rode around the lake area. It was raining, so we just rolled down the window and snapped this picture. After that, we headed home and it rained the whole way.