The Woolleys: Torreys and Grays Peaks!

Saturday Jeremy hiked his first two 14ers (mountains over 14,000 ft) and did awesome! Jeremy, Ryan, and I hiked the super popular Torreys (14,267') and Grays (14,270') Peaks in kick-butt time.

We started about 10 am and were extremely lucky to find a spot right next to the trailhead, which was at about 11,200 ft. I knew I was in trouble when I was huffing and puffing 10 steps into the hike. Not a lot of air up there. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather the entire time.

It's fine to take babies to those altitudes, but you have to watch them carefully. They get the same symptoms, but they just can't tell you that they don't feel well. Luckily, Jeremy was doing great when we summited Grays at a little after noon.

Jeremy gives Grays a thumbs-up!

Ryan caught a 19 lb keeper

After lunch, we hiked down the other side of Grays, across the saddle, and up to Torreys. There was a brisk wind across the saddle, and by the time we reached the top, Jeremy wasn't feeling so well. He was lethargic and slow to respond, so after a quick feed, we hustled back down the mountain.

View from Torreys Peak
(not a lot of pictures taken on that peak since Jer didn't feel well)

We had to hike across a snowfield on the way back down. It was pretty scary. I'm not going to say instant death if you slipped, but it wouldn't have been pretty.

Our awesome baby took a 45 minute nap on the way up and on the way down.

We ran out of water about an hour before the car (you need a ton of water at that altitude), which only served to hasten our pace back down the mountain. All in all, it was an amazing hike, and we had a blast!

Now I know this is out of chronological order, but I wanted to say a word or two about our last couple of weeks since I've been such a slacker at posting.

On August 8th, I ran the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half-Marathon with my friends Carrie and Jarrie. I had a blast, and I can't wait to run another race (I'm running a 10K in Golden on September 12th). I ran the whole thing without walking and my pace was just over 10 min/mile. I was reasonably happy with that time. It's not a bad time for my first half-marathon and for training for a month and a half. Here are us girls before the race (it was freezing).

Ryan took the video camera, but somehow it got turned off while he was recording my finish. Then, in the excitement after the race, we forgot to take more photos, so here is the only photo we have of after the race (and the camera was accidentally set to a small number of megapixels, so it's tiny).

After the half marathon, Ryan convinced me that it would be a good idea to drive up to Mt. Evans (14,263 ft, I think). Not a good idea. I got so altitude-sick, but it was still a lot of fun (but no more 14ers after a half-marathon).

Atop Mt. Evans

Altitude-sick Nessa

Then we drove to a lake at 12,000 ft, and Ryan fished for a while. Man, that was a long day.

Pretty wild-flowers

Mimi's memorial service was on August 15th. Jeremy and I went back for it, and it was a really beautiful experience. I miss Mimi so much, but I know she would've loved seeing all her family and friends there for her.

We obviously didn't take any pictures at the service, but my mom took some adorable ones of Jeremy back at her house. Is ANYBODY surprised that she dressed him up like a cowboy? I didn't think so.

my mom, Jer, and my step-dad Chris

my little cowboy

Now this is WAY out of order, but my in-laws sent us the CD with the family pictures from the Barnhart Family Reunion, and I just wanted to post a couple of my favorites.