Banner talks (Colorado edition)...

This is my last Colorado post, I promise. It's just that Banner is finally getting to an age where he says the most hysterical things, and I wanted to document some of my favorites.

On haircuts:
Trevor:  "Wanna get a haircut when we get back to Dallas?"
Banner:  "Yeah! I wanna get a doughnut!"

On hiking:
"I wanna climb Rocky the Mountain!"

On playing chase in the front yard:
"Daddy don't chase me! I wanna be the monster!"

Some of the things we overheard as "Thomas" (a.k.a. Durango/Silverton the narrow gauge railroad) chugged by:

• "Ah!  THOMAS!"
• "Thomas time out!" 
• "Thomas hungee!" 
• "Thomas sleepy!" 
• "Thomas say 'sorry'!"
• "I wanna ride baby Thomas!"
• "Ride Thomas today?"
• "Oh, no!  I miss Thomas!"
• "Thomas, where are you?"

On the tantrum he threw on the way back down from Ice Lakes while on mommy's back:
Me:  "Banner you did it, dude!  You are awesome!  That was a long day, buddy!"
Banner:  "No, I no awesome. I hit mommy."

On hiking (in general):

• "I like hikin."
• "Mo hike tomorrow?"
• "I wanna ride in mama's pack pack."

On Ouray::

Me:  "Wanna go to Ouray?"
Banner: "No, I no wanna go my way!"

On Grammy Pammy:

• "Jeep I got a cracker for you! Eat it!"
• "Sad, sad Jeep!"

On songs he sang (a lot):

• "Finkle finkle little star..."
• "Wain, Wain go away!  Go again some udder day!"
• "Mama, Mama, Mama!  It's BOOM CLAP song!  BOOM! CLAP!"

On proper pronunciation:

Mom:  "You need to teach him to pronounce 'bridge'!"
Trevor:  "Why?"
Mom:  "Because you going to get a call from his school!"

Speaking of, Banner mispronounces the following:

• Calls Schnitzel "shizzle"
• "I found it" sounds like "I farted"
• "Push it" sounds like "bullish*t"
• "Bridge" sounds like "b*tch"
• "Goldfish" sounds like "doofus"
• And "Percy" (the train) sounds like...well, you know.

At least we can finally say "truck" without causing little, old ladies to inhale sharply.  

Baby steps.

The flight home...

Our flight home on August 16th didn't leave until 4:30 PM, so we spent most of the day doing everything in our power to wear the little dude out AND not let him fall asleep.  It was a gamble keeping him awake.  It could have just as easily led to an epic airport meltdown, but we got lucky.

Of course, the weather threatened to not cooperate with our late afternoon departure.  And not just on the Colorado end, either.  Dallas had severe storms that afternoon, and I convinced myself that delays were imminent.  But, somehow, the stars aligned and we took off on time, and without incident. The ride home was pretty bumpy, but we arrived ahead of schedule so I'm not complaining!

Enjoying one of Jeep's homemade chocolate chip
cookies while waiting for our plane to board.

The absolute best was watching Banner completely conch out about 30 seconds after take off.  The flight was full of little ones (including a set of 18 month twins), and they were all screaming their little heads off.  But, for once, my kid wasn't one of them.  It was fantastic.  I read my book for two hours straight, while he used my lap as a pillow.  It was heaven.  

In related news, Banner isn't quite ready for hard candy or gum, but Mentos ended up being a lifesaver on this trip.  I don't know what inspired me to buy a roll at DFW on August 3rd, but I did and would offer Banner one whenever he complained about his ears hurting on the plane or while driving in the mountains.  Instant cure.  Not sure if this trick would work for all little ones, but I'm definitely keeping Mentos on hand whenever we travel in the future.  Or at least until Banner is old enough to chew gum.  ;P

Last night at the cabin...

Because some of the very best moments happen while just hanging out at the cabin.  Or as Banner calls it "the Durango house".

One more dinner at Dalton Ranch...

 ...to wrap up yet another fabulous Durango summer vacation.

Highland Mary Lakes...

I'm pretty sure the last time we did the Highland Mary Lakes hike was in 2007.  For whatever reason, I never blogged about our hikes that year, which is too bad because we were prolific hikers that year.  I'm almost positive that was the summer we did Ice Lakes twice, explored Spencer Basin and discovered both the Highland Mary Lakes and Verde Lakes up near the Continental Divide.

Anyway, Highland Mary Lakes is a delightful hike just outside Silverton.  There are several extensions, and - back in 2007 - we hiked further than we did with Banner in tow this year.  And, honestly, we considered heading up to the Verde Lakes, but we weren't big fans of the thunderheads heading in our direction.  Which ended up being a good thing, because it rained on us on the way down and stormed on our way back into Silverton.

All in all, it this hike isn't as strenuous as Ice Lakes (about 6.5 miles roundtrip and 1500-1800 feet altitude gain), but has an equally gorgeous view as your reward.  Unless, of course, you are Grammy Pammy.  She absolutely hates this hike, but only remembers her strong feelings about it when faced with the boulder field less than a quarter mile from the first Mary Lake.

Seriously.  Want to hear GP swear like a sailor?  Take her on this hike, leave her on the far side of the boulder field and listen to her tell you that the hike "just isn't fun anymore".  But, to her credit, she's done this hike twice now, made it across the boulders (and back) and lived to tell about it.

But enough from me, here are some of the pictures from our final hike of the summer.  Just like with Forebay Lake, some of my favorites aren't included because they involve "potty training" at nearly 12,500 feet (actually some while waiting for GP to conquer the aforementioned boulder field).  Rest assured they are awesome and safely archived for Banner's rehearsal dinner!

"Mommy!  Mommy!  Take my picture here!"

Currently Jeep's FB profile picture.  Because ADORABLE!

Looking up towards the access to Spencer's basin.