The Bastian Year In Review 2011

Instead of a Christmas Letter this year (December was just to crazy this year!) I opted for a more electronically savvy method, and created a video to reflect on 2011. Besides, it was too hard to choose which pictures to put into a letter – we started one, and which pictures to choose, was so hard! This year included a trip to California to see my childhood best friend, Andy, get married, (and a trip to DisneyLand while there) and another trip back later in the year to perform my first wedding for his little sister, Lindsay! We enjoyed many visits from friends coming to enjoy Colorado and stay with us (when are YOU coming?) and enjoying this beautiful state ourselves as we still discover its vast beauty! Luke turned 5, and wanted a “real Jeep” for his birthday, so I rented a Jeep for the day! I started “Dad School” a mini-home school to focus on the areas he needed help, and also “Family Pit Stops,” our evening family devotional times as he got old enough for intentional spiritual input from Dad. Sara is a table leader for MOPS at our church and I continue to write a children’s…

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When Mommy’s Away the Boys Will Play

Mommy is off on a women’s retreat, so daddy and boy can either stay home and watch TV and eat whatever food we can find, or…. head out on an ADVENTURE. We chose the latter, and headed out to Castlewood Canyon State Park! We had a great time, and without mommy, of course, we were free to roam “off the trail” a little more than usual. (hehe) And boy oh boy does this boy love to climb! Of course, I have a knack for taking pictures that look a lot higher than they really are! Both of these above, Luke is about five feet off the ground. (LOL) I would never let Luke climb up anywhere high! I get such a kick out of him stopping every now, turning around and saying, “Take my picture daddy!” I can’t imagine where he got that! At one point, Luke decided to show me how strong he was! I was pretty impressed! He was going to roll it all the way the down the hill, but I made him put the rock back where he found it. But what is a hike without bringing some cars to play with? Hiking with Luke is…

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The Great Colorado Fall Leaf Tour

For Luke’s Fall Break, we came up to Breckenridge and on Monday we headed out for what we thought would be a 2-4 hour tour of the area to see the changing leaves… it turned into a twelve hour tour of Colorado! But we had a great time! It was great having a convertible at a time like this! We had driven past this scene and a mile past I ended up doing a U-Turn to go back and took about twenty amazing amazing pictures here… It ended up being one of the most beautiful stops of the entire day… The horses kept posing for me in different arrangements! But Luke’s favorite was when we spotted a UFO back in the hills that had just landed! We got a picture and then got out of there before they abducted us! Here is a close up zoomed in: That had to be the highlight of Luke’s day! For me, it was just being out with the family, cruzin’ with the top down in the PK Cruiser: Which is why THIS is my new Facebook Profile Pic! Later, Sara said her favorite stop was by this old tractor and wooden barn, and…

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Fall Hike to Some Lakes

Friday, I ditched work (something that’s a little easier to do when yer da boss!) and headed out to the mountains for a day hike with a friend to check out a hike to three lakes up in the mountains east of Idaho Springs. And it turned out to be a beautiful way to spend the day. Dinner on Friday was the beginning of our church’s “Men’s Advance” (real men don’t ‘retreat’) in Fraser, CO, so I decided to spend the day hiking to get into the right frame of mind to the men’s retreat… ooops, advance. It was a beautiful day and the aspens were in full yellow changing! The first lake, Chinns, had an old cabin on it that we had lunch in it. It was pretty awesome wondering the history of this settlement. The next lake, Sherman, was less exciting, but it did have a cool tree out in it that we posed for some pictures out on. Another view of Chinns Lake from up above on our way to Slater Lake. Here is Craig Wilson checking out Slater Lake, and as you can see, there was snow still on the hillside belong the lake… where we…

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The Perfect Birthday… In The Mountains!

So…. what did I do for my 42nd birthday? I blew off work and took my family and went and did my favorite thing… I went hiking! I recently got a great new hiking book called Colorado Lake Hikes that I highly recommend. This was the first hike I’ve done in the book. We decided to visit St. Mary’s Lake and “Glacier.” On the way, we spotted this beautiful water fall on the side of the road. That’s one of the things I love about living in Colorado – there are gorgeous spots like this all over the place. We can just pull over and Luke can get to play in Creation just off the side of the road. It was simply beautiful! Soon we were on our way up the mountain. This was Luke’s second “real” hike. I haven’t had a chance to blog yet about our family vacation in Yosemite yet, where he hiked up to the top of Sentinel Dome! He is very proud of that feat! He is proving to fit into nature just, well, naturally. I wonder where he gets his love of the outdoors from? Luke wants to climb on top of every rock…

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