Back to Rocky Mountain National Park this morning. First stop: Sprague Lake. This has to be one of my favorite spots of the day.

Below is a fly fishing lesson. Can you imagine learning a new skill with THIS as your backdrop?

Check out this brazen little chipmunk. We were within just a foot or two of this guy. Clearly breakfast was a much higher priority than safety.

Another fly fishing lesson below with two adventurous little kids.

Pretty sure we didn’t have a bad view all day.

If you look really closely in the below photo, you’ll see one of our favorite sightings of the day. A big ole moose.

Closer view of the moose.

So much fun wandering through the wilderness with my boys.

Random photo: we keep seeing this bird all over the place. It looks like a crow or a raven crossed with a…panda.

 When my kids were very little, I made a promise that we would go somewhere new at least once a year. I didn’t care if it was close to home or far away — I wanted my boys to see new places and meet new people. I don’t know why, but I’ve always viewed experience as the most important gift I can give my kids. I’m grateful to say, as a single mom at the close of my youngest son’s 20th birthday trip, that this is a promise that I’ve been able to faithfully keep.