• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • family
    • kids
    • motherhood
    • recipes
  • homeschool
  • DIY
  • lifestyle
    • Style
    • Travel
    • Gift Guides
    • Parties
  • Subscribe
  • About Me
    • Collaborate
    • Disclaimer & Privacy Policy
  • Nav Widget Area (Left)

My Simple Wild

a motherhood & simple living blog

April 24, 2017 / Colorado life, Personal Stories

The “Perfect” Colorado Picnic


royal arch trail

 

**You are about to read some serious #honestlymothering right here so brace yourself…..

So the other day I pictured this gorgeous breezy picnic with my family in the foothills and wanted to take a ton of photos and blog about it…. “The Perfect Colorado Picnic” is what I had imagined with a list of local food ideas and beautiful photos to go with it…….So I  had grabbed a few things from home plus the main food from my favorite place to get picnic food: Cured in Boulder. I thought I was prepared enough and wanted Nate to take some snaps of this adorable picturesque set-up for me while Liam and I laughed and did our
“cheers”  with our drinks.

Well… it really was beautiful but not so perfect. First of all – I have to add that the reason why it wasn’t so great was because of me. ALL ME. We left our house already hungry and then I spent almost an hour in Cured trying to pick out fancy picnic food. The guy  helping me was beyond awesome and kept feeding me sample after sample and I was inhaling these tiny bite-sized pieces of artisan meats and cheeses. Then we had to drive all the way up to Chautauqua park, find parking, and THEN hike to find a good spot to have our picnic. I did not plan this out very well! Actually, I didn’t really plan at all.

We were all hungry, my son skipped his nap that day and I had read the weather was going to be cool and partly cloudy and instead  it was 75 and sunny (which feels like 85 when you are so close to the sun) so we were all melting in long sleeves and jeans. Plus the spot we chose was not ideal in the least. There was no shade and there were cacti EVERYWHERE. My family was hungry and I still needed to set this blanket up all cute and take some photos of this beautiful spread! Well, between stepping on cacti, the sun beating down on me, the wind blowing my blanket away and my child and boyfriend whining because they just wanted to eat…. I became a mommy monster. I was hangry, hot and just wanted to have this picture-perfect picnic damn it ! I blew up. I actually started yelling at the food like a maniac and Nate and Liam watched me with wide eyes waiting for me to cool down. I just lost it. I know other mommas out there know exactly what I am talking about. You just want something to go the “right” way and then it doesn’t at all. And sometimes I just need to have a good ole’ tantrum. I know I look ridiculous and Nate thinks telling me to “calm down” actually does anything but make me furious…  but sometimes I just need to freak out because I am trying to be so calm and collected for so long. Soothing and taking care of Liam and all the kids I babysit every day can sometimes take a toll on me. I am usually last to eat, last to sleep, first to wake up…. and as mothers we are usually always just taking care of everyone but ourselves. So once in awhile, I can admit, I have a full-on tantrum and I feel so much better afterwards! Is this healthy? Who knows, probably not. But after freaking out I sat down and started eating. Then as my blood sugar rose to a normal level and I got off my feet and I saw how happy my son was for having a picnic in the mountains…  it all faded away just like that !

That silly tantrum of mine melted away as quickly as it came and I felt amazing. Nate made jokes that I just needed to eat and that a hungry woman is no one to mess with. And yes being hungry had a bit to do with it but I just needed to let some of that anger out physically. A lot of times I hold it ALL in. And then comes the explosion and no one is safe !haha   I have to physically speak (or yell) the words I need to and then I feel as if the universe has heard them and I can move on with my day. That is why when my son is yelling and he is so frustrated with something because he just can’t get it right… I try not to even get upset or tell him to stop! ( I use to be yelling over him telling him to stop yelling….?)  I started recognizing his frustrations and talking through it outloud with him and he calms down so fast now. If I am allowed to have occasional tantrums or meltdowns then so is he. We are not perfect so why must our kids be? I am working on breathing through these moments and I have gotten so  much better but I am human. And I am a sleep-deprived, over-worked and underpaid mother, after all. I can’t be alone right? Surely there are other moms out there that have occasional meltdowns/freak-out moments too??

For me, the best way to let go of whatever I am angry with is to get a hug. If Nate is not around, the second best thing is to  just LAUGH IT OFF. Do I sometimes look and sound like a crazy person awkwardly laughing at myself in the Target check-out line? Yes. But it beats screaming at my child and pulling my hair out.

We ended up having a blast and all the food we brought was SO yummy. That chocolate, you guys…. YUM. We ended up feeling great and getting lots of energy from eating and decided to keep hiking up for another couple of hours ! It was a perfect day, tantrums and cactus needles in our shoes and all.

So now that you all know the truth about our perfectly imperfect picnic… please enjoy scrolling through some of our photos from the day!

colorado picnic

 

 

For food we had:

  • 4 types of cheese and two meats from Cured (if you are local you just HAVE to go here! The service is always amazing and I have never had anything not delicious from here!)
  • Pistachios
  • 34 Degrees Crackers
  • Tiny jar of Jam (which we brought home from a hotel while traveling- I always keep these for picnics)
  • Fresh baguette
  • San Pellegrinos ( my favorite is the lemon!)
  • Fresh apple
  • A PB& J , Mamma Chia and yogurt for Liam

Extras:

  • Small wood cutting board
  •  Small knife to cut apple and cheese (I rolled this up into a cloth napkin)
  • three cloth napkins
  • three straw plates
  • Gypsy05 picnic blanket

I remembered my sunglasses and hat but forgot the sunscreen….which is an amateur mistake when living in Colorado ! Don’t forget that sunscreen people !

 

 

 

 

We saw a group of deer walking right by us !
The very bottom of the trail

We have gone to a couple different trails in Chautauqua park but this was our first time doing the Royal Arch Trail. Online it says easy- medium difficulty….. WRONG. Everyone was huffing and puffing around us and the only reason we weren’t was because we were having to stop every three minutes for Liam to look at a flower or pick up a rock to bring home. There are a few hundred “stairs” that you have to climb up made of large boulders and rocks. We made it all the way to the top and then we saw it goes back down and then up again and that is when we decided to call it quits and head back down to the car.  It was also quite crowded ! I know this park is a very popular one in the Boulder area but I was still surprised to see just how many people were there! It’s kind of like a one-way path so we constantly were having to step aside for people to pass us or vise versa. If it was any other 4-year-old kid hiking up this mountain I don’t think it would have happened. But because our son is a beast and is just use to this altitude he was just fine climbing up this thing the whole way by himself. He was getting really tired towards the end and that is I’m sure because he had no nap. But he still did it ! Everyone we passed kept saying how they were shocked to see a little guy way up there on his own! I would NOT recommend this trail to families with younger kids. I did see plenty of families carrying their little ones on their backs and then older children around 10 and up independently hiking. There are plenty of trails that are more kid-friendly there ! Check out boulderecolorado.gov for more details and information.

royal arch trail

All tuckered out after all that hiking

 

I hope you all stuck with me and enjoyed this post! Writing about our hiking adventures is my favorite and now that summer is coming there will be MANY more to come ! I can’t wait to share my open-fire camping recipes with you!* Make sure to subscribe via email because I will be sharing exclusive content for email followers soon !

 

I hope you all have a BEAUIFTUL day !

*Post contains amazon affiliate links. If you make a purchase there is a small compensation to me at no cost to you.

Next Post
Previous Post

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. hankr says

    April 25, 2017 at 2:35 am

    Thanks for sharing superb informations. Your site is so cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this website. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for extra articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the info I already searched all over the place and simply could not come across. What an ideal website.
    hankr

    Reply
  2. Allison says

    April 25, 2017 at 5:09 pm

    This was my evening almost to a T. I also bottle it up and just let it explode (maybe it has something to do with upbringing) 😉
    The defrosted chicken intended for dinner was freezer burned, the backup hotdogs burnt on the grill while the baby found the only piece of dirt on the floor and decided to eat it. As i wiped up the mud dripping from her mouth, the sweet potato chips i was so exciged to try were also burning. Enter my lovely 6 year old who gives a face and says, “it smells gross up here” 😡
    Then after calling everyone 3x for dinner i ended up sitting by myself eating with a big ol glass of wine. Cheers! And today is another day.

    Reply
    • Natalie Aubele says

      April 26, 2017 at 4:08 am

      haha! Ali, I have similar nights like that often ! Glad I am not alone .

      Reply
  3. Sarah Forster says

    April 25, 2017 at 9:43 pm

    Sounds like you made the most of your time! The setting is just stunning and the food looked delicious!

    Reply
  4. Shannon Peterson says

    April 26, 2017 at 5:55 pm

    Haha, I love the honesty! And those cheeses look SO GOOD!

    Reply
  5. Kimberly says

    April 27, 2017 at 5:56 am

    I love the blanket! I got that same one in my fabfitfun box! It’s my favorite!

    Reply
    • Natalie Aubele says

      April 30, 2017 at 3:17 pm

      Nice ! Yea it’s really great because it folds up so small so it can fit in a small bookbag 🙂

      Reply
  6. Diedre says

    May 1, 2017 at 1:24 am

    You get an A for effort mama! It’s amazing how we want to make everything perfect, but sometimes get so flustered with details. I feel like I always forget stuff when I’m trying to do something nice with my kids. It looked great mama!

    Reply
  7. Amber Battishill says

    May 1, 2017 at 12:53 pm

    Oh man, I totally know how you feel about the blowing up tantrums. I do the same. I hold it in and then when I reach my limit, I can just explode sometimes. As mothers we constantly are putting ourselves last and it’s wearing on you.

    I’m glad that you were able to enjoy your picnic still! It looks absolutely beautiful there!

    Reply
  8. Tamara Goyette says

    May 2, 2017 at 3:37 am

    I’m a smidgen envious. We have yet to have great picnic weather and now I really want to go for a picnic with my kids.

    Reply
  9. Michelle says

    May 3, 2017 at 4:41 am

    Can’t wait for picnic weather

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

Welcome! I’m Natalie. I am a western mountain mama who just recently relocated to the coast! Here I share all things motherhood, homemaking, homeschooling, and slow living. I hope you follow along as we share this next chapter of our lives. I am so glad you are here! Grab a cup of coffee and stay awhile

Follow My Simple Wild

Categories

Join the Tribe

Popular in Lifestyle

Kid’s Summer Camping Checklist

Popular in Travel

travel toiletries checklist

Travel Toiletries Checklist + What’s In My Carry On

Popular in Food & Drinks

Hazelnut Soy Mocha

Hazelnut Soy Mocha using the Ninja Coffe Bar

Archives

Follow Along @mymountainwild

Happy Memorial Day ! Thank you to those who courag Happy Memorial Day !
Thank you to those who courageously gave their lives for our freedoms. 🇺🇸
Whew what a week ! Thank goodness for church and t Whew what a week ! Thank goodness for church and the good Word to renew and fill me with hope. Last week was a doozy and felt like it wouldn't ever end. Good & bad things happened, but more bad than I'd like. My grandma passed away and then we were in a stressful scramble for 2 days trying to figure out who could take care of our animals and dogs and garden & afford flights, a hotel and rental car to go to Chicago for the services(we ended up just having to book a flight for me & Liam and my husband and Theo will stay behind to hold down the homestead). We had a big playhouse we bought off FB marketplace delivered that Nate and Liam have been repairing and painting. It's turning out great ! I know many memories will be made in there, and I can't wait to share the before & afters. Though my poor husband has way too many projects going on at once again. 😬 
 My dog tried to eat baby bunnies. Twice 🤦‍♀️ Liam got some kind of poison ivy or poison oak rash all over and now today it has gotten pretty bad. His poor little cheek is all red and swollen and he's miserably itchy. Last night while driving home from a restaurant, I hit a coyote that jumped across the highway. Our brand new car's bumper is wrecked. 
The other day I went to the garden to find all the marigolds I planted next to my tomatoe plants died out of nowhere, and something is eating my pole beans. 🙃 
How I've been coping ? 
1. Finally cracking open a prayer journal I got for Christmas from my best friend and pouring my heart out. 
2. Spurts of intense deep cleaning that makes me utterly exhausted 
3. Trying to plan a couple fun things while Liam and I are in Chicago for a few days. Liam was SO excited it would just be us two going on this trip because we don't get much time just the two of us since Theo was born. I want to make the best of it and think it will be nice for the focus to be on Liam for a few days. 

Even though life has been busy and crazy and sad, I still just feel incredibly grateful and blessed for what the Lord has given me and my family. I'm ready to be home and hug my family and celebrate the beautiful life of my Grandma Alice.
Do you have plans to go camping with your kids thi Do you have plans to go camping with your kids this Summer ? I have a blog post from a few years ago that has a free printable kids packing list. This checklist gives kids an easy to follow list to be independent and responsible for their own pack for a weekend camping trip. 
I don't know if we'll get to camping before baby gets here in July, but we plan to camp this Autumn for just short weekend getaways. 
Now that Liam is 3 years older since creating that checklist, I may even add a couple more things. A tick remover to be added to his first aid kit would be helpful, and having his own bug spray. 
Head ro the blog (link in my bio) to see the list and let me know if you'd add anything to it ! 😊 
Tell me about your camping trips this Summer ! I'd love to know ⛺️
Yesterday Bowie brought home a limp baby bunny tha Yesterday Bowie brought home a limp baby bunny that I'm guessing was about 10 or so days old. His eyes were barely open. I had to scoop him up and push my dog out of the way who was super confused as to why I was so mad at him. I kept him warm and he snuggled into my arm and belly and fell asleep 😭 Liam searched and searched the thick brush at the edge of the forest, and deep into a thorn-covered bush, there was the little burrow with a few other little baby bunnies. He snuggled right back in next to them. 
Bowie got into their burrow again today ! 😩 Liam was devastated, but I think they're alright. 
Then we realized a finch made a beautiful nest with 3 little eggs in our shed, so we have to find a new home for the sweet nest as we're having our shed moved soon on our property to use as a chicken coop and to make way for building a garage. Any tips on how to safely move a bird's nest? 😬 
And before anyone comes at me for not wearing gloves to pick this little babe up, there was no time. And it's a myth that a mama rabbit will reject their young just because they smell weird. We've had baby bunnies before and I'm guessing mama just gave them a good bath.
One of the most important people in my life made h One of the most important people in my life made her way up to heaven yesterday. My grandma Alice, my boy's GG, I imagine is slow dancing with Grandpa John and he's smiling with his blue eyes and saying "about time, Alice". My Grandma raised 5 children, was  devoted to her church, gave to charities that were close to her heart, had many friends, traveled all over the world, and loved her husband fiercely. She was an amazing mother and THE best grandmother. I never went to her house without a proper tea time complete with cookies and little snacks. She took care of my family when my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 acute Leukemia when I was just 3 months old. 
She was one of the first people I would call with good news, like when Nate proposed or I found out I was pregnant, or we were buying a house. She gave the best warm sincere hugs. Her laugh was contagious. I like to think my love for singing, roses, history, birds, and hosting comes from her. She made holidays so fancy and special. If I close my eyes I can hear the crackle of the fireplace at an Aubele Christmas party with a house full of Aubele's talking louder and louder with the smell of coffee and sweets in the dining room on the buffet. Laughter & warmth filling every inch of that house. I have always dreamed of a large family because of her. She was an amazing storyteller and often told me stories of our ancestors. And we have some pretty crazy family stories! She was proud to be Ojibwa and often reminded me to be proud as well. She was an amazing seamstress and made her grandchildren dolls & dresses & teddy bears. Family was the most important thing to her, and I knew at a young age that serving my own family someday was also what I wanted to do. 
Even though she passed yesterday, I have been mourning my grandma for over a year. Dementia took hold of my sweet Grandma Alice and I couldn't call her on the phone anymore. When I saw her this April, she had no idea who I was or who my Dad, her own son, was. I couldn't call to tell her I was pregnant with my 3rd son. I couldn't call to tell her I moved from MT to VA and that we bought a homestead. My grandma has been gone for some time👇🏼

Copyright © 2023 · My Simple Wild · Designed by Bella Creative Studio