Halloween 2009

Okay, so this is a little late, but I had a major computer crash and now I'm up and running. We had our snowiest Halloween yet, which gave us the chance to make a snow witch (their first snow"man") and have some good snowball fights.





Pumpkin carving was an adventure, as the boys really didn't want to stick their hands inside and get all gooey. At least they enjoyed the final product.



The big spider and web are the hit of the decorations.

After a party at the neighbor's house, it was finally time for trick-or-treating. The kids lasted for about six houses before they wanted to go home. They had much more fun passing out candy, and would scream whenever a group came to the door. Halloween still trumps all for their favorite holiday and they're already asking how many more days till Halloween!!!

Lance's 4th

Lance had his 4th birthday yesterday - he's very proud to be 4 and doesn't want to wear any of his size 3 clothes anymore. It's 4T or nothing at all.
We had a dinosaur party at the park, and as you can see my attempt at a Stegosaurus cake failed (I gave up at this point - after two tries - impossible to frost) and we went with the King Soopers cake. Lance's question was, "When daddies can't make cakes does King Soopers make cakes?"
The T-Rex pinata was the hit of the party.

The kids had a great time playing at the park and Lance was thrilled with his friends and presents. Next time we'll let mommy make the cake!

Three more 14ers (+1)

Yesterday Dave Koenig and I tackled three more 14ers. We left Denver at 5 a.m. and drove to Kite Lake - where we started our climb.
Starting out at Kite Lake - It was a bit chilly but quickly warmed up.
Kite Lake right after sunrise.
Up the trail to Mount Democrat. It was a pretty steep and rocky climb, (about 2,000 feet in 2 miles) but not too long and we got to the top without much difficulty.
Summit of Mount Democrat (14,184 feet). We were still pretty fresh and feeling good. We then hiked back down to the saddle and headed over and up towards Mount Cameron.
Summit of Mount Cameron (14,238 feet). Mount Cameron is technically not considered a 14er because there is not enough elevation gain from the adjoining peaks. But hey, it's still over 14,000 feet! From there we headed up to Mount Lincoln. This is where the light headedness started kicking in and the altitude headache hit. We ended up being over 13,000 feet for probably 3-4 hours, which apparently the body doesn't enjoy too much. I slowed down considerably but made it to the top of Lincoln.

Summit of Mount Lincoln (14,286 feet - 8th tallest peak in Colorado). I was seriously tired at that point. The clouds started rolling in and we had some light snow flurries, but nothing too drastic. It made the rocks a bit slippery but didn't last too long. This was the tallest of the four peaks and the views were fantastic.

We sat at the top of Lincoln and had some lunch. Is there anything better than a sandwich at the top of a mountain when you're completely exhausted? I've been to some great restaurants in my life, but I don't think anything beats the top of the mountain sandwich. Headache or not it was off to Mount Bross. This was more of a long traverse across a ridge and then a slight uphill at the end. My legs were gone at that point and the end was slow going. Head pounding and lungs burning I made it to the top of Bross.

Summit of Mount Bross (14,172 feet). We didn't spend too much time there as we were anxious to get down. Downhill the rest of the way - no problem. Yeah, right! The descent ended up being a bit tougher than we though - hiking down a very rocky ridge, and again it was slow going. The headache got a little better as we descended, but still ended up lasting most of the day.
There isn't a lot of vegetation that high, but these were some cool red plants that somehow survived up there.

Near the bottom. I was completely exhausted by then and happy to make it back to the car. The trip ended up being much more than I expected, but that made it all the more fun. Again, it's a serious rush being up that high and the sense of accomplishment is great. It really was a great hike and Dave and I had a fantastic time. Six down, 48 to go!!!

Greer 2009

Another great trip to Greer, AZ. We spent a week in the cool White Mountains and did the traditional hikes, playing in the creek, fishing, red swing, bows and arrows, and a whole lot of playing around the houses. All the family was there and the boys had a blast with their cousins, not to mention Grammy Anne's amazing meals.

First Broken Bone!!!

Well, we had our family's first broken bone today. Russell was going down a slide at a birthday party and somehow managed to break his arm. It's a lateral condylar fracture of the left humerus, and we'll go to the orthopedist tomorrow to see if it needs pinning or just a cast. He's a seriously tough kid and other than not wanting his sling on he doesn't seem too fazed. The ER staff was surprised that a kid with a broken arm was laughing and charming the nurses. He wasn't too thrilled at first, but after a little tickling he warmed up to the situation. There'll be no swimming for a month but worse things could happen and he'll get better eventually. Remember to keep him in your prayers.

Mel's Ohio Trip

Melanie and the kids spent two weeks in Ohio with the grandparents and cousins. (explaining my previous posts about hiking adventures) They did everything from jumping on the trampoline, swimming, zoo, train rides, to the Hill Cumorah Pageant and Niagara Falls. The boys couldn't get enough of wrestling with Papa Russ and the uncles and unfortunately they came back with some new karate chop moves! They did great on the plane (despite the DVD player not working) and were excited to come back to Colorado. Two weeks was a bit long for me to be a bachelor, and I couldn't have been happier to have them back.