Go LoLo!

Today was Campbell's marathon. She participated in the Marathon Milers program which is part of the Colfax Marathon here in Denver. I'll give a brief explanation of how this works. The kids are given 4 weeks to complete 25.2 of the 26.2 miles for the marathon. Each day that the child walks/runs they mark their time on a sheet and have an adult sign it. For each 5 miles the child does they get a prize. The final prize is the t-shirt they wear on race day where they run the final mile of the marathon.

We arrived at the event at 8:00 this morning so that we could get her registered by 8:30. She got her number (6401) and her race time. She was scheduled to run in Wave 2 which was 2nd and 3rd graders. Race time was scheduled for 9:15. At 8:59 we heard the National Anthem. At 9:00 sharp Wave 1 started. At this point Campbell was so nervous she couldn't sit still. In classic Campbell fashion she started spinning and dancing. She was very thankful when she was able to go the start line.

Aaron took her the Starting line while Caleb and I went to find a spot to see her cross the finish line. She did a fantastic job! She ran the entire way, not stopping to walk at all. When she ran by Caleb and I, she grinned and waved to us. Aaron got to run with her and he said that half way through the run Campbell proclaimed that she wanted to this again. After crossing the finish line she got her medal and prizes as well as snacks and drinks.

This run was a great experience for her! She absolutely loved it. We are so proud of our little runner. Maybe she can motivate her parents to get back into running.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was exaclty as it should be...relaxing. Everybody let me sleep in while they cleaned the house and made breakfast. When I woke up I was served berries and crepes for breakfast. Campbell was then able to finally give me her Mother's Day presents. She had been itching to give me those since she brought them home from school. She made me a beautiful card in computer class and a lovely tissue paper flower bouquet in art class. Then she gave me the gifts that she and daddy had shopped for on Friday. Campbell and Caleb gave me a charm for my bracelet. Aaron gave me a really cute pair of earings.

After breakfast and gifts, we got dressed and headed downtown to Washington Park where we had a picnic. The kids got to play on the slides, which of course they loved. I enjoyed just watching them play while Daddy made sure no one (Caleb) got hurt. We ended the trip to the park with a short little walk. That evening Aaron made a great shrimp dinner with a watermelon sorbet for desert. I loved the entire slow, relaxing day. It was exactly what I needed.

Gods, Winds, and Falls: Oh My!

As the mother in the house, the weekend activities were my choice. I decided that we should head down to Colorado Springs on Saturday. We got up and were out of the house by 7:30. The drive to Colorado Springs is only about 40 minutes. With our coffee in hand, we had a nice drive.

We started the day at Garden of the Gods. Let me just say, if you ever get the chance to see this, do it. It was fabulous. The walkway was paved so we loaded Caleb in the stroller and started on our way. At the beginning of the trail we got to see two deer run across the mountains. Along the way we saw beautiful red rock formations. The first one, and my favorite, was the Kissing Camels formation. It really did look like camels kissing. We also saw buffalo and alligator formations. It was an amazing walk that we all enjoyed greatly.

We also did a small 1 mile hike up to another formation called Siamese Twins. This one was Campbell's request. After this hike we went to the post and got lunch. The walks must have really made the kids hungry because they ate every bit of their food.

After lunch, we went to Cave of the Winds. This was Campbell's first experience in a cave. She thought every part of it was great, except when they turned off the lights. Caleb refused to let go of me for even a second during the entire 45 minute tour. Aaron and I enjoyed it, but it was definitely not Lewis and Clark Caverns.

After the cave, we made a last minute decision to go to Seven Falls. I am so glad we decided to go. Seven Falls is actually one fall with seven different falls within the one. We first went up the stairs where you can view the falls from a distance. That climb was 185 steps. We then decided to go up the steps that went right along side the falls. That one was 284 steps. We all made it up and down all of these steps (except Caleb who was carried in the pack).

For dinner, Aaron had me look in our Colorado guide to find a place to eat. I decided on Guiseppe's. This was a fabulous choice. It's an Italian restaurant that use to be a train depot. Trains still use the tracks behind the restaurant so you can see trains go by while you eat. The kids absolutely loved the trains. It was a great way to end a wonderful day!

Quiet Times

The last couple of weeks have been fairly quiet on this end. We have all been working and going to school. Last week Campbell started her swimming lessons. She is doing great this time. Also last week, Aaron spent four days in Indiana for work.

He came home on Friday and had Reserve duty over the weekend. The kids and I went to the Children's Museum on Saturday and had a fun time just playing. On Sunday we just cleaned house and took Campbell ice skating.

On Monday, I had a conference in Golden for work so Daddy was in charge of the kids for the day. So Campbell went on to school and the boys did boy stuff. You know, going to the motorcycle shop and the tatoo parlor, Boy Stuff. Aaron enjoyed the day with the kids. The kids enjoyed having Daddy for the day. And I enjoyed learning new things.

So yeah, it's been rather slow and easy here lately, but we like that too. This weekend we plan to head down to Colorado Springs to check out the place.

Ok, perhaps I'm not the safest father in the world...

Sunday the forecast called for 80 degrees, so we decided to head to the mountains for a hike. We went to Golden Gate Canyon State Park near Boulder. We arrived at the park around 9 in the morning. Aaron talked to the forest ranger who told him that their would be some mud due to the melting snow and that on the back side of the mountain there may be a little snow. No problem, we thought.

At the beginning fo the trail we had a choice to make. Do we take the 4.5 mile Buro hike or the 6.7 mile Mountain Lion hike. Being the novice hikers we are we decide to do the longer more difficult hike. We are a smart group!! Below see Aaron's recount of the trip.

I took the family out Sunday for a hike out in Golden Gate Canyon State Park. In looking at some of these pictures, I'm questioning my criteria for safe family fun. In the middle of our hike, in 80 degree weather, snow covered the trail... deep snow... obscuring the path in spots. That didn't affect baby girl, she's light enough to walk over it, but the missus and I sank to past our knees in some places. Baby boy was on my back, freaking out in the spots where the sinking snow sent us closer to the rushing water. Did I mention we were all in shorts? It was 80 degrees out, snow wasn't on my mind! We had to cross the same creek about 10 times on little logs over rushing water... baby girl was a trooper... she only started crying in one spot... I think a rope is in order for the next hike. We also found a bunch of tracks... rabbit, deer, dog... and something bigger than a dog (see for yourself in one pic: baby girl's hand, suspect track, and obvious dog track in the snow)... I've had two people tell me they were mountain lion tracks... Along with a rope, a .40 or a .45 is in order for the next hike. Our 6 mile-er took us 6 hours. We all got back with little more than a few scratches and a good family story between us. We'll stick to City Park for the next few weeks, until the snow is all melted and the creeks aren't running so fast...