Breckenridge

This weekend we dropped the kids off at my parent's house for some much needed downtime. Our weekend without the kids started on Friday afternoon and will end on Sunday afternoon. It's been so long since we've had time alone that we had forgotten about all the simple pleasures. Thankfully, we were able to do a lot of things that we otherwise haven't been able to do.

On Friday night we ate dinner on the front porch and then took a walk around the neighborhood. In the summer, being outside in the early morning or late evening is pretty nice. We ran into some neighbors we know and chatted with them for a little bit. Saturday morning we slept in and then headed up to Breckenridge. It's amazing how quiet and how easy it is to hop in the car and take a short trip by ourselves.

The weather was pretty good up there. Since we arrived in the late morning we walked up main street in search of a nice place to eat lunch. We found a little cafe hidden from the street and had a nice lunch outside together. After that we hopped on the gondola and took a free ride up one of the mountains overlooking the town. There weren't many places to stop except hotels, so the views were from inside the car. We pretty much just wandered around town the rest of the afternoon looking for a nice coffee shop but had to settle on Starbucks. We both nursed our iced drinks for over an hour while sitting outside, something we wouldn't even consider with the kids. It was fun to people watch.

Towards the end of our afternoon espresso break we witnessed one of the more entertaining events of the day: watching a local policeman in a Suburban trying to parallel park right in front of us. There was plenty of space to park, he just didn't know how to do it. Since the crowds were out this weekend, there were plenty of other people that saw this too. At first the police truck pulled up and tried to back it in. The first time was close, but he didn't quite make it. He had to wait for cars to pass and then pulled back into the street and tried again. This time he went the wrong way and was practically sticking his nose into the street. After a few more tries he got the vehicle far enough in that he was able to go back then forward over and over again until he inched his way around. That was funny enough but it got better. At the end he tried to straighten the vehicle out and sent the car in front of him lurching forward a good six inches when he hit the rear bumper. To top it off, I realized a few moments afterwards that the car he hit was brand new. Have you ever watched a policeman put a note on another car? I told Stacey he should write himself a ticket. I guess if he goes to traffic court he can represent himself and be the officer filing the report all at the same time...

We drove around town a little bit in the late afternoon and then headed back to I-70. Along the way we checked out Frisco and the marina from the car. It was nice. While taking the back way to Castle Rock we discussed what to do about dinner and the rest of the night. When we saw a movie theater we spontaneously decided to go see a movie since we are never able to do that either. Part of the reason why is because the cost to see a movie these days is a rip off. Regardless, we enjoyed some popcorn and a good showing of Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. We arrived home at about 9 p.m., after a very pretty drive thanks to the perfect combination of light, clouds, and mountains on this summer evening.

We need to do this again.

Rough Week

I haven't posted much this week. In all honesty, this week has been one of the most stressful since Stacey and I have been married. That's the reason for my recent silence. It's just been one of those "when it rains it pours" periods most of us go through. Every day, and even multiple times each day this week, things were happening. We're pretty spent.

I'm not going to go into too many details, but the issues surround the topic of my next job and medical insurance relating to Jonathan's hospital stay. At least the letter we received on Thursday from the IRS helped the situation in the end. Physically, mentally, and emotionally I feel like I've been given a beat down. What made this week so tough was that some pretty significant things we're happening left and right all while we were trying to make some important decisions. The timing of events was uncanny and not a coincidence. Whether it was an attack or a warning, we didn't know. All we knew was that someone (good or bad) was trying to tell us something. Each time we'd pray and talk about something and finally come to a decision, all hell seemed to break loose.

I realize the vagueness of this post makes the week we had hard to understand. In the end, it's looking like the week from hell was a warning. Who knew the tax man would be the final nail in the "direction we were headed coffin"? I guess what I needed was to be scared straight. There are still so many things up in the air, but at least we think we're now headed in the right direction (fingers crossed).

Great (Michael) Scott's

Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For The Cure.

Stacey and a few girlfriends from church decided to run a 5K together yesterday. The course started at Flying Horse's Barefoot Park and wound its way through the neighborhood. The run/walk was just supposed to be for fun, so it's not like Stacey really trained for the event. However, she's been keeping in shape enough to be able to run the entire way.

I guess she did pretty good - she only won her age group! Her time was a respectable 28:18 and that was enough to pull out the victory. This was a bit of a surprise since it wasn't exactly like she was competing. Even though it was a small gathering, we've been having some fun celebrating her "victory". Way to go Momma!

Jonathan's Latest Appointment

Jonathan had another appointment with the gastroenterologist yesterday. He's up to an even 16 pounds. That's about a two pound gain in two months since the hospital. His weight is back up in the fifth percentile, so that's a good thing. We're going to try to increase his daily intake from 720 to 900 calories. The goal is to get his height to weight ratio to the 50th percentile so that we have some wiggle room once we start working with a food therapist. We'll then withhold a little bit of food when we work with the therapist so that he'll be hungry enough to want to eat solids. First things first, we still need to get his weight up a little more.

Latest Job Information

Today I had my second phone interview with Compassion about a Managerial Accountant position. Things went well in my opinion, but I'm not sure whether or not I'll make the final two or three people that will interview in person. I should find out sometime after the holiday weekend coming up.

We're also still waiting for the final word from Mario on whether or not I will be taking over Stacey's current job. They are right in the middle of moving to their new office location, so he hasn't been able to really think through the details. Once a few of the fires have been put out, we'll probably get more information.

I'm hopeful that one of these positions will work out. Since returning from the hospital/getting hired in May, I haven't really been looking around. If things appear like they aren't going to work out, I'll probably start looking for real again starting the beginning of July.

Mount Lindsey Photos

Josh sent me some photos - I'm actually in these shots (it's hard to take pictures of yourself). I really like them because they show the climb to the summit.

Father's Day

Did you know Father's Day turned 100 this year and was first officially celebrated in Spokane, Washington? Probably, since half of you reading this are from there. Anyway, I had a good Father's Day. Julia made it fun. This was the first year she really understood what the holiday meant.

The night before she spilled the beans and told me that she and Stacey were going to cook me breakfast in bed. This morning I woke up before she did and was downstairs when she woke up and came out of her room. Here first words from the top of the stairs were, "Mom, Dad isn't in his bed"! She was obviously excited to make me breakfast in bed. It was her first thought when she woke up.

A little bit later I went back upstairs and climbed into bed. Stacey made me breakfast and Julia worked on my "craft". It was a heart shaped card with a lot of stickers on it. When she brought it upstairs she was very excited. It's great to see her get so excited about doing things like this for other people. She joined me in our bed and we ate our eggs and heart shaped waffles. After she was done eating she pretended to read the paper. After I was done eating we wrestled on the pillows.

It was a pretty good Father's Day.

Mount Lindsey

Distance - 8.5 miles
Elevation Gain - 3,500 feet
Time - 7.5 hours

I woke up at 3 a.m. and drove downtown to meet up with Josh and Jason. While it was still dark we made our way south through Pueblo and towards the general direction of Alamosa to the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. Spanish for "Blood of Christ", it's the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. In its shadow lies the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado.

We saw a lot of wildlife as we made our way up the dirt road to the trail head. On that road we spotted about 40 deer. Farther up, we came around the corner and found ourselves face to face (figuratively) with a bear sitting in the middle of the road. All we have in Colorado are black bears, so we were very surprised to see one with blond fur take off down the hill when we stopped. A quick search on the internet revealed that black bear coloring can vary from black to blond.

The beginning of the hike was the most scenic. We picked our way through the woods following the Huerfano River. We passed waterfalls, wildflowers, and had to make frequent river crossings. The trail follows the river for a long time, all the way to the basin below the peaks, but it thins out the higher you head up the trail. The 14er in the picture below is actually Mount Blanca - you can't even see Mount Lindsey from this beginning section of the trail.





In the basin below the peaks we came across what looked like a giant sheet of broken glass. We figured that this was due to the constant cycle of freezing and thawing. On our way down the area was a big pond, confirming our suspicion that we had found it after the water had drained out but before it had completely melted and been refilled from above. I've decided that I need some new gear, because I always dislike way I look in these summit shots. We made it to the top at about 10:15 a.m., fours hours after we started our hike.



The route to the summit looks forbidding when you approach it. Even from the base of Lindsey it looks difficult. Up to this point the journey would be considered hiking - from here up it turned into scrambling. The first picture is a really good shot of the route we took. The main snow field going straight up is the way. We had to stay to the right of the snow and move very slowly since the trail is filled with loose rock. Our cautiousness on the loose rock was not really for our own safety (it's pretty easy to make your way up), but for the safety of the hikers below. Many times a rock let loose and went tumbling down the mountain. We crossed a few snow fields on the way up. As long as we went slow, the scrambling up Mount Lindsey was fun and provided no real sense of fear.



We met a four-legged hiker and his owners on the way down. There's nothing like petting a dog on the side of a mountain. When we made our way down to the saddle, I took an hour and half break in a boulder field while Josh and Jason took a detour up one of the top 100 highest peaks in the state. Personally, I know I'll never have the desire to climb the top 100, so I chose to eat a Snickers and enjoy some alone time on the mountain while they checked that one off of the list. I took the middle photo of Lindsey while waiting for them to return from their detour. It's a good shot of our route (look for the area of loose rock that funnels up to snow at the top just below the ridge) and the actual summit. On a lot of these peaks the main climb gets you to the false summit, with the highest point a few hundred yards walk away. In this picture, the second highest point is the actual summit.



This was a long day. Not only had all of us taken a few months off due to "life", the real time on the mountain when you consider Josh and Jason's detour was more like nine and a half hours. The round trip driving time was about five hours, so it put us at about a 16 hour day. After this hike, I've now climbed 25% of the state's 14ers.

CB On TET

Cupcake Boy, now airing Wednesdays after nap time on Toddler Entertainment Television.

Julia-isms

I've been cracking up lately at how Julia combines the new words she is learning into shorter, more concise terms. After thinking about some of the most common ones, I've decided to incorporate them into my own vocabulary. My personal favorites are:

1) Instead of wasting time saying the words hand and sanitizer, the new term will be "hanitizer"
2) After gulping milk, I will now refer to the liquid on my face as a "milkstache"
3) The opposite of girly will now be "boy-y"

Email me with your favorite or honorable mention...