Mt Belford & Mt Oxford

Distance - 11.0 miles
Elevation Gain - 5.800 feet
Time - 6.5 Hours

Today I climbed my 22nd and 23rd 14ers. This brings my total up to 43% of them in the state. August is the best time of the year to hike...still warm but not hot and no thunderstorms or snow to navigate.

Unfortunately, I woke up at 2 a.m. on my own, an hour before the alarm was set. I casually got ready and was out the door by 2:30.  I don't think I've left for hiking this early on my own, so it's probably why the drive up was just as adventurous as the hike. A mountain lion ran right in front of me as he scampered across the highway near the entrance to the Pikes Peak Highway. I wasn't expecting to see a lion before 3 a.m.  Around 4 a.m. I was getting tired.  I did the math and realized that I would probably arrive about 30 - 45 minutes prior to daylight, so I pulled off the road in Hartsel and took a 45 minute cat nap in my truck.

The hike was harder than expected. Essentially I made three summits since the route goes over Belford to Oxford and then back the same way over Belford a second time.  5,800 feet in elevation gain is a good haul; more than a mile straight up.  I have gotten to the point on these class 2 hikes where I don't need to stop for a break until I reach the top. I'm not going fast, but I'm still doing all the passing. Part of it is knowing my pace...but, more importantly, I've recently started hiking with as little weight as possible in my pack and I've fine tuned what I need to eat and drink along the way.

The summits of these two mountains weren't very pretty. I did lay down for a nice rest at the top of Oxford before heading back, since the weather was so nice. The best scenery was actually back below treeline where the water was flowing and the trees were changing color.  The trail head is in Missouri Gulch, which is just west of Clear Creek Reservoir, both about 15 miles north of Buena Vista.

One final thing to note is that I feel pretty good today (the day after). I did a little experiment and took 800mg of ibuprofen as soon as I got home, ate around 75g of protein at dinner (after a day full of mostly simple carbs), drank enough water, and slept about 9 hours...exactly what my body needs to repair itself.

Labor Day Weekend

They brought the balloon festival back, so we checked it out on Saturday morning. 

On Monday we went for a short hike up to a Geocache that had been hidden in the back of a cave. The floor of the cave was ice cold water - snow runoff that probably hasn't seen the sun since melting.  We were able to walk part of the way in, but then we had to navigate around and under some rocks while trying not to get too wet. The space is passable if you don't mind getting your pants totally soaked - or a tight squeeze if you try to stay somewhat dry. The entire family eventually made it passed the narrow entrance and into the back cave where the space opened up to a big (and dry space).

The hike was really fun for the kids. Jonathan was in charge of the GPS, and counted down the distance to the cache in 0.01 mile increments. He was very excited.  He walked about 1.5 miles round trip without being carried. This was the first time that we were actually able to go on a real hike/adventure where he was able to go the entire distance. Getting the cave was no easy task either.  Most of the trail to the cave required us to help the kids over some pretty rough terrain...

Izzy and Panda Movie

Written and Directed by Julia Sudduth
Narrated by Lori Sudduth
Filmed on location at Grandma's house and the nearby park

Credits: This is Julia's first movie.  Although she was the brainchild behind the concept/script/filming, she refused to do the narrating because she thought her voice "sounded really funny" during editing.

Slackers

Attack Ninja

First Day of Second Grade

Such a sweet and pretty little girl now! Of course Jonathan didn't want to have his picture taken, but today's focus was on Julia. The years are starting to fly by now.

Stacey walked to school with Patty and her kids, neighborhood friends Travis and Taryn.  After I dropped Jonathan off at school I drove back to Julia's school so we could both be there to see her off to her first day.

The joke is that this year is all about twos.  Two teeth lost, second grade, classroom on the second floor, etc.  There are lots of twos right now so I won't mention them all. Julia seems to like her class better this year.  It sounds like she doesn't have as many "crazy" boys in her class as she had last year. We all know that as an introvert she will do better and learn more in a less chaotic environment.  When Stacey asked her if she liked her teacher she responded "yes" and that "She is very nice. She didn't even yell at us once!" Her previous teacher didn't yell either, so it's funny what kids come up with when asked.

Daddy Buddy Time At The Cabin

This weekend Jonathan and I had our first alone time at the cabin. I had done this a couple of times with Julia, so it was time for a turn with Jonathan.  Actually, he asked when we were going to go to the cabin together a week or so ago...so we made it happen.

We watched a little TV and played a few games, but most of the time was spent outside. We quickly drank two cans of sparkling water when we uncovered the BB gun.  This was the first time Jonathan had ever shot a BB gun (so naturally he had a blast).  In addition to the cans we trolled the road for bugs and took a few of them out.  Every once in a while we would also shoot down the hill and into the pond. Either it made a cool sound entering the water or it skipped once or twice. I even had fun so I can't imagine what he thought about it.

The next morning we loaded up the ATV onto the trailer so we could bring it into town for service.  Then we set up a slack line and had fun walking back and forth across it.  And jumping on it.  And hanging on it.  A couple of times Jonathan told me that he was having such a fun time with me.  The feeling was mutual.

The last picture is from the night before we left to go to the cabin.  This is us getting ready to watch the Seahawks Broncos game...our first football game together. Since Stacey's family is from Washington we've always talked about these two teams.  This was a big deal to Jonathan since they were both playing each other and in the first game of the preseason. Since the game started at his bedtime Jonathan agreed to take a nap earlier in the day so he could stay up with me and watch the game. Here's to many more games together...

First Day of School

I don't want to brag, but if you're thinking about challenging us for the title of "World's Cutest Kids" you're going to lose.  I can only use the word cute for a little while longer since Julia is moving into the "pretty" category.

Jonathan's first day of Pre-K #2 (repeated since his birthday is so late we want him to be the oldest in his class) was today.  That was occasion enough to sport the faux hawk.  He doesn't normally wear his hair like this, but we couldn't resist doing it for first day of school pictures.

He will be attending the same school as last year. The teacher has already mentioned that he is very well behaved and smart.  That's true unless you ask him to do something he doesn't want to do...like clean his room.  So adorable. 

Finance Planning Manager

Between driving up to Spokane and getting ready for the first day of school I pretty much forgot to make a post about the promotion I accepted at work.  Over the past couple of years I've been the primary person responsible for forecasting and budgeting. I will still keep that role but we have moved two people underneath me and formed the planning team.

I don't have or want to say too much here other than to mention that it happened and was effective on July 13.  As the years go by exact dates start to blend, so unless it's written down somewhere I'm not going to remember it!

Last Days of Summer

1. Jonathan grabbed a pair of doll glasses, put them on, and said, "Hi...I'm Papa!"
 
2. Julia lost her second lower tooth right before she started second grade. The adult tooth is coming in.  I bet she'll lose one of her front teeth in the next couple of months too.

3. We found a couple of Great Plains Toad babies stuck in our window well a few days ago. The kids had a lot of fun playing with them.  So, since we had an empty aquarium they are now our new pets. Obviously, Julia's is a girl and Jonathan's is a boy...although we really don't know. Hopefully we can figure out what to feed them because I think they are pretty easy to take care of given the right environment.