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...

1st Birthday Party

After the cog railway in the morning, everyone came over in the afternoon for some barbecue, cupcakes, and presents. Julia and Jonathan both loved the party and the company. We set up the dining room in a similar fashion to Julia's first birthday party.

Julia was ready to go. She was the first person to put on the party hat and dig into dinner. She already knew the routine - the faster she ate, the sooner the cupcakes and the presents would come. Here she is showing us how old she will be on her next birthday. Before we sat down to eat, she put her party hat on backwards. I had to tell her that it was on backwards and she needed to turn it around, to which she asked, "Why? Is the number one not in the front?" She's so smart it's scary.



Jonathan actually kept his hat on for awhile - at least plenty of time to get a handful of good pictures and videos. Considering his size, nickname, and the shape of the birthday hats, I couldn't help but call him "Buddy the Elf". SANTA!!!!! He was his usual smiling self when Stacey brought out his cupcake and candle.



Surprisingly (or not, when you stop to think about his eating skills), he didn't really eat much of the cupcake. Julia chowed down, but he preferred to mash and squeeze the cupcake in his hands. I think he absorbed more of it through his skin then he actually ate. It's funny the difference between the two - one daintily ate while the other played with and obliterated the cupcake. I bet you can't tell which one was the girl and which one the boy.



After everyone cleaned up we headed to the basement to open presents. Julia "assisted" with the opening of the presents. She and Jonathan both liked the school bus and workbench toys that they were given. They were a big hit, only slightly more then the boxes they came in and the balloons from the party though. A few times I had to pull Julia back so that Jonathan could play with his own toys and so we could get a few pictures. Her enthusiasm was pretty funny to watch. I love the concentration in these shots - so serious.



After everyone had left for the night we realized it was all over. I guess if we don't have another child then we're through with our first birthday parties. We're still eating from the extra paper plates and napkins from the party - you know, only because it would be wasteful to just throw them away...

Cog Railway

On Saturday we all headed up the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. Stacey's family is in town for Jonathan's first birthday celebration. I think I've taken the train once before, but it was a long time ago when I was a kid. Stacey and everyone else had never taken a ride on the train nor been to the top of Pikes Peak.

Jonathan really liked watching the scenery pass by. He frequently had his nose pressed up against the glass. Although the quarters were a bit cramped for two young kids, both of them did great. In the morning Julia wanted to wear her snow boots because she thought we were all hiking up the mountain (like I had done a few months ago). She was concerned with my footwear decision until she understood we were taking a train to the top.



Group hug, following another car up the mountain, and the Julia touching our ride



This was Julia's second 14er...although technically both were done while riding to the top (the first, on my back and the second, on the train). Jonathan was a bit fussy at the top, so it was hard to get a good picture of him at the top. This was his first trip up a 14er.