What, no hiking?

I went on a trail run by myself on Sunday. Cole wanted to go "biking" with his dad. Whatever! I can already see it. He was born to be a cyclist like his poppy. He LOVES it. He doesn't love hiking. Whatever! Atleast he got my swim gene. The run was great; peaceful and relaxing. I even got a hike in this week in Boulder. Again, fabulous. It's been stressful at work and the alone time was nice. It clears my mind, re-energizes me.

1. We finally have a new home for NITA. It only took five months and lots and lots of stress and work and phone calls, and meetings, and more meetings....we're moving to Boulder! The space is beautiful. The drive won't be great, but Whatever!

2. The new NITA website...well, it's coming along. We're already six weeks late so what's another six weeks? Whatever!

3. Personnel issues suck, especially when you're not the one with the issue with the person, but because I manage them, it's my problem. Whatever!

4. I watched the first season of LOST in four days. That's absolutely insane. Every free minute I had I was on my iPad. That was like 20 hours of TV. And now I'm addicted. I still have five more seasons and like 100 more hours. Whatever!

5. I drank 3/4 of a bottle of wine last night, BY MYSELF! I never EVER do that! Whatever!

Goodnight world. I'm off to watch more LOST.....geez!

Phat lips

Cole got a fat lip trying to do a trick on his bike. Besides the fat lip, he skinned his knee, nose, and forehead. Sweet monkey....so adventuresome. Good thing you're tough and very very brave. I took this picture right after, but I really should have snapped one the day after, because it looked much worse.

This has nothing to do with fat lips, but worthwhile mention. We're headed up to Glenwood Springs with Grandma tomorrow afternoon for a sleepover at the Silver Spruce Motel and some swimming in the hot springs (stinky but warm) pool. My mom use to take me and Derrick up when we were little. I think we might have gotten burned really bad one time, but that's not that the point of the story. The point is, it's a wonderful childhood experience and memory that I have and now I get to share it with Cole. I remember once, she said one night, "Call a friend. Let's go to Glenwood." And I did and we were on the road late at night and swam the whole next morning. It was awesome... I ditched school with my mom and one of my best friends. Here's to you mom and to childhood memories worth passing on.

Broomfield Days

Well, it was the annual outing for Broomfield Days. Grandma came up with Eliana and Parker in tow. It was chilly out, but the parade was worth it. Cole even walked in the parade with Emerald.

Cole and his Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Troxel.

The Emerald Float! Go Dragons!

I just like this one...very patriotic.

We didn't have time to enjoy the other festivities in the park because of the Ice Box Challenge mountain bike ride that CV did, but it was fun nonetheless. Thanks for coming G-ma.

My First Grader

I love Cole so much. I went to his school for his assessment and while I was waiting for him to finish with his teacher, I got to see some of the cool stuff they work on. I'm so proud of him. He is reading at 2nd grade level. It's amazing to see the books he brings home to read to us. Six years we've been reading to him almost every night and now he gets to read us a bed time story. So very proud of you little monkey!

Winter Park

Mr. W. and some of his buddies rode from Nederland to Winter Park a couple weekends ago. It was a long but beautiful ride. Cole and I met the group with their overnight bags at Ward's cabin. We had a great time. On our way home the next day, we stopped in the Jones Pass area and went to Urad Lake. It was gorgeous. The trees are changing and fall is here.

Way to go CV. I was so impressed and proud of your efforts....and a little bit jealous.

Fia's Birthday

Sofia turned six and we helped her celebrate at Sunflower Farm. Mr. W. climb a tree and picked us some yummy apples and Cole...well, take a look:

Happy Birthday Fia. We love you.

Hiking Eldorado State Park

Cole didn't want to hike....I made him in exchange for a bag of balloons. I thought that the balloons were a better choice than candy, but I'm pretty sure that those damn balloons were almost the death of me. Just imagine someone blowing up a balloon, like 1,000 times, never tying it and letting the air out slowly sometimes, fast other times, sqeaky, flying....oh, all the ways to play with an untied balloon. One balloon would have been fine, but I bought the bag with 12 and him and Sofia went through all 12...it was something else.

So, we ended up hiking Rattlesnake Gulch Saturday morning. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast chatting and playing with sticks that we pretended were bow and arrows. When we started the hike, this charming metal rattlesnake is at the beginning of the trail and it scared both of us to death. But, by the end, Cole worked up the courage to touch it. We visited the Crags Hotel ruin. It was a hotel built in 1908 and burned down in 1912. We ate lunch in what would have been the lobby.

He absolutely loves playing in the water. We climbed down a steep section to get to the Boulder Creek and upon arrival, he immediately said "I have to poop!" And you know he is serious because his face is fearful that he might not have time to actually pull his pants down. But, he made it. And poop he did. Is it bad that we just covered it up with a big rock?

On the hike he told me about playing soccor and how he kind of did the splits. Then he said, "I crack my balls good. I mean, I really cracked my balls."

I love you monkey!

Labor Day Parade

We went to the Louisville Labor Day Parade. I'm thinking it was something like the 75th Louisville Labor Day Parade. That's alot of parades.

Cole and I had a great time, eating cotton candy and watching all the people and floats.

At the end, he said, "Wow, that's a nasty storm coming our way."

I said, "Those look like smoke clouds."

We called Mr. W and he said that a fire broken out in Four Mile Canyon.
Simply terrible.
We watched the plumes of smoke all day fill our perfect blue sky all afternoon.
And in the morning, the smell of fire was all around us.
Our thoughts go out to all the families that have been affected.

Kids Camp Out

Caitlin, Cole, Julian, Sofia

We hosted our 2nd Annual Kids Camp Out over Labor Day. We invited four of Cole's friends over for a camp out in our backyard. Erik got sick and couldn't make it.

They played and played and played. Ate hot dogs. Roasted marshmellows. Watched a movie in the tent. And went fast to sleep.

Mr. W. stayed in the tent with the kiddos and got a 6am wake call. Homemake waffles, turkey bacon, and fresh fruit for breakfast!

Love you Cole. You seriously are one cool little man! We were a great host to your friends.

HIking: Dakota Ridge

As promised, Cole and I hiked Dakota Ridge Saturday morning. It started out a little rough - too many people, too many dogs, too much whining (and not just from Cole). So about a quarter of the way into the hike, I made Cole a deal - if neither of us whined for the rest of the hike, I would get him a special treat that he could choose. He declared Skittles and we agreed to continue our hike, whine free.

Then, of course, a minute later he tripped on rock and took a pretty good face plant. And cry he did. Not just any cry, but a whaling cry, to be heard through the whole canyon. I'm surprised the flight for life wasn't called because he sounded like he was dying. The only damage was a tiny, and I do mean tiny, scrap on his palm. So, after settling down a bit...still crying mind you...he asked "does this mean I don't get my skittles?"

I'm pretty sure he was crying, yes because he was scared and falling hurts, but also because he thought he wouldn't get his damn skittles. I wanted to offer two packs of skittles if he stopped crying and we could get off the mountain, but a little water and a napkin on his palm did the trick.


All in all though, once we got past the people and the dogs and of course our own whiny selves, we enjoyed a beautiful morning together outdoors.

Back to School Night

Thursday was Back to School night. Over the summer, Emerald Elementary made good use of the $10 million dollar bond that the school got. We got a new gym, new playground, new computer lab, and of course, our new Principal... Mr. Taneka was there to present.

We got to see all the new construction and Cole gave us a tour of the building. I still can't believe he is a 1st grader. He showed us around his classroom.