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.

Hiking Green Mountain

We hiked the top of Green Mountain last Saturday. It was awesome. I realize how much I miss hiking and trail running. The views from the top were amazing and some random guy commented on how well Cole did on the hike and then handed him a special coin from the Secretary of Argiculture. It was really cool. That's why kids should hike more instead of watching Saturday morning cartoons.

At the top of Green Mountain

So, put your walking shoes and get out in the great outdoors. I highly recommend it. So much so that Cole nows owns a new pair of hiking boots and we are making it our mission every Saturday morning for at least the month of September, to go for a new hike. We love to explore.

Happy Birthday Grammy

Yesterday we celebrated my Mom's 58th birthday. Thank you Virgil and Allene for having my mother. Without her, Derrick and I would not exist, and that would mean no sweet grandbabies. And we all know how much Grammy loves her grandbabies.

Seriously, Mom. I love you. I hope you had a great day! Here are some fun pictures from Casa Bonita celebration:

jumpNrope

This video is from my jump rope class.

Check it out, here.

Fun, huh?

Sweet Baby Cole

First day of 1st grade. You and Mrs. O'Hara are going to be great together! Getting ready for 1st grade at the real barber shop. I didn't get an after shot, but you were so handsome....

Aikido - really, does it get any cuter? Fun at Boondocks!
Baby Cole - I know you aren't a baby anymore, but I'm always going to call you my baby, because you are. I love you so much. Thank you for hanging out with me and making me laugh. You're super awesome!

Mega Swim

After the big 42nd birthday celebration, the rest of the weekend was spent in Ft. Collins getting ready for this silly 10k swim at Horsetooth Reservoir.

Check out the video. Thanks Charlie for putting that together.

In the video at the end I say it took me 3:20 but it really took me 3:33! Slacker!

Big thanks to Mr. W. for all his support as my paddler. And a huge thanks to all my friends and family who encouraged me along the way. Remember, Windsor? The race I pulled out of. That was tramatic for me, but it was my friends who got me past that hurdle. It's my friends that got me to that finish line, who believed in me. I really can't thank you enough. It's these words and more (like Mr. W. yelling at me to knock it off when I started crying at mile 5.5 because I was so tired) that got me to the end...

*******************************
Wen,
I am so proud of you my friend! No matter what hapens on race day, you have done months of training and being uncomfortable. The race is just a litttle piece of all you have already done. I wish I could be there. But know I am thinking of you, sending you warm thoughts, and know you will kick ass! because you ROCK my friend!
Love ya!
Michelle
********************************
Hi Wendy,
I am so impressed with your effort. I am not surprised that you have trained so hard. When you make your mind up to do something, you do it, gracefully and humbly. I am not surprised and wont be surprised that you are going to finish this race, but know that even if you don’t, your win when you get to the starting line.
Good Luck,
Peter
********************************
Rachel Greenberg Matz commented on your status: ""Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely."" Thoughts after Windsor....spot on.

Post race: Friend - i am SOOO proud of you for accomplishing a huge goal today!! all the dedication, training, mental perserverance, and energy you put into today really paid off. it was so amazing watching you swim across the finish line. what a huge physical and mental accomplishment!! sierra, ryder and i were really happy to be a part of it, thanks for inviting us. :)
********************************
Charlie sent me a great quote on race day but I can't find it....lame! It was really awesome.
********************************
Even my jump rope instructor: I want to recognize one of our jumpers, Wendy Velez. She is participating in a super insane crazy awesome event this weekend at Horsetooth Reservoir. She is swimming a 10K in open water - no wetsuit.. Not only is Wendy a super fast jumper, she is an amazing fish! GO WENDY!

Happy (belated) Birthday

Happy 42nd Birthday Mr. W. Sorry the post is belated - atleast the party was on time. I surprised you with a night out that included a sushi dinner (remember the Big Lebowski roll...yummy!) and tickets to the Toby Keith concert. The weather was perfect and we had fun watching all the drunk people at the concert.

Then, we had a party at the house with cake and ice cream - your favorite from Whole Foods. Dena, you've scarred us for life with this cake. To help celebrate your 42nd birthday were: Umple Joe and Michael, Veronica and the kids, Grandma and Grandpa, Cesar and Sofia. It was fabulous!

A Vacation of Sorts

Me and Emma (after she played in the rain) - I love you girl!

My dad and sister were in town this weekend. It was a really mellow and relaxed visit and I had a great time hanging out them and hanging out with my brother and his family. We ate great food, drank good wine, watched the kids play, went to the Flea Market, had friends over, played at Water World - surprisingly with no kid melt downs, and really just enjoyed each others company.

The kids played in the rain one afternoon. They were drenched.

Thanks for some much needed time off.

We missed you Grandma Carol.

Hugs and Kisses to All!

Camping with Cole

Cole and I took the dogs up to Poudre Canyon near Ft. Collins to enjoy some good old outdoor fun. Here's what it looked like.

Pick Cole up from school

Drive to Ft. Collins - only an hour - thank goodness

Set up camp - easy enough - thank you REI for easy tents

Drive to the river, play in the river, LOVED this part. Should have brought our camping chairs with us, but they were at camp. Humph!

Stop by corner store, eat 8 hour old hot dogs - they were pretty good - that's gross right?

Go back to camp

Make a fire - I can make a mean fire - right Rach?

Roast marshmellows

Watch fire until it gets very small

Hop in tent and send time whispering sweet nothings with Cole until he finally fell asleep at 10pm

I watched the stars from the tent window - It was awesome!

Then 5:30 a.m. wake call with the sun and we were out of camp by 7

It went by really fast but we had a great time.

Latest 10

I feel like I've missed many important and interesting things over the past month, but do you think I remember what they are? I just know that important and interesting things have been happening around here.

Let's see what I can remember that happened longer than a minute ago:

1. Cole learned to tie his shoes. Candy is a wonderful incentive.

2. I had a fantastic trip to NYC and are planning on meeting up with some of my new girlfriends in Chicago in October. Chicago in October - doesn't it just sound perfect?

3. Speaking of NYC - the conference I went to re-energized me and gave me new ideas about leading my team. I realized I've been stuck in my office too much. I need to give some love to my peeps.

So, I just spent two hours baking a bunch of cakes and tomorrow, during a meeting, I'm going to announce a CHALLENGE in which I break the team into groups and they get to make something with all these fun cakes. They will have to work as a team in a short amount of time with a very limited supplies of tools. All while 20 eyes are watching them to see who comes up with the most CREATIVE, the most ORIGINAL, and the BEST THEME! We're going to have some fun tomorrow. Other fun CHALLENGES coming up in the spirit of teambuilding are making a NITA commercial and a NITA jingle. It's amazing how creative people can get.

4. I still haven't sent out Thank You's from Cole's birthday party that was a month ago. Although I am stealing Rachel's card idea. It was just too cute.

5. Cole starts First grade on Tuesday. Seriously? My sweet baby monkey.

6. We had a blast with Grandpa Jack and Aunt Emma. See seperate post.

7. Cole and I went camping. See seperate post.

8. My swim is in 4 days!

9. I'm getting excited for fall. I want to bowl again.

10. I want to start running again. I miss it.

The effects

I'll be swimming 6.2 miles - from one end to the other in 65 degree water with no wetsuit - absolutely stupid

I've smelled like chlorine for going on seven months now. The time is nearing when I may be odor free. Actually, the smell of chlorine was much stronger in the beginning, especially when I would sweat. It would just seep out of my pores. Now, Ithink it's so far deep that even sweat won't release it...that, or my nose has grown accustom to my new fragrance. Besides, my odor, there is the hair. Brittle and dry and again, the stench of chlorine. Hair, I am sorry. I know it's not good to wash you everyday let alone twice a day. Please forgive me. Then there is my alligator dry skin, cracked toes from flip turns, constant google marks around my eyes, stuffy nose, pruned skin (which sadly I don't even notice anymore). In 13 days, I promise to give it a break.

I have the best neighbors and friends in the world. Thanks Cesar and Dena for sitting at the house time and again while I go swim when CV is out of town. And to Megan for being willing to babysit at 5:30 in the morning. And to Peter for finding me a pool while I was in NYC.


Tonight, during my practice, I got goosebumps while I was swimming because I was thinking about the race. I wasn't thinking about how cold it was going to be, I was imagining myself finishing. I'm going to take cold baths for the next two weeks. My body is ready. My brain is getting there. And, to be honest, I'm starting to get kindof (big emphasis on kindof) excited to do this thing. I swam 8600 meters on Saturday. Another 3700 tonight. And last week, I did about 16,700. I think I'm peaked....and tired.


Good night world.

Birthday Boy!

We celebrated Cole's 6th birthday yesterday. Grandma made him the best Super Mario cake with lots of little Super Mario figurines.

You finally got that Nintendo DS that you've been asking for, plus lots of other cool presents from your friends.
You had to have a Spongebob pinata.

You led the group and everyone had a chance to give ol' Spongebob a whack before he finally cracked open.
Happy Birthday Cole! We love you soooo much. I can't believe you're already six.

Thanks to all our friends and family who helped us celebrate.

Too much love

Dear Cole,


Tonight when you hugged me goodnight, you said, "I love you too much." I've been thinking about that. Sometimes I think I love you too much. That you are my whole world. That if anything were to ever happen to you, how my world would end. That's how I know. And I will keep on loving you too much for as long as I'm alive. I don't know if you'll ever stop being my world - maybe one day when you're all grown up and don't need me as much. But, I hope that you will always need me, the same way I always need my mom.


I can't believe how fast six years has gone by. How big you are getting. How smart and loving. Thank you for being my son. For being my world right now and for loving me too much.

Big hugs birthday boy.


Love,

Mama