Bolder Boulder...

I (Brent) am not sure exactly at what point this was taken during the Bolder Boulder, but I believe it was around mile 3 or so. Keeping up with my yearly tradition of running the Bolder Boulder with each of my boys after they turn 2, this was Gavin's third year and Gage's first. Most people believed I was quite bold to attempt to take them both with me...and they turned out to be quite right in their skepticism. Thankfully, my Dad (who flew out for the race) circled back after his race and did round two with me at a walker's pace. Truth be told, this was quite the marathon effort. It ended up taking us around 2 hours this year compared to the 1 hour and 15 minutes it took Gavin and I last year. Gage did awesome but also got a bit too used to riding on our shoulders and, one could argue, might not have run as much as I expected him to. In his defense, a contributing factor may have been that we had to walk almost 2 miles just to get to the start line. Note to self: Get a ride to the start line next year in order to save 2 miles of shoulder time in the actual race. We might actually still be on the course if it weren't for my dad helping with some serious lifting. His day turned out to be a full work-out with a calculated 15 miles in all.

I (Tara) ran with my friends, Diane and Kari, and did it in just under an hour--my fastest Bolder Boulder time ever! I have to say that I was pretty proud of myself, and it felt really good to beat my old standard (1:08) by so much. By the end I could feel my right foot and ankle having "issues," and, unfortunately, I haven't run much since that fateful race. I had to sit out a half-marathon at the end of June that I was excited to run with the same friends, but I still went to cheer them on and get a nice night away in Georgetown. I'm awaiting the results of a recent MRI now to see what's going on with my foot/ankle. I've been biking more, which has been fun, but I'm really missing running. Hopefully, it's something I can resume sometime soon.

Here is a great family picture of all of us in the stadium after the race. This has become such a great tradition, and I (Brent) am glad to start my kids off early with it. It's also quite a treat to have my dad fly out for this. I have many memories throughout my life of running with my dad, and now I am able to do similar things with my kids. Hopefully, they will remember these adventures fondly, too.

Sunflower Farm...

Have you heard of Sunflower Farm in Prospect, on the edge of Longmont? It's an awesome farm for kids of all ages, and--as you'll see you in the pictures--my boys did it all. How cute is Gage driving this old tractor?

They have sort of a hay maze set up with boards in between, and Gage got a kick out of walking in between the bales. It was a cooler weather day when we went, which turned out to be just right for everything we did.

Horse rides are included in the tickets (!), and Gavin loved this part. Gage thought he would, and when they put him up on the horse (or tried to) he wanted nothing to do with it.

This tire swing (in the shape of a horse) was underneath the hugest, oldest tree, so the distance and height at which you could swing were pretty impressive. You can bet Gavin enjoyed every ride. The kids also got to feed some goats corn and look at "wild" farm animals running around. And they both liked the little zip line. I'm a big fan of Sunflower Farm, and we'd like to take Daddy back sometime this fall. They have funky hours for most of the summer, but they resume semi-regular hours in September. It's a little costly to get in, but it's worth every penny.

Frog park...

I've written before about the "Frog Park," and one feature I've neglected to mention is this awesome rock structure that's perfect for Gavin and other dare devils to climb. Incidentally, seeing a 4-year-old climbing this, no matter how dexterous he may be, tends to scare any and all onlookers and the fear increases exponentially with the age of the onlooker. This may or may not have been the same day that Gavin convinced me to climb up there, too. It didn't look so bad from the bottom, but I felt uneasy standing up on top and pretty darn unsure of how to get back down once I was there. I had thoughts of asking strangers at the park to help me--and what were they going to do, really?--but in the end it was Gavin who coached me down the rock nearly step for step. (Bro, does this remind you of a certain trip to Utah when I got stuck on the rock and you came up to save me?)

Here are Gage's strong arms. How cute is that? The whole time I was stuck on top of the rock he was just hanging out down below--totally clueless--and later he asked me if I would help him climb it, too. Uhh, no thanks.

Both of the boys are pretty good about keeping their hats on, which I'm thankful for, and we've nearly lost Gavin's "Life is Good" hat so many times. Can you see here how weathered and wonderful it is?

Mother's Day with Grandma Mike...

While I was in Oregon, the boys visited Brent's mom for Mother's Day, and they took a little adventure/nature walk near Pam's house. Above is Gage picking up some pine cones from the neighborhood trees. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was actually gone for Mother's Day weekend because it just turned out to be the best time for all of us to make the trip to Oregon work. I had lovely flowers and lots of sweet pictures awaiting my arrival on Sunday night when the boys were fast asleep.)

It is hard to tell what this actually is unless you witnessed its creation, but this is a "dirt angel" modeled after the more commonly-known "snow angel." Needless to say, Gavin needed a change of clothes when we got back from the nature walk.

Here is Grandma Mike pointing out some of the local wildlife across the stream path during the walk. It's great to see that our boys take such interest in the outdoors and animals of all kinds.

Clearly, no hike is complete without finding a nice, old, dirty, oily tractor to climb on. We had to limit the amount of riding on this thing, because it seemed like it was an accident waiting to happen. They were psyched, but we eventually moved on toward the next promised cool destination.

Now it was Gavin's turn to walk with Grandma Mike, and they took off on us. I (Brent)walked with Gage and a stroller that he mostly refused to ride in but wanted to push. This turned into a very slow process, but eventually Grandma Mike and Gavin got so far ahead that I was able to convince Gage we needed to run with him in the stroller to catch up. He bought it for awhile. All in all, this was a great long adventure and the boys had a great time. It was also good to have a nice Mother's Day time with Grandma Mike.

Oregon trip...

Here I am between two of my oldest and dearest friends, Sarah and Amanda, and I'm the only one in the picture who was not pregnant. Sarah had twins, and Amanda is expecting her second baby (boy) anytime now. We all met up in Oregon where Sarah and Marie-Christine (see below) live. Amanda and I got to stay in a nice hotel room on her husband's points one night (gotta love that!), and I stayed with Marie-Christine on the second night. All four of us--and Marie-Christine's son and my godson, Daniel--met up at a fantastic ethnic restaurant on Saturday for some good conversation and delightful, hot and doughy pita bread that was half the size of the table. As usual, I had a great time visiting my treasured friends, but this visit felt a bit shorter and more scattered for me since I got in around lunchtime on Friday and had to be leaving already by late afternoon on Sunday. I stole away some much-needed time to myself out at Marie-Christine's rural abode on Sunday morning, and I'm really glad that I did. It's so peaceful and beautiful out there, and I was glad that I could experience it with and without my dear friend.

Summer soccer...

Gavin is really getting good at soccer these days.  We love everything about the Soccer Tots' summer session...except for the drive.  It's held at Pleasantview Soccer Complex in Boulder, so the view is amazing, but the distance from our house in Broomfield can be a little tough sometimes. 

This summer we went for two hours back-to-back so that each boy had a lesson.  Our only complaint was the small class size because that really made it less fun and soccerish to have 2-5 kids per class.  We made friends with a grandma and her two little granddaughters, one of whom was in Gage's class. Little Zana didn't care too much for soccer, but the hilarious thing was that she'd listen and cooperate if I took her out on the field.  Grandma was both mystified and thankful for my presence there, and they just turned up in Gage's current indoor session, too.  When I convinced Zana to go out on the field and participate with me the other day, Grandma Carol said, "Nice work, Coach Tara.  I should pay for your next session!"  So funny how kids will listen to anyone except those closest to them sometimes, right? 

Steamboat anniversary get-away..

Brent and I celebrated TEN years of marriage last summer!!!  So hard for us to believe.  We finally managed to get away for a weekend in Steamboat without the kids, and we really had a nice time together.  We hiked the first day and saw some cool waterfalls along the way and at our destination--and Brent has figured out by now that I'm all about hiking to an exciting destination--and I was glad to be doing my second hike of the summer.  (My ankle injury has prevented me from doing lots of fun exercising this summer, unfortunately.)



 
 
We went on a lovely bike ride on the second day--after devouring a cinnamon roll the size of our plates in the same morning, might I add--and I so enjoyed being able to share in my man's main hobby on the awesome road bike that he bought me.  I wish that we could do that more often.  And this picture with my funny smile was taken in our hotel room.  We stayed in such a nice place (The Steamboat Grand), and I felt like moving in after just one night.  The key features were a king sized bed (foreign to us), fire place and jacuzzi bath tub.  Calgon, take me away...like once a month or so :)  I'm so glad that we got to get away and re-connect to celebrate our anniversary. 

Gage ditches the training wheels!

 

 We thought that Gavin picked up biking in a hurry, but it was shocking, really, how quickly Gage ditched his training wheels...and at 2.5 years old!!!  Brent made the same promise to Gage, that he would spend a week with him practicing every night, but I swear it took Gage more like one afternoon.  We are firm believers in the Strider balance bikes, and then when you add on a bike racing daddy, a recreational riding mama (you know I had to throw that in) and a big brother who lives and breathes biking, it was the perfect recipe for little Gage to do his thing.  And look at all of those smiles!!!  We took our first family bike ride the other day, and that's a whole new stage for us--to be able to go somewhere on four bikes, zero training wheels, no strollers and the like.  What fun new freedom!

Brittany's wedding: part 1 of 2...

So my cousin, Brittany, got married in July, in Kansas, and we have some cute footage to tell the stories. First, to set the stage, I made what my dad would call the "marathon drive" to Goessel (about 9 hours in the car) by myself (thankfully, caravaning with my mom and step-dad) because it just so happened to be the same weekend that Brent had his state championship bike race in Longmont. We left on a Wed a.m. and came home on Monday, and Zach and family arrived on Thursday night. Above you will note Gage's enthusiasm to "hold" his cousin, Camille, which was a theme throughout the weekend. It was supposed to be Gavin who walked her down the aisle (she was the flower girl and the boys were the ring bearers), but it was actually Gage who was pretty psyched to do the job--"I hold her...I hug her...I pet her..."

One very comical morning Uncle Zachie met us at the school park between our places. The boys and I were staying at a free unit next to my grandpa (across from the nursing home) that he generously provided for us, and Zach and his family were staying with some of my aunt and uncle's friends' house in town. These teeter totters were classic, to say the least, and Brent noted that in all of the closer pictures of this day, the boys' faces were glistening with sweat. It happens early and often in Kansas, and we were as prepared as we could be for it and still suffered some basic shock and awe at the sheer humidity of it all right in the heart of a Kansas summer.


I took these pictures outside of our place before the rehearsal dinner, and I'm pretty convinced that it doesn't get much cuter than this. Seeing these reminds me that we had a lot of fun together on this trip. It was a lot of work, but we really did have a lot of fun and make a lot of great memories together. And I really grew in my confidence as a mother, just doing it all myself.

A trip to visit Uncle Ron is not complete without a trip out on the four wheelers. And this was a particularly special ride with Gavin on the back and Gage in front. They LOVE Uncle Ron and pretty much everything he does--fish, ride around on a four wheeler, pound nails in a board, hunt (though they're a little confused about that one), hang around outside and do most anything he does. I love seeing how much fun they have with him.

Brittany's wedding: part 2 of 2...

This is a funny self-portrait taken at Brittany's wedding, but I love it! My boys were both so handsome. Seeing these pictures reminds me that I should also get copies of the ones my brother took, because he was able to capture some great ones from a different perspective.

Gage attempted to walk his cousin, Camille, down the aisle, but in the end she did her thing by herself, and then Gage followed with a BIG smile on his face, and Gavin carried the ring pillow.
It was precious!

Look at my sweet niece! That dress--and headband--could not have been more adorable.  She was a sight to behold, for sure.  It didn't much matter if she bumbled or tripped down the aisle, she was a hit!




 Here are the handsome bride and groom, Brittany and Garrett, with my handsome son and great ring bearer, Gavin.  The reception was lots of fun, and the boys did remarkably well for how late we were all out, and it should be noted that we actually hired a local gal to help me with the boys at the reception.  And she was AWESOME!  She truly inspired me to come home and try to find a local version of her...and how said that I can't even remember her name now. 



 
I love how Gavin appears to be watching Mama and Gage dance from the side lines.  I love holding Gage.  Sometimes he tells me, "Hold my whole body!"  I fear the day when I won't be able to hold his whole, sweet baby boy body.  It strikes me every once in awhile that he's my last baby, and I'm sure that makes me want to hold onto him and every ounce of his "babyness" even longer.  Gavin asks me to hold him every other day or so, too, and though it threatens to break my back (he weights 46 pounds now!) I treasure those moments, as well.  What a strange and very real idea that some day in the not-so-distant future, I will cease to hold either one of my sons in my arms.  It seems so wrong as I think about it now, though totally necessary, and about the latter I have much to learn. 

July 4th festivities...

A nearby church hosts an awesome spread of 4th of July activities every year, and of course my favorite part is that it's FREE. Here Gavin and I are enjoying the old fashioned fire truck ride side by side.

And Gage loved every minute of the firetruck ride too, of course! His smile usually tells most of the story.

There is a petting zoo there, also, and Gage is brushing a baby goat in this picture.


Probably my favorite part of this event is watching Gavin ride on these little ponies every year, and this year he was joined by his brother, too. Gage wants to do everything that Gavin does, but only a few months ago he opted out of the pony ride at Sunflower Farm, so I was happily surprised that he willingly participated on the 4th. Funny how fast kids can get over their fears.

Oh boy, my two little cowboys are so cute...and so much work sometimes, too. But they're always worth it!

Muscle men...

Look at those adorable little muscles...already! It's becoming apparent to us that Gavin is built much like his father--long and lean. I have cinched his size 5 jeans to the tightest spot, and they're still too big for him in the waist, though they're perfect in the length. Much like Daddy, I can't even find an ounce of body fat on this boy!

Gage doesn't seem like he's built in quite the same way, though I would say that his little legs seem leaner ever since he became a biker like the rest of the family. If you can believe it, this sweet little pose with his arms in tight to his body is Gage's muscle man pose. I love that!

The secret lagoon...

A friend of ours told us about this totally secret fountain place to the side of the Westin Hotel, and now we call it anything from the "Secret Lagoon" to "Mermaid Cove," and if we're feeling boring we might just refer to it as the secret fountain place. Whatever you call it, the place is cool! And there's hardly ever anyone else there.

It has water falling down these stair steps that leads to a still shallow pool at the bottom. The kids like to follow boats, cups or even their Crocs down the steps and under the tunnel to the pool below. It's really a blast!

Here's our little seal. Both boys LOVE the water!

The water squirters (Mommy's preferred term over water guns) are a recent fun addition to the scene. And this particular time when we brought Brent to the secret lagoon, a family water fight ensued with squirters, buckets and anything else that held water. It was so much fun.

I'm so glad that Brent got to join us that day. I always wish that it were possible for him to experience more of the fun things that I get to do with the boys on a regular basis, especially during the summer.

Fun at the Bay...

The Bay is so much fun! It's like a smaller version of Water World right here in Broomfield. And, hopefully, we'll have admission there included in our rec center pass next summer. The boys love it. And our latest discovery has been the inner tube ride that parents and kids can do together. That's a blast, and Gage's smile during and after the ride is priceless!

The older the boys get and the more comfortable they become in the water, the less terrifying the whole swimming experience has become. I love taking a picnic lunch and taking a break from the water fun to sit and soak up the sun with the boys.