Table Work

We are still using the same solid wood table that was given to us when Tara and I were first married.  It was given to us by Tara's Dad and Sandra.  It's a good size for a family of four and definitely very heavy, but over the years the varnish had started to wear off and it had taken seven years of abuse from our kids.  Needless to say it was in a rough state.  While my Dad and Emily were still out visiting, I had my Dad help get me started on what I would need to be able to refinish the table.  We started with a healthy chemical strip of the entire table.  Unfortunately, after this started my Dad had to fly out to head back to the East Coast so the rest was on me.  I had a pretty good set of instructions though on how to proceed.  You can see the stripped and sanded product above.  Quite dusty, but it was starting to look like something good.

After all the sanding was complete, I had to do several coats of stain and then finished with three coats of a clear coat sealant to finish it off.  It turned out at least as good as I had hoped and should last us for a while longer now.  It's nice when you can work hard on a project and have it really turn out well.

More Gage Soccer

It seems like we have done quite a few soccer posts, but I guess the season is fairly long.  Gage continues to improve with his cutting and dribbling ability.  In this activity, he is cutting around the top coach and then coming back across the middle to take a shot on goal.

What was extra special about this game was that Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Emily were in town visiting and got to attend the games.  It was fun to have them here to see the boys in their element.

YMCA Spring Break

The boys and I really love the YMCA camp in Estes Park, and this was either our third or fourth time up there together.  They really get me with their buy-two-nights-and-get-the-third-night free deal, and this time we got our own mid-sized cabin.  We may have finally figured out the best situation for our family: I go up with the boys for two nights, and then Brent joins us for the third night and some family memory-making for the daytime he's with us.  This gives me plenty of time to do all the busy arts-and-crafts and other fun that the boys and I like to do that's awesome and totally exhausting before Daddy arrives.

Daddy arrived just in time on Friday for the build-your-own-boat (out of nature and a few other helpful things) activity that culminated in a boat race down a "river" on the YMCA property.  The boys had so much fun doing it, and I'm glad that Brent could be there for it.  And, of course, Gavin was so competitive about the whole informal deal, even though every boat got instantly caught in the sticks and debris of the stream.

I think I may have caught this pensive pic of my youngest son when he was taking a little break on the roller rink.  My boys insisted on going to the ghetto roller skating rink every single day, and I think we went twice one day just to make sure that Daddy got a piece of that action, too.  (I noticed that Brent conveniently left out the hilarious pictures of him re-living his glory days on the rink!)  It was fun to see both Gavin and Gage loving it this year!

We always love to see the elk up in Estes.  And this time we spotted elk and deer right behind our cabin, which was fun.  I love the sights and smells of the mountains, and I'm so thankful that the boys share that delight with us.

CU Spring Game

Every year I like to try to make it out to the CU Spring Football game with the family.  It's a great environment and a fun time for the kids to see some football in a low stress and non-crowded stadium.  They can watch for a bit and then run around for a bit and it doesn't really matter.  The weather didn't disappoint and it was a nice sunny day.  Tara joined us for this year's version and wore her one (and only?) CU shirt.  Looking good babe!

Obviously one of the highlights is always the running of Ralphie.  I think this year we missed the first half running, but caught the second half running.  The kids loved it.  I think what was a bit unusual this year was the format of the Spring game.  They usually just come out and do a big scrimmage, but this year they did a bunch of drills for about an hour and then scrimmaged the second hour which made it a bit harder to contain the kids attention.  In the end we were happy to be out there cheering on the Buffs.  Go Buffs!

Soccer Day with Gage

Gage continues to have a great time playing soccer.  He runs around there and tries his best and most importantly has a lot of fun.  Here he is trotting off the soccer field after a substitution.

Gage, above, looking serious as he waits to kickoff the ball.  Good job son!

Eldora Ski Day!

I just came along to cheer and take pictures--and hang out with Gage while Brent skied for longer with Gavin--so I'll let Brent write the rest of this post.  But, I will say that it was a beautiful day to be in the mountains, and even I could have seen myself enjoying the slopes on a day like this one.  It was really special to see Brent sharing his passion and skills with his boys--and on only one ski!!!

Here is Gavin making his way down the mountain.  I (Brent) was trying to keep track of both of them but Gavin is able to ski somewhat independently on the smaller slopes, so I opted to mostly stay with Gage.

Above you can see Gage and I making it down the mountain.  This is the first day that Gage was skiing outside of a ski lesson and I got to take him out.  It was also the first time he had ridden the chair lift, so it had many significant moments.  The other interesting thing in this picture was that I had hurt my knee recently playing soccer and had to ski the entire day on one ski.

Here I am with the rowdy two-some.  It was actually a great sunny day and we had an awesome time together.

This picture is at the end of the day with Gage and I.  It was really fun to be able to ski with the boys. I look forward to many more years of skiing with them as they get better and we can move to more challenging runs.

Arizona Trip Pt 2

When we picked up the cruiser bikes from our friends, Vicki and Darrell, they were having a garage sale to benefit a local animal shelter.  We shopped a little and then took off.  Between the stranger's grapefruit donation ;) and the lemons that came from my dad's tree, we got our citrus fix for sure.  So good! 

Andrea and I always ask around to find the tastiest, most popular restaurants in town.  Exploring new restaurants is such a fun part of being on vacation!

This was the yummy birthday dessert at Olive & Ivy.  (Both years, we've gone right around the time of my birthday, and Andrea and I are captains of the free birthday dessert game.) 

Remember the awesome couple I mentioned before?  We got in touch beforehand and thought it would be fun to introduce my dad and Sandra to Vicki and Darrell this trip.  So we all met up at Olive and Ivy, the fun restaurant where we met last year.  Darrell works for Fox Concepts, the parent company of Olive and Ivy and some others we've learned about since.  (True Food in Denver is a tasty one, too!) 

After lunch, we walked around together and looked at lots of neat stuff under tents by the river.  I'm really glad that I got to visit Dad and Sandra (they're loving Scottsdale!) and also have a fun trip with a dear friend--a win-win.  Andrea and I treasure all of that rare quality time together!