Pam's 60th Birthday Dinner

It's hard to believe that it is time to celebrate my Mom's 60th birthday!  We celebrated in glorious fashion up at the Flagstaff house, which overlooks Boulder with the whole family (minus kids of course).

It was great to just slow down from the normal craziness of life and spend an evening together while enjoying the great food.  I think this was the best gift that we could have given, as we don't do that as much as we probably should.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Kansas Trip 2016 - Part 2 of 2

Another "must do" in Kansas every trip is fishing with Uncle Ron in the pond in his backyard.  Can you tell how much Gavin LOVES this??

Brent tried to share some of his fatherly fishing wisdom this trip, too.  I like this picture of father and son. 

Uncle Ron taught the kids how to take proper fishing pictures to show people the "REAL" size of the fish ;) and Gage was happy to participate.  Uncle Ron is always eager to share the story of me asking for a Kleenex to hold the fish when I was a little girl--a classic tale, indeed!  

I like to get out on the four wheeler with Uncle Ron, too, though I have no need to drive, now that I think about it.  He likes to show me around and tell me stories and dreams he has for the future. 

Most years, Ron and Patsy put up a self-standing pool in their backyard, which is a welcome gift during the crazy hot summer days that are so typical in Kansas summers.  They have all kinds of floaties, but I think that both boys could touch the bottom this time. 

Kansas Trip 2016 - Part 1 of 2

The "fourth wheels," as the kids affectionately used to call them, are always a big hit at Uncle Ron's house in Kansas.  We've made a shift recently, and the kids are often the drivers now!  They drive around my aunt and uncle's property and onto the nearby dirt roads and dig every second of it. 

The timing of this year's Kansas trip was motivated by Brent's grandma's 80th birthday party in Wichita.  Brent's cousin, Crystal, organized and hosted a great celebration that was held at the facility where Leta was living at the time.  The picture above is of Gage and his cousin, Sarah, when they were playing at a nearby park before the party. 

Great Grandma Koel was blessed, surprised and happy to see all of us!  I am not quite sure that she was ready for the the vibrant kind of energy that we brought to her place but we all had a great time.

Featured in the picture above:
(Left to right) First row: Gage, Grandma Koel, Madison, Sarah and Gavin
(Left to right) Second row: Brent, Bruce, Emily, Jackie, Karl, Tara

Here's a nice picture of the birthday cake at the celebration.  Happy Birthday Grandma Koel!

Camping in Buena Vista - Day 3

I think we borrowed this giant community tent from Josh's dad, as I recall, and it came in handy during shared mealtimes and almost served the function of a campfire in that it brought us all together.  We were super bummed that we couldn't have a campfire, but we would have had to pay extra to have one in a separate area.  The kids had a lot of fun playing together, despite the big age span.  The Renfros' kids are quite a bit older but great with younger kids and good role models for our boys.

We finally got to witness the Schmidt Family Pancake Toss that I'd heard so much about!  In the above photo, Josh is trying to demonstrate the art of tossing the pancake from the skillet to the audience of eager kids trying to catch it.  Some are definitely lost to the forest, but it is a fun sport!

The kids all had to take turns catching and tossing, of course, and we quickly figured out why you don't commence the pancake toss until everyone in the camp has already had at least one pancake per person.  This is a high risk sport, for sure, but one worth playing. 

Camping in Buena Vista - Day 2, Part 2 of 3

After a morning of rafting at Noah's, we ventured over to Bob's Rock for some climbing at this historic spot.  Josh started us off and did some lead climbing to get the top ropes set up.  We tried to set up near some routes that most of the kids could probably tackle.

Here is a picture of Gage in the green making his way about half way up the route.  One of our friend Adam Renfro's kids is slightly above Gage climbing.  Gage used to do a lot of climbing, but since breaking his arm he mostly stopped.  Part of that was due to his injury, but part of it was just us not being able to facilitate the drive to Boulder every week for climbing lessons.

The top of the route was particularly challenging, but Gage was able to make it all the way up after some great instruction from about 60 feet up.  You can see his great moves above as he tries to get through the crux of the route.

Meanwhile, down below, Gavin was lizard hunting and somehow managed to catch a small gecko or rock lizard which he was overjoyed to parade around.  Thankfully, we convinced him to let the little guy go back to his home next to Bob's Rock.

After the kids got all their climbing in, the adults were up to see how we could do on the same routes.  I was actually fairly surprised at how hard the top of the route was that most of the kids finished.  It had been quite a while since I had climbed, so it was pretty fun to strap on the old climbing shoes and chalk bag.  I did, however, forget how painful those climbing shoes can be.  Here I am coming down after reaching the top.

Here is Andrea and I at the bottom of the route.  She was kind enough to belay me through the whole endeavor.  We swapped after this and Andrea ascended the same route.

Camping in Buena Vista - Day 2, Part 1 of 3

On the second day, we planned to head to Noah's Ark and raft Brown's Canyon.  With our friends Josh and Andrea both having been former raft guides, they were able to borrow a raft and we tagged onto the tail end of a group going.  The kids had never been rafting before and were obviously psyched to get out on the river!  The four little people featured in these pictures are Gage, Caleb, Haley and Gavin.  

How adorable (and safe) are these four in their little life jackets?!  They really had a great time on this adventure, as did we adults!  It was so fun to see Josh in his element, and even Andrea got back in the saddle for the last rapid and blew me away with her mad guiding skills. 

Josh made it look like it was just yesterday that he was a Noah's Ark raft guide, and it's easy to see how much he loves it!  He still remembers all of the cute stories and jokes that the guides used to tell the rafters years ago, so he entertained us with those along the way.  At one point, he told the kids they could jump in the water in a calm part of the river, and I couldn't believe they all really wanted to do it!  I'm so glad we got to have this fun adventure together.  We've talked about doing it for years. 

Camping in Buena Vista - Day 1

The boys LOVE to camp, and we're so glad we were able to plan a weekend getaway to Buena Vista with some of our good friends and their kids to camp AND raft.  Josh and Andrea, who had spent many years in BV working for Noah's Ark, knew of some cool spots for us to set up together.  We were also joined by some good friends of theirs, Adam and Mary Beth Renfro, and their two kids plus a friend of their boys.  Once in BV, we drove another 15 to 20 minutes up Cottonwood Pass and down a dirt road back to this area.  Thankfully, we found a place big enough for the three families and quickly got to work setting up the tent to beat some anticipated rain showers that were heading our way.

 

After the camp site was set up, Josh and I decided to tackle the full Cottonwood Pass on our bikes.  I didn't really know what we were getting into, but it had been on Josh's list to complete so I figured I was game.  We certainly got our money's worth and Josh stuck it to me and my sub-par form.  This ended up being about a 12 mile climb taking about an hour and a half climb up to above treeline.  On the way down we got rained on, which made it quite cold at that altitude and passed all the way through Buena Vista over to meet the ladies and kids at the Mount Princeton Hot Springs pool.  It was an awesome ride, though I didn't have enough food and was deep in the hurt locker for the final 30 minutes or so.

After arriving at the pool, we found the crew waiting for the rain/lightning delay to be over with so they could jump back in.  It seemed fairly chilly out, but they weren't going to pass up the opportunity to get in some water.

Andrea and Tara got in on the action, as well, and seemed to be having a great time. 

It seemed like the highlight was this super long slide that just followed the slope of this hillside down to the pool.  At first, the high schoolers working the place were strict on all the slide rules, but soon enough it turned into a free-for-all with kids going forwards, backwards, in pairs, in masses, and whatever all together.  Obviously, this made it even more fun for everyone involved.  Though it is hard to see, this is Tara and Gage hitting the water at the bottom of the slide.

After a long day of festivities it was finally time to retire to the tent to see if we could get some sleep with all four of us in rather tight quarters .  I strategically placed Gage next to me as I assumed he would be a good sleeper and I let Tara work with Gavin on whatever shenanigans would happen on the other side of the tent.  This proved to be a good plan as both Tara and Gavin were all over the place moving around, and I think Gage and I ended up with at least a decent night of sleep.

Robots

For the first time since the boys were babies, we decided not to renew our zoo membership.  The boys didn't seem quite as into it as they had been, and they were more interested in exploring the Museum of Nature and Science right next door.  I have mixed feelings about this, because I generally love the zoo and have lots of fun memories with my boys there.  And it's been a great mid-way place to meet up with friends!  But, the museum is cool, too, and the special exhibits are especially exciting.  

This special exhibit was called Robots, and the boys really loved it!  There were robots to design and robots that copied you and robots to operate. 

Gavin and Gage had the most fun building their own "robots" and seeing how long/big/wide/fast they could make them.  I like watching the boys in environments like this, where they get to be creative and work together.  And it was extra fun for me because we met Andrea and her kids there! 

Summer Soccer Camps

Gavin and Gage both did soccer camps in July, but they were in two different programs.  Gavin did the British Soccer Camp, while Gage did Corver Soccer Camp.  The Corver camp focuses a bit more on ball skills but both are excellent.  This is probably the first year that Gavin really seemed to have fun with the level of competition around him.  What is also funny about this picture is that the boy on the right will ultimately end up on the same U10 team for the fall.

Another picture of Gavin at a water break with a big smile.  The one thing I (Brent) miss about switching jobs this year is being so far away from these camps that I can't stop by to watch some of them over the lunch hour.

Gage's camp was equally awesome and he knew several kids there including Piper and Nick.  His ball skills really are very good for his age and are impressive to watch.

He also is a very determined student and makes sure he is always on task.

At the end, he was psyched to earn this nice certificate of completion that matches is bright green shirt.  I certainly think we will sign him up for this camp in the future and maybe even Gavin too, as his ball skills need more work after jumping up two levels to U10 this year.

Wild Kratt Brothers

Never to pass up a Wild Kratt moment, here are the guys with a "caught" dragonfly on Gavin's finger.  It was caught in a jar, but then I am not quite sure how it was transferred to his finger without  it deciding to fly away.  It might have been injured, as Gavin thinks it ended up in a spider web a bit from where they let it go. 

Climbing in the Community Ditch - Part 2 of 2

You can see how far this route goes up with Gavin sitting all the way at the top before he heads back down.

I love how intense Gage looks when he is concentrating on what the next move is going to be.

After a while Gage made it to the top of this route, as well.  Some of these moves are quite difficult for a smaller guy like Gage, but he always finds a way to pull it off.

Here is the whole family together after we were all tired out from climbing.  Brent didn't do any climbing due to his crash the day before, but he hung in there bandages and all.

The kids had a great time together as a rowdy four-some.  Hopefully we can pull off some more trips in the future, as I think it was a win for everyone involved.  Thanks Josh and Andrea!

Climbing in the Community Ditch - Part 1 of 2

A wonderfully fun summer adventure was meeting Josh and Andrea, avid outdoorsmen and great friends, at the Community Ditch Trail in Golden.  We have discovered that we all love to rock climb and we've been trying to find a time to do it together ever since Gage broke his arm.  After a 15-20 minute hike in from the parking lot, you come around this corner and a large rock face rests almost solely in the shade.  There is quite a variety of routes ranging from 5.7 - 5.12 here and apparently is not very much of a secret as it was packed with people.  We quickly set up on one of the open routes and got the kids climbing before they got too wild on us.  Here is Gavin heading up for his first ascent.

Josh has tons of climbing equipment, and Brent has some, too, so we had several harnesses between us.  

Gage is still a stellar climber, and we regret that we haven't had him in climbing lessons recently.  He has the focus and skills to be really excellent at the sport.  His ABC Climbing classes are in Boulder, which makes it so difficult these days as the kids get generally more busy.

How cute are they, honestly?  Gavin was quick to head up for a few more attempts on different routes as the day progressed.

Here is another attempt by Gage on his second route.  It was so great that most of this area was cool and well shaded during the afternoon.