Bolder Boulder 2017

There they are:  all THREE of my boys running together in the Bolder Boulder.  We had thought this might be the year that I would join them, but I hadn't been running enough to be ready and couldn't commit to the cost.  I was fine to be the team photographer and cheerleader.

My (Brent's) dad was also in town for the race.  As we have done previously, the plan was for my dad to run his race in the B wave and then potentially circle back around to and meet us on course at about the one mile mark.  This has been helpful in the past because Gavin and Gage are a hard bunch to wrangle among the 50,000 other people running.  As our boys have gotten faster over the years, we have moved up in starting waves and this year we were too far forward for my Dad to meet us.  We had a great time though and we all decided to run at Gage's pace.  Sometimes Gavin would get a bit ahead but he did a great job staying where I could see him.  We only made two bathroom breaks on course and made sure not to miss the marshmallows and the Doritos stations.  Here we are finishing in the stadium.  Gavin is in the foreground, and Brent and Gage are only a few feet behind.  I was talking to the boys about "finishing strong" but I didn't quite realize Gavin would take that to mean "sprint away from us in the stadium" and miss the great group pictures.  I think we ran 1:14:00 which was very respectable, I thought.

I'm so glad that this has become an annual tradition for our family.  Maybe next year we can all four get in on the action if Tara's ankle continues to heal.

Elitches

Brent and I hadn't been to Elitches in years, and the boys had never been, and it just so happened that Andrea ended up with some extra tickets the weekend that Brent's dad was in town. I'm not one for roller coasters, but Brent is generally up for them, so he took both boys on the one in the picture above.  I don't honestly know if either boy was really that enamored with it.  Gavin claimed that he really liked it (but didn't seem eager to do anymore that day), and Brent said that Gage help on pretty tightly and definitely let us know afterward that he had no interest in experiencing more.

Can we all agree, however, that Gage is pretty large for this baby ride?!  He loved doing it though, so I wasn't gonna stop him!

Here we all are with Grandpa Bruce.  I think the only ride we may have done altogether was the ferris wheel when we first arrived.  I'm glad we went (and especially thankful that we didn't have to pay for the tickets, thanks to Andrea), but I think it's safe to say that our family is not really an amusement park type of family.  I'm getting more clear on that, and I'm OK with it. 

Lawn Moving Service

What are those child labor laws again?  Just kidding, Gavin has always loved helping out with the yard work and doing outdoor projects.  On this particular day, he decided to muster up the courage to ask if he could help mow the lawn.  As he is approaching 10, I figured it was about time to show him how it all works.

As you can see, there was quite a bit of instruction to be given with him mowing inside my arms and having to push the lawn mower.

After a few assisted circles, we turned him loose and all stood back at a safe distance.

After a half a lap, he remarked that the mower was quite a bit harder to push than it looked and was promptly looking for some more assistance.  I informed him that my strength is quite deceptive and that with practice he can someday be strong enough to mow the whole lawn if he keeps practicing.  I am not sure that day is going to be anytime too soon, but we had a great time trying...

Mallory Cave Hike

As we often note on our blog, we love getting the boys out on a good hike.  Here is another trail that we had never taken them on: Mallory Cave.  This one starts up at NCAR and then climbs quite steeply up the hillside.  Here is a picture at the very beginning overlooking the beautiful flatirons.

The guys took off ahead as they usually do.  We managed to slow them down for a forced picture before they managed to hurt themselves or got too hot and thirsty.

The hike itself is relatively short and only an hour or an hour and a half on the way up.  This is actually right below the cave.  Bats live within this particular cave and, due to the risk of humans exposing them to some diseases, they have closed off the cave entrance these days.  It turned out to be a bit anti-climactic for the boys but I think they always enjoy getting out.

Here is a view looking out over Boulder from the cave point. (Aw, I love that one! ~Mama)

Mountain View Field Day

Mountain View does a great job every year with their field day event.  Brent always chimes in that it's NOTHING like ours when we were kids, but it's still really cool, in my opinion.  Yes, there's no long jump and medals and differentiated ribbons for real winners ;) but they do neat team-building and other fun events.

I (Tara) like to go and volunteer in some capacity, and I've always been put at one of the water events.  This time I was placed at this cool one (see both pictures above) wherein the kids had to fill their PVC pipe with holes and deliver the most water to their bucket ten feet away in the time given.  It really required the kids to work together and communicate well with one another.   

Here's Gage and his good buddy, Gavin, at the parachute station.  Fun and colorful, yes, but with this one in particular, I can see what Brent means that the times of Field Day are a changin'.