Thursday, May 31, 2012

Only One is a Good Kinda Fluffy

One day they're petting tarantulas.

The next they're cuddling bunnies.

I prefer the bunnies.
Nooooo contest.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Up and Down and All Around

We decided to buy season passes to Elitch Gardens this year.
(It's Denver's amusement park, and the only downtown amusement park in the country.)
It's super easy to get to from our house, and we've already gone 3 times this year.

JR is actually the absolute perfect height for the park.
He's just short enough to ride the "little rides" with his brothers, but big enough to ride everything else in the park.

It seems like Kyle and Reed will be following in big brother's footsteps in their love of all things "roller coaster".

Easy Riders


Serious Big Rigger
(Would you expect him to pick any other color truck?)



Bumper Car Master



JR teaching them proper riding hand placement.


How come everything Kyle and Reed can ride has to spin?
Ughhhh!
Smiling before the "pain".



An oldie but goodie

And what JR thinks is fun.
See those people at the very tippy top?
One of them is JR!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

That Was Fast

How in the world did he go from this


to this
in 9 short years?


Happy Birthday JR!

Monday, May 28, 2012

Bolder Boulder

We celebrated Memorial Day with a fun BBQ with friends last night, and then Aubrey and I ran the Bolder Boulder 10K this morning.

I'd always heard about the Bolder Boulder, and it is definitely something everyone should experience... whether they're a runner or not!

It's the 2nd largest 10K in the nation, (Peachtree Road Race in ATL is the biggest, and The Capitol 10,000 in Austin only comes in at #5) with around 50,000 runners each year.

I knew costumes were encouraged, so of course, Aubrey and I came out to celebrate the big day.

We had lots of fun along the way.

We got free hugs (yes, that's what his stomach says) from young, cute Specimens of Health.

Posed for pictures with Elvis.

Reached the summit of the race.
(Go ahead and laugh Durangoans, I know your lowest point is higher than this.)


And made the easy decision to not participate in the Slip-in-Slide festivities.


Thankfully, if we got hungry, there were plenty of snacking options to be found along the course including:

Marshmallows

And, the running power food of champions, Doritos.


 
The entertainment was truly world class.

There was Green Body Suit Dude dancing with a flag.

Guys in dresses

Girls running barefoot (Ouch!)

High 5 lines to run through

And, our personal, fav...
Creepy Guy pole dancing in a belly shirt and speedo.


As we neared the finish line, we got to run through the Colorado University stadium
(next year I'll know to look for myself on the jumbo-tron).


And then enjoyed the view after a super fun race.

Aubrey and I had such a fun time we decided we've got a new Memorial Day tradition!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

High Adventure Sky Adventure

JR's birthday isn't until Tuesday, but we celebrated yesterday since JR's friend TC came from Durango to celebrate with him.

JR picked to go indoor skydiving, and I couldn't believe how great the kids did.

Best I can explain it, they put you in a clear tube with an instructor and adjust the wind speed for your size. (Obviously Kyle and Reed had much calmer winds than Jason.)

It's pretty much one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and the pictures totally speak for themselves!

Everybody was a little unsure of what to expect



JR




Reed



Kyle



TC

Jason


They all LOVED it!
I'm pretty sure that won't be our last time indoor skydiving.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Fashion Fabulous Friday


This is his "Mommy, make my shirt look like a ninja hat" look.

He didn't seem to mind that his ninja hat is really a turban.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Started There Ended Here

Today was Kyle and Reed's last day of Pre-Pre K.
They couldn't have loved it more, in fact, Reed's been telling me all day how he doesn't want school to be over.

I really did like their preschool in Durango, so I'm so glad they were able to fit right in.
It's like we've always been here.

Last day of school photo op

They had a little program planned for us today, and when I got to school they were still "reading" on their carpet squares.
Kyle's literary choice made me smile.
It's a family favorite.

The were both great performers, but for different reasons.

The Teacher Pleaser gave it all he had.

And The Dramatist held his ending pose so long (for dramatic effect, I'm sure), everyone else had already returned to their carpet squares for the next song.


We're super excited for Pre K next year! Yay!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Color-rific

Reed's had the artistic bug for the last few days.
(I've had to hide my white computer paper).

These two are my favorites:

He's been using JR's old drawing books (which JR's never used in his life). 
Here's the panda he found in one of them.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to frame this guy.  (He'll go great with all my Chinese stuff!)

Yesterday he drew Kyle a picture of Perry.

Just check out poor, sweet Perry's eyes.
I'm not sure if he turned him into Evil Perry, or he just has a bad case of allergies.

And yes, those top letters are supposed to be Reed's name.
He's known how to spell his name for a while, but sometimes I think he forgets he has to put the letters in the right order...and not throw in extra 'e's' just for fun.

I said, "Reed, you can't spell your name like this, this says 'E-Dear-E', not Reed."

Reed: "Oh! I like the name 'E-Dear-E', it sounds like 'Deer'. I like Deer. Can that be my name,
'E-Dear-E'?

Sigh....

Monday, May 21, 2012

Two in One Day

The only time I'd ever been to a fire station in my entire life was when JR's Tiger Cub den went to one on a "go see it".
(Although Cassidy and I did take the kids to the Denver Firefighters Museum, but I don't think that counts since it isn't an operational fire station.)


Yesterday, I went to two fire stations.


The first you read about as the eye candy from my run.

Then, that afternoon, JR's new cub scout pack had a cookout across from the neighborhood fire station, so we got a tour and the kids got to spray the hose.


Look who pranced to the front of the line like he was the Scout Master.
Just check out that stance!

And, yes, this is the only picture I took yesterday because....I didn't have to take pictures

I didn't have to plan the event, I wasn't in charge, and I didn't have to answer any questions/complaints/concerns.

It was awesome.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Just a Few Minutes from Average!

I ran the Colfax Half Marathon this morning, and when I say 'this morning', I totally mean it since the race started at 6:00 AM!
I haven't run a half since my embarrassing performance at the Canyonlands Half over a year ago.
But, I figured it was time I gave it another shot.
 
Here's what Denver City Park looks like at 5:00 AM.
I actually really didn't mind getting up at 4:00, I don't sleep well the night before a race, so I probably would have just tossed and turned had I gotten to sleep any later.
 
By the time I went to the bathroom (the porta-potty is the worst part of the whole running experience), checked my bag, and got in my corral, it was almost time to start.
Corralling is the second worst part when you're only 5'2".

Here was my view until the race started.
Almost to the starting line.

 
As I began running I started playing WWRD (what would Randi do?) in my head.
 I could hear her saying, "pick a pace you know you can keep for the first (however many) miles."
  I was feeling good doing 10:20 minute miles. So I told mysef I could do that for the first 6 miles, then I could see what to do next.
 
After I got to 6 miles, I knew there was a downhill at mile 9. So from 6-9 miles, I just tried to stay in the 10's. 10:59 minute miles was okay, I was still in the 10's!
 
It was around mile 6 we found ourselves in Aurora.
I took this one for you, Cassidy, your old hometown welcomed us with a giant flag over the street.


 Around mile 8 or so, we got to run through the Aurora Fire Station.
Thanks Aurora for putting out the young firemen to give us high-fives. The eye-candy was quite refreshing!
Miles 9-10 I tried to take advantage of the downhill, and make it to mile 11 before an hour and fifty-six minutes, knowing that if I could do that, I could hobble out the last 2 miles at 12 minutes each and still come in at 2:20.
 
And with a time of 2:19:34 (averaging 10:40 minute miles), that's just what I did.
I crossed the finish line and FINALLY got a medal. 
(This is my 4th half and I've never gotten a finisher's medal!)

As you can see, my medal has a great new home.

So how close to average was I?
6 minutes away.
Average time for the Colfax half marathon: 2:14:33.
Next time, I'm going all in for average!