Visit to the mountain

Nana and Popsie spent a few weeks at a mountain resort just down the highway from us.  We all spent a long weekend at the house with them, and then the boys got a few extra bonus days!  

We took advantage of the slightly cooler temperatures at the top of the mountain with a few hikes. 

Some time to snuggle up and read with Popsie:

Games!  The weather didn't always cooperate, so there was plenty of time for games:  monopoly, card games, and more!

 James and I wandered over to the play area with the boys one afternoon and spent several hours playing shuffleboard and climbing on the rocks.

While James, Kathy, and Tony went golfing, the boys and I played more shuffleboard and also got in some time at the driving range:

Such Teamwork :)

Brady and Jake, headed off to catch some crayfish...

Aircraft Carrier Birthday Party

Brady decided on an aircraft carrier party this year.  We had taken a tour previously and also went on the USS Midway in California on vacation in February, so he was inspired to share the experience with his friends.  The weather definitely did not cooperate; the skies opened up before we could visit the flight deck and the rain poured down all afternoon.  We had planned to have a pool party at Oma and Papa's but had to change that on the fly and pull out some of our old Minute-to-Win-It Games.

Headed to the carrier:

With airman George H. W. Bush...

More swim results

The boys had their last swim meet of the season this week.  Brady will be competing in the championship meet, but Rudy will be at Camp OmaPapa.

This week, Brady's relay team finished first in 1:22.53.  He finished fourth in freestyle (21.50) and sixth in backstroke (28.16).

Rudy's relay finished sixth in 3:44.88 (we were worried that a few of the kids might not even make it across the pool!) , and 11th in freestyle (43.09).  He was DQed from backstroke because he stood up before he touched the wall :) 

We are really impressed with how hard they worked at swimming.  Both told us they didn't want to do it at all, but I think they ended up having fun!

Toothless, Killer, and Dirty Ribz

We spent a hot Saturday cheering on Jacob and his team at one of their all star baseball tournaments.  Jake loves ribs, so his nickname is Ribs.  Candy called Brady "killer Bee" once, and he has latched onto that as his preferred nickname.  And, of course, Rudy will be Toothless for the near future!

Kelly's business trip!

I'm on my first-in-almost-10 years business trip in Colorado.  I've taken myself on a few adventures outside of the training sessions.  Last night, I went to Red Rocks Amphitheater and hiked a bit.  It's a beautiful park and must be one of the best places in the world to see a concert!  I wasn't going to a concert, but I did get to hear the Beach Boys warming up.

 Hiking buddy?

My hotel room overlooks the distant mountains, and I got an amazing sunset view last night.

This morning, I was up before dawn and drove out to Mt. Evans.  At over 14,000 feet, it's quite a hair-raising drive with tons of switchbacks and not a guardrail in sight!  

This was definitely a highlights only tour, as I didn't feel too comfortable doing my hiking alone and because I needed to get back to my training session by 10:30.  My first quick stop was Echo Lake:

 Next, was Summit Lake.  There looked to be some great hikes here, but I only ventured to the first overlook.

 This guy greeted me in the parking lot and was the first living creature I saw this morning!

 At the tippy top.  WHOA!  It was cold and windy, and still pretty hazy this early in the morning.  There were about a half dozen mountain goats hanging out around the peak with only me for company.  Love the little baby!

 Pikes Peak is almost in the middle of this picture, just to the right of the cloud puff. 

 Next time I go, James is driving up!  It was slightly terrifying today, but there were no other cars or bikers on the road.  I passed quite a few cyclists on my way down, and can't really imagine navigating with cars and bikers!

Swim Meet Results

We field a lot of inquiries about the swim meet results, and I can never remember all the details on the phone, so here it is:

• Rudy relay:  3rd place, 3:06.59
• Brady relay: 1st place, 1:41.72.  This was a medley relay and Brady swam with the A team.  He was the first leg, swimming the backstroke, and put his team in a strong second place position for the remaining legs.
• Brady 25 free: 2nd place, 20.53.  This was his best finish by almost 5 full seconds! 
• Rudy 25 free:  10th, 43.72.  Everyone in the stands thought Rudy was flying through the water; we couldn't believe that his time actually dropped 2 seconds.
• Brady 25 back:  4th, 26.97. 
• Rudy 25 back:  7th , 40.37.  Again, he looked great but his time didn't improve.  Maybe they stretched the pool out for him this week or something...
• Brady 50 free:  He dropped his time from 1:05.22 to 53.63.  He even did a flip turn!  Unfortunately, having only practiced those flip turns at one practice, he pulled it too early and missed the wall.  He was crushed to have a DQ. :(

Update:  The league just posted the top 50 scores through the third week of competition. 

• Rudy is 41st in backstroke, with his best time of 39.22!
• Brady is 33rd for the 25 backstroke, with his best time of 26.81.  His freestyle time for the fourth week puts him right around 19th place for his age group.  And, except for his DQ, he'd be around 20th place for the 50 freestyle as well!

All he wants for Christmas...