Father's Day Hike to Cub Lake with the cubs

Jill and I are in a constant game of tug of war. I'm on the road a lot and like being in my house every now and then. She is in the house all the time and wants to get out and go regardless of destination. So on Father's Day when she left it up to me to determine our day's itinerary, I decided we should get out and head up to Rocky Mountain National Park. We used to spend a lot of time in the park, but since finding two kids our times to the park have dropped dramatically.

We got out in reasonable time for the four of us and were at the trail head by 9:30 am (Pre kids Joel shutters at that time). We decided to head up to Cub Lake, a scenic destination with a manageable length and elevation change for Cooper.

At the trail head and ready to go

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

Great views to start

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

The fam

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

Cooper has suddenly become a ham for the camera and asked to have his picture taken quite often

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

Cooper wanted to scramble up every boulder he could find, then of course do his big arms

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

Through the valley and starting up

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

Another boulder to climb

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

A pattern develops

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

Our destination on this fine day

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

My two beautiful girls

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

And then shortly after this picture was taken, Cooper fell waist deep into Cub Lake. He was "fishing" (taking sticks and putting them into the water) and lost his balance and splash. Soaking wet, we loaded him into the kid carrier and I hiked him out to speed up the process. The kid is getting to the point where he is almost too big for me to carry out, but we got back to the car and luckily Jill had some dry clothes for him there.

The boys posing. No idea why the kid's hat is on like that. I blame Jill (its Father's Day, I receive no blame)

From Cub Lake Father's Day Hike

The details from our day. Notice how much faster our mile times were once we got the bouldering boy into a backpack.

Cooper's Gymnastics Class

In an attempt to try and wear Cooper out at least one day a week, Jill got him started in gymnastics class. I was pretty amazed when the teacher had the parents sit in the lobby and she controlled (and controlled well) a group of 3 year olds. Cooper gets excited, but does a great job of listening and following instructions. I was home for his last week of Spring classes, so the whole family went to see Cooper's last class of the season.

Jill and Lauren

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Watching intently

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

The big highlight, getting to play with the parachute

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Cooper's turn to run through the parachute

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Lauren crawling about

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Another trip across the parachute, pure joy

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

My sweet girl

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Lauren wanting a piece of that parachute

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Best Day Ever! Another trip across the parachute

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

The everyone but Lauren and I disappeared

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Pretty amazing control of a rowdy bunch

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

The on to the trampolines

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Then a launch into the foam pit

From Cooper's Gymnastics Class

Cooper did well enough in his class this year that he is going to get bumped up to the 4 year old class a bit early. He started with his normal class last week, but he is doing well enough that we think he'll be happy to be in the 4 year old class. The kid launches off of everything in site, no hesitation for him.

Hiking through the burn zone, while another burn starts

The last few years have been a matter of not if the wildfires were going to start, but when and where. Last year on Memorial Day we were hiking in Boulder when we looked north and saw a huge plume of smoke coming from north of the Flat Irons. That fire would go on to be known as the "Four mile Fire" and burned a lot of structures and a place that we had hiked in the past. In our first visit back to the park post-burn, in an eery coincidence as we were leaving we saw a big plume of smoke to the north, a fire which is still burning and called the High Park Fire.

In the Bald Mountain area, signs of both destruction and rebuilding were abundant. We did a nice little loop and then headed back home. Pictures from our day out.

Cooper and Lauren posing at one of the benches along our way

From Bald Mountain Hike

Jill joins in

From Bald Mountain Hike

A good gig if you can get it

From Bald Mountain Hike

Cooper leads the charge

From Bald Mountain Hike

Pseudo family photo

From Bald Mountain Hike

Cooper checking out the flowers

From Bald Mountain Hike

Cooper in full sprint chasing something

From Bald Mountain Hike

Coop looks out across the burn zone

From Bald Mountain Hike

Cooper does big arms in front of some scorched trees

From Bald Mountain Hike

A real smile for once

From Bald Mountain Hike

Checking out some burned up bark

From Bald Mountain Hike

Holding hands with my girl

From Bald Mountain Hike

Out on the Trails

Trying to get caught up on some of our recent adventures around Boulder County. This edition is from the Red Rocks Trail, which is right on the edge of Boulder. I used to walk over here at lunch when I worked on Pearl St., but Jill and the kids had never been so we decided to check it out. Some pictures ensued.


Jill tries to get Cooper to cooperate on a photo in front of the beautiful wild flowers

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

Up the trail we go

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

Then we found a cave that we had to check out

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

Cooper didn't hesitate to go check it out

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

Jill gives the Dr. LK seal of approval

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

Double big arms

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

Cooper and Jill look over the city

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

Big arms are abundant on this day

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder

Jill poses with the rock formations

From Redrock Trail Hike Boulder