Cooper plays putt putt or hockey or some variation of the two

Every since the July 4th weekend we spent up in Winter Park, Cooper has been in love with putt putt. I bet he played at least 200 holes in the week we were up there with his rapid style of barely letting the ball stop before hitting it again. One weekend morning I asked him what he wanted to do and he told me he wanted to play mini-golf, so off we went to Boulder to check out the Gateway Fun Center on the north side of town.

Pleasant temps and light crowds let us kind of play the game at our own speed, replaying holes when we wanted and get in somewhere between 36 and 50 holes in a short period of time. The course was nice and shady which made it great as we've been "hot" (apologies to the Okies) lately.

Grandpa Jim will cry a bit at Cooper's upside down putter technique

From Putt Putt in Boulder

And he's off

From Putt Putt in Boulder

The gallery looks on

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Tee off then sprint after it

From Putt Putt in Boulder

The precursor...

From Putt Putt in Boulder

to the celebration. Cooper got his first hole in one on this hole, so we celebrated with a pic and some fist pumping.

From Putt Putt in Boulder

Cooper took his golfing too serious to pay attention to the enormous purple gorilla

From Putt Putt in Boulder

I however, did not. How long do you slow dance with a purple gorilla? As long as he wants...

From Putt Putt in Boulder

From Putt Putt in Boulder

Lauren at 6 months

Crazy to think that Lauren is already 6 months old, but she is getting tall (notice I said tall and not big, I'm learning how to speak to girls) and into a really fun stage now. She is the smilingest baby I've ever been around. She'll be sitting in her bouncer and just look across the room and start grinning when someone makes eye contact with her. She literally cackles when Cooper starts playing with or near her.

At her 6 month checkup last Friday, she jumped up to 85th percentile in height and 15th percentile in weight. She measured out to be 27 inches long and 13 pounds 14 ounces. She is happy and healthy and that is what the most important thing.

Starting to sit up and thinking about crawling

From Putt Putt in Boulder

What a great smile

From Putt Putt in Boulder

Hiking in the Indian Peaks

Due west of us, and just south of Rocky Mountain National Park, lies the Indian Peaks Wilderness area. Equally as beautiful and less trafficked than RMNP, we often overlook it as a destination as we either stay low or hit up RMNP. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful Friday weather and hit up Lake Isabelle again, as the last time we went there was when Cooper was less than a week old.

Plans quickly changed when we found out the parking lot at Long Lake was already full at 9am, but we found another suitable destination of Mitchell Lake. 2 miles up would be a fine hike for our family of 4 now.

Cooper had his hiking sticks and was on the go

From Putt Putt in Boulder

Jill and Lauren making their way up

From Putt Putt in Boulder

Snow pack is down, but not out. Blue skies for everyone

From Putt Putt in Boulder

And our destination for the day, Mitchell Lake

From Putt Putt in Boulder

Jill and Lauren relaxing at 10k feet above sea level

From Putt Putt in Boulder

Gymnastics Class

As Cooper approached 3, Jill had the great idea to get Cooper enrolled in gymnastics classes. Cooper is such a social creature and loves getting to interact with other kids. On the playgrounds he will go up to other kids and say "Hi my name is Cooper", which makes me laugh but also very proud at how well he talks to other kids.

The big benefit of gymnastics class is to get to burn off some energy, but it also provides a nice opportunity for Cooper to have to listen to another person and do as he is told. Cooper has a bit of Curious George in him, where he doesn't really mean to get in trouble but sometimes curiosity gets the better of him. Here are a few pics of Cooper doing his gymnastics activities and Lauren being the sweet angel she typically is.

Sitting very still, an unusual thing

From Gymnastics

Getting to swing

From Gymnastics

All smiles

From Gymnastics

Couple of pics from a pool day outing too.

Lauren gone wild

From Gymnastics

And passed out...

From Gymnastics

Cooper splashing about

From Gymnastics