Valmont Bike Park opened up last Summer, and it is a kid's (big and little) dream. Cooper and I go ride on Saturday mornings a lot, and I'm constantly impressed with how well he does. He isn't afraid of anything, and even when he samples the dirt he jumps back up and heads right back down the trail. Here is some video I shot while chasing him around yesterday morning.
Valmont with Cooper from Joel White on Vimeo.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
On the trail...checking out the Tenderfoot hiking trail in Boulder
New trails are always good, especially in 70 degree weather in March. We went to hit the Boy Scout Trail up Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder, but the Winter gates were still up so we altered our plans and did the Tenderfoot loop. A nice 2.5 mile loop with some great views. We felt that being on St. Patrick's Day, it was only fitting we invited our dueling red heads to join us.
And the pics that ensued...
Cooper ready to hit the trail with his trusty hiking stick
Lets get a hug picture while everyone is still smiling
Release the hounds!
Great views of the Continental Divide
Our crew making their way down the trail
Our whole family posing
My two girls
Might as well wrangle cats as to get Cooper to sit still
Super and Pieces checking out her St. Patty's Day flare
We still found a bit of snow, but it was easily managed
And the pics that ensued...
Cooper ready to hit the trail with his trusty hiking stick
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
Lets get a hug picture while everyone is still smiling
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
Release the hounds!
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
Great views of the Continental Divide
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
Our crew making their way down the trail
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
Our whole family posing
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
My two girls
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
Might as well wrangle cats as to get Cooper to sit still
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
Super and Pieces checking out her St. Patty's Day flare
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
We still found a bit of snow, but it was easily managed
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| From Tenderfoot Trail Hike |
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Spring = Awesome
I travel all over the country (and some times other countries) pretty much nonstop, and one thing remains the same....I'm always thrilled to be back in the thin air of Colorado. Currently platooned in Casper, WY for another couple months, I'm treated to a 240 mile drive in the vast openness that is Wyoming that gives me lots of time for deep retrospective thinking. It occurred to me the other day, while you could argue spending December through February in a more southernly location, like Tempe, AZ but that the other 9 months of the year you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else that has as great of a climate as the front range of CO.
While its quite possible we could be buried under a foot of snow any given day, this past 8 - 10 days in CO can best be described by me as heavenly. Temps in the high 60s and 70s, sun not setting till after 7pm and no snow / rain. We've been trying to get out while the getting is good, and it is really good right now.
Cooper and I hit up Valmont Bike Park while Jill and Lauren roamed around Boulder. We had a blast and wandered all over the park under the direction of a whimsical 3.5 year old. Here are a few poorly shot iPhone videos from our outing.
Here he drops in to the pump track. Check the dirt flying.
Here he heads straight up and over and elevated wooden structure without hesitation, other than making sure I had the camera out.
Then we climbed all the way to the top to hit a pretty steep trail. While it doesn't look so steep on this video, it probably looks like Everest to a 3.5 year old (or at least one that has a rational fear of things).
And to make sure Lauren got to do her favorite thing, Jill stripped her down and gave her a bowl of water to splash around in. She is constantly playing in the dog water, so we just waved the white flag. Pay close attention, there is a surprise cameo in this one...
While its quite possible we could be buried under a foot of snow any given day, this past 8 - 10 days in CO can best be described by me as heavenly. Temps in the high 60s and 70s, sun not setting till after 7pm and no snow / rain. We've been trying to get out while the getting is good, and it is really good right now.
Cooper and I hit up Valmont Bike Park while Jill and Lauren roamed around Boulder. We had a blast and wandered all over the park under the direction of a whimsical 3.5 year old. Here are a few poorly shot iPhone videos from our outing.
Here he drops in to the pump track. Check the dirt flying.
Here he heads straight up and over and elevated wooden structure without hesitation, other than making sure I had the camera out.
Then we climbed all the way to the top to hit a pretty steep trail. While it doesn't look so steep on this video, it probably looks like Everest to a 3.5 year old (or at least one that has a rational fear of things).
And to make sure Lauren got to do her favorite thing, Jill stripped her down and gave her a bowl of water to splash around in. She is constantly playing in the dog water, so we just waved the white flag. Pay close attention, there is a surprise cameo in this one...
Friday, March 02, 2012
Let Them Eat Cake
I'm not sure we feed Lauren enough. She lunges towards food when put in front of her, but in our defense we give her a lot of food and she chews on it for a bit then spits it out for something new. Despite getting my skin tone and looking more like me, she definitely got her mother's affinity for sweets. If she sees a dessert on the table and you aren't giving her what she feels is her fair share, she lets you know about it.
So expectations were high that she would go at her 1st birthday cake with some voracity. We were not disappointed by the results and I'll let the pictures tell the story (with some minor commentary).
It was a nice cake, it didn't do anything to hurt anyone...
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
I don't know how you get two any better
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
What is this item that you have put in front of me?
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
Yes, you probably should get some pics of the "before"
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
3....2...1.....ATTACK!
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
Cooper wanders through the frame, already having finished his piece
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
Lauren....You seem to have a little something on your face.
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
What can only be described as "Epic Destruction"
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
Commence sugar rush
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| From Lauren's 1st birthday |
Thursday, March 01, 2012
My little girl turns 1....and breaks her collarbone doing it.
The smart money would have been on Cooper and his fearless, full speed approach to break multiple bones before Lauren would but obviously we don't have smart money. In a freak accident, Lauren fell off the bouncy toy at Sarah's house and managed to break her right collarbone. The good news is that she is one tough baby and that the injury is relatively common and pretty easy to recover from.
She continues to be very tall but has finally started to gain a bit of weight. At her 1 year checkup, Lauren was 95% on height, 30% on weight and 80% on head size. Even after getting her cracked collarbone felt around on, she got a couple of shots and then had blood taken with hardly a flinch. I really do think she is part superhero, the kid has a ridiculous pain tolerance (which she obviously gets from her mother, who has dealt with a pain in the rear husband for 11 years now).
Some pics from the checkup...
Lauren was tall and skinny. I didn't fare quite as well.
Smiling despite the busted collarbone
Some remnant bruising from the injury
Me and my kiddos
Two girls who can have anything they want from me
One would have thought given her adventurous ways and her brother's driving record, this is how she would have broken her first bone.
She loves to chat with the baby in the mirror
Chef Super Cooper prepping something delicious
And I had to post up this photo of my wife who worked really hard to get to her goal weight for the Christmas party. I worked really hard to make sure I needed bigger pants. We both succeeded.
She continues to be very tall but has finally started to gain a bit of weight. At her 1 year checkup, Lauren was 95% on height, 30% on weight and 80% on head size. Even after getting her cracked collarbone felt around on, she got a couple of shots and then had blood taken with hardly a flinch. I really do think she is part superhero, the kid has a ridiculous pain tolerance (which she obviously gets from her mother, who has dealt with a pain in the rear husband for 11 years now).
Some pics from the checkup...
Lauren was tall and skinny. I didn't fare quite as well.
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| From Random from 2012 |
Smiling despite the busted collarbone
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| From Random from 2012 |
Some remnant bruising from the injury
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| From Random from 2012 |
Me and my kiddos
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| From Random from 2012 |
Two girls who can have anything they want from me
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| From Random from 2012 |
One would have thought given her adventurous ways and her brother's driving record, this is how she would have broken her first bone.
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| From Random from 2012 |
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| From Random from 2012 |
She loves to chat with the baby in the mirror
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| From Random from 2012 |
Chef Super Cooper prepping something delicious
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| From Random from 2012 |
And I had to post up this photo of my wife who worked really hard to get to her goal weight for the Christmas party. I worked really hard to make sure I needed bigger pants. We both succeeded.
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| From Random from 2012 |
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