Summer starts to fade

Its a glorious time to be in CO, as the Summer starts to break, Fall starts to creep in with cooler temps and turning colors. I got the good fortune of getting to spend a couple days in Durango this week on the work dime, as I visited one of my clients remote offices just across the New Mexico border. Flying back over the mountains, I could see the signs that the acceleration towards the end of yet another year is fast approaching.

I've figured out that if we don't have a plan the night before, we don't get things done. After some wrangling to get Jill to make a decision, we decided to get up and hit up some hiking in Boulder. Up and out of the house before 9am (that makes pre-kids Joel sad to see post-kids Joel celebrating a 9am departure), we were headed to the site of the finishing leg of the Boulder stage of the recent US Pro Cycling Challenge. We hit the parking lot, and much to our surprise, the parking lot was completely empty. Temps were perfect and we hit the Boy Scout Trail on Flagstaff Mountain above Boulder.

Lauren was happy to get out and log some miles

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

Cooper was charging along, supporting the Pokes in a time delayed manner

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

The trail meanders around Flagstaff and has lots of short ups and downs

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

Cooper was checking out something on the side of the trail....and then he fell off it. Being the awesome parent I am, I took a picture before chasing after him

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

Making our way around one of the many bends

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

Self portrait of Lauren and myself

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

Cooper peers out at one of the overlooks

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

Jill and Cooper pose at May's Overlook

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

The three children getting their photo taken. Lauren just barely peeks out from behind

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

Cooper was having a big time scrambling on all the rocks

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

From Boy Scout Trail Hike - GoPro Hero2

Day trip to Estes

Needing to get out of the house and enjoy the day, we headed up to Estes Park on a Sunday afternoon. They were having a Western heritage days which Cooper liked. He got to see a shootout reenactment and check out some animal skins and various heritage type items. And then we followed that up with lunch and some putt putt, just like our frontier forefathers....

Cooper tackles a tricky hole

From Estes Park

Lauren is all smiles

From Estes Park

The ever elusive photo of trying to get 3 children to look at the camera simultaneously

From Estes Park

Nice day to be out

From Estes Park

From Estes Park

From Estes Park

From Estes Park

From Estes Park

From Estes Park

More birthday pics

Here are a few more pictures I took from Cooper and Reese's joint birthday party at Monkey Business in Denver.

Cooper enjoying the slides

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

Cooper chasing Riley all around

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

Lauren overseeing things

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

All the kids sitting very well as pizza is served

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

Lauren and a party guest engaging in some deep conversation

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

Until Lauren decides pizza is more interesting

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

Cooper and Reese head to blow out the candles

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

Sarah got them a really sweet (pun intended) Curious George cake

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

The birthday girl glowing

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

Madeline and Cooper enjoying some cake

From Monkey Business Bday Parties (Coop 4 - Reese 3)

Some days you should just blow off work

I work too much. Monday morning I fly out to Arizona and begin a cycle that takes days off my life every week. I work till 7ish on Monday night, eat dinner, get to the hotel about 9:00pm with just enough time to call Jill and chat for a bit before doing my ironing for the week and heading to bed. The next morning the alarm goes off at 4:45 and I drag myself out of bed into the 90 degree darkness and go ride my bike. Back to the hotel to shower then off to work till 7pm and repeat the cycle for three days before coming home.

So on Fridays I've usually put in my hours for the week and some times take that opportunity to just check out from work and enjoy some family time. A few weeks back we did just that and headed to the Denver zoo to have some fun and enjoy the CO Summer weather.

Lauren knows she has to hydrate to keep up with Cooper

From Denver Zoo Day

Cooper using his very own binoculars to get a closer look

From Denver Zoo Day

A little posing

From Denver Zoo Day

My family, a proud man.

From Denver Zoo Day

And my favorite series of photos from the day...
In the first frame, Cooper is giving Lauren an elbow to the head

From Denver Zoo Day

Then Lauren cues into the fact that brother has a frozen treat

From Denver Zoo Day

And is none too pleased that she has not sampled said treat...

From Denver Zoo Day

Muddy buddies

Both of our kids love the sandbox / water thing in our backyard. Lauren loves to grab handfuls of sand and fling them, and Cooper plays for hours in this thing. We were in and out of the house while they were playing the other day, only to come back to find Lauren with a little sand on her...

From Aug 02, 2012

From Aug 02, 2012

From Aug 02, 2012

From Aug 02, 2012

And here is one from a previous day that Jill and I both love. No idea how she got two seemingly real smiles from these two at the same time...

From Jun 21, 2012