Weekend Getaway

Over the weekend Luke and I headed to Albany to meet up with my best friend Miss D (Dani) and her husband Greg plus their almost 9 month old Michael.  Luke and I arrived at the hotel early Friday night and they would arrive much later so we'd meet up for an early breakfast and head out for our Saturday adventure.

 Dani had asked me if I'd be interested in doing the Spartan race.  I didn't hesitate and said yes thinking it would be like some of the other races I've seen advertised with just lots of mud.  I should have read up on the race before making the decision.  The boys dumped us off at Killington Ski Resort in Vermont and had their own adventure for the day.  Photos in this post are what the boys did. When I get the photos from our race I'll do a re-cap of that.

 The boys went to a pancake breakfast at a nearby local restaurant.  Apparently they went to pay and there was no one there with a note to call a guy.  They called the number and the guy said to leave some $ on the table and have a great day.

 All around town were these hay sculptures.  The boys liked the abominable snowman from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

 After their breakfast they went to a local gift shop and took turns going in since Michael was sleeping in the car.  Greg bought Dani and I matching coffee mugs.  Mine is a blue green color and Dani's is purple.  They are really cool with a "nook" for your hand to hold the cup instead of a handle.  Hand crafted pottery.

 Shopping completed they spent the rest of their time hanging out at a place called Liquid Art.  It was basically a coffee house/bar combo with lots of art on the walls.  They just waited there and drank until Dani and I called to let them know we were not dead from our "race."

 Why would we be dead?  These are just the start of some bruises beginning to show on my knees and some scrapes acquired from the adventure race.  It was supposedly just over 4 miles and it took us about 2 1/2 hours so that should give you some indication of the difficulty.

 Photos of us racing will be available later this week or early next week according to the site.  There was no way I could have had my camera survive the course.  Despite the difficulty we are already in talks of getting together for the longer version of the Spartan Sprint called the Super Spartan (8+ miles of obstacles and such nonsense).

Meet Michael

Yep, I am a little behind on this blogging thing right now but I hope to catch you all up soon on what I've been up to.  Jen is in town for a few weeks and we hosted a Meet Michael party at the cottage for them (Jen, Bob and baby of course).

 I had a bunch of stuff from coaching that was from Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th incase you are wondering).  I always took it above and beyond to decorate and dress like a Pirate.  I had all the goodies out and even made swords with giant pixie stixs.

 Whoo-hoo moment was people asking where we got the cupcakes.  It was a box mix and cans of frosting.  Easy peasy.  Jen bought the cute wrappers and toppers.  While "baby sitting" her in June I made the pirate Jolly Roger toppers and taped them to the blue anchors.

 Mom hid money treasure in the sandbox that dad raked in.  Of course the sandbox was quickly the babysitter of the party for the kids while everyone else played pass the babies (yep, there was another cutie there named Fiona who happens to share my birthday and is only a few hours younger than Michael).

 Luke got to hold the little dude for awhile before the party began.  Of course Aunt Patty and Aunt MaryLou saw my parents drive by and figured that we might want the cheese and cracker platter so they had to bring it over early (excuse to get a sneak peak at baby).

 While finishing touches were being put in place and food brought out Papa Bear was given special hammock snuggle duty. The grin on his face sums up how he felt about that duty.

 Still babysitting kids is the sandbox.  Jen and I would spend hours in the sandbox growing up.  We even created menu's for our restaurant called Peanut and Pooh's Cafe.  Icky Dicky even ate a bite of our sand cake once (gross).

 We were very lucky to have such wonderful weather.  Here are the two little cousins born hours apart and many states apart too!

Seven Falls

Mom and I had another mini-adventure day that began with Seven Falls in Colorado Springs and ended with Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, plus an outlet center so we could avoid rush hour traffic.  I will post about the Garden of the Gods later.

 Entering into the Falls were the Pillars of Hercules.  Two tall rocks that were close together that start the "canyon."  We also saw some unique signs.

 

Upon entering and parking the car you could take the elevator or the stairs to this "Eagle Nest."  I figured I'd take the stairs incase I could get some good pictures.  Um, very steep stairs that scared the life out of me (no backs) and so I just climbed as quick as I could while clinging to the railing.  I took the elevator back down.  

 Yeah, this is what the steps look like going down.  I was not a fan but gathered my courage so that I could do the stairs that actually followed the falls up as well as providing access to the hiking trails.

 Yup, certain death if you panic.  I guess the part that was most difficult was that there were not very many "landings" where there was a break in the steps so it was visually challenging.

 View of the falls from the Eagle Nest above and below is mom as we begin our journey up the steps.

 Almost at the top for Mom and me at the top because I was so freaked out stopping on the steps for photos.  Mom is brave and I am proud of her for climbing the stairs and Mount Sanitas.  Of course I am proud of her for other things.

National Geographic claims it is on of the best waterfalls... while it was in a beautiful setting I guess I am spoiled by Niagara Falls so close by and the beauty and power of that this seemed a little less than I was anticipating.  At night though they do light it up in colors and I suppose that would be pretty amazing, although I'd really be scared of the stairs then.

Pack Burrow Races?!? What the...

I am not making this stuff up.  Pack Burrow Racing exists and it is one of the most fun things that I have seen in Colorado...so much so we are going to see another race on Sunday.

 Oh yes, those are real Burrows being paraded down the street to the race start... all 60 of them.  How did we stumble upon this you may be wandering.  Well, we decided to exit the expressway on our way to an outlet center for the visitor information center and saw a bunch of burrows and people gathering.  I kind of knew what it was right away since I'd read a small thing about it a while back.

 And they were off for a 5ish mile race through the mountains on a trail before finishing in town.  You can apparently be a great runner but if your burrow doesn't want to go you aren't going anywhere.

 There were racers and burrows in all shapes and sizes.  We were talking to a burrow owner/trainer and learned quite a lot about the series of events held each summer in Colorado. This was a small race and many are tied to "history" days in the mountain towns.  While the racing was underway we watched some mining competitions where they had to drive spikes and drill holes in rock.  Interesting indeed but we loved the small town charm the whole event had.

 As you can see, if the burrow doesn't want to go, you aren't going.  We were treated to beautiful scenery driving and mom ended up with 2 pairs of crocs at the outlet center.  After that we headed to Blackhawk.

 Blackhawk is a small town that has small casinos that kinds of look like an old west town.  It was very cute and of course my mom was a big winner and I was a loser.

 We got home late but that didn't stop my momma from reading to Michael.

Yard Work Weekend

So I started off by mowing the lawn on Friday evening so that I could enjoy the weekend and not have to worry about the lawn.  I had other yard work in mind to do as well.  My neighbor refers to me as the lawn bandit because of how I dress to mow the lawn.  The smell of fresh cut grass really bothers me and makes me wheezy and my eyes scratchy feeling.  The other weekend when it was cold I wore a sweatshirt, but the glasses, hat and bandana over a mask are must have items for me to function... as well as a shower immediately after with the clothes in the washer.

 Friday night we had a little fire on our patio.  It was our first fire of the year and a perfect evening for it.  Cinder Ella even sat in the door and watched us as we cooked marshmallows.

Saturday morning I got up and went for a run before tackling my project for the weekend... making a mini patio for our fire pit since it is rusting a little and I don't want it "staining" our nice patio.  Luke and I decided to place it near the small step area we have so that we can sit on the patio and have our fire and if we have other people over we can semi-circle in the lawn with our chairs.

 I dug up all the grass for where the patio stones would need to go.  Cinder Ella sat in the slider and watched me during most of this, while meowing and begging to come outside.  I take a break from the work and take her for a walk, where she eats a bunch of grass.  I call it a day.  On Sunday I finish my fire pit patio project.  I have to dig up some areas a little more and fill in dirt in other spots to level it as best I can.  I realize that I will likely have to pull it up in  a few spots as it settles some and re-level it by the end of summer so that it is "set" for the rest of time (hopefully).  Getting the patio stones from over near the hose I am startled for a second by this:

 Yup, that is a big, fat toad wedged in between two stones and there was one on top of him.  He is alive and I get him to hop out so that I can move him to somewhere else.

 Here is my finished project.  If that wasn't enough outside time I also sprayed the "kill everything" weed killer stuff along the edges of our gardens to that I don't have to pull up the stray strands of grass throughout the summer.  I also spray around our generator so that the weeds don't start growing there.

Yup, that is Cinder's in the slider watching me again.  She just has to be as close to me as possible at all times if she can.  I am currently battling the dandelions that have decided to crop up in the yard by digging them up (on my 3rd bag removed this season).  Any ideas on how to get rid of them welcome.