Monday, August 24, 2009

River Runners!

This last weekend I decided it would be fun to go run a river with the kids. Since Carlie is so little we had to run a kid friendly section of the Colorado in Glenwood Springs. The put in was at the Shoshone. We put in and Matt and Carlie waited below this first section of class 2 & 3 to join us. We made it through and picked them up. Alex has been boating before, but never paddled. As you can see by these pictures she's a great boater! I think we all need duckies! (inflatable kayaks) When Carlie got on the boat she had a BLAST! She kept screaming at the guide to get the big water!!!! She even insisted on paddling. (which she did really well! Even for a bigger kid!)
So, here are some pictures, I'll have to post more of Carlie and Matt later- we had to take those with a waterproof camera, not a digital one. I think this winter it'll be swimming lessons for Carlie and the pool for Alex and myself to get our roll.









Monday, August 17, 2009

Pikes Peak Cog Railway

The Pikes Peak Cog Railway has been in operation for over 100 years! It's the longest and steepest Cog railway in the WORLD. At times it's a 25% grade and the front of the train is 3 stories higher than the rear car. (by the way there's only 4 cars!) Pretty cool stuff! We decided this would be a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.....Alex pointing out the station hours. Leaving the station
On the train
Every seat was taken, and it runs 7 days a week, all year. We had to make reservations to get on the train as they sell out ahead of time.
This is aptly named. The winds at this point can reach 120 mph. It was super cold up here!
This cabin is where 12 men lived at one time, this was the housing when they were building the railway. A lady even had a baby here, 91 years ago!
At the top, Brrrr....It was snowing when we got to the top, in the middle of August! They also have really good donuts at the top. Not an easy feat cooking donuts at 14,000 + feet.
Cuddle, cuddle, cuddle!
Great views at the top.
At the top... Matt and Alex
Alex, Carlie and Mom at the top
Getting back on the trainYou can see everyone was dressed for the cold. It was snowing when we first got to the top!
If you miss the train you get to hike back down. Not something I'd like to do with a 4 year old. It's about a 3 hour hike down!
Back on the train! Cozy and warm now!
Mom and CarlieMatt and Alex After we got back down...
The End.

New Puppy!

Our Ollie Ollie has really soft fur, he feels like fluffy silk.
Ollie thinks Hans is another dog. He idolizes Hans, even will sit by Hans while he eats watching him. He follows Hans everywhere. Luckily Hans is a very cool cat and doesn't mind....much.

Ollie is SUPER cuddly!
Just hanging out.
Ollie is about 11 weeks old in these pictures and weighs about 16 pounds. He looks like a fluffy Ewok in person and has these long legs with fluffy big paws. Adorable!
Wow, how time flies! To do a quick catch up I'm posting a lot of pictures here with brief descriptions. The biggest event of the year is that we have a new puppy, Ollie. He's adorable beyond words! I was so extremely hesitant to get another dog, in fact it's been two years of research and contemplation. I have to say I'm thrilled we got Ollie! So far he's the best puppy and has surpassed all my expectations. You'll see a bunch of pictures here, he's a Goldendoodle.

More Puppy pictures...

Ollie with his pink purse. One of his favorite toys.More of the purse...
Ollie on Matt's lap
So cute!
Cuddly dog!
The day we got Ollie
Ollie figgured out the best way to get Maggie is to drag her around by her collar. Maggie can't get Ollie that way and is at Ollie's mercy!

Ollie playing with Maggie

Monday, August 10, 2009

Kendall's half birthday

Kendall had a 1/2 birthday sleepover party. The girls wanted to toilet paper a friends house so they decided to get dressed up as gangsters so no one would recognize them. Just in case there is another mad roaming gang of 11 and 12 year old girls in the neighborhood, they'll get the blame! I thought it was pretty funny!
Alex looking mischevoius.... Allie in true form!
I'm not sure what they're doing here, and I prefer to keep it that way!
Allie doing her best I'm a bad guy impersonation, it made me laugh!
Kendall doing her bad guy impersonation. No one else got the memo.
The "gang"
Somehow I think this photo will come in handy in about 5 years!
Bad, bad characters!
Tough guy Alex.