Crazy Independence

It's Soni's Day! Not only did the girl start KINDERGARTEN this week (do you ever get used to that...sigh), but she has found independence in other areas as well.

I'll admit we haven't been riding our bikes much this summer.....really, I'm still wondering if we even had a summer....but now we're going to be hittin' the road because Soni is officially on TWO wheels! I think she's been capable for quite a while, just waiting on Phil and I to get out there and take her trainers off; that's just about all Phil did....that and convince her to stop turning around to look at him when she's riding down the road (ouch!).

Phil gets her started...she still prefers downhill.

YeeeAhhh! Away she goes!

Nightie and flip flops no less!

Of course, Austin had to get in on the action too, and stole the princess bike for a little covert operations....secret squirrel.

Kinda rough footage, but man the girl cracks me up.

High Dive Hoopla

I put this together a while ago, but never quite finished. This was back in June when we stayed with Becky. We went swimming and had lots of fun.....my biggest thrill was taking cool pictures of the the kids and Phil as they went off the diving board (while Becky played with Soni and Bingham...thank you). As Jordan and Austin jumped off the high dive they would say different things....most of which I didn't understand, but once, Austin jumped off and when he got out of the water Jordan said, "That was rockin', you were like 'Subway, eat fresh!'" Funny kids.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What-muncher?

A few months ago I was having the usual one sided conversation with my dentist as he was working on my teeth. He told me about this old rail road track that goes straight up the side of a mountain, and how he had just run it the other day. With spit running down the side of my numb face and his entire hand in my mouth, I accepted the challenge. The trail is called "The Incline", and it used to be some kind of a tourist attraction; the train would take you up the mountain to Pikes Peak. I guess it wasn't a very profitable venture because all that is left is the wooden ties and a very steep trail. Phil and I were going to try it for our Anniversary, but couldn't get (afford) a babysitter, so we decided to make it a family adventure. We decided that I would stay with Soni and Bingham and just turn around if they got tired and he would go ahead with Austin and Eve to the top.




Austin took off pretty quick, and before too long was quite a bit ahead of us. Bingham and Soni were still having fun climbing up the steps so Phil went ahead to catch him. It was at this point a man passed by me and asked if I'd ever done this before, and that I probably didn't want to do it with the little kids. Thanks mister....we kept going. After about a quarter mile Bingham wanted to be carried. Soni was on a roll so I told her too keep hiking and I would catch up when I got Bingham in the backpack. She got about 15 yards ahead of me and I could see this guy was kind of hiking by her. We had already talked to him when he first passed us and gotten to know his dog. He moved on as I caught up and I asked Soni about it and she said, "Yeah, we just had a chat about his dog. I know what a chat is, it's when you just kind of talk back and forth." Now, I have to agree with her because the girl can chat. Just about everyone that passed by got a good "Soni chat", about her dog, or how she could wear a skirt on a hike like this because it has shorts underneath, or that her skirt was backwards because she dressed herself , or that she is only 5 and hiking this huge mountain, or how we're going to hike Mount Everest next, or well, you get the idea. I kept waiting for her to get tired, but she would just take a break and keep going. The hike up is only a mile, but it was seriously steep.....and no the pictures don't quite capture it. Maybe it was because whenever I turned around to take a picture, I would get dizzy so I'd hurry and snap the picture before I tumbled down the hill. It was HARD, but it was so much fun hiking with this little girly.

Eve hiked most of it on her own, not wanting to keep up with Austin and a little more aggressive than Soni. I could always see her, she'd pull over for a break and I would think she might wait for us, but then she'd be moving on again. Did I mention it was hot? It was hot! About half way up we got a cool breeze and a few clouds which made a huge difference. I didn't see much of Austin, but I heard about him from people who were coming back down...he was quite a legend.....and now he has a slightly large head.

In this cute picture of Eve, you can see the Garden of the Gods in the upper left corner.



Once you get to this point, you have the option of going back down the one mile track or taking the windy and still pretty steep 4 mile trail down the side. We had all seen enough of the track, so we took the leisurely trail back down.



Have I ever mentioned how pretty it is here? I'm constantly amazed by the beauty. I have this continuous, incredulous conversation in my head with Heavenly Father .....something like this: "Really? For me?" Like thousands of years of geological change and positioning were orchestrated just for this moments view. Maybe that sounds kind of selfish, but I know if you came to visit He'd let you take a peek too :)

There was one moment of stress on the way back down. Again, Austin got too far ahead and we couldn't see or hear him, so Phil went ahead to try and catch him. Before I realized, Soni had taken off after her Dad and I was left dragging Bingham and feeling a little nervous that Soni might turn into a cougar snack before I could catch her. But, we got it all straightened out and assigned Austin to be Bingham's hiking buddy and we all stayed together for the rest of the way down.

With about two miles left, Bingham was pretty tired and got back in the backpack for a nap. We had finished off all our water by the time we got to the top (nice planning, huh) so by the time we got to the car we were all pretty thirsty. Phil grabbed a warmer than warm water jug and started guzzling. Apparently the jug wasn't cleaned out very well because he just about spewed the moldy water all over us. We did have some clean water and everyone agreed that warm water is still wet water......but, we did feel it was necessary to swing by Wendys and get a little more refreshed. Frostys never tasted so good. Bingham stayed in that position....not even coming up for air, until his was gone, which was about the same time we got home.



When we got home, I crashed on the bed for an hour only to be disturbed by the kids doing this:

Five mile hike and they still have energy to run around the yard like they'd been sittin' in church all day. I think I'm getting old.

The Phantom Picture Taker

Have you ever been flipping through the pictures on your camera only to find pictures you don't even recognize? I don't know who took them, but they are some of my favorites, especially since I hardly ever get to see these guys

Reunion Bonus Question:

Who is this?

Double Bonus Question: Who is Dani about to flip her food at in the background???

The Sandbox

This is hopefully part of a series of posts about our summer trips and adventures. Trying to do it all at once really seemed overwhelming, and allowed for very little description. So here we have Bingham....maybe a little ornery from lack of sleep, or maybe he's still upset at Grandma for interrupting his escapade in the bathroom with her Vaseline jug, or maybe he's upset at his mom for washing his hair THREE times with dish soap to try and get the Vaseline out, or maybe he is just making the most of his bad boy hair style (an attempt to make the most of his greasy hair).....whatever the reason behind the scowl, I know he's really in a happy place......Grandma's sandbox.



Grandma's sandbox is a pretty cool sandbox. It's deep, it's shady, it's just damp enough to dig and pack, and always full of grand kids. Even Oliver, who some may say is past the sandbox stage, couldn't resist getting a little sand in his toes.

This is just after I had to come pull Austin out of a hole he was trying to dig....head first. Bingham though it was pretty funny so in he went too. I let him because Chad said the sand would help get the Vaseline out.

Probably the same hole, a little bigger and a few more cousins for a good audience and Austin is willing to put up with Bingham feeding him sand as long as everyone is laughing....and they were.

What a good big brother, not only did he let Bingham feed him sand, he made it look so fun everyone was screaming to be next.

The magic of Grandma's sandbox.

Oh the pain!

So, they did it, they are sore, but they did it. Eve and Austin ran their first 5K. Phil went with Austin and I hung with Eve. Bingham rode in the stroller with Phil and Soni stayed with some friends at the park by the finish line. Of course Austin took off pretty fast at the beginning, but as I saw him disappearing down the street I thought he looked pretty comfortable with his pace. Of course, that's what I thought last time and he ended up getting scared and turning the wrong way and getting lost.....not exactly the happy running experience I wanted him to have. That was five months ago, and this time Phil jogged along to keep him, um....found.

Eve was willing enough in the beginning, and by beginning I mean the first three blocks; then she walked.....slow. OK, fine, I can deal with this, I can smile as the slowest of the slow speed past....really, maybe I'm a little competitive, but trust me, I can deal. The problem came when the whining began. Nope, not going to happen. We talked about this before, she knew how long it was, and that it would be hard and no one was forcing her to do it, but once we paid the money and signed up, there was no going back. Yes, I got a little frustrated....and so did she. Finally at about the half way point (obviously no turning around here, since you have to turn around to get back to the finish) she lightened up and we found a little humor in it, and we made some deals and ran a little more than walked, and as we came around the corner to the finish there was Soni, Austin and Bingham to cheer her on (Phil had been whooping and hollering for the last half mile) she found a little more speed and finished strong. (48:ish) On the way home she even said she wanted to to another one, but only if I ran with her....hmmmm, not sure if I'm up for that one :)

Austin did awesome, in fact the only real downside was that I didn't get to see him. He finished in 28:38, and won his division. Now he wants to run the 5 mile run coming up in October, maybe by then his muscles will not feel so sore and he can get up and down without crying.