maroon bells

Yes, I spelled that correctly and I am not talking about Maroon 5 - the band! 

I am talking about Maroon Bells - the most photographed mountains of Colorado!

 These Maroon Bells!

I seriously could not stop taking photos, and when I was sifting and sorting through photos (which I tend to do at this time of year), I came across these photos and realized I never shared them. These are from a weekend trip we took in October 2016 - yep, 2016 and yep, I am that far behind in my sorting and purging - which technically isn't too bad given I know many more people who are further behind than me, but October 2016 is definitely behind for me! But back to these Maroon Bells and our trip to Glenwood Springs.

Maroon Bells was actually Dennis' idea or Plan B! But to be fair I thought we were going to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It wasn't until we arrived at Glenwood Springs that Dennis and I realized we were talking about 2 different places! 

Then Dennis brought up the idea of driving to Aspen (not far from Glenwood Springs) but stopping before Aspen to hike the Maroon Bells. I had no idea what we were venturing to so I did some googling on the drive there. I discovered the Maroon Bells are the most photographed peaks in not only Colorado, but the entire United States! No way! I also discovered that it is such a popular destination that typically you are restricted from driving to the trailhead and during peak season, you ride a bus from Aspen Highlands. We were there in the off season so we were able to drive to the trailhead. That drive up was amazing despite the aspens were bare. Then, I was still amazed at how many cars and people were at the trailhead. I clearly had no idea about any of this which made this a true adventure!

The start of our adventure began here...

It was only 1.6 miles to Crater Lake but when you are hiking with a 10 year old who does not "hike", we tell her it's a stroll or an exploration and hope she doesn't notice how rugged the trail has become!

She would not turn around for this photo, but I took it anyway. I love this photo of her. I doubt she was admiring the beauty, more likely wondering how she was fooled to believe this was someone's idea of fun. 

 This next photo shows how rocky the trail became. But we ventured on and were reminded of the Boulder hike we did at Priest Lake.

 This is my first view of Crater Lake, not nearly as impressive as some of the photos you might find on the web when googling Maroon Bells. I tried to capture a few with the mountains, however, in the end, it was too windy and no reflections were going to be seen. Alyssa is already sitting on a log enjoying some snack we brought along.

I tried a selfie to show how windy it was but it was so bright, I couldn't really see my phone's screen nor did I see Jaiden's hand behind my head!

 Jaiden taking a break on the trail back. The mountains behind him are not the infamous Maroon Bells but they are part of the same amazing Elk Range.

Walking away from Crater Lake, opposite of the Maroon Bells were these also stunning views of red rock mountains. The contrast with the sky was too much and I had to take a photo. You can see all the barren Aspens so take a minute and imagine how magnificent this might look if those Aspens were at their peak yellow, with the red and blue... makes me want to actually come back and deal with the crowds to get that photo.

 After the hike, we drove into Aspen for lunch. It's an interesting town and one I would probably love if it wasn't so pretentious but even just trying to find a casual restaurant is a feat in itself! We did enjoy a really good lunch but then strolled to a park where we took the kids almost 6 or 7 years ago. They still enjoyed climbing the rock structures!

 On the way back to the car, we found this sculpture! I am sure some of you might recognize this from our 2017 calendar. I can't remember if I included both of these photos or not, but it doesn't matter. Their interactions with public art are the best.

And that wrapped up the most amazing, unexpected adventure for the day!

x-country life...

What is this x-country I keep referring to? First, it's new to Altona this year. Second, Jaiden has always been interested in it. Third, I had no idea how exciting it was!

X-country is an individual and team sport in one. The team runs "invites" or meets and gets scored for their times, but at the same time, you run on your own to improve your endurance, pace or maybe just boost your ego knowing you can finish. Middle schoolers invites are typically 1.5 to 2 miles. His longest invite was 2.4 with over 900 boys running!

For Jaiden, he loves running. He prefers distance running, in fact, these invites just might be a little too short for him. 

These photos are from this week's meet and was a much smaller race, maybe 100 + boys but this photos captures the craziness of the start... and yes, you can catch a glimpse of Jaiden behind one of the boys in a green jersey on the far right!

I have yet to actually capture fully. This was a good attempt and would have been great if I hadn't cut of his shins and feet!

 After awhile the crowd disperses as they settle into their own pace. 

 And then the final sprint to the end.

I am not sure what his time was on this one but he seems to average a 7 min mile so it was probably around 10-11 min. I did the math once and tease him that I have driven an hour to an invite to only catch glimpses of him on the course and to have him run for less than 12 minutes! He thinks that is funny, and I think he is awesome for trying something new and really doing so well at it! 

george washington returns

If I had a little more time, I would go back and find the original story and link to this one, but I told myself I would try to get more stories up here and not get hung up on details like that.

Yesterday, Jaiden had another x-country meet and he did awesome (photos ... yay, maybe later!). He placed 8th on his team but we don't know the overall placement against all the other teams. On the way home though, we needed to swing by the CSA, collect our veggies, head home to drop them off to then turn back out and get Alyssa at volleyball.

Of course, Jaiden was starving and he found this amazing huge watermelon at the stand for $5. He paid for it and we headed to the car. 

By the time we got to the car, he had named it George Washington and as I opened the slider door for him, I caught him buckling George in...

very carefully...

... and one more photo before I pulled out of the parking spot because this makes me laugh remembering when he was in 3rd grade/ Alyssa in 1st and the first summer they did this, naming the watermelon George Washington, buckling it in and giggling the whole way home!

As for this year, he's in 8th grade, still names the watermelon George Washington, buckles it in and we joke on the way home.

The best part? 

After bringing Alyssa home, she walks in, sees the enormous watermelon and says "Yay, George Washington!"

first day as an official 8th grader...

Jaiden's first day was not the same first day as Alyssa's... however, this year he did go to school on Alyssa's first day but as a WEB leader ... which is basically an 8th grade role model to help orientate the 6th graders but it's a year long commitment. It's a bit of an honor to be part of this group because you need to demonstrate leadership qualities, good behavior (no lunch or iPad detention), good grades and a few other things. And you have to apply giving reasons why you think you'd be a good WEB leader.

At first, he wasn't sure he wanted to apply except that he really did want to sign up but none of his friends were. We talked about how he has wanted to be a WEB leader since 6th grade and it didn't matter if friends were in it or not, and maybe you should just try it out and see what happens. To my delight, he applied.

He stayed signed up even when he found out he'd have to do 2 half day from 8am - noon workshops just before school starts in August. 

He stayed signed up even when that meant he'd be at school on the 1st day for 6th graders while his buddies had one more day of summer. 

He stayed signed up even when going to school on the 1st day for 6th graders meant he had to be there at 7 am! An hour and 20 minutes earlier than when school starts!

He headed out of the house Tuesday at 6:45 am like this...

 I should have taken a photo of the back of his shirt as it says WEB leader but I loved that he wrote his name so creatively. He did get to come home at 1 pm and we went to the comic shop and lunch before Alyssa returned. The best part was how he told me all about the details of what it was like to be a WEB leader. Three interesting things he said was:

1.  that as WEB leaders they are supposed to be dispersed among the 6th graders, not clumped together but how hard it was when they sorted the 6th graders into Oldest child, Middle kids, Youngest child and Only child. He said most the WEB leaders were oldest kids and most the 6th graders were not!

2. He sat between 2 chatty 6th grade boys and then when the teachers were making jokes or getting kids to dance, he'd get up and get silly (they were told to do this), but what he thought was funny is the surprised looks on the 6th graders as they were trying to figure out if this was cool or not! 

3. Finally, the most hilarious part was he told me how the WEB leaders debriefed with the WEB teachers and when asked what was most hard or challenging? All of the leaders commented how rowdy, not paying attention the 6th graders were. The WEB teachers chuckled and said that happens every year! Even I chuckled over that one but it was great because they also talked about how the WEB leaders can work through that next time in all the other activities the WEB leaders host during the year.

So proud of him!

He did finally have his first "official" day of school on Wednesday, and I had to be quick with his photos especially when he tried to tell me the one above counted for the first day. Out of 5 photos total, here are my 2 favorites...

 I tried to get him to pose with this photo but he was like "mom, just take the photo!"

So there it is, his last first day of middle school... sigh, just where did the time go?

first day blues...

first day of middle school... sigh... I had the blues but her?

 she had butterflies in her tummy and was torn between excitement and nervousness... she also woke up at 4:30 am claiming she was fine and was not excited or nervous! I captured several favorites of her... 

 including this gem which I threatened to blow up to 8x10 and hang in the family room!

But my absolute favorite was this one... 

I mean seriously? This girl's style is truly her own and she always pulls it off looking so darn cute! 

Here's to being a 6th grader... 

hang one while I grab a tissue and also say... sniff, sniff ... that officially I have 2 middle schoolers in the house and the other's one first day is technically tomorrow! But more on him later ... 

for today, Dennis and I walked our baby over to middle school!

zip life...

... the life of my kids ... one word says it all - 

spoiled!

I so envy their adventures. I know I had my own growing up but I think I would have really loved going to Girl Scout camp for a week with my best friend (or BFF as they now call it!) 

So today, I drove a long, long, did I say long? way to drop them off at Sky High Ranch for a week of the Zip Life!

I had to beg for this photo from Alyssa while Charlotte jumped right out of the car to have her photo taken!

 Again, Charlotte was all about the photo and Alyssa was ready to ditch me! The cute thing about this photo was Charlotte decided to rename the walk from "Cardiac Hill" to "Cardio Hill"... loved that because at 8500+ ft, we definitely had a good cardio workout up that hill!

I checked the girls in but had to make a stop to check in Charlotte's meds, but I let the girls go ahead of me to find their cabin... they were just too excited and it does seem a little annoying how many steps it takes to check in! I get it - so I said yes, I will catch up with the two of you! 

When I caught up, they were making their name tags in the shelter near their ... not cabin, but tents! Technically platform tents but still canvas walls!

Inside their tent! 

Outside their tent! 

 Then it was goodbye and I took my time walking back to the car taking a few photos of the camp... it was so beautiful! Exactly why I wanted to stay and play too!

This is their tent looking back...

And when you first walk up to their area, you see the shelter, their tent is behind it slightly... 

 Still walking down the hill, but not "cardio hill", just the hill from their place, this is the craft cabin...

 And the main lodge!

I can't wait to hear about their adventures on the way home! And I really, really hope I catch a glimpse of them on FB this week when the camp posts random photos!

monkeys and bread

It's awfully cute and kind of fun to receive emails in the middle of the day from Jaiden. He doesn't send them often but occasionally I will get something from him. Sometimes they are serious emails, sometimes he's sharing a score on his test or assignment that he worked really hard on but today it was his monkey bread in FCS (a lot like Home Ec)...

Looks like he might make this for his family for breakfast soon!

lazy day & bean boozled ...

Going back to Aunt Cyndi's visit in February... yep, I really am going to try to catch this up... for you but really for myself because one day, I will want to remember these moments in more detail than I will remember in a few years! 

So back to that cousin visit... oh wait, Dennis' launch finally happened very early this morning too and what a relief for him but a truly awesome launch. I didn't wake the kids partially because I had to text Jaiden and Wesley from my room to the basement at about 1 am telling them if they weren't quiet, I'd be separating them! Which they both thought was hilarious and ironically, decided to listen to the underlying tone in that text! Anyway, I didn't wake the kids and ended up watching it by myself. Dennis and I were texting and after the launch, he texted me saying keep watching the best is yet to come. I did and he was right. At first, all I saw was white smoke or clouds and then something separated and I still couldn't tell what I was watching but before I knew it, the landing pad was directly below and that Space X landed exactly where it took off, while the rest of it continued to the International Space Station - so awesome!

After the excitement of Space X, it was back to the reality of kids getting hungry so we dived into breakfast. We had planned a low key day so the kids could hang out but what we didn't expect was for the girls to ask... no, beg us to take them shopping. They wanted matching outfits, and being the total sucker I am I couldn't resist.

Our first stop was to Justice and then to Claire's.

 I snapped this next photo because they were so cute walking and chatting.

 Then I took this one and texted my Dad "oh, oh please send some money asap!" Cyndi and I laughed so hard about that but better was his reply "Take those girls home! Where's the boys?" Hmmm.... good question! Hopefully at home and staying out of trouble...

 ... and when we got home, they were exactly where we left them. Playing Steep on the xbox! Not even sure if they knew we left... lol!

 My favorite part of the day was in the evening and this isn't the best photo but it reminds me of Wesley's belly laughs. Just listening to him made me laugh! The kids played a vicious game of Bean Boozled which is a Jelly Belly game that has one good flavor and one bad flavor, and you never know which one you are going to get!

Alyssa happened to just eat the barf instead of the peach!

Ah, couldn't be better without cousins around!

a long time in waiting...

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this blog and I am finding it so hard to keep up with the kids and their activities, Dennis' work demands have been through the roof (which by the way we are getting a new roof soon!) and just feeling exhausted at the end of the day has made this poor blog suffer! I am going to really regret not capturing more stories, I know it! 

This afternoon I thought, I have a few minutes before I am off to the next appointment and maybe I could post something really quick... and then I found the start of this post... from February?! Well, at least it is February of the same year - 2017! (That was my attempt in making myself feel better about not trying to find time to get to this blog... sigh!)

In February, my sister and her kids came to visit for an extended weekend. Pure craziness and loads of fun cousin and sister time. At the same time, Dennis was out of town for the launch of his SAGE-III (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment) that was put on Space X. It's really impressive how much happens in this family and the unique experiences we have. The amazing knowledge Dennis has and shares with them is quite awesome!

After a late night of likely minimal sleep with the excitement of cousins and chatting and giggling into the wee morning hours, I dragged my own kids downstairs to check out the launch...

... which to our disappointment was postponed! It is also so cool that we could stream through NOAAs web site and text Dennis at the same time... but alas, it was cancelled for the day due to the cloud coverage and postponed until tomorrow.

We prepared for our next adventure... sledding! We drove quite a distance to visit this place just North of us called Beaver Meadows Resort Ranch. It's a ranch by summer and a snow filled paradise in winter... or that's what we thought...

Yes, not a lot of snow but there were still several runs open and we were able to have a crazy fun time. On some of the runs, the small sledding path sent us far enough along straight to the frozen cow pies. Hilarious but still totally worth it. Jaiden and Dennis come to this place every year after snow fishing on Red Feather Lakes with the Boy Scout Troop except this year because an accident blocked the road. I think the snow was probably better in January but for some reason February warmed up. The photo above is Courtney and Aunt Cyndi on the first run...

... they were laughing so hard. I'd try to zoom in for you but these were taken with my phone and the quality is just not the same! but hopefully you can see their laughing faces. It makes me still smile remembering how much fun this was!

The boys, of course, took off and we had no idea which hill they were on but the girls kept going and eventually got quite daring...

 In this photo, maybe you can see the shadow below the tube... but these two caught A LOT of air on just about every run. Still no sign of the boys...

 and even when I did find mine, he was acting goofy as usual and trying to throw snowballs which were really more like ice balls! Typical 12 year old boy (insert eye rolling)!

One last photo... the best part was we didn't have to drag those tubes up the hill. We got in line, sat on the tube and grabbed the carrot that was attached to the tow line and up we went - that was worth it!

It was a long day but a lot of fun! And just seeing these photos reminds me how much I wish we closer to have more crazy fun days like these!

the same kid?

Last night, I received this email from Jaiden's social studies teacher...

Hi Kim,

I just wanted to share a celebration about Jaiden's achievements in Social Studies class.  In class today, we had a Socratic Seminar, which is basically a graded discussion. Students were asked to prepare evidence, analysis, and questions about the topic ahead of time.  Jaiden was such a leader in our discussions! He prepared thoughtful, creative, high-level questions that demonstrated an in-depth understanding and analysis of the material.  He guided the conversation and raised the level of thinking in the entire group, and he did so while still listening to others and not dominating the conversation. I am so proud of him and wanted you to know that he is a total rockstar (although I'm sure you knew that already!) 

I seriously wondered are we talking about the same kid? 

She confirmed this morning with ...

No really, I mean him! He did great :)

I am still not convinced!

chocolate chip pancake and money

This girl...

says the darnedest things. 

This weekend she had a lot of Daddy time. Jaiden was at a sleepover and then home briefly before he headed out to an Odyssey of the Minds afternoon work session. I was at my usual annual volunteer Girl Scout Cookie delivery day - which besides being a lot of work, standing all day in the cold, is actually quite fun to hang with a few of the regular volunteers and see all the troop leaders come in for their cookies.

But back to that girl... she coerced Daddy into taking her out for chocolate chip pancakes, leftover pizza for lunch and likely some other yummy sweet treats!

What stuck in my mind was a conversation Dennis told me about. The two of them were talking about what electives she will choose in middle school next year and the technology course came up along with a special outside technology club called Cyber Patriots. Dennis said he explained to her what the club did - basically learn how to hack computers to build effective security for web sites and other information stored on servers or computers. She thought that sounded cool. 

In fact, she said she wanted to do that when she grew up - be a hacker that knew how to design very secure digital information.

At some point, Dennis asked her "would you work for the good guys or the bad guys?"

And without a second thought, she replied "whoever pays the most!"

And there you have it, yet another darnedest thing she will say. The scary part? She is 100% completely honest about it!

medina, madonna, same thing

 Every year for the past 5 years, our kids have participated in the amazing 3rd-5th grade music concert. It is hard to believe that this was our last year having a child in this performance. Mrs. Ordway always outdoes herself and this year the theme was the "decades". Translation: it dated many of us parents! 

3rd grade took on the 60s

4th grade had the 70s

and 5th grade? the 80s!

Mrs. Ordway encourages the kids to dress in theme and with it being Alyssa's last year, I did it up and ordered this ridiculously cute kit in shocking yellow/green. I picked up a $5 sweatshirt and cut the neckline out and even found some brightly colored jelly bracelets! 

A day before the concert, Ashlee came over and was worried she had nothing to wear. Her mom was out of town and she was quite upset. Alyssa and Ashlee googled 80s attire and found some awesome ways to use what Ashlee had at home and I went and bought another sweatshirt for her. Her outfit was so cute on her too! 

I filmed the concert but since videos never seem to work properly here, these are a few still photos. We were up on the balcony so it was hard to see. Alyssa is on the far upper right hand side of the stage. I should have brought my better lens and am kind of bummed about that but I was focused on the filming part and that would have never worked on the other lens.

 And there it was our last music concert, although I decided to befriend younger kids so I could keep going - my kids think I am nuts, always good to keep them guessing!