Ice cream social

Wednesday evening, the Highlands Ranch Metro District (HRMD) hosted an ice cream social at Civic Green Park. The weather was beautiful, the food trucks were aplenty, and the ice cream was all you can eat. We actually didn't pig out which was a little surprising. I think it was, in part, because there were so many other things to see and do like -

Run into several friends and their families from softball. Go Orange Crush!

Sit front row, curbside and watch the Littleton Fire Department demonstrate and extraction USING THE JAWS OF LIFE! It was awesome. Enough said.

Visit the Douglas County Mounted Patrol. They brought a thoroughbread, a pinto, and a smaller brown horse that Officer Domenico let Madelyn and Sawyer hold the reigns and see the horseshoes. So interesting!

Collect swag from the various booths. These kids had a plethora of bubbles, pens, stick on tattoos, candy, water bottles, and much more.

It kind of reminded me of Rusty Griswold from Vegas Vacation. "Well, four slot machines and I won four cars. You know, I put a dollar in, I got a car. I put a dollar in, I got a car. I put a dollar in, I got a car. I put a dollar in, I got a car." However, in our case, the cars were trinkets and the dollars were just waiting your turn in line.

Visit with another Sheriff and discuss handcuffs and whether girls can be police officers, too. According to Officer Blanchard, women are some of the better officers given their natural intuition. Who knew?!

This was the first big HRMD event we've attended and it was really fun. Perhaps this will become a new summer activity for us. And, who doesn't love ice cream on a hot summer night?!

Ice cream! Ice cream!

They waited patiently, oh so patiently, for the ice cream truck today.

Ice cream from the ice cream truck has been on our summer list for a while and today was the day.

So, from our house - sticky fingers, faces, and all - to yours, happy 4th of July!

Friday funny.

What's this Ewok's name?

#ewoksforlife

#thiscatwillletmedoanythingtoher

Friday funny.

They blinded me with science.

Platte River Half Marathon (2016)

The Platte River Half Marathon has come and gone.

According to my watch, my time was 2:07:47. Not bad considering my goals were to: (1) stay mentally strong and actually enjoy the race; (2) beat my time from 3 years ago; and, (3) beat a 10:00/mile pace. Check, check, and check -- I did all three!

Officially, I had the world's greatest (and cutest) cheering crew. Griff and the kids met me at mile 3, mile 10, and about 50 feet before the finish line. The two littlest Andersons ran across the finish line with me. It was so encouraging to see my family along the way and definitely helped me keep going.

And lastly, following are my results according to the race's website:

     Time - 2:07:41 (9:45/mile pace)

     Overall place - 613/1367

     Place in my gender - 264/825

     Place in my division (gender + age group) - 47/154

I thrive on numbers and statistics. It's the accountant in me! If you would like to see the above information in graph form, please let me know. Ha ha. While I didn't win the race, I'd say overall I had a good race.

Not sure what my next running goal will be. I'm thinking about shooting for 1000K miles in 2016 as I'm already one-third of the way there. Stay tuned.

Friday funny.

Spring break, no wait. It's another snow day.

Griff was in San Francisco for work. The kids are on Spring Break but had a scheduled day of fun at Mrs Olson's house. Mrs Olson is Sawyer's teacher. Madelyn had her for preschool two years ago. We love her and when a day of fun with Mrs Olson was up for auction at the BENefit Bash last November, we couldn't not jump at the chance. I was looking forward to it as it would give me the opportunity to sneak in my required 5 mile training run.

However, I woke up to this.

I swear this is snow day number 18 of the year. Day of fun at Mrs Olson's was postponed a day and we'd be staying home. Rats...

So, we dyed Easter eggs. I only had a dozen but a dozen sufficed. We'll do more later this weekend after Griff gets home tonight. Oh, wait... Now, the airport's closed. When is he coming home?!

Our eggs are pretty. We only lost one. Sawyer dropped it on the floor.

The snow is pretty too although the magnitude of it isn't done justice by this picture. Every hour or so, I had to tap off the screen on our sliding glass door to let in what little natural light there was. The pergola had become a solid roof with all the wet snow up there.

Our poor pine tree! I shook off the branches in the morning and a second time later in the afternoon. I don't love this tree but I sure don't want to lose it. You can actually see how dark it is as a result of the pergola "roof".

Oh - But I did have a chance to Konmari fold a few drawers during the afternoon while the kids watched a movie in the basement.

Finally, around 300P, we went out front. I wanted to clear the driveway and the kids have never shied away from an opportunity to play in the snow. Never.

This picture doesn't even begin to show how much snow there was. My guess is we had 18" at the end of the driveway. The further down our driveway I shoveled, the deeper the snow became. Our neighbor's snow blower was jamming up the snow was so deep. Thankfully, he and another neighbor helped me finish clearing the driveway. And, the kids played and played.

Of course, we had hot cocoa after coming back inside. I contemplated adding a little Kahlua to mine but decided against it.

This little snow trooper couldn't even finish his snack without falling asleep. He was patiently, so patiently waiting for hot cocoa. Needless to say, by the time I woke him up, his hot cocoa was no longer hot. And...he was grumpy but that nap was needed.

Griff can't get back to Denver until Saturday. BUT, he was able to get routed to San Diego where he'll spend a few days on Coronado with his dad. Hopefully, he can see Uncle Jerky and family as well as a few friends while he's "stuck" but there are much worse places to be stuck than in beautiful San Diego.

I hope you all survived the March blizzard without major incident and are digging out!

I'm on a dam.

Please pardon me while I brag. But, last week's long run took me from our house out to Chatfield State Park and I ran across the dam. Hot diggity-dog!

It's funny because I was in the zone and didn't really notice until I was all the way at the top. Talk about a view! And, I got a lot of sun even after having applied sunscreen.

The last 3-1/2 to 4 miles home from the dam were pretty tough. It was a fairly steep incline BUT I'm ready to take it on again sometime.

Three weeks left until the half marathon!

Just keepin' on

I was helping my dad on his computer over the past weekend and noticed I hadn't posted anything since January 3. (Andersonville is set up as the homepage on his Internet...yeah!) Not sure exactly how that happened but it did. I hadn't meant to neglect posting. It just happened.

Following is a quick snapshot of the last two months -

JANUARY

Mile High Madelyn turned 7!

She celebrated by having donut holes with her class at school. And, she had a gymnastics party at Peak Athletics with her close friends. Great fun was had by all who attended including those of us who stayed to watch the fun.

There are a lot of toothless grins amongst this group but that's just one of the many things that makes this age and these friends so special.

Running.

There's been a lot of running. (1) I like it. It makes me happy. And, (B) On Halloween, I registered for the Platte River Half Marathon on April 10. Three years ago, I ran this race with a friend but I didn't have a great race. Please note that it had nothing to do with my friend! This time, I'm hoping to beat my previous time and have a better overall experience.

I finally have good cold weather gear so I've been able to log most of my miles outside. The medieval contraptions in the picture on the right are called Yaktrax. They're basically chains for your running shoes and they're awesome. With all the unpaved trails around Highlands Ranch and Littleton, now I don't have to wait for everything to be melted to head outside.

Thanks to a pair of crumb-bum running shoes, which have long since been replaced, I developed tendonitis in the posterior ligament on my left foot. Translation: My foot hurt...a lot. However, the second podiatrist I visited identified the problem and seems to have gotten it under control. I've been mostly pain free for the last month plus. For that, I'm thankful.

FEBRUARY

Girls' trip to Grand Lake with Rebecca. 

This was a much-needed and well overdue trip for Rebecca and I. Her family owns a home off of Shadow Lake in Grand Lake, Colorado. She graciously invited me up for a weekend. We had a great time catching up without interruptions, sleeping, relaxing, and being together.

Perfect weather for snowshoeing. Thank you, Rebecca. I look forward to our next trip!

Super Bowl.

Broncos win! Enough said.

The Dude (Sawyer) and I had planned on attending the celebration parade and rally downtown two days following the game. But, when I heard they were anticipating 500K+ people, we decided to stay home and watch it together on the TV. The news reported that almost 1 million people actually attended the parade and rally. Wow! Such an exciting and fun time! And, at home on our couch, we had the best seats in town.

Valentine's Day.

I'm Room Parent for Madelyn's classroom and Valentine's Day is a biggie with first graders. Needless to say, they had a great, simple party and I was relieved when it was over. A room full of 26 amped up 6- and 7-year olds is exhausting!

Boys' Ski Trip to Winter Park.

February was closed out with a boys' ski trip for Griff, Gabe, and Uncle Jerky. Gabe and Kari own a mountain house in Fraser, just outside of Winter Park, Colorado. The three boys went up to Winter Park, skied for two days, and stayed at Gabe and Kari's place. I keep hearing bits and pieces about things that happened and stories that were shared. And, I'm convinced it was a good time.

Gymnastics for both Madelyn and Sawyer wrap up next week. We're taking a break on sports and activities until t-ball (Sawyer) and softball (Madelyn) start in mid-May. Other than, I'll keep on keepin' on...and try to get back to posting more regularly.

Things I like about Steamboat (Winter edition)

It's never a long walk to or from the shuttle drop off.

I have the best skiing partner.

If we were in the powder eights, (1) I would open them and he would close them; and, (2) our eights would be REALLY big because my turns aren't very tight.

Picture perfect views EVERYWHERE you look.

Shiny, happy ski people aplenty. Seriously, this girls loves to ski.

After swapping out ski boots on day one for a bigger pair, even the youngest of skiers come back strong and have a great time at ski school.

The Wagon Trail -- Free wagons for gear and kids throughout the base area.

How did this not exist when we were younger and had to lug skis and poles all while exhausted and wearing ski boots?! Thank you, Steamboat.

Apres ski at Trappeur's Crossing featuring hot cocoa, hot apple cider, and cookies. With temperatures in the single digits all three days, this was a popular event with our crowd.

Hot co-COA!