More October "Winter" Pics

I know Staci thinks we are all insane with our excitement about Winter weather, but we have found that having an amazingly fun winter hobby makes us love any weather. Last winter seemed too short, and I'm sure Staci wasn't feeling that way. So with Arapaho Basin open for ski season "hors d' oeuvres", a nice snowy fall day makes us happy. In fact I took a half-day off last Thursday just for a little quality father & son time. For those of you who have to commute long distances to snowboard or ski, we're here for you!

The following were taken last Thursday AM after it had snowed all day Wednesday. It is Saturday today and the last of the snow melted from the front yard and roof today.


This is what the Family Room looks like the night before we go skiing. We put the stuff downstairs so we don't make too much noise loading the car. We usually like to leave about 7am.

Pretty front yard at dawn

View of the front of the house. Notice the sweet ski racks that are an addition to our 2010 winter arsenal.

Seth has accumulated a very nice snowboarding wardrobe. He was wearing red tennis to top off the ensemble.

Seth is Principal Cellist

Yesterday (Sunday) the Arapaho Philharmonic Youth Orchestra had it's first concert of the season and Seth sat as the principal cellist. The first concert of the season is traditionally a "side-by-side" concert with the adult philharmonic, which allows them to play a little more challenging repertoire. Seth's stand partner was the principal cellist of the adult symphony. The program included Beethoven's 1st symphony, part of Copeland's Appalachian Spring, and a Straus march. The concert was very nice considering they have been working on the music for only four weeks. I've posted below my video of the Copeland.

Seth's Homecoming Week

This past week has been ThunderRidge High School's Homecoming. Every day there has been some kind of Spirit activity such as Powder Puff flag football, theme dress days, "Field Day", Bonfire, the Homecoming Game, and the Homecoming dance. Seth has really tried to get in the spirit of the week as the following pictures will attest.

The festivities started with Seth asking a girl on his cross country team to the Homecoming dance. He passed her with his shirt off during a practice. Jane did the writing.

Here he is getting ready for practice.

"Western Days" was one of the dress up days. Here is Seth in his rig.

Ever since July Seth has been letting his normally-short hair get a little long so he could sport a mohawk and war paint for Field Day and the Homecoming Parade and game. Here Seth and his friend Chris are giving each other their haircuts. Since they both have to go the dance and church, the sides were kept longer than total buzz.

Seth all decked out for Field Day in his mohawk and war paint, which is a afternoon of different athletic and skills events with the Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior classes all compete. The Seniors killed the other classes this year.

This is the gym where Field Day takes place

Later that afternoon was the Homecoming Parade. The cross country team traditionally runs without shirts (girls in sports bras). Parade Day weather was rainy/snowy, but that didn't stop the tradition. Allie and her kids came down for the parade, because everyone in the parade throws candy and the kids all got a good bag full when it was over.

Grace and Bryson warmed up after the parade in the spa tub together.

That evening Grandma Jane, Marie, Tessa, Ben and I went to the bonfire, which is held in the back parking lot. They have a 30 foot square concrete pad made especially for the bonfire, which at its peak reaches 50 or 60 feet high. You can easily see it from our house, which is about a mile away from the high school.

While at the bonfire we ran into Seth and Kamila (his Homecoming Dance date).

Saturday was the Homecoming Dance. Seth's group met at the mall for pictures because the restaurant was nearby and the it was 24 degrees and snowing outside. Kamila looked great!

Ski Season Opener

We have had a very rainy summer and cool temperatures, and last week we had a bit of cold rain that put a foot or more snow in the mountains. As a result, Arapahoe Basin ski resort opened this weekend, which is the first ski resort to open in North America this season. Friday Jarom and Seth's friend Trenton went up on Opening Day, and today (Saturday) Jarom went back with me so I could get my first turns of the season. A-Basin only had one run open, but it was legit and I was very happy to find that I hadn't lost my skills over the summer. I definitely want to get some lessons this season so I can improve.

Last night and this morning it was really cold, and we had some light snow. It is 24 degrees right now at 2:41pm on Saturday, and on the way to A-Basin one of the valleys up on Hwy 70 was 14 degrees. The trees were really frosted although there wasn't a lot of snow on the branches. Needless to say the flowers in the front yard probably won't survive this weekend; it is supposed to get down to 19 degrees.

Frosty trees on the way to Arapahoe Basin.

Up on top it was a beautiful clear day and actually warmer than it was in Denver. Jarom and I are sporting our new jackets (and my new pants) at the top of the run. You'll notice they have only made snow on the run; its pretty sparse elsewhere.

Jarom and I near the continental divide looking down at the front of the ski resort

Me showing off the new gear

Jarom looking tuff

Seth's Cross Country Meet

Seth is running cross country again this year, and last Friday at the Liberty Bell meet in Littleton, CO he turned in a personal best time of 21 minutes for 5K distance. Here he is at the start, mid-race and at the end. At the beginning he is about 2/3rds the way back in the crowd on the side closest to the camera. You can see his very bright green bandana headband flash by. At the end I love his dry heaves once he's crossed the finish line.

Platte River Fun on Labor Day Monday

Well last night we had Allie and James and their gang, and Seth's friend Chris who has stayed with us this weekend while his folks were at a family wedding in Oregon, over for dinner. After telling Allie & James about our fun hike on Saturday, they decided to spend the night and check it out on Monday. So up we went. The first little glitch was that we found out their jogging stroller tire had a hole in. After that, we pretty much knew we weren't goig too far up the canyon. We ended up just walking a half mile in and found a shady little picnic spot that ended up having LOTS of poison ivy. I think we were able to stay out of it. The river was right behind our shady glen, which made for some brief, cool fun. Now that we know all the things to think about, maybe we'll bring bikes up in about four weeks and go further in.

There is a bike rental place at the parking lot. This looked fun but too much work!

Our shady spot for lunch :)

I remember my boy scout handbook rhyme about poison ivy: "leaflets three, let it be". I wasn't sure this was poison ivy but it sure looked it. Melissa claims to have seen it and was pretty sure. This was growing all around our picnic area.

When I got home I looked it up and now I'm even more sure. What do you think?

Ben eating a yummy plum. They had wild, natural plums that were the size of big grapes. We ate some and they were yummy!

What is the use of being by a river if you can't play in it? It was pretty cold though. Probably about 45 degrees.

Melissa and Bryson went wading in a really shallow spot.

Marie has become very brave as she's gotten older and will do things her siblings won't even consider. She waded out into the river to join Melissa and Bryson.

Everyone is getting their shoes back on for the hike home

Labor Day Paradise: 20 minutes from home

Someone left a Saturday edition of the "Rocky Mountain Post" on our driveway, and there in the outdoor section was a section all about the "Yellow Brick Road" of Colorado's Front Range. Waterton Canyon is literally no more than 20-25 minutes away, and really is a great place for fishing, hiking & biking. On the spur-of-the-moment yesterday morning, I asked Jane, Jarom and Melissa if they wanted to go for a hike along the South Platte River and they all thought it sounded like a great idea. The morning started out really clear and cool, but warmed up as the day progressed. We ended up hiking about five miles round trip, and really got some ideas for future day trips. The trail goes along the South Platte River as it leaves the mountains, and from all accounts (and from what we could see) is pretty good for fishing. We'll have give it a try soon!

This spillway is from an aquaduct that supplies water from the Platte River to the greater Denver metro area.

Bryson LOVES rocks, and during a break insisted on grabbing a few from the road

A little video from the trip. Sorry about the cheesy music track. I was trying out Microsoft's new free movie maker program. Its actually really easy to use and has some pretty cool features such as being able to rotate a video. You can download it free from http://download.live.com/moviemaker .