Sunday, October 10, 2010

It’s starting to feel like fall

So we are making chili for dinner!!  And probably because it's October!  It seems like we have been keeping with the September always busy theme, but hopefully today is close to end of nonstop things being planned!  So far, I have signed up to play on a volleyball team for 8 weeks with a friend from work, we ran the Pumpkin Run at the Venetucci Pumpkin Farm, went to an Air Force Football game with Dad and Jim and the kids, and then this morning we ran the Fans on the Field 10K in Denver.

So, for my volleyball, I am going to be playing one game a week for eight weeks.  They have a co-ed team of four and we signed up for the B league, we'll see how it goes, but hopefully it should be fun!  I signed up with two friends from work and then the volleyball place gave us the name of another guy who wanted to play too.  We have practiced twice so far, and our first game is the 13th!!  Should be awesome!!!

Then for the Pumpkin Run, I ran the 5K and Mikey ran the 10K.  The race went all around the Venetucci Farm and we got to run by Wilbur the hugest pig we have ever seen (it was about 1000 pounds!!!).  It was a pretty fun run, and this was the second year we decided to run it.  One extra reason we ran it, was because it completed my Grand Prix races that I did all summer.  It was a series of five races, and hopefully there will be a cool prize for completing the whole thing, the award ceremony is in December (we think) so we'll find out then!  Mikey also ran a PR (personal record) for the 10k, he ran it in 52:54!  Good job honey!!!

Yesterday we went to the Air Force Football game vs. CSU.  My work was sponsoring a tailgate and we had group rate tickets, so we got the whole gang together and headed to the game!  We met up at the tailgate for some hamburgers and hot dogs and then headed to the game.  CSU is not very good this year, so 3 plays into the game Air Force was up 7-0, and it got out of hand after that.  We left the game in the 3rd quarter when it was 49-20 (or so) then met up with some of Mikey's work friends for lunch!  Quite a cool day if you ask me.

Some quick pictures of the game, first Jim with the kids.

Jim and the kids

Then Mikey and Bill too...

Mikey and Dad

Today is the final day that we have something planned until Thanksgiving, and it is the Fans on the Field race in Denver.  The race started outside Mile High (the Broncos' stadium) stadium, then we ran over to Coors Field (where the Rockies play) we ran through the Pepsi Center (Avalanche and Nuggets) and then back to Mile High to run on the field and have a BBQ.  The weather was pretty cool, and it even started to sprinkle a bit when we finished, so we didn't linger too long.

Dugout

Julie and the Rockies mascot, Dinger!

Dinger

Julie and I in the Pepsi Center

Pepsi Center

Julie checking out Mile High.

Mile High

Mikey in Mile High too!

Mikey in Mile High

The finish, good job honey pie!

Finish

Don't trample us!!!  Oh no!!!

Us with the Broncos

It was another great weekend, and we are looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend coming up!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Last September Story

So this is the last update about September, and its a fun one, for us at least!  On the 27th Julie and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary, and we decided to go to Crested Butte to enjoy the fall foliage.  We have spent a lot of time in Vail and Breckenridge since we got married, and neither of us had been to Crested Butte before, and that is as good as an excuse as we need, and we were off to Crested Butte!

We drove up on Saturday afternoon, and despite the objections of Julies GPS unit, we took Cottonwood Pass out of Buena Vista to get there.  This route took us past Taylor Park Reservoir and down the Taylor river which was amazingly beautiful with the leaves changing colors.  We drove through the canyon in the afternoon, and the sun shone through the leaves making them seem to glow yellow and red.

We stayed for two nights in Crested Butte, and while we were there we walked around the town twice which meant that we saw just about everything there, and I took the opportunity to use my new GPS watch and went for a long run (about 9 miles) up to a lake.  The run was lovely, and Julie used the time to hike up the same trail to take some rather lovely pictures of the trees and leaves and such.

This first picture is of Green Lake, which was the turn around point of my run, and really was very green.  I had some pretty good views at this point, I was at about 11,000 feet!  Oh, and it was kind of chilly too!

Green Lake

Julie took this picture of the trail while I was running up.

Green Lake Trail

We decided that we liked the drive so much, that we drove home the same way, going back over Cottonwood Pass.  The weather was a bit chillier the second time over, so we had our jackets on.  Fall is definitely here!  On the way home, we stopped to take a lot of pictures, and delay out return home!  First we stopped at the reservoir and enjoyed the views there.

Mountain View

Aspen leaves

Julie by Taylor Reservoir

Then we stopped at the top of the pass for pictures:

Mikey on the top of Cottonwood Pass

Finally had lunch in Buena Vista and made our way back home!  We had a great time out of town and are very excited about the adventures we have planned for our third year of marriage.  No kids, hopefully a trip to Europe, backpacking in the Colorado Summer, and who knows how many other exciting things!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

September Part Two

So, after our backpacking adventure my Grandma was in town!  We spent many a evenings together for family dinners and we had a great time seeing her in Colorado!  She even got to be here for Mikey's 29th Birthday Dinner!  We had lasagna!

Mikey and his birthday cake!

Mikey also got lemon cake with lemon frosting!!  Mom put mint leaves on it too!!

Mikey and his new GPS Watch

He decided that he would keep running, so he got a fancy pants watch.  He looks really excited about it!!!  And then here is a picture of Grandma playing with her Great Grandkids!

Grandma and the great grandkids

We also got to go on the train through the Royal Gorge and the whole family enjoyed the time we spent together!  Here are some pictures from the train ride!

The Royal Gorge Bridge and Train

Here are Dad and Grandma with Reagan on the train!  Reagan was pretty exciting about her first train ride!

Dad and Grandma and Reagan

Mom, Amanda and Reagan enjoying the view of the Royal Gorge.

Mom and Amanda and Reagan

Here Breckin and Julie are playing with some sunglasses!

Julie playing with Breckin

Here is the family picture after the train ride!  We got told not to lean against the fence!

The Family after the train ride

So there actually is one more post coming about September!  And at this rate there will probably be a few large posts for October too!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

September Flew By…

So, it's October and we haven't written a blog for a long while.  Sorry.  I think I will just skip over everything that has happened and start by telling you about tomorrow!  No, I guess that's not a good idea, because I have a few good stories to tell.  So here is what has been going on...

We went to a pre-season Broncos game against the Steelers at the end of August.  We had a really great time even from our seats that were at the top of the stadium.

Us at the Broncos Game

The rain coming in

Then the next weekend we went to an Air Force Falcon Football game with my parents, all thanks to Mikey's mom winning the tickets on the radio!  We didn't take any pictures at the game, but we enjoyed the game!

Then over Labor Day weekend, Mikey and I decided to give backpacking a try!  We were thinking of going to the Rocky Mountian National Park to have this adventure, but because we are cheap and we ended up only going for one night, we headed to good old Green's Creek!  It was Mikey's first time up Green's, which I couldn't believe that we had never taken him up there before.  So as we got into Salida, we both were hungry and decided to stop by McDonalds for a hamburger, we were a little worried about hiking with McDonalds' belly, but we were just fine!  And we got to reminesce about the last time we had McDonalds...  it was in Switzerland more than a year ago!  We hiked up the trail and set up camp, which contsisted of our tent and our new hammocks!  We might have gone backpacking just so we could use our hammocks, but I really doubt that was the only reason!  Anyways, again, we had a great little adventure.  We didn't see any animals or many people and after we slept through a windy rain storm we headed back home.  Mikey thought we were going to wake up to a foot of snow around our tent, but it was only really chilly out, so we ate some Poptarts and packed up our stuff and headed home!

Julie backpacking at Green’s

Mikey backpacking Green’s

Julie in the tent

Aspens on the trail

Proof we went to Green’s

So... is this getting long...  I think so, and I still have to write about Grandma's visit, our train ride through the Royal Gorge, Mikey's 29th birthday, and our 2nd anniversary!  Stayed tuned for September part two!