When did it become October???

Man, September really got away from us and now it's already past the middle of October.   We had few excuses as to why we went MIA, but hopefully now we are back for frequent updates! So, here is a kind of long update.  We started off  September with a trip to see the hot air balloons during Labor Day weekend.  This is something both Mikey and I did when we were kids, and this was the last year the city is going to host the balloons, so I made Mikey get up early and take me and Noah downtown.  We also decided to take a hike to Raspberry Mountain that day.  We were a bit skeptical how well Noah was going to hold up, he got a little fussy towards mile three, but had some snacks and fell asleep.  He woke up at the top, probably wondering why his ride stopped, and then did great all the way back to the car.

Mikey and Noah in front of the elephant balloon

The view from the top!

Mikey's step brother, Zak and his now wife Erin, got married in the beginning of the month.  They had a beautiful ceremony at the Shove Chapel downtown.  They also asked Noah to be the ring bearer!  He was very cute.  He didn't make it all the way down the aisle, but he started to go.  After the ceremony we went to a very fun reception where Noah wandered all over the hotel!

The ring bearer and flower girls

One flower girl was trying to help him going down the aisle

Mr. and Mrs. Klecker!

Noah the ring bearer

The handsomest men in my life!

We also had a lovely visit with Aunt Jacquie and Noah even got to spend a whole day with her and Nana!  Mikey, I, and Grandpa didn't have too much trouble leaving them to play, because we made our way to Breckenridge for the day to have some fun at Oktoberfest!  We drank delicious beer, ate brats, kielbasa, and pretzels, and we each had our own delicious apple strudel!

Mikey and David at Oktoberfest

Apple Strudel and Beer!

We had no problem finishing our own apple strudels!

US Pro Challenge

It seems to have become a tradition for us to get out to cheer on the professional bikers when they ride through town every year.  This year was no different.  I did actually volunteer during the race in Colorado Springs so I was not just spectating the whole time, but I did get to see and cheer the riders on every lap they made through downtown Colorado Springs.

On Sunday, we headed to Denver to catch the end of the race.  We got to see the riders four times as they rode a circuit around downtown.  It was a pretty fun day of cheering and we even got to stalk two of the riders.  It was Jens Voigt's last professional race, you may know the saying Shut Up Legs...   I snagged a selfie with him!  And while waiting for Jensie, we got to see Frank Shelck, I know, you're jealous. We even got to get in a group fan picture with the whole team.   And then we found the winner of the race Tejay Vangarderen.  Mikey got his autograph after waiting a long time to see him.  They were both very nice to their fans.

The race

Frank making the rounds

Jensie's group photo from the back

Me and Jensie, I was a little excited

Tejay signing Mikey's shirt

Waldo Waldo 5K

Last weekend we dressed up as Waldo and Wenda with about 2000 of our closest friends and participated in the Waldo Waldo 5K!  It was Noah's first 5K, and he did great in the stroller the whole time!   We tried to run some of the 5K, but since we had the stroller we started in the back and it was just a wall of Waldos in front of us.  They are trying to set the World Record for the most amount of Waldos in one place, but were about 1000 people short.  Maybe next year!

All the Waldos lining up for a picture

Family photo

Line of Waldos

Dad pushing Noah while he was sleeping!

Noah's First Camping Trip and The US Pro Challenge

We decided we wanted to see the race again this year even though they were not riding through the Springs. So, we headed out towards Aspen to see the first two stages. I have always wanted to see them ride over Independence Pass and Mikey wanted to see a sprint finish so he could see Peter Sagan trying to win. We decided we would try to go camping with the kiddo and headed out on Sunday to try to find a camping spot. We thought for sure we wouldn't be able to find one, but we drove into the first campground on the Aspen side of Independence Pass and pulled right into a spot. We checked the altitude to see if it were too high up for Noah, and we were above 10,000 feet but decided we would give it a try. And Noah did great! The first night was pretty cold, so the little guy took turns in our sleeping bags with us and he slept through the night. Then we were up and at 'em Monday morning to head down the pass into Aspen. 

Noah and Mom at the top of the pass

Family shot at the top of the pass

He was comfortable in the tent from the start

We did a quick hike to a reservoir, Noah seemed to like it

We showed up about two hours before the race started and we walked around and grabbed some lunch. We found some shade and had a little picnic. Then we were off to see the race. They rode through town three times and you could only see them for five seconds before they were gone. On the last lap, we were close to the finish and Noah did not approve of all the loud cheering so he screamed his little head off for the whole five seconds. After that I decided we could just let Mikey see the sprint finish and Noah and I would go find a shady spot to see the riders before they finished.

The winner of the race, Tejay Van Garderen

Blast from the past van

Julie got a shot of them as they rode through on one of the laps

Noah enjoyed a nice shady spot after lunch

The winner of the Tour de France, Chris Froome

After the race we hit up the grocery store for some hot cocoa and then headed back to the campsite. Noah feel asleep around 8, so we made our dinner and drank hot cocoa in the dark without him. That night was much warmer, so we just made him a little bed with lots of blankets between us and I don't think he moved all night after we woke him up for a bottle before we called it a night around 10:30.

Then Tuesday morning we made our way to the road to claim our race watching spot. The road was ten feet away and we decided that we didn't want to take the kiddo to the top of the pass, it might have been too long for him to be above 12,000 feet. The Cannondale team gave away green chalk in Aspen, so I wrote on the road for Peter Sagan.

Julie and her handiwork on the pass

Noah was having a great time waiting for the riders

We had a great time camping and Noah was such a great little trooper! We can't wait to go camping again with him, although it will probably be next summer before we upack the tent again.

GoPro Mountain Games in Vail

Two weekends ago we headed to Vail for their annual Mountain Games.  In the past we have participated in the half marathon, the mud run, and the 10K.  This year Mikey signed up for the Road Bike Time Trial and I signed up to participate in the photo competition.  This was also Noah's first nights away from home, so we were in a for a big weekend adventure!

We headed up on Friday, and Noah did great in the car the whole way out there!  Once we got to our hotel to check in we were told that they had overbooked themselves and they offered us a free room at a different hotel just two blocks up the road.  Free you say?  Sure, we're game!  (Especially since Mikey and I both got dental crowns put in that week)  The place we went to wasn't super fancy, but we got a whole one bedroom suite with a kitchen and it had a patio that was overlooking the creek!  It worked out great for us. 

To celebrate our free accommodations we decided to have a nice dinner out and we headed to an Italian restaurant in Vail Village.  Noah did pretty good except for one breakdown that ended up as him napping in my arms while I ate!  The next day we watched kayakers go down the river, dog jumping, slackline competitors, dirt bikers, and flying fishing competitors.  We hit up our favorite pizza place in Lionshead for lunch and then Mikey went on a test bike ride around Vail.  

Later that afternoon, we decided it was time to take Noah to his first swimming pool!  It took him a little getting used to it, but then he did great!  There are pictures below of the first moments in cool water and then another two pictures once he got used to it!  After that it was definitely time for naps for everyone!  That evening we just hung around the hotel and ate dinner on the patio by the creek.  

Noah watching something intently!

The next morning we looked up Mikey's race time at it was 11:18 AM.  So, we got some breakfast and packed up the car and then he headed to the starting line!  He thought the ride would take him about and hour, so after he started I fed Noah one last time in the hotel and checked out and then went to pick up the time trialist and head home!  As it turned out, I didn't really have much time to take pictures of the events since Noah needed our constant attention.  And as for the time trialist, he was known as the guy riding a mountain bike!  We are thinking next year we might just have to try the fly fishing competition!

Happy Baby while waiting for Dad to start his race!

Michael lined up to start

On top of the starting ramp!

US Pro Cycling Challenge

Last weekend was the final stages of the US Pro Cycling Challenge, which is essentially the Tour of Colorado bike race.  The riders rode from Durango up to Breckenridge, over to the Springs and up to Denver, with a few stops along the way, all over the course of a week. 

Julie and I decided we could hit the stage in Colorado Springs, and then our friend Brian talked us into going up to Boulder for the stage there the next day.  Turned out to be awesome! 

Unfortunately I was the only one who made it to the Colorado Springs stage on time.  The race got there about an hour earlier than the website said that they would.  This meant that Bill and Debbie, Julie and our friends Brian and Kim all missed the good parts.  It also meant that I didn't have time to get my camera ready, so all I have are some small cell phone pictures.  But I got to see them do their final couple laps in Colorado Springs, and I stood right next to the stage where they handed out the jerseys, it was awesome. 

The finish line with the TV camera

The race leader at the time, Tejay Van Garderen, getting his yellow jersey

The next day was Saturday, so that meant Julie and I were both off, so there would be no missing it this time!  We headed up to Boulder with a plan to get there for lunch, then find the cyclists in town when they came through.  Because the course that day had them riding through Boulder twice, we actually caught them in the morning right when we started lunch.  We heard them on the road right next to us, so we jumped out and caught the peloton right as they rode by.  It was so quick we didn't have time to get our cowbells or cameras out! 

After some debating, Julie talked me into going to the final climb of the day, called Flagstaff mountain.  We brought our bikes to Boulder to ride around on, which was a great choice, because we were able to make the 4 mile ride quite quickly, despite the fact that most of it was uphill.  At the bottom of the mountain, we actually ran into Brian and some of his friends, so we said hi and went to find a spot on the mountain.  We found one under a tree, with some shade, and waited for the riders to come back. 

Boy did they ever!  We chose a great spot because the riders rode right next to us, I could have reached out my hand and helped any of them change gears!  It was quite amazing!  The crowds only got better as the riders rode up the hill, making a wall of people and noise for about 3 miles.  Good job Colorado!  We had a blast, and we definitely plan on going again next year!

There were people streaming up for a few hours straight

Me helping Julie get her camera ready!

Jens Voigt screaming at his legs to get him up the hill!

Big George Hincapie leading the team BMC train up the hill

Tejay Van Garderen in yellow, he lost the lead on this stage

The hill got steep, some folks needed a push I guess

The slower cyclists had a chance to enjoy the crowd a bit