Pumpkin Fest

Saturday was our neighborhood's Pumpkin Fest.  Brooke loved seeing all the different costumes everyone had and Connor was just happy to be in his chicken costume.

 Recognize the chicken costume?  Brooke felt very pretty in her princess dress.

Thought I'd add in a rare family pic.  And no I'm not pregnant.  Horrible angle, stripes, not sucking in my gut, etc.  The list could go on.

This was the first year that there were bulls at the Fest.  We somehow managed to convince Brooke that it would be fun and cool to sit on one...just like the penny rides on the horse at the grocery store except no bucking.  She totally bought it and sat happily.

 Connor was very interested in the pumpkins. Picking them up...

 Sitting on the them.

Gotta love this time of year.  The weather has been great and we've been able to catch the changing fall colors and bake up a slew of pumpkin goodies.  I love fall!!!!

We Be Tough Mudders

After having a week to recuperate I'm finally ready to blog about our great adventure.  We left last Thursday for Austin and stayed with my old college roommate, Briana, and her family.  Friday the boys and girls separated.  Troy and Dave played a round of golf while us girls took a step class in the morning and hung out the rest of the day.  Later that evening we met the rest of the team.  Saturday was the big day.  Up at 5:30 and out the door by 6:30.

One thing I noticed about Austin is that it's really really flat and green and humid.  Luckily for us Saturday was a perfect day for the race.  I think it was somewhere in the mid to low 70s, overcast, and low humidity.

All marked up and ready to rock n' roll

This was during the pep talk to get us motivated.  I think this may have been one of the painful parts of the challenge-squatting for an extended period of time.  I think half way through my legs were asleep.

After the first obstacle, Kiss the Mud.  Notice tha our shirts are still looking white with a bit of mud.

Headed into the Artic Enema; a dumpster full of water that has had ice dumped in it.  The water was cold but not as cold as we anticipated.  I think the ice had melted by the time we got there.

Notice that after the Artic Enema our shirts are no longer white.  For the remainder of the race they stayed that ugly light brown color.  At least it was fairly easy to spot.

The 3rd obstacle was the Cliffhanger.  Basically a steep hill that's been muddied.  Because it took so long for people to get up this hill ropes were thrown down to help.  It helped for the first few people that grabbed a hold but after that it, too, was very slippery.

Eventually we made it up the hill and were even muddier.

The Cliffhanger was quickly followed by Walk the Plank, 15 ft. jump off into water. 

This was the first obstacle that my heart skipped a beat.  I just knew that I had to quickly jump off or else it would turn into a 45 minute ordeal like my bungee jumping.

There were a 7 more obstacles before we reached the one above, the Electric Eel.  Let me tell you...NOT PLEASANT.  Some of the hanging wires carried 10,000 volts.  I have no idea if I was zapped with one of those but getting zapped, period, stinks.  At first I didn't realize what was going on as I crawled my way through but after it was happening very often I finally figure it out.  Strategy for next time-push off the wall so you can go through it faster.

The Just the Tip was one of the surprise obstacles and I was very excited to see it.  It wasn't too difficult to shimmy across even though the foot holds were a caked with mud.

Next up was our favorite obstacle, the Mud Mile.  There were probably 6 of these big holes filled with mud that we had to cross.  One of the pits had a "drier" mud that made it even more difficult.  I got both of my feet stuck and had to be yanked out.

  Having done the Warrior Dash in the summer this was by far and away much muddier.

Dave lost his shoes and ended up carrying until the end of the obstacle and plenty of us got stuck.

This was the Hold Your Wood obstacle.  Of course Bri had to pick the heaviest and stinkiest log for the girls to carry.  Luckily we had some help.

It seemed that after an extremely muddy obstacle there would always be a body of water that we would have to swim through.  Good thing for these...we were able to wash off a bit and maybe relieve ourselves.  Porta potties were few and far between.  TMI...maybe.

The last obstacle was running through hundreds of hanging live wires.  I didn't have enough time to psych myself out which is probably a good thing. 

I don't recall being zinged like in the Electric Eel and I also didn't find myself faceplanted in the mud so I think I made it through unscathed. 

After 28 obstacles, 12 miles trucking through however much mud and water we finished the challenge!  The Tough Mudder was unbelievably fun.  I would do it again in a heartbeat and I think Troy would too.  Besides a lot of bruises and some scrapes we've recovered quite nicely.  Now onto our next goal...

Happy Birthday to...

My Dad!!! My parents flew over last week to celebrate both my dad's and my birthday.

I just realized that I never took a picture of the delicious fresh California Orange Cake I made for my dad.  It was delicious!!!  Much better than the Raspberry Lemon Coconut Cake I made for Brooke's birthday.  Now I just need to find a cake to made for Troy's birthday at the end of this month.  I'm sure anything with pumpkin will do.

If you notice in the pic above we all have our lips puckered in hopes that Connor will copy and blow out the candle.  I think Brooke got to it before he did.

My mom fashioned a paper skirt and hair bow from the gift wrap for Brooke to prance around in.  She loved it and has been wanting to do a fashion show every day since.

 We drove up to Breckinridge to check out the fall colors.  Absolutely gorgeous.

We also drove through Hoosier Pass and had to grab a quick picture before all the old people from the tour bus got to the sign.  Good thing we're still spry and fit!

Our attempt at a family pic.  Connor has gotten to the point that he's now dubbed Mr. Squirmy Pants.  This kid is crazy active.  I couldn't get him to sit still so jumping up for the picture had to suffice.

After 5 1/2 years of living here I have finally hiked the Rock.  Kind of sad to say that it's taken this long but it's a great "hike" for the kids to do so we may have to do it more often instead of waiting every 5 years.

Connor was determined to hike by himself but if we had let him I think we'd still be trying to hike back down to the car!
It was a great birthday week moreso because my parents were able to come out.  I don't feel a day passed 25 but I have a feeling I'll be feeling it come this Saturday.  Wish us luck!!!!

Say What?!

Do you remember when I asked "where did the summer go?" well I guess my next question is "how is this the last week of September?!"

A quick catch up of the last couple of weeks:

Two weekends ago Brooke and Troy had a campout in the backyard. Probably the last time we'll be able to do it this season as the fall weather has moved in in the evenings and mornings and it's quite cool out. 

It's always fun to "help" dad set up the tent

Ready to call it a night after a campfire and smores.

Connor wanted in on the action so he was there for the wakeup call.

I think you could call the Friday night campout a success except for the 6:30 sunny wake up.  I think this will have to a yearly tradition.

Last Monday was a nice cool day so the kids and I headed up to the zoo. Perfect day to go. Great weather; not too warm/not too cold and it wasn't crowded.

Hanging out by the cheetahs. A lady stopped by and asked if I wanted to be in the picture so there's proof that I'm actually at things. So nice of her.

The obligatory pic in front of the penguin.  I love the I have one of these every year.  I guess you can consider it her growth chart.



Loving and wishing she could be a flamingo.



The Denver Zoo has a new exhibit that allows us to be closer to elephants.  This is as close as she wanted to be.

Connor loved the freedom to run around and climb up to see things.

Besides the zoo we've been hanging out here.

Preschool has been a blast for Brooke. She loves doing all the arts & crafts at Miss Terri's. She already knew her shapes but she loved making her new friends, Cindy the circle, Ricky the rectangle, Ollie the oval, Tilly the triangle (or Troy if you ask her), and Sally the square.

I pulled out the kids fall/winter clothes and Troy was neck deep in laundry.  He loved every minute of it!

I've managed to keep the kids busy enough that I've tucker them out.  Gotta love nap/bed time.

In honor of our Tough Mudder coming up in less than 2 weeks, I'm channeling my inner gibbon in hopes that it'll help me cross the monkey bars.