Castlewood Canyon SP

We had intentions of going camping this weekend but my having to work and Dave needing to get some serious tri-training in prevented us from accomplishing that. Instead, we took a day-trip to Castlewood Canyons with the girls.

Castlewood Canyon

Located about 30 minutes from our house (Franktown, CO), this state park is known for its rock climbing and beautiful canyon vistas. We started off by taking in the Cherry Creek Canyon Bridge and Overlook. From here, we hiked the Canyon Nature Trail, the Inner Canyon Trail, and the Lake Gulch trail.

While the views were gorgeous from the first hike, we really enjoyed climbing over boulders and creeks along the inner trail. The girls thoroughly enjoyed tramping around in the creek. The weather was a comfortable 75, but the girls' winter coats haven't quite fully shed yet and they got a bit hot. We've always had difficulty getting Belle to drink out of our doggy hiking bowls (bottled water), but she had no issues sipping water from the creek! Silly dog.

The girls encountered tons of kids, hikers, and other doggies. They did excellent with all the touchers! After hiking, we made a breakthrough with Belle. We were able to get her to drink water IN the car from our travel bowls [still can't get her to drink it outside the car, but we'll keep working on her]. We've been nervous about doing long hiking (or camping) trips with the girls because Belle usually will wait until home to have any water.

After our hikes, we enjoyed a Jimmy John's picnic outside with the girls before doing a bit of outlet mall shopping in Castle Rock. If we had a dollar for every person that came up to them to give them a few pets, we would've been able to pay for all the items we purchased at the mall! They sure were well behaved today!

Pottery Painting

One of the things Dave and I have always enjoyed for mini-date days is painting pottery. Last weekend we went uptown (Denver) to Ceramics in the City. We spent a few hours decorating a dip dish and ice cream bowls. Dave always seems to come up with clever ways of saying things in his art. This time was no different-- he painted the word "Shoemaker" on his dip dish using Morse code. There are probably a handful of nerdy folks out there who can interpret it. I painted two ice cream bowls to look like ice cream cones. Yumm, doesn't it make you want a sundae?

Our collection of hand painted pottery now consists of: a spoon rest, platter plate, coasters, dog bowls, dog treat jars, chip dip bowl, dip platter, mug, and ice cream bowls. If it weren't so expensive, I'd enjoy having all of our dishes be hand-painted by us!

Pawsome!

The last time we were at Good Times, we realized they sell dog versions of their famous frozen treats and they call them Pawbenders. It's a cup of ice cream with dog treats and peanut butter topping. I must admit it smelled so good that I even had a bite. :)

The girls were so well behaved all day today (but really, when aren't they?) that we decided to give them their special treat. The dish is actually pretty big and I wasn't sure how their sensitive tummies would handle the ice cream, so we only gave them about 1/4 of the dish. We'll save the rest for another day.
You can guess that Belle took hers down the fastest. Sequoia was a bit annoyed by the coldness of it and took her time licking the ice cream. Eventually she got annoyed with how long it was taking and she put the entire thing in her mouth. You could see her almost cringing from the pain of the cold ice cream on her teeth. Too funny!
I have a feeling the girls will be licking that spot of our hardwoods until the next time I mop!

There's a racoon under my bed!

This weeks' Best Video award goes to Sequoia. Happy Friday, enjoy!

5 Years Already?

My company sent me a Congrats on my 5 year anniversary with them this week. The irony is that the email was auto-filtered to Junk Mail.
I sure can't believe it's been that long already. Time sure flies a lot faster as you get older.
Our company provides an award gift at each 5-year milestone. What did I get for mine? A $20 Wii accessory set.
Something to strive for is the 60 year anniversary where you can get a mountain bike that you'll likely be too old to use!

[Okay, so my company doesn't give a huge bonus or anything, but it's the thought that counts, right?]

Tourist for a Day

We spent the day as tourists exploring Red Rocks Amphitheatre and Park as well as Dinosaur Ridge. We were both sore and didn't want to kill a ton of time driving somewhere far, so we stayed local. We took the girls with and had a great time.

Neither of us have attended a concert at Red Rocks, but this summer's list is very tempting. I think we may just have to purchase some tickets! We did the hike around the valley floor of Red Rocks and enjoyed impressive views and rock statues. The girls got a kick out of all the new smells.

The girls paws were very red at the end of this hike-- a true sign of their having fun! We came across a young male deer with fuzzy antlers that caused Sequoia to erupt in a barking temper-tantrum. I've never seen her become quite so vocal. Poor deer was (obviously) scared away.

After stopping for ice cream in downtown Morrison, we headed off to Dinosaur Ridge. We did the 2.5 mile hike up the ridge to see the dinosaur tracks, sandstone formations, and bone quarry. We were a bit let down (not sure what we really had expected), but the girls enjoyed the extra bit of walking.

real dinosaur tracks @ Dinosaur Ridge

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the world! While my dad has given many wonderful memories over the years, here are my favorites:

3. Spending a week in Virginia watching me compete at the gymnastics J.O Nationals. We had such a great time crossing 16 lanes of highways to get to the Pizza Hut and KFC buffets. We had an absolute blast riding all the roller coasters at Busch Gardens-- my dad is trully my equal when it comes to thrill rides!

2. Spending a couple days road-tripping from MN to Seattle, WA. The father-daughter time on the road was really special. We had a great time exploring the badlands, Mt. Rushmore, and the Seattle area. I'm glad that I was able to enjoy this trip with my dad!

While the #1 item isn't really one specific moment I remember most, it's really a gift my father has given me every year of my life and encompasses far more than one day:

1. The times my dad spent with me teaching me to write Basic (when I was 6!), working calculus problems with me, and pointing out the physics in everyday life. I truly believe it was his constant effort as a father in these areas that helped me become the "rocket scientist" I am today!

Bouncing off the walls!

Last night, I was literally bouncing off the walls. In an attempt to make exercise fun, Rachel, Chui and I went to Jump Street to work off a few calories. Jump Street is a wall-to-wall trampoline facility merging together 10 large tumbl-trak length tramps with 50-60 deg sloped walls up to the ceiling. We had a blast bouncing around, doing flips, and being envious of the little kids who have age and fearlessness in their favor. It was not only a great workout but we had a wonderful time! I can't wait to go back.

Yes, I do cook

Yes, I do cook and sometimes it's even healthy! Tonight's menu served up parmesan-crusted tilapia on a bed of wild rice with a side of asparagus, corn, and baby carrots. It was delicious and dare I say good for you!

I asked Dave if he liked this or Viola! better. Much to my lazy-side's dismay, he awarded this dish the hands-down favorite. I suppose I should stop slacking with frozen meals and make them from scratch more often...

Climbing to new heights

I've really felt as though we've turned a new leaf since returning from NZ and Australia-- we've become more ambitious about exploring our state, enjoying the outdoors, and trying new things. The rain this weekend put a damper on our hiking plans (at least we got that nice bike ride in though!), so when our friends Bill and Katie asked if we'd like to join them indoor rock climbing today, we were excited!

Bill and Katie have been climbing for a very long time and spent a lot of time showing us the ropes (hehe, get it?) so that we could ace the test the center would give us before letting us climb. We learned how to belay, tie figure-8 knots, and how to (safely) repel.

After passing the test (first try even!), Dave set out on his first climb. He had no problems making it to the top and after a bit of hesitation trusting me repelling, he made it back down. We switched up and Dave served as my belayer as I took the same route up. It was easier on my legs and arms than I thought it would be, but much more of a challenge for my fingers. We took turns for several more climbs getting all kinds of good tips and advice from our friends.

Katie and I even gave the tightrope a try. Even given my gymnastics balance beam background (say that 10 times fast!), I failed miserably at the wobbly tightrope.

We also tried bouldering a bit, but given how exhausted we were (especially our fingers), we were terrible at this, too. I'm sure we'll be plenty sore tomorrow, but we sure had a blast!

Congrats Alex & Sarah!

Congratulations to our friends Alex and Sarah on their beautiful wedding yesterday! We were happy to be able to share in their special day and we are excited to see this new chapter in their relationship unfold.

They were married 6.12.2010 in Arvada at the Faith Bible Chapel and celebrated with dinner and dancing at the Golden, CO Rec Center. We've known Alex since undergrad at Iowa State and have had the pleasure of getting to know Sarah the last couple of years.


Both of them work with us and in fact many of the guests were fellow rocket scientists, so you can imagine the nerdiness in the reception hall! We had a wonderful time celebrating with them!

We hope that there marriage is as beautiful as their wedding!

A Trying 24

You know those days that get to even the most patient of all people? Well we by no means are the most patient, but we sure had one of those trying days.

Let's rewind to 24 hours ago:
1. Sequoia finds two dead birds in our backyard, fetches one and brings it to dad. [Gross!]
2. As Dave goes to get tools from the garage, he finds an infestation of ants. [Really?]
3. Meanwhile, in the basement, we find Sequoia and Belle obsessively sniffing Dave's backpack in the under-stairwell storage area. Turns out, there's a dead baby mouse in the netting of his bag. [Where there's one baby, there's probably a whole family.]
4. While we are trying to dispose of the mouse, we catch Belle's snout surveying the basement baseboards; we find these giant red and black spiders that almost look like they have bodies of fire ants. [Let's hope she didn't eat one!]
5. Twelve hours later, we notice mouse traps have sprung, but no mouse. [Oh, it's on now MOUSE!]
And to cap it all off:
6. In the middle of the night, one of the girls [we believe Sequoia] has explosive diarrhea all over our master bedroom. We have a bell on the door and they know to ring it to be let out in the middle of the night. Of course, no ringing.

So now we quite possibly have a bird disease problem, several mice occupying the basement, AND a sick dog on our hands. Hold on tight, it's going to a fun weekend!

A new dam record!

Both Dave and I's jobs have recently allowed us to keep our off-Fridays off and it has been SO nice. I just love 3 day weekends because you have time to get all of the to-dos done without feeling like you left no time for play.

I've been complaining lately that we have had very little rain-- I think the weather was listening as the last couple of days have brought 15-20 minute thunderstorms. Today is expected to be no exception (and tomorrow even worse!), so we took off early for a run/bike up Waterton Canyon before the storms roll in.

Dave running in Waterton Canyon along the Platte River

Dave put on his running legs and made the 6 mile trip up to the Strontia Springs Dam while I hopped on my mountain bike for the much-easier bike up the canyon. I stopped to take a couple of pictures of Dave that he hopes to submit to Runner's World (although having brought only a little point and shoot camera with very overcast skies, it's unlikely they'll accept). Upon reaching the dam at the top of the trail, I looked at my Garmin and realized I had made really good time up. Suddenly, I became obsessed with beating my best time and booked it down the canyon back to the car.

Strontia Springs Dam- very low level due to very little rain

I ended up shattering my best by over 10 minutes (pretty good considering I hadn't set out to beat it on the way up!). Dave was feeling so good after the 12 miles, that he added on an additional 1.1 miles up into Chatfield to make it an exact half-marathon. His pace was under 7:30! We both felt really proud of such strong early-season times. Maybe all the recent hiking is paying off?

Still dog gone cute!

Been awhile since we wrote about our girls. Don't fret-- they are still as energetic and precious as ever. Belle has become more playful (especially in the mornings) and has become an expert at pouring on the cuteness when she wants something. Sequoia has calmed a ton this year and as a result has become much more affectionate. Both of them still get their biggest joys out of walks, car rides, and upon first seeing us after being gone all day at work. Here are a few pictures over the last few weeks of our precious girls:

Enjoying their chew-toys in the basement with mom and dad

Sequoia says "don't leave without me mommy!"

Best $1 ever spent: she loves this new rope toy!

Carpenter's Climb

We continued work on our summer goal of seeing more of the state through hiking with a day-hike to the summit of Carpenter's Peak at Roxborough State Park. While this state park is just a mile down the road from our house, we had not yet done the 6.5 mile hike up to this peak. We knew it would afford much more gorgeous views than any of the other valley floor hikes in the park, so we were excited to spend our Sunday here.

The trail starts along the same path as the South Rim trail but as you leave the valley, it begins the 1000'+ climb towards the top of the foothills. About half way up, the grade flattens as you traverse from one peak to what eventually leads to Carpenter's Peak. The trail splits and joins up with the Colorado Trail (a 500+ mile trail going all the way to Durango) and also Waterton Canyon (a nice area we love to bike!).

Taking in the gorgeous views from Carpenter's Peak

We only saw a few other people during the hike, and were lucky enough to have the summit to ourselves. The views were better than expected. You could see the goregous evergreen-filled foothills looking west, the plains and Denver skyline north, and of course, the million-year red-rock formations (arrowheads) below.

View looking west from summit

We tried to spot friends houses within Roxborough Park before making the descent back to the valley floor. Other than a few deer and mice, we encountered no dangerous wildlife including those aggressive rattlesnakes. Oh! And we stayed together this time! :)

View of the arrowheads and downtown Denver from the summit

We're already trying to figure out what next hike to tackle off our list Hopefully the spectacular weather will continue for this coming weekend!

Claim jumpin'

Most of you know that I love food. Especially ice cream products. Combine that with an awesome salad bar with homemade ranch and you've got the perfect restaurant. Claim Jumper's is by far my favorite restaurant and we're lucky enough to get to go there about every other month.


This time we went with our friends, Charity and Daniel. Charity just recently completed two final exams for her grad work at Stanford and so she finally had a free moment to come up and breath. And eat too. It was a fun evening and Dave and I even learned something new: that pickles come from cucumbers. Who knew?!