Late last week Steve got the official word that he had passed the Colorado Bar exam (not that we were ever worried but it does take a long time to get the results). So LT helped him celebrate with a big night out on the town at Stella's. We were out until almost 8!
Kari, LT, Joyce and LT's great aunts Jayne and Karen (I think I got that right - Joyce's sisters would be LT's great aunts, right?) took a little field trip to a pumpkin patch and apple orchard.
Here LT is just hanging out at his great grandparents house.
Shown here are four generations of family together - LT with Kari, grandma Joyce, and great grandparents Robie and Edna.
Robie said that, except for his own children, he's never been able to hold a baby without it crying. Well, as you can see from the picture, Landon broke that streak!
Shown above at a recent play date hanging out with Kari and LT are Jamie & Ben with their little guy Dylan. We got onto the subject of skiing and talked about going together this winter and how we might manage that with the little ones. I tried not to show it but I was a little skeptical about this ever happening - mostly because I think it's going to be really difficult to do with new babies in the family. But also because I'm not a huge fan of skiing with people I don't know well. It seems like everyone in Colorado thinks of themselves as a great skier but this isn't Lake Wobegon and someone's got to be below average. In an effort to avoid the unwashed masses and the boring days they entail I've taken to skiing mostly with friends Andy and Gary. Not sure where we stand against the average but together we have been lucky enough to experience things on skis that most front range skiers never have and never will (a bit of a disclaimer: two seasons ago I hit a buried tree stump at Copper and completely tore the PCL in my right knee. I can ski again but the accident has slowed me down considerably).
We've skied the Steamboat backcountry (Andy in blue jumping and Gary and I on one of the sleds) .
As well as the Vail backcountry (me in yellow off the little rock and Gary and Andy unloading all the gear in the morning).
Also near Vail - one night we slept in a hut unaware that just one peak away a search and rescue effort went on all night but was unable to save the lives of two men who drove their rented snowmobiles off of a cliff (the sign pictured above was donated by the "families of the deceased" to warn of the danger).
It's not all snowmobiles - we've hiked and skied Mt. Evans in June and July (Hailie went with us the first time but that's a story for another time).
I've even tried my hand at a little "new school" style - shown above after being pulled behind a snowmobile to build up speed for the jump. That day actually turned out ok but another incident involving broken goggles and the icy side of a half pipe left me looking like I'd lost a fight and thinking that "new school" is better left for the kids...
Way to go little man!
From left to right, Seth, Zack, Sofia, Landon, and Sofi.
Shawn & Zack, Annick & Sofia, Renee & Sofi, Kari & LT, Chi & Seth.
LT went to his first green chili cook off last Saturday. Ron Voss, who hosts the event annually, is shown above handing down the rules of the event from his balcony as though he was king of the world.
Ty Voss, shown wearing the sweet Check Norris apron, is the winningest chili cook in the history of the event. He wasn't able to pad his resume this year with another title but personally I thought he had one of his best offerings to date (shows what I know).
It was Steve and Mad's first cook off as well.
From the looks of this picture it won't be long before the little guy is going to want his own bowl of chili. I guess I should just be thankful that he's not eying my beer they way he's looking at that chili.
And of course LT had to take a little mid-party milk break.
I'm back up in the mountains but this time without the baby or the wife. They are in Mass visiting LT's great grandparents. I transfered two of my days off that I was going to use last week but didn't because of Bowen to this week so I could play a little mountain golf before the season ends (which really could be any day now). The fall is spectacular up here but unfortunately my son and better half took the camera with 'em. This morning I tried to capture the splendor of the changing aspen leaves against the clear blue sky with my cell phone camera but, as you can see from the blurry shots, I didn't exactly get the full grandeur of it all.
We had planned on taking a little vacation in the mountains last week but our trip got sidelined for a few days to deal with Bowen's medical issues. He seemed to recover well so we managed to get out of town for the second half of the week. It's fall in the mountains and the aspens have started to turn - it was a nice time to be up there. And, of course, my parents are always happy to see the little guy.
which almost ended our trip early. But thankfully our vet in Denver faxed what we needed to my parent's vet in Dillon and I picked up replacement meds just minutes before they closed for the night.
The back seat of the car is pretty crowded with the dogs in makeshift seat belts surrounding LT in his 'bucket.' He seems to like riding with them though.
Last Saturday, while I played in the end of season tournament of my little golf league, Landon went hiking with Kari and her parents. The little guy sure seems to like being outside (I guess he takes after us). Kari says she also loved to go hiking when she was little. However, she didn't like it so much when she got too big for the pack and had to walk on her own. Ah, the things we have to look forward to...
These pictures are a few weeks old but I've been meaning to put them up for a while. One of Kari's friends from college got married in Fort Collins two weeks ago and one of the events leading up to the wedding was a hike at Gray Rock. So LT got to go hiking with his mom, which he loves, and he even went to the reception the next day. Usually Landon goes to bed around 8 and can get pretty cranky if we're out past that time. But amazingly we made it through the reception and the drive home from Fort Collins without a baby breakdown!
We all have hopes and dreams for our children about what they'll be good at and what kind of person they'll be (some realistic and others not so much). If Landon's parents are any indication, there's one thing that we probably shouldn't hold out much hope for him having and that is musical talent. I'm completely tone def but, in spite of that, I can hear enough to know that when Kari sings along to the radio in the car it's not exactly a thing of beauty. So it is clear that LT isn't going to get many music skills from us.
