30 May 2007

Almost June and still cool and wet ..

Mist over the front yard on May 29th. Still cool and wet. The grass, flowers and trees love it. We've had a few decently warm days this spring but not many.

22 May 2007

What if Julia were snatched?

We all talk about this from time to time. What if someone tried to steal Julia? She knows to yell "Help!" and "I don't know you you!" but I was thinking it was time to add additional things, like fighting back, like punching the @sshole in the nuts. Mia nixed that but Julia came up with an interesting comment.

She said when she's older she would need to be trained in how to take care of guys like this. Unsure of where she was going with this, I asked her "What kind of training?" Sincerely she said "I need to learn how to sword fight. Then you wouldn't have to worry about me"

That's my daughter!

21 May 2007

Climbing above Boulder :: A great spring weekend (Sunday)


A day like this is what Boulder is all about. I spotted a little flatiron a few years back and thought - what a great easy climb for kids.

It was 3 shorter pitches and has an easy scramble off. Ideal for a first climb. We're calling it the Little Guy Flatiron. It's below Shanahan Crag. The hard part was the hike up. We were both worried when Julia wanted to be carried 10 minutes into the hike. Luckily, the bribes of skittles candy and whipping pine cones at the forest gnomes and fir cones at the elfs got us to the base of the flatiron.

I belayed Mia and Julia at the same time so they could climb together. Mia could assist Julia if needed also. We were all smiles as we reached the summit. What a fun day !!

More pics here!

Biking in Boulder :: A great spring weekend (Saturday)

Saturday morning we cruised East, on our bikes, along the Boulder Creek path. Julia was on the trailer bike behind Mia. The water was high and smell of new growth filled our noses. We enjoyed the nice views of the mountains and flatirons as we rode South. I've been in Boulder for 27 years but I still love the views!

After the ride, we strolled through the downtown farmer's market, bought some veggies, listened to the band and had lunch.

Later, we stopped by Sally Moser and her roomate, Mike's, party. South Boulder was rocking. The band was way more than good. The other draw was roasted pig. The hog tasted way more than good too. Ron was the roast meister. Sally, Ron & Mike - Thanks for the party!

15 May 2007

Papas climbing with their kids

No breakfast in bed for Mia on Mother's Day. She was on a Girl's canyoneering trip scheduled long ago - before she realized it was Mother's Day weekend.

I met w/ David Kozak and his daugher, Sasha (6) at Shelf Road for a weekend climbing. David invited Mark Williamson and his boys, Dillon (7) and Cactus Jack (3). Jack was named Cactus Jack just the day before when Cholla Cactus gravitated to him 3 different times. Poor Jack!

The kids had a riot together while the papas had fun climbing. It's amazing watching the interaction of the kids. I had totally forgotten how much fun catching grasshoppers was. Dillon made sure all the kids knew how! :-)

Saturday evening, we saw a double rainbow. Julia took off, with the kids after her, to find the pot at the end of the rainbow. We watched until she was 1/4 mile away. The other kids were yelling - come back, Julia! No response as she slid under a barb wire fence and continued. What was she thinking? I fired up the truck for the chase - she was close to a road at this point .. if I drove fast. Luckily, the rainbow died out and she turned around.
David said - wait until she gets older ...

06 May 2007

Is this the right canyon?

We had a writeup for the canyon, Good Day Jim, on Ticaboo Mesa. It was from a friend. There was a keeper pothole early on. We never saw it and we were well into the goods. We read the description again, after warming up after yet another swim. We decided the keeper must have been filled up w/ sand since our friends did it. Not too uncommon. We made the description fit our canyon - not that it had to, as long as we had long enough ropes.

The canyon stayed in our face. Lot's of water. Everyone was shivering at some point. Many narrow sections. At one point, it had to back off a few times to figure out where to put my chest. I finally ended up crawling on the ground. Chris went high and Bob came across at an an intermediate position. The girls asked: What is the problem, guys? I say: Get some chest! ;-)

It was one of the best canyons we've done on our family canyon trips. Some good laughs too, like when Bob spotted Chris down into a pool. As Chris got close to the water, Bob launched him into the deep section!

Garett, Emma & Julia had a great time too. Roselle took care of the kids. Roselle's daughter, little Sara had a great time too. Here's a pic of little Sara & Julia.

Back at camp, we consulted the Hard Day Harvey canyon description and map. It was pretty obvious, I'd switched the GPS waypoints of the two canyons.

If you're interested, here's the correct coords. Good Day Jim and Bad Day Harvey.

The view from camp was phenomenal. After a few hours solving the worlds problems, we hit the sack. We had another canyon tomorrow along with the drive home.

The main fork of Maidenwater canyon (topo, picture) was a good canyon, on Sunday, even if Hard Day Harvey was a tough act to follow. The rattle snake provided some good entertainment in Maidenwater.

The full set of pics for the Haaland/ Wood / Mestdagh 2007 spring family canyoneering trip are HERE !!