Landsharks Race #2

Sept. 21, was Landsharks race #2. It was really windy and quite a bit of the race was uphill and against the wind. (See video 0766 in "Jenna 2nd Grade 2014-15" folder.)

Today, she ran the mile in 12:45.3 - 25 seconds slower, but pretty good if you factor in the wind.

At the end she really put on the speed. Proud of her for finishing strong!

A Saturday Adventure

Mid-morning, Saturday, Sept. 20th, Kevin said, "How about we drive up toward Divide and Cripple Creek?" We all said, "yes" - ready for an adventure.

We stopped for lunch at the Woodland Park Sonic.

In Divide, we turned onto Highway 67 and enjoyed a gorgeous drive!

Fall has come, the aspens are beautiful yellow and yellow-orange.

They are all so gorgeous, we took a lot of pictures. 

When we got to Cripple Creek, the kids noticed the train right away. We got out to check it out and were pleased to find out that the next train would leave in 30 minutes for a 45 minute ride. So, we went!

It was a real coal-running locomotive. 

We enjoyed some more gorgeous views. 

This is one of the other trains passing by. 

We are so fortunate to be able to take a day trip and see this! 

It was a really fun day!

This and That

One day, he decided to try on all of Daddy's hats.

Another trip to the North Pole - this time, he was finally tall enough to ride this ride!

They wanted to pose with Rudolph.

He was asked if he could try the slide by himself and sure enough, he's tall enough to do that, too!

Labor Day - We ventured out to the annual Hot Air Balloon Classic. We had never gone before because 1. You have to get up really early to see them. And, really that's the only reason. We heard that this is the last year that they will do this in our town, so we decided we should take advantage of our last chance to see the balloons up close and personal.

We left the house at 5:30 am! It takes about 30 minutes to get to the launch site from our house.

We learned a lot. They first send up a helium balloon to see how the wind currents are behaving. If all looks well, they raise a green flag that means it's a go to fly. Then they fill the balloons with cold air first.

We had a great front row spot for this balloon, when they started filling it with the cold air. But, then the wind changed and conditions became too erratic to fly. The red flag was raised = no flying. So, we still haven't fully experienced the Balloon Classic. But, the kids still liked it and we went home for naps.

Friday, September 12th, was the first home football game. It also happened to be the first big cold front. It was 35 degrees with a wind chill that made it feel like 27! Brrr! Very unusual for the first game to be so cold.

We didn't last very long, but long enough for the kids to get in a couple trips to the concession stands.

Sunday, September 14th, was Jenna's first Landsharks cross-country race for Fall 2014. (See video 0734 in "Jenna 2nd Grade 2014-15" folder.)

She is in a new age group now, so she has to run a mile. She's worked hard and we're proud of her!

I love how she has a smile on her face even though she was working really hard!

One mile in 12:25.4 minutes.

One of our new favorite song is the Veggie Tales Silly Song - "If it doesn't have a tail"

Jenna put Kellen's clip on tie behind him to make a tail and started singing, "If it doesn't have a tail, it's not a monkey . . ." Lots of silliness and laughter ensued!

"If it doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey - it's an ape!"