2010 goal

old postcard of the Manitou Incline

a view down

it's a 40%-70% incline

Recently, I've been looking for a good challenge and goal to shoot for and I've finally picked one (or the first one of 2010) I'm working towards. This is my New Years Resolution, so to speak... The Manitou Incline... or "the cog" as Sean calls it. (Sean's done it numerous times.) It's not for the weak, or faint of heart... and judging by the pictures I've found online and posted... I believe the hype. I really want to complete it, and that means not taking the chicken exit half way up, this spring or summer. Here are some stats on it... One mile up. 2744 railroad ties. 2000 feet of vertical. And a four mile hike back down on the Barr Trail.

Believe me, I will post pictures once Sean and I complete it this spring/summer.

This is copied from another blog from Dave Philipps:

The Manitou Incline is the toughest, most-touted and most-trespassed trail in the region, and now it is officially on its way to becoming legal, too.

…the steep jumble of 2,744 old railroad ties

The Incline was never meant to be a trail. It began, just over a century ago as tracks for a work train used to install a pipeline. Then for decades it acted as a tourist attraction whisking riders 1,900 feet up a steep mountainside.

When the tourist train was scrapped in 1990 the abandoned ties became a cult workout of a few mountain runners. Slowly word spread. Today on a nice summer day it can attract over 1,000 people, making it one of the most popular trails in the region.

It has been written up in the New York Times and Sports Illustrated.

The stairs are a regular regimen for everyone from stay-at-home moms to Olympic athletes to soldiers getting in shape to return to Iraq.

craziness

Today has been a very crazy day! Sean was supposed to have the day off, but had to go into the office to get a few things done... promising it would only take about 3 hours. He left the house at 10am, leaving me with two stir-crazy, monkeys swinging from the curtains. We somehow made it to lunchtime and a highly anticipated naptime. Right at 1pm, Sean called... to tell me he was on his way to the ER. He was just finishing up at the office, when he hit his ear on an exposed sprinkler head. (He was up on a loft.) When he pulled down on his ear lobe, you could see through his ear... so he was pretty sure he needed some stitches.

When the monkeys woke up, I found myself in the middle of chaos AGAIN. About the worst thing the boys were guilty of today was Cullen allowing Finn to splash in the toilet water. Multiple times. When I say multiple times, I mean I KNOW I washed Finn's hands at least four times yesterday and about that many today- for wet, toilet water hands. Cullen knows to shut the door when he goes into the bathroom to wash his hands, get a kleenex, whatever. But lately, Cullen stalls at the doorway waiting for Finn to catch up and thinking it's hilarious when Finn starts splashing in the toilet. Completely egging him on. What the heck?? I'm so sick of it!!

On a related note... Finn added another word to his vocabulary today. "Dirty." Go figure.

Finally at almost 6pm Sean called and was on his way home from the ER. He got four stitches in his ear and a bad case of crankiness for having to wait that long. Ohh and they took a look at this strange itchy rash he got on his foot Thursday. We thought it may've been poison ivy. Turns out it was an infection from a huge blister he had on his foot from skiing last week.

Crazy day.

zoo

Finn watching Daddy feed the giraffe.

Cullen feeding the giraffe.

Finn watching the meerkats.
He started signing "cat" when I showed him the meerkats.

Finn liked watching all the birds. He did try to hit at them,
but he didn't scream when we entered the room,
unlike another kid his age! :)

Cullen feeding a bird.

Getting ready to ride the carousel.

At the top of Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun.

We went to the zoo today to enjoy the nice weather. The boys had a great time, especially Finn. Finn is our little animal lover. It was fun to see that Finn is old enough to start enjoying the zoo!

helper day

Sean and I helped in Cullen's classroom mid-December to celebrate his birthday. Mrs. Titus also asked if Sean could come in his uniform and talk to the kids about his job. Sean did a great job explaining what he does to a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds. He really held their attention well. It was really fun to watch Cullen listen to Sean talk. Sean would say something and Cullen would say "Yep. That's what he does. Yep." Cullen also carried Sean's helmet around to let all his friends try it on and see how heavy it is. The first thing Sean said when he began was- "Does anyone know what Soldiers do?" Hands shot up and one little boy shouted "They kill bad guys!" Not sure that's the direction Sean wanted to go in, but whatever. :)

New Year's pictures

Happy New Year!!

Christmas pictures

We were able to spend two weeks in KS to celebrate Christmas with our families. We had a great Christmas and it was fun to see the excitement it brings to the boys.

We just got home Saturday and Sean had to leave (for work) to go skiing Tuesday (he'll be gone for a week). I'll have to wait another week to get the Christmas tree down! At least the boys are leaving it alone now that they have lots of new toys to play with!! :)

Christmas Program

Cullen had his Christmas Program a few weeks ago. It was so cute seeing all these little four year olds singing and doing actions! I was also surprised to see that Mrs. Titus put Cullen in the middle of the front row. The spot reserved for the kids who stay on task and know the actions. Who knew??

candid shots by Cullen

Santa brought Cullen a kid tough camera for Christmas. Here are some random shots of Christmas seen through the eyes of a four year old. :) BTW, this is a few of the 500+ photographs he took over the last few weeks!