Mt. Bierstadt, Steamboat Tri, and critical equipment

Video Update

Here are some videos of Rachel playing recently...

"What happened to the tea strap?  It broke!"

Driving stroller... 'Holy Moley!'



Friday July 20
Rachel stays at home with Grandma while we leave and go hike a 14'er called Mt. Bierstadt.  We succeed in our summit and celebrate Meggan's 3rd ascent, Jason's 10th ascent, and our friend Annie's first ascent.

Saturday July 21
Pack up, pack up more, realize we are very disorganized, can't find Meggan's drivers license, and we drive to Steamboat Springs.  Arrive at 2:45pm in time for race check in and pre-race meeting.  Meggan is scheduled to race a sprint triathlon Sunday morning.  Rachel and Grandma play in the lake.  Meggan asks Jason to swim the swim course in the lake with her but Jason struggles to survive without goggles or any recent swimming.

Drive to campsite, have dinner, and unpack.  Go to set up tent and realize... uh-oh.  Left the tent poles at home.  Unable to erect the lovely huge tent our friend Amber gave us that can fit us all so nicely.  Knowing that it was not supposed to rain, and knowing that lodging around the area was all booked up, we erect a tarp and put our sleeping bags underneath it.

Eat dinner.  Stove shuts down and needs a good cleaning.  (Must have camped too much this summer!) Throw rocks in creek.  Get ready for bed.  Starts to rain.  Rachel confused about our new camping set up and having difficulty going to sleep.  Grandma is being a trouper and willing to stick it out.  Jason's feet are getting wet.  Meggan's head is getting wet.  Meggan pulls the plug on camping, we throw everything in the car and leave in search of a hotel.

We call 10 places and all of them are fully booked, except for one fancy 1 bdm condo for $249+ tax / night.  We drive into town (which is 1 hour drive away from race start) and find the first dingy hotel with a vacancy sign and celebrate our musty room with 3 doubles for a bargain price of $96+tax.  (nothing inlcuded)  We take advantage of the fridge for food and the water for rinsing dirty diapers and sleep well.

Sunday July 22
Wake at 5:30am, pack and leave to get to the race.  Set up transition zone, get body marked, and celebrate how warm the lake is.  Decide not to bother with wetsuit.  Celebrate the fact that we have all the critical equipment needed and didn't forget anything.

Race Start 8am
0.5 mile / 750m SWIM - I'm very pleased to say that I actually swam the front crawl for the entire swim, with no panic attacks, no floating on my back, no stopping, no getting kicked in the face.  I made into transition in a time of 15:39, which was a huge improvement for me.  I had a huge smile on my face because I was so proud of the fact that I finally overcame my open water swimming fear and was able to swim!  (FYI I was 152nd after the swim.)

Rachel practices the water exit many times after I go through:

12.5 mile / 20km bike ride - I had no expectations on the bike.  I have been riding to and from work a few times per week, which is about 4 miles one way.  Other than that I've been on a couple of longer family bike rides which include going slow and stopping at playgrounds and stores along the way.  I had no idea how I would do.  I felt good on the bike and felt like I passed lots of people.  The course was rolling hills with a few good climbs and descents.  I'm sure I'd never gone as fast on my bike as I did on some of the downhills, which was actually fun and not as scary as I thought.  The scariest part was making it over the cattle guard, which was covered in plywood but made me very nervous.  I completed the bike in 46:06, which was ranked as 146th place.

3.5 mile / 5.6km run - part road, part trail, some rolling hills.  I felt like lead on the run and was reminded just how little running I've done since my marathon last year.  What a way to feel out of shape!  I was trying hard to remind myself to push hard since I was in a race and see if I could catch anyone in my age group.  Despite passing many people, I think I was passed by two people in my age group.  I ran in 32:35, which definitely leaves room for major improvement but was ranked as the 121st fastest run!

Overall, I was thrilled with the event and had a great time.  I was 146th overall and 10/28 in my age group.  I was really happy with my swim but motivated to work harder in each event, particularly the run, in order to get ready for an Olympic distance (twice as far for each event) next time.

Sunday afternoon we drove to Grand Lake to play at the park, then through Rocky Mountain National Park and home.  In the park we saw several moose and elk.  Grandma's pictures are much better than ours, but here's what we have so far. CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

Until next time...

House updates

Hi all!

Just a quick note to say that we will move into our new house August 8th!

Click here to see recent pictures of the building process.

We're a little overwhelmed with all that is going on right now, but very excited to move into this new house and move out of our current one.

Things we are looking forward to about the new house the most:
1) garage - with room for bikes, skis, tools, strollers - we haven't had a garage in 6 years (Meggan actually hasn't had one since 1995!)
2) Rachel's room is further from the kitchen and our room so we can ignore her crying and not wake her up every time we try to eat, do dishes, talk, etc.
3) Having a dishwasher that doesn't have to roll out into the kitchen and use the kitchen sink faucet to run
4) Our new super awesome fridge, washer dryer, microwave (our current microwave just called it quits)
5) Having more space
6) Our sweet new bathroom
7) Walk-in closet.  Currently we are sharing a very small closet and we can hardly open the door
8) Room for friends and family to come stay and having a guest room and office for them to stay
9) Having a house we are excited about so we'll invite friends over for dinner, games, social events, etc.
10) Being really close to Rachel's daycare (walking distance) so we don't have so many logistics around dropping her off and picking her up - who has the car?  who works later?  who drops her off and picks her up?

Start making plans to come and visit us!!

30 min a day

Just 30 min a day is all I would need to be more fit.  I could run, swim, bike, do pilates, stretch, or get stronger for 30 min a day.

But instead... 30 min a day is wasted for either Jason or myself or both as we go through the post-night time routine.  We've always been pretty happy with our night time routine.  Starting at 4 months old, we set up a routine that Rachel has done well with and we've stuck to almost anywhere we've gone.  She has typically gone down very well.  For all our sleep complaints about Rachel waking up too early, we have rarely complained about her going to sleep.  In all the sleep literature we read in looking for ways to get more sleep, it always goes through sleeping routines to get kids to go to sleep in the first place.

Here's how it goes:
- pajamas and night time cloth diaper on
- brush teeth, drink water
- say good night to one parent
- read 2 stories
- say good night to things in the room
- lie in crib, put blankets on, snuggle with Nu-Nu
- say good night, Rachel sucks thumb
- parent leaves the room

Within minutes, Rachel starts crying.  We do, as good sleep-craving parents do, what we should and ignore her.  After 10 minutes we go in.  With any luck, we can solve the problem on this round.  Sometimes there is no problem to solve and we leave and wait another 10 minutes and check again.  Sometimes it takes a third round.

The problem to solve?  Poop.

For some strange reason, Rachel will not poop BEFORE night time.  Maybe it takes her the effort of crying out for us for minutes and minutes to make it happen.  But we cannot relax and enjoy the fact that our day as a parent is over until we hear her say 'I have a poop!' and we can change her diaper.  Once changed, she happily lays down as planned and goes to sleep.

This has happened inconsistently before, and has happened every night since we've been home for the last 3 weeks.

We're looking forward to this phase passing... and maybe then we'll earn back those extra 30 min and be able to use them to a more productive use.

North Dakota and back

Wed July 4th we packed up our car and headed out on the road.  Jason driving, Meggan (me) the co-pilot, and Aunt Karen entertaining Rachel in the back seat.  Prior to this trip, Aunt Karen had been to 48 states.  Her goal for this road trip was to visit North Dakota, and check off her 49th state.  Jason also got 2 new states with North Dakota and Nebraska, I got 3 new states including South Dakota, and Rachel got 4 new states including Wyoming.

travel high chair at camp site

Shirt says 'Red white and cute!'

Wednesday we drove to North Eastern Wyoming toward Devil's Tower and camped there.  Karen had downloaded a Sporcle app to keep us entertained, and several kids apps to amuse Rachel as we drove.  Karen and I went for a run around the tower while Jason and Rachel played in the rocks below the 'huge rock'.  See video of Rachel playing on the 'Jumping Rock'.

Wed night we put Rachel to bed in her sleeping bag and then left her in the tent to go back out and play games.  After some trial and error, this worked.  She got up, walked around the tent, cried, read herself some stories, and eventually fell asleep sprawled out over all three sleeping pads.  We just had to put Rachel back into her sleeping bag when we came into the tent to sleep.

Thursday July 5 we drove to North Dakota to see Teddy Roosevelt National Park (south unit).  Along the way we stopped at a playground and grabbed some home cooking at a diner.  Along the drive, there really was not anything to see -- lots of grass, fields, and the occasional windmill, house, or tree.  We arrived at the park and checked out the painted canyon and badlands area.  We drove around the park, seeing the odd buffalo.  

Swinging with Aunt Karen

Painted Canyon

Buffalo in park

After exploring the park, we decided we were done with the area and that we would head South before setting up camp.  Then a few things happened: 1) the weather turned to a horrible storm with lightning, thunder, and buckets of rain 2) Rachel threw up in her car seat and made quite a mess (unsure why - think she just ate too much at once) and 3) there was nowhere to camp or stay of interest at all until well into South Dakota.

Tired and ready to take Nunu and blankets to bed!

So we got a hotel room in Spearfish South Dakota and slept well in our respective beds.

Thurs July 6th we played in the hotel pool, toured the local fish hatchery, drove to Mt. Rushmore, explored the Black Hills area, and camped at Wind Cave National Park.

Putting a cleaned car seat back together

Mt Rushmore

Campsite at Wind Cave National Park

Friday July 6th we started our day by taking a tour of Wind Cave - a dry, long tunnel that we walked through for more than an hour.  Rachel did great in the ergo and kept saying 'Daddy - you okay?' and 'Karen - watch your head!' as we walked through. The very unique cave formations included 95% of the world's "boxwork" (see photo below).

Rachel's new Hippo camp chair and shoes

Leaving Nunu in the car during the cave tour

After the cave tour Karen took on driving through all of Nebraska.  We didn't see much, except for one playground stop and some trains, before heading into Colorado and back home to Whole Foods for dinner (and another crazy thunderstorm just before we got home).

Overall, we've camped 6 nights in the tent in the last two weeks since Aunt Karen has been here.  Rachel slept really well and even slept past 6:30am on many nights.  Then, on our first night home, she was up at 3:30am standing in her crib saying 'play!' and pointing out all the things in the house she'd like to play with.

Now, back in Boulder, it has been raining a lot and fire worries are gone for now.  In fact, many people are concerned about flooding!!!

Maroon Bells 4 Pass Backpacking Trip

To set the stage for this MOJO adventure, go back to the weather on June 24 in Colorado.  Most of the state was on fire, and many people were tragically losing their homes near Colorado Springs.  Smoke and high temperatures filled Boulder County.  My throat was still sore from the smoke near Durango while watching Jason's recent race.

Tuesday afternoon, June 26, a lightning strike hits the back side of Bear Peak, but soon smoke starts coming over the peak and blowing down through town.  Through my clinic window, patient after patient gave us updates of the fire's progress.  By Tuesday afternoon, it was too smoky to be in our house and we were on 'pre-evacuation' order.  So Jason and Rachel quickly filled the car with our most important documents and a few overnight things, and we moved into our friends' home.  Thanks to J, R, and A Fernandez for hosting us at the last minute.

Wed things looked a little better, but we weren't sure what would happen.  So we moved another couple of car loads to our new temporary home, including all the stuff for our backpacking trip so we could pack and prepare.  By Thursday I was losing my voice and coughing quite a bit, very irritated by the smoke, and canceled all my afternoon patients because I was coughing so much.

Thurs night June 28 Jason's sister Karen arrived at the Denver airport.  Although, by this time, all seemed well and we were allowed to return home, we stayed at the Fernandez household anyway because all our stuff was now there!

For photos of this trip, click HERE

FRIDAY JUNE 29: Drive to Aspen, get to trailhead, hike 1.8 miles to Crater Lake
Packed up, drove to Aspen without much trouble (5 hr drive), then searched for the shuttle bus.  We were not sure where to catch the shuttle - we heard several incorrect things and knew that the road was closed to cars during the day.  Eventually figured it out, parking at Highlands, paying $6 each for the bus, and getting on it.  A nice 25 min tour of the area to the trail head.  Baby marmots at the trail head and beautiful Maroon Lake beneath the 14,000+ft Maroon Bells.  Hiked up to Crater Lake, which was hard enough for a first day.  Rachel did really well in the pack.  Found camping near the lake without any trouble and ended up at spot # 8 of a possible 11 sites.  Made dinner, set up tents, went to bed.  Rachel refused to sleep in her sleeping bag and fell asleep at the foot of the tent after many attempts to get her to sleep.  She slept well throughout the night, and strangely slept in until about 6:30am!!

SATURDAY JUNE 30: 9 mile hike from Crater Lake, over 2 passes, and camp in Fravert Basin
Out of camp by about 8:45am, fill up water and treat it at creek.  Lots of beautiful scenery, lots of climbing, lots of creeks all around for water.  Up up up we went... and it seemed the first pass - Maroon Pass - never came.  Stopped for lunch below the pass at a small snowfield.  Up and over the pass with Rachel doing great the whole time - minimal children's songs and rhymes needed to keep her happy in the pack.  Jason took Rachel at the top of the pass because the descent was steep and windy.  Into the valley between the two peaks and pushing our tired bodies up toward Frigid Air Pass.  The last 100ft was a real steep push and every step was a chore.  Karen did an amazing job for someone coming from sea level with no chance to acclimatize!  Each of the 4 passes on this hike is over 12,000ft.  Stopped and rested on the top of the pass before descending down.  We were out of water and it was getting later and we were tired by this point.  We really wanted to find water to drink and a place to put our two tents.  Finally, as some rain started to fall on us, we found a place to camp.  Sadly there were loads of flies and mosquitoes.  Rachel slept well in her own sleeping bag all night and slept in again, until almost 7am!

SUNDAY JULY 1: 8 mile hike from Fravert Basin over Trail Rider Pass to past Snowmass Lake 
Out of camp with good weather, we hiked our tired bodies down to King Falls and then started our long climb back up.  After a fun creek crossing, the sweat started pouring as the trail seemed to go straight up.  The sun hit us hard and we never seemed to level out.  Jason had to take Rachel's pack for this climb and it was definitely the steepest trail on the whole hike.  We had lunch at the turnoff to Geneva Lake before hitting a lovely alpine valley and pushing through the last climb to the top of the pass.  Our descent was lovely toward Snowmass Lake - simply gorgeous.  We hiked about a mile past Snowmass Lake and found primitive camping on the side of the trail before the marsh below the next pass climb started (Buckskin).  Shortly after we set up camp, we heard helicopters and planes overhead and figured another fire was in the area.  Since we couldn't do anything about it or learn about it, we ate dinner and went to sleep.  Rachel slept quite well again, sometimes in and sometimes out of her bag.  She does take up a great deal of tent space, spreading herself out all over while we, afraid to wake her, shrink into one side of the tent.

MONDAY JULY 2: 7 mile hike from bottom of Buckskin to Maroon Lake and drive home
We decided that if we could make it out and home today, we would, although we had initially thought we would camp one more night and drive home Tuesday.  Our climb up to the top of Buckskin seemed much easier than we expected.  Maybe our packs were lighter or we were better acclimated, but it seemed far less steep on this side than the other 3 passes.  We hit the top by 12 noon and then started down... and down... and down... and down.  The down never seemed to end and we were so thankful we were not going up.  Rachel did really well in the pack, entertaining herself with trees, deer, marmots, chipmunks, creeks, and logs.  Our legs were hurting with all the down and we picked up the pace hoping to make the shuttle bus and get home.  At 3:10pm we made it back to Maroon Lake and caught the 3:20pm shuttle with 200 other people as it started to downpour.

We changed into fresh clothes at the car and drove to Buena Vista for dinner before making it home for bed.  Aunt Karen did a great job of entertaining Rachel in the car seat on our long drive to keep her relatively happy.