Col de Teakwood

Summer is rapidly approaching an end.  I only have two more weeks until I have to go back to work (but I guess I shouldn't complain about not having to work for the next 14 days :-)  Bode and I have been hanging out.  The other day, we went for an 11.54-mile bike ride.  This was Bode's first ride at altitude since returning from Florida, so it's understandable if he didn't have his mountain lungs. Over the summer, Bode has successfully ridden his bike the whole way up Teakwood Terrace.  The total distance is only 0.25 miles, but the elevation gain is 95 feet.  This equates to an average elevation of 4%, but the last 0.08 of a mile are killer--a 7% grade.  Little man is in shape.  Plus, on the last day of summer swim practice, Coach Eriko told Bode he is going to try out for Class 2 when practice resumes.  If successful, Bode will be swimming with the bigger kids.  And not to brag on Bode, but he also just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Yes, I'm sure there are much younger kids who have read the whole Potter series, but getting Bode to read is a lot like getting Ashley into the pool when the weather isn't so warm: all but impossible.  Thus, we're proud of how hard he has been working, and I have to continue to tell myself he's only nine :-)  No real pictures of Bode.  Ashley has some of him while at Disney this summer on her phone, but getting Ashley to get me those pictures is a lot like trying to get Ashley into the pool... :-)

I played golf the other day with my Mom.  I failed to get a group shot, but I did capture the perfect golf swing in action.

We had a lovely day on the course--I even had an eagle putt (ended up with a par...so sad).  The dogs are doing great--Barkley, while still much smaller than Joey, is starting to get taller and thicken up.  She really seems to like playing with (tormenting) Joey.

She's pretty spunky and won't take any flack from her big brother.

But she's also very sweet and won't hesitate to beg for a belly rub.

And now for a garden/back yard update.  Recall, back in the summer of 2014, I started to redo our backyard.  Here is what we started with.

Not much there.  Now, we have a great garden that has produced a ton of lettuce, lots of peas, carrots, and beans, four or five cup-fulls of raspberries, and plenty of potatoes.  We've also had the occasional strawberry or two :-)  We have successfully planted six trees (despite all of the efforts from Barkley who was trying to dig them up):  two peach, two apple, a pear, and a plum.  Finally, this summer we added some sprinkler system zones and about 300 square feet of sod.  It's really nice back there, especially since we've had so much rain this month.

Not much else to report.  Ashley continues to be the bread winner of the family, and wishes she had a time machine so she could go back and nip the woman's liberation movement in the bud :-)  Pleasant week to all.

Bode at the Beach

Bode is spending some time with Nana and Papa down in Fort Walton Beach.  Uncle Dave was there this past weekend with Jennie, Teddy, and Charlie.  Dave sent the below picture of Charlie and Bode checking out the waves.

I wonder how many sharks are swimming near them--if you've ever had a helicopter ride up and down this particular beach, you will know the answer is much higher than you'd want it to be :-)

The Mecca

On Saturday, Ashley and I drove over to Auburn University aka the greatest place on Planet Earth.  We arrived promptly at 0900.  A thermometer on a bank showed the time, and also the temperature:  91 degrees.  We loved it.  We parked, and first walked to Toomer's Corner.

Ashley showed me around the campus, and I will admit it's quite beautiful.  We even stopped in the Hall of Champions and got Ashley's picture with the 2010 BCS trophy (although my camera did a poor job of focusing)...

The highlight had to have been the stadium.  It's the big building behind Ashley with that "moderately-sized" A-U on the front.

The gates were open and the doors were unlocked, so we didn't ask any questions and just followed a nice walking path out onto the field.  Very cool.

We were about to leave when we tried this one set of doors.  To our amazement, it led to the team's locker room.  We, of course, took some pictures.

We decided not to hang around too long, lest someone start to ask questions.  We remained in Auburn for lunch and ate at Momma G's, one of Ashley's old haunts.  We stayed with Cathy and David Bledsoe Saturday night and are now back at home.  Barkley has gotten very large--still small compared to full-size, but much larger than we remember.  The dogs did great--didn't tear up anything, and they seemed happy to have us home (although I'm sure they wonder where Bode is).  I'll post some pictures of them this week.  We are happy to be home, but also still want to be on vacation :-)  Pleasant week to all, and only 48 days until Auburn's first game!

Callaway Odds and Ends

Ashley was nice enough to download a lot of pictures from the trip to the hard-drive.  I don't want to go back and integrate them into already published works (I'm certainly not going to be George Lucas and add CGI to a bunch of original material).  Thus, here are some of Ashley's better efforts.  First, when we were at the Bledsoe's house, they had a pretty awesome Gatlin-esque nerf gun.  Bode liked it.

Next we have Bode and me playing a game of chess on a half-person sized board.  I believe I won this game, but Bode had me for awhile--I think he took my rook, and his only error was not seeing some tactic that allowed me to get his queen.

Bode and I also tried our skills on the shuffle board court.  I think I beat him more than he beat me, but the score was very close.

Ashley took some pretty funny shots of the animals on the safari.  Ashley does this to me when she's hungry.

Here are some good action shots of Bode water skiing.

Finally, a shot of me at the Mecca.

Her pictures are better than mine--more pixels I guess.  Game of Thrones premieres tonight.  Ashley is very excited.  Me?  Meh.

Callaway #5

Thursday was Bode's last day in the park (he went home with Papa and Nana to Florida on Friday morning).  Thus, we did the one event we all enjoyed the most:  boating.  As soon as we were in the water, Bode was ready to ski.  He did awesome, again causing the instructor to fall as soon as he got up, but staying up on his skis for an entire trip around the lake.

Little dude was exhausted when he finally let go.  Ashley then decided to try her hand at skiing.  Not having done it in a number of years, she showed no signs of rust and popped right up.

After Ashley skied, I did my pitiful attempt at water sports and knee-boarded (which is the easiest of all activities short of just tubing).  Still, I had a lot of fun.

After I was done, Ashley proved why she's simply the coolest Mommy in the world and tried her hand at wake-boarding.  She'd never done it, so she had an instructor in the water with her.  She got up on her first try and did awesome.  In the second picture below, you can see the instructor.  After Ashley was done, he did some awesome tricks (e.g. a flip)...very cool.

We had an incredible time at Callaway.  On Friday morning, we said good-bye to Bode (and were quite sad).  He headed down to Fort Walton with JoAnne and Frank.  He'll be back in Colorado in about a week.

Ashley and I were on our own on Friday.  We went for a nice kayak ride in the morning, and then we went for some golf.  Note the green grass--it's amazing how green things get when it actually rains.

We were sad to leave Callaway, but we know we will go back.  Fortunately, on Saturday, we went to quite possibly the greatest place in the world....

Callaway #4

On Thursday, we did the wild animal safari.  This isn't part of Callaway Gardens, but it is located about 10 minutes from it.  It's basically a large property you drive though and feed various herbivores.  You rent one of the park's vans, as there is the potential for too much damage (and slobber upon) one's car.  Here we are driving into the park.  Note all the wild life on the road.

The animals have it all figured out--some just come right up to the window and open their mouth, waiting for you to throw in some park-provided food.

The little pigs were so cute, but they wouldn't come near the car, so we had to throw the food a ways to get to them.

The buffalos were huge, and also had the second-largest tongues.

The longest tongue had to have been from the giraffe.

There was even a male lion...

but obviously it stayed in a cage :-)  The safari was pretty cool--a bit messy, but no one lost any fingers, so we can consider it a win.

Callaway #3

As with previous trips to Callaway, the Florida State high-flying circus was on hand to teach the kids and adults some tricks.  Ashley and I both tried our hand on the high-trapeze bar.  Here's Ashley heading up to the platform.

And here she is doing the trick-series.  We were supposed to swing, pull our legs over, let go with our hands, reestablish a grip, and then dismount with a back flip.  Ashley nails it.

I did the same series, but sadly, the cameraman (Bode) must have fallen asleep and didn't document the entire (and beautiful) performance.

JoAnne and Frank came up for a visit, and we all ended up staying in the same cabin, which was very nice.  Here's Bode with Nana and Papa on the screened-in porch.

On Wednesday, the grandparents were nice enough to take us out to dinner and the country store.  It was a wonderful southern meal, and we all ate too much.

Afterwards, I took Bode's picture on the scenic overlook.

It was a very relaxing day--we also swam in the lake, which Bode loved to do, but we didn't bring the camera.  In fact, I don't think I have any lake-pictures, so you'll just have to trust me on this :-)

Callaway #2: Aqua Day

Monday was another fantastic day in the Gardens.  Ashley and I both went on a morning run, which was lovely due to the exorbitant amount of oxygen in the air.  Bode started the day learning some circus tricks such as the proper way to fall from a trapeze bar.  Very fun, and also very practical in today's modern world.  We all had a nice lunch, and then Bode headed over to Aqua Island, which is just a conglomeration of a lot of floating inflatables on the lake.  The kiddos suited up in their life vests...

and soon they were out exploring the grand (inflatable) island adventure.

Bode played for about an hour on these devices--Ashley and I did them by ourselves on Tuesday morning, and then the three of us did them together on Wednesday morning.  They are a ton of fun to play on, but also very tiring.  We lounged around the rest of the day on Monday because Monday evening, we went water skiing.  Here's a shot of Bode ready and raring to go.

The first boat-activity was some tubing.  Bode and Ashley went first.

I took the below movie of the two of them--it's long, and nothing too exciting happens (e.g. no wipe out).

After Bode and Mommy, Ashley and I went...

followed by Bode and me.

The only person that fell off was me during the ride with Ashley (I contend she elbowed me off).  After the tubing, Ashley did a little knee boarding...

as did I.

The highlight of the adventure had to have been Bode on water skis.  Here he is getting some instruction.

I was amazed how easily the instructor got Bode up.  He just set up behind Bode, the boat started, and next thing you know, the two of them are skiing.  On Bode's second time up on skis, the instructor let go of him, and he started to fall.  We all thought he was going down, including the instructor, who let go of the rope.  Bode's snow skiing must have paid off, because he saved himself, and was then skiing all by his lonesome.

He stayed up for almost a whole minute, when I finally realized to take a movie.

An incredible day on the water, so much so that we decided to go again later in the week.  Stay tuned for those pics!