The last few days of Colorado Springs

The kids have been loving ping pong practice.  Jess is a bit spazzy, but can return it 1 out of 3 times.  

We went white water rafting the day after I got back in the Arkansas River (in Colorado).  We really should have invested in some wet suit rentals, especially for the girls.  We all have a better appreciation for the temperature of freshly melted snow.  The air was very pleasant, though the day was overcast and sprinkled on us a little.  But the water was cold and it would have been nice to at least feel the sun on our skin.  Everyone got completely soaked multiple times.  The water took your breath away--COLD.  But fun.  It was an easier section of the river--good for kids, but much rougher than I anticipated.  This is us before we got on the bus.  (I'm taking the picture.)

Back row: Ben, our Guide, Mom
Middle: David, Kim, Isaac, Me
Front: Makenna, Jess (at least her helmet)

Those shots were taken in quick succession.  It was a good photo op place, but it didn't show any of the big waves to come.  (Maybe that was smart.  No one had early stage hypothermia, yet, and the girls are still smiling. By the end they were so cold and grumpy and near tears.  But the next day they were remembering it more fondly as an exciting, but cold, adventure.)  According to the back row, the water went over, over the top, of David's head more than mine, but it felt like I was constantly getting washed over.  brrrrr.

After we got back, we all wanted towels and sweatshirts.  

There was more dressing up. 

Isaac did more cooking and baking.  He apparently made two dinners while I was gone and became the go to smoothie guy.  This is the picture of patience waiting for his coconut pie filling to come to a boil.

The girls helped wash grandma's van, then cheered when they got Ben to be their next customer. 

It was dangerous to give Jess the hose.  Everyone tended to get very wet. 

More ping pong.  Taking turns.  When Isaac or Kim played against Brian, the girls would help shorten his odds by hanging on his legs.  

These tiny pictures are courtesy of Kim's phone which is all we had at the top of The Incline.  

Some fun facts.  5000 steps of mainly railroad ties, sometimes stacked 3 high.  Average incline of 40% but tops at 68%.  Increases over 2000 feet in elevation in under a mile.  Kim, Isaac and I did it the day after rafting.  Isaac beat us both.  It took me 51 minutes with a couple of get-your-hear- rat- bac- down- unde- 180bpm breaks.   I hope the staggering difficulty can mainly be attributed to just coming from spending over a week at sea level.  But maybe the fact that I hadn't run in 2 weeks excepting the beach run and the 5 miles that morning had something to do with it too.  We walked and sometimes ran back the Barr Trail to finish our 3 1/2 miles for the afternoon.

Isaac and I are going to hike Pikes Peak when we go back and are leaning towards starting it by doing the incline again.  It's hard, but technically much shorter than the Barr Trail to get to that point.  We're still discussing.  It felt like a belated birthday present--doing something hard to start off the year.  

Me and Isaac

Me and Kim