Mountain Biking or "Mountain" Biking?

I learned the hard way this weekend that just because you are on a mountain bike, does not mean you are "mountain biking". I thought I was getting the hang of this mountain biking thing, having gone 3-4 times this year. BUT... as it turns out, what I was doing can only be considered trail riding or perhaps cross country riding at best. Lance took me "mountain biking" this weekend and I realized that unless you actually go UP and then DOWN an actual MOUNTAIN, you are not mountain biking.

Lance was with me for the UP part - I was tired after about 2 minutes, had to pull out the old "I just had a baby" excuse (how much longer can I use that?), exhausted a lot of swear words and basically had legs of jello by the time we got to the top. The UP trail had a lot of switch backs and a ton of rocks and by the time we got to the top, I was scared to go back down! So Lance decided to go back for the car and I said I would go ahead and go down one of the easy downhills at SolVista (the ski mountain that is a mountain biking mountain in the summer). As it turns out, I not only was disillusioned about mountain biking, but I also don't know how to follow trail maps. I was at the top of SolVista, and I could see the bottom of SolVista, so I wasn't technically "lost", but I couldn't for the life of me figure out the easy way to get down! Somehow I ended up on a trail with actual jumps that you are supposed to do on your bike, which I know was not the green trail! Some of the more hard core moms in the Moms Club will come to meetings with bruises from going over their handlebars on their bikes. I could not even imagine that happening until this weekend when my front wheel stopped, my bike kept going and there I went - although I managed to evacuate to the side before actually going over : ). My forearms are SO sore from the death grip I had on my brakes the whole way down. But eventually I made it! I ended up walking my bike for probably half of the entire ride - which probably doesn't technically count as "mountain biking" either!

Check Out Beckett's Fuzzi Bunz!!

I have been interested in cloth diapering for a while, but was completely overwhelmed by all the options. Believe it or not, there are tons of different, easy, adorable reusable diapers out there! My friend Amanda from Fayetteville sent me a sampler pack when I had Beckett which helped me pick the best ones for us. I decided to go with Fuzzi Bunz and I am loving them! They are not hard at all - you just save the diapers, as is, (no need to soak or anything) and then do a load of laundry about every other day. No sweat! What people may not realize about cloth diapers is that there is a HUGE second-hand market for them. So, not only do you save money on the initial investment, but then you can resell them when you are done for only a few $$ less than what you paid for them! Some are in such hot demand that you can actually make money on your used diapers! So anyway, I am liking the whole cloth diapering thing and wish I would have started sooner. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll tell you where to go to check them out.

Who's Cute?

Our little guy at 10 weeks.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Dad's Day to all you fathers out there! I managed to find one picture with Lance, my Dad and Dave (Lance's dad). We are so lucky to have wonderful dads in our lives! My mom and dad are coming to visit in July and I can't wait to take my dad golfing and for an early morning hike - we have lots of special memories taking jogs, walks, snowshoes, hikes, etc.

As for Lance, I think he had a good day. He was livin' his Colorado dream this weekend by completing the 1st of the Boulder Triathlon Series. This one was a sprint (such an ironic word considering he swam 1/2 mile, biked 20 miles and ran 3 miles!). He did great and was feeling good afterwards. The next one is an Olympic Distance and then the series ends with a 1/2 Iron Man in August. Ugh. After his race we hung out in heaven, I mean Boulder, for the day.

I also did some running this weekend - I ran a 5K on Saturday. Not bad for only being able to run for 3 weeks, if I do say so myself. True, I could have probably walked faster, but I was still proud! I was completely embarrassed b/c I can't fit into most of my running clothes, so I crammed myself into spandex pants and a lycra shirt. I didn't realize spandex could be too small, but I almost couldn't get them on! What's more embarrassing then running a race in front of 200 people in too-small-spandex?? Having your full-body-too-small-spandex-clad photo in the newspaper the next day for the whole town to see! I wish they could have put a disclaimer under the photo saying "Laura FitzSimmons just had a baby and realizes she has no business wearing spandex". But alas, they did not ask for my opinion before running the photo : )

Gwen's Thoughts on the Sky

Today Gwen and I were sitting out on the deck enjoying the beautiful day. We had the following conversation, word for word:

Gwen: Mommy, how did they make the sky blue?
Me, not really remembering 5th grade science class: Good question, I'm not really sure.
Gwen: I think I know.
Me: Oh really?
Gwen: I think they got a really, really, really, really (this went on for quite some time) big piece of plastic and probably painted it blue.
And then I think they got "fifty-one hundred million" cotton balls and probably glued them onto the plastic to make the clouds.
Me: Oh really?
Gwen: And then they nailed it to heaven.

More Wild West Adventures

So we haven't had too much hilarious or bizarre stuff happen lately, but that doesn't mean things haven't been interesting. In most towns there are underground subcultures that you don't really realize are there - in our town this is RODEO. We went to our first rodeo last weekend (within view of our house!). It was really interesting! There is a whole segment of the population here that is way into Rodeo - cowboy hats, boots, belt buckles, etc. And I kind of thought this would be a "show" rodeo just for the entertainment of tourists, but it really is a real competition among the different ranching families in the area. We saw them lasso-ing (spelling?) calves and everything! I don't have pics to share of that one, but I do have pictures of our next adventure - SQAURE DANCING! We are in a church dinner group (think Book Club without even pretending to read a book - we just get together monthly to socialize) and one of the couples works at the Drowsy Waters Guest Ranch, which has been in their family for 35 years. They had us out to the ranch to eat with the guests and then participate in their weekly square dance. It was so much fun! Here are pictures of the ranch, and also of our group at the dance. Friends of Lance can just imagine Lance's enthusiastic square dancing (and I'm not being sarcastic!). Imagine being this close to your in laws - the woman, Gretta, married Justin and they moved onto the ranch in one of the houses on the property and they work directly with Justin's parents everyday. That would certainly be an interesting lifestyle to marry into!

The Reluctant Ballerina

Gwen had her very first dance recital last weekend!! The girls had NO CLUE what they were doing, but that made it even more fun for us spectators. Even though Gwen had an absolute blast at every practice and seemed to enjoy her recital, she claims that she does not like ballet and is not going to take it next year : (
Not the case with Darcy, however. I had to RUN out of the auditorium in the middle of the show, carrying Darcy kicking and screaming, as she yelled "I NEED TO GET UP THERE (on the stage)!!!!!!!!!" and "I NEED TO GO TO DANCE CLASS NOW!!!!!!!". The teacher is in for a treat next year b/c we are enrolling Darcy in ballet whether she is ready or not!

Visitors!!!

We were lucky enough to have 2 sets of visitors in the past week. Lance's Dad came in town last weekend and stayed for a few days. We had a great time hanging out at the new condo at the base of Winter Park - there is a huge hottub and we grilled out, etc. Poppi always comes with some cute outfits for the girls and he did not disappoint!

Our other visitors were Erik and Amanda Roberts and their 3 adorable girls. They are a P&G family - Lance first worked with Erik in Cinci and then we followed them to Arkansas where we became great friends. Their kids are extremely close in age to our kids, so it worked out well. We went to our local YMCA and took the older 4 kids horseback riding! They absolutely loved it. There are horses all over the place out here so we were anxious to get them on a horse. In fact, Darcy will probably get to do a "therapeutic riding program" as part of her physical therapy next year! The National Sports Center for the Disabled is huge out here (Winter Park is a huge disabled-skiier mountain), so there are all kinds of great programs. Anyway, with 6 kids in the house we didn't get much sleep, but other than that, it was a great time! Thanks for visiting!

Here are the girls getting ready to ride, and Darcy on her horse.


Here are the girls on our deck, dressed up in ballerina outfits : )

Lilly at 3 Months

Hard to believe that Beckett is almost 8 weeks old and my niece, Lilly, is 3 months!! I just did her 3 month pics and put this little collage together for her. Isn't she cute???