Speed Demon

Lochlan has really shown in interest in the balance bike over the past couple of months, and rides it almost every single day now. He's mastered pavement and hills, so I've been taking him to ride it on some of the trails we hike on, to get used to ride on dirt and single track. Last week, I remembered to film him for a few minutes while riding. I missed some of his epic downhills because he just charges it and somehow doesn't fall off, but I'm a worried mess while he's going so fast down hill. I wasn't able to film too much of it, as I was more focused on being ready for any major crashes. At this point, he has NO fear when it comes to riding his bike and swimming. Should mama be nervous or should I accept the mantra "Like mama, like son"? ;) Hoping this also holds true for his snowboarding abilities someday! :)

Kick!

Lochlan started soccer a couple of months ago with the Lil Kickers. It's a one-hour Saturday morning class and it's something that he & Papa do together sans Mama. I went just this one time to take photos, and he was so distracted having Mama there, since it's just usually Matt there with him. It's more like an organized chaotic playgroup, but he has a blast and loves Coach Dillon. He gets really excited talking about soccer the day before and all day after he comes back from it. Maybe a professional soccer-player in our future? His Aunt Johanna sure would like that!

2nd Annual Fletcher Family 4th of July Bash

Our 4th of July party this year was crazy (in a good way)! We tried our hardest to get a keg in the days leading up to the party, as we anticipated 40-50 adults and 20+ kids (who obviously wouldn't need the keg, but figured I would throw the anticipated kid count in there)! We weren't able to get a keg, and Matt didn't really believe my anticipated head count, so we bought well over a 100 beers and a ton of wine, which wasn't nearly enough. We ran out. HA! At one point, there were 50 adults and 30 kids, which is wild!!! Matt, Lochlan, Gavin and I all had SUCH a fun time having everyone here! (Tim & Alison, disregard when Gavin asked you and everyone else to leave, as he didn't want to share his house and toys with anyone). HAHA! There was a TON of food, the kids were all exhausted in the end (as I'm sure the adults were, too), and it turned out to be a great party! I hope next year's party is just as awesome!

This is a photo I took about 15 minutes before friends starting arriving:


I barely had more than 2 minutes to take some photos, but this is what I did catch:



















HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF OUR AWESOME NEIGHBORS WHO CAME TO OUR PARTY AGAIN THIS YEAR, AS WELL AS NOT COMPLAINING THAT ANYONE BLOCKED YOUR DRIVEWAYS! THANK YOU! WE LOVE HAVING YOU ALL AS NEIGHBORS!

Bagged another 14'er

On June 25th and 26th, a couple girlfriends and I hiked Pikes Peak up and down, which sits at 14,115 feet in elevation. It is one of Colorado's 54 fourteeners (mountains that are more than 14,000 feet above sea level), and was the 5th one I have hiked. It had been 7 years since I've hiked a 14'er, so it was definitely a good kick in the butt! My friends who I did it with, Mel & Lauren, were definitely the super troopers and we kept each other going, although I'm sure more often than not, we all wanted to turn back.

On Saturday, June 25th at 2pm, we started at the trailhead for Barr Trail and hiked 6.5 miles to Barr Camp. Barr Camp is a remote camp made up of the caretakers and their main "house" (which is a small A-frame cabin), a small creek, some lean-to's, tent sites, and a small toilet building. We got to Barr Camp about 5:30pm and were greeted with a spaghetti and garlic bread dinner which was amazing after such a grueling hike with heavy packs on our backs! We pitched our tent, ate some dinner, talked a bit with each other and other campers/hikers, and then the 3 of us girls crashed out in our tent before 9pm. We were exhausted! We woke up about 6:30am the next morning (Sunday, June 26th) and had an equally as amazing breakfast of buckwheat and apple pancakes. After breakfast, we continued our hike for another grueling 6 miles to the summit of Pikes Peak, which also happened to be the same day as the famous Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. We checked out some of the race car drivers and their entourages, then proceeded to hike the 13.5 miles all the way down to the trailhead. So in total, we hiked 6.5 miles on Saturday and 18.5 miles on Sunday.

We did have one casuality to note: Mel lost her camera somewhere along the trail and we never did find it again. That was a wicked bummer! Besides that, it was such an awesome weekend with two fabulous women! I can't imagine having done it with anyone else, as those ladies made it such a memorable experience and we'll always have that together. Side note: It was only the second night I've ever slept away from Lochlan since he was born.

Here are some photos from our hike!