Bear Peak and South Boulder Peak in a day

We set off early for this hike as it was going to be a long one. 8.31 miles, and over 6 hours of hiking.

We were going to hike up shadow canyon to two of the three biggest peaks in the area. We completed the third one (Green mountain) the previous week and as Bear and South Boulder are close to each other we could get them both in 1 trip.

Starting at 7:25 at South Mesa Trailhead, it took us around 2 and a half hours of heavy climbing homestead and shadow canyon trails to reach the saddle that separated the two peaks. It looks like they had a fire here in the recent past, as it wasn't there the last time I did this trail. A quick 25 minutes later and we made it to to the top of bear peak.  After a short break, we then headed back to the saddle, and over to South Boulder, it took us 47 minutes to cover the distance, compared to the 18 minutes it took Steffen and I without kids.  On the way down it was slow going as a lot of rocks to negotiate, but we got down in 2 hours and 40 minutes, about half the speed of my last outing.

The boys are somewhat famous as we met people on the trail who remembered us from last weeks hike, and they were the only kids on the trail today.  Cody did especially well with his smaller size legs, Tyler was often the pacemaker.

All in all, a great (but long hike).

Start of the trail

Found another ladder

Made it to the saddle

Top of bear peak

Top of South Boulder Peak

Back at the trailhead

Our 8 mile hike

A lot of elevation gain

Tyler and Daddy go to waterworld for Masons Birthday

Tyler was invited to Waterworld for Masons Ninth birthday and I got to come along and help out.

The kids had a great time, especially liking the 'toilet bowl' and 'deathslides',  Tyler spent a lot of time bodysurfing and then in the afternoon we tried out two super long tube rides in the dark, Storm and Voyage to the center of the earth.

It was a pretty hot day, but just about great for a waterpark.  We will have to plan a trip with Cody before the end of the season!

BodySurf

Toilet Bowl

Dinosaurs!

Cody and Tyler first track meet of the season

Cody and Tyler have been going to track for a few weeks, and this was their first competition.  Cody was signed up for 50 Relay, 50 Sprint and 100 Sprint, Tyler signed up for 50 Relay, 800 and 400.

It wasn't that hot first thing in the morning, but quickly got hot.  Both the boys did well, Cody took 1st, 2nd and 4th, Tyler 1st, 4th and 1st.

Cody was 0:10 for 50 and 0:21 for 100
Tyler was 3:02 for 800 and 1:19 for 400

Cody Ready for Relay

1st Place

Tyler Sprinting to 400 victory

Winners

Paint Mines and USOC Training Center

We had already seen a lot of hoodoos on our trip at the beginning of June, but it turns out that there are also some pretty spectacular (but smaller) ones in the Colorado Springs area.  We also took the opportunity to visit the US Olympic Training Center and invited Jude to come along with us.

The boys entertained each other on the 2 hour drive to the paint mines and once there they spent an hour or so exploring the various hoodoos.

Then it was off to the OTC to take the tour, get some pictures and check out the gift shop.

After that was all finished we had a quick lunch at a local deli, before driving home.  On the way back we saw a car on fire just in front of us, then within 2 miles, giant hail came down for around 10 miles of travel, before it was back to sunshine again.

Arrived at the paint mines

Hoodoos

Team picture

Future Olympians

Bobsled team

With their hero Michael Phelps

Olympic rings

Tyler and Jude picked the same lunch

Cody eating his sandwich 

Hiking Green Mountain with the boys

This was the second of our Boulder hikes and I chose Green Mountain which tops out at 8,150 feet.  We went on a different trail than I had been before, that involved taking a ladder up part of the trail due to flooding a few years ago.

The boys were great hiking up the rocky trail and we made it to the top in 3 hours, gaining 2,916 feet. We came down the easier trail on the way back and only took 2 hours and 11 minutes (for comparison Steffen and I hiked up this part of the trail in just over 1 hour a few years ago).

The boys enjoyed their hike, and are looking forward to the next one (South Boulder, Bear or both).

Saddle Rock ladder

We made it

Long hike today

Fathers Day Meal

We finished the day with Steak Dinner and Cheesecake. Thanks to Siew Gin and the boys for a nice weekend.

Ready to eat

Can we start?

Father's Day Hike

An early start to our hike of Forsythe Canyon. This requires you to drive up Magnolia Rd.  We passed a few people who were training for TDF (or so it seemed as they had support crew, video and son on) and one deer on the way.

It is a little over 2.5 miles RT, and is mainly in the shade, you get to follow the river, see a waterfall and a lake/reservoir at the turnaround point.

Siew Gin got bitten by a lot of mosquitos and Cody was proud that he no longer had sweet blood and wasn't bitten as much.

When we arrived there were only a couple of cars at the trailhead, when we left a few hours later it was full to overflowing.

Ready to hike

Hurry up, I am getting eaten alive here

Water falling

Family picture

Gross inlet

Tale of the stats

Fathers Day Bike Ride

Well this one was technically the day before, but as we had breakfast the day before I think it counts. When I was at badminton I saw the sign advertising the opening of the US36 cycle path and they were having an open bike ride/celebration on Saturday.

After breakfast we loaded up the bikes into the car (they don't have all the pathways connected yet) and drove to the start of the ride.  They had a few speeches, a few giveaways and then a mass start for a family ride.

I was proud of Cody and Siew Gin as they both managed the tricky ride up the hill and into Boulder without too much complaining.  Cody's bike is small and no gears so he did really well to manage it.

Tyler and I managed it with no problems, and we rode back as well. We met up with Siew Gin and Cody who got to ride the flatiron flyer to complete the return journey.

All in all, it isn't a ride we would do everyday, but it was fun to do it, and get a nice picture.

Ready to ride

Getting close to the top of the hill

TDF Cat 4?

At the turn around point

Fathers Day Breakfast

I got my traditional Fathers Day breakfast in bed on Saturday this year as we were going to go hiking early on Sunday and wouldn't have time to have breakfast in bed before setting off.

Siew Gin and the boys prepared and served and I got to enjoy my breakfast in bed before setting off for our bike ride down the newly opened US36 bike path.

Thats a lot of bacon!

Only some of it was for me

The Millser boys

June Pizza Swim Meet

Tyler and Cody took part in the June Pizza meet on Friday. I had entered the boys in a lot of events and they had some great performances.  Tied for first place was Cody's start and flip turn in his 50 free and Tyler's 200 free.

Cody 25 Back - Around 28 seconds,Cody 25 Breast - Around 42 seconds, Cody 25 Free - Around 27 seconds, Cody 50 Free - Around 1 minute.

Tyler 50 Back - Around 42 seconds, Tyler 50 Breast - Around 56 seconds, Tyler 50 Fly - Around 52 seconds, Tyler 200 Free - Around 3 minutes 4 seconds.

Cody goes off the blocks

Tyler does the fly

Hiking Royal Arch with the boys

We had a free morning today, so I thought that we would go hike Royal Arch.  This is a fairly short, but steep hike with just over 1,100 feet gain over 1.75 miles. The boys did a pretty good job on the trail and we managed an uphill time of 1:27, and downhill of 1:25.

Starting our hike on a great day

We made it to the top

And down again

Ice cream reward

Our trail

Tyler Karting Champ

Tyler was invited to a birthday party at Unser Karting this weekend. In the morning he had already swum, played badminton and got fish and chips for lunch, so almost his perfect day.  His friends were all from his swim team and Cody came along to support as he was marginally too short to ride in the Kart.

Tyler it turns out is quite quick at Karting, he won both the races by quite a wide margin and claims he could have gone faster.

Tyler ready to race

Tyler takes the lead

Tyler wins the first race

Tyler in his second race

Tyler wins and drops 10 seconds from his lap time

Cody is always a winner