HOME....

Good to be home! It was great seeing everyone and visiting with folks in Illinois, but it feels fantastic to be back home in Colorado! No HUMIDITY! Above is a picture of Cayle on his second swim with myself and my youngest bro Michael. Cayle was having fun in his little tube, and really enjoyed when boats came by and made waves for him to float on! We had a good trip, took lots of good pics, and Cayle met lots of people for the first time.

Fathers Day

I have been wanting to blog about lots of things for a while now, but have been unmotivated/busy with my son to do so.... First up is Father's Day. This was my first Father's Day, and it was amazing! Natalie gave me the first 1/2 of the day off to go for a bike ride with a bunch of other Dads from around the valley. I left the house on my bike at about 6:45 a.m to meet some guys in Eagle for a ride up to Minturn. We left the Minturn Forest Service parking lot at 7:30. On the agenda for the day was about 80 miles and 4 passes. First up was Battle Mountain, then Tennessee, up next would be Fremont, and finally Vail. We rolled out with close to 40 guys! It was a large group, and the largest group of road bikers I have ridden with since I have been out here. At the top of 3 of the passes a couple of the moms had an aide stations set up, complete with lots of energy food, electrolyte tablets, and soda! I may have went out a little too hard on the first pass (Battle Mountain) but crested just slightly behind the lead guys (including several pro mountain bikers....) Once we hit the 2nd pass, the others went uphill, and made me look like I was going backward.... Did ok on this one however once I got my rhythm. The next was Fremont, where I bonked big time! Had no energy whatsoever. Hit 59.5 mph going down the other side of Fremont, and then hit Vail pass back with the lead riders. Did ok over Vail, kinda riding my own pace, and back to the parking lot outside of Minturn. I finished with 85 miles, and lots of climbing!!! I was fried. Came home to rest my legs and hang out with my son and wife for a while before we all went out for dinner in Edwards. Fish and Chips to replace some of the 3,000 calories I spent on that ride..... Great first fathers day!

men's room

Thank goodness Nick is willing to share his knowledge with Cayle...

Crazy Couple of Days!

Monday: Nick and Natalie get a crazy hair up their butts, say hey, it's summer vacation, let's do something. So we plan a short camping trip to Durango - located a nice campground that had camper cabins which would provide a little shelter for Cayle on his first camping excursion. Side note, Cayle was spitting up on this day...nothing major, but different for him.

Tuesday: uneventful

Wednesday: We left early for Durango. Mark was watching the dogs for us, so it was just the three of us. Very scenic drive, awesome views as we headed down to the very southwest corner of Colorado. Campground was great, had dinner and ColdStone (yay!) in Durango and walked around Durango for a bit. Cayle had a major vomiting episode :(

Thursday: We slept in a bit then got ready and headed out for our drive. Our plan was to go to the Four Corners Monument, then backtrack and go to Mesa Verde National Park to see the cliff dwellings. On the way to Four Corners, Nick got pulled over. He again got away with a warning. He's just so charming, cops can't give him a ticket I guess??? Four Corners was.....closed. Yep, closed for construction. So, we didn't get to do all four corners. But we were apparently parked in New Mexico at one point, so Cayle did get to go to a different state. Mesa Verde was pretty cool. Nick and I enjoyed the history lesson. Cayle enjoyed all the attention he got as we were out and about. Cayle had a few major vomiting episodes :( Dinner was at Home Slice Pizza in Durango...yummy as usual!

Friday: We had planned to get breakfast at Bread (uber awesome place in Durango) and then take a scenic route home. However, Cayle had been vomiting overnight, and we decided we needed to get him in to the dr. Communication with the dr resulted in her making an appt for an ultrasound for Cayle on our way home. That ultrasound pointed toward Pyloric Stenosis. So we were then instructed to drive to Denver to the Children's Hospital. Basically Cayle can't keep food down because the stomach muscle keeps tightening and not allowing the food through to his small intestine. How to fix this? Surgery. We were in the ER until about 1 am Saturday morning, and were then admitted into our own room.

Saturday: At this point, we are waiting for another ultrasound to confirm what they found yesterday. After that, they will do surgery which should hopefully fix all of the issues.

Pictures of the week and more info to come...

1st Father's Day

A special day for Nick...

Riding with Jeff and visiting fam in Breck

bye, bye grandma

Grandma Cathy left today. We'll see ya in July, thanks for everything while you were here!