Fall hike shots

Somebody loves his pup ...

Hunter was in quite the "pose for the camera" mood tonight (something that doesn't happen often). He grabbed hold of Betty to give her a hug, and Wilder told me I should take a picture. He was right ... they're awful cute together (though one is clearly enjoying the Kodak moment more than the other).

The boys had doctors appointments today and, if it wasn't already clearly official, it is now: They're HUGE. Especially Wilder, who is pretty much off the charts in terms of height. Doc says: "You could put him in room with 100 kids his age, and he'll be the tallest." I guess we already knew that, though. Hunter too is tall, but less skinny ... my little linebacker. He also impressed the doc by following a number of commands and simple instructions. "Wow," the doctor said. "It's very rare for a 2-year-old to do all that."

Mutantly large geniuses, my boys. Heh heh. Yeah, right.

If I may ...

I need to brag a little bit on Hunter. Each day that I pick him up from school, I get a feedback sheet. It tells me how his mood was, what he ate and played with, if he pottied, etc. It also includes a little blurb each day about something he enjoyed or did special.

And almost always, I get a comment on what a good boy he is. Things like:

"You were a very good listener today."

"You are always mellow and happy."

"Today you went out of your way to avoid conflict."

And he is a good boy. I'm never surprised to hear this stuff because, for the most part, it's exactly what I see from him at home. I'm just pleased that other people notice this stuff about him.

For the record, Wilder doesn't get feedback forms or I'd probably be posting similar stuff about him. He might not always be as mellow and easy as his little brother, but he's a good boy. And he makes me a better parent.

A harvest-festival kind of weekend

So this weekend was busy, and apparently exhausting, if how I'm feeling this morning is any indication. We hit a couple of different festivals: the Arvada Harvest Festival on Saturday and the badly named but very fun Harvestival, in Wellington, Colo., yesterday. Both days were fun days, and the latter let us take another long drive in this state we both love so much. We took 287 (instead of the interestate) north, and it goes through a bunch of little towns like Lafayette, Longmont (where I used to work), Loveland, the not-so-little Ft. Collins and so on. Unfortunately, another wildfire broke out west of Loveland, and what was a single and small plume of smoke as we left at 10 a.m. yesterday turned into something much more major by the time we drove home in the late afternoon. So sad.

The highlight of Saturday, for me anyway, was watching Wilder do the Eurobungy (photo below). Wilder usually wants to try stuff like that but will, at the last moment, decide his personal safety is threatened and back off. This is also known as chickening out, I think. But he took one look at this contraption on Saturday and had to do it. And do it he did ... he was a bit little for it, and had a hard time maintaining the bounce of the bungy, but he got some good height and really impressed me with his bravery.

Sunday's festival was way more mellow, which is just what we were hoping. Jerry got to see one of his personal heroes, Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm, speak. That was great. And we also got to see cool stuff like old school buses turned into chicken coops, a trebuchet demonstration, tons of baby ducks, massive tractors, a livestock viewing area filled with cows, llamas, sheep, pigs, donkeys and a goat and more, and a hay maze that I think Wilder could have spent all day in. The boys had fun, but I think we all need a day of recovery today.

This coming weekend, Jerry and I are headed to the Great American Beer Festival on Friday night. And the boys are headed over to spend the evening with their cousins, Allie and Colin, and my brother and sister-in-law, Jay and Deb. I cannot express how happy it makes me to know they'll be there while we're out sampling a bunch of yummy beers. Having family around is not something I will ever take for granted.

Signing off ... enjoy the photos.

The boys and Jer check out a massive tractor.

The Boo-Boo Chicken Coup Bus.

Zoning out at the Arvada festival on Saturday.

Wilder after conquering the Eurobungy!

Bungy boy bungy!!

Hunter feeds some sheep. "Heeeeere sheep sheep sheep. C'mere girl." So cute.

Wilder hay-bale hops.

Jer and Wilder check out the baby ducks.

Baby ducks!

Hunter (who insisted on wearing his Home Depot apron he got at the previous day's festival)