Happy holidays! AND I graduated!

Happy Holidays everyone!  I am happy to announce that I graduated from Colorado Christian University with a Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction.  It took me exactly two years to complete the program.  I am happy to be done, especially since the lacrosse season is coming up and I'll be starting my first season as a Varsity coach.  Katie and I look forward to spending some quality time in Vail w/ her mom and the Merens family and Steamboat with my sister's family and my mom.  Should be a nice vacation, and we're excited to get some good skiing in. 

4th Annual Fall Fest

Fall Fest 2010 was an instant classic!  For the fourth year in a row we've gone to Anderson Farms to participate in a variety of Fall activities.  From guys vs. girls competing in the Corn Maize, to taking a tractor ride to pet cows and play pumpkin bocce ball, and a new tradition of slingshotting gourds at each other.  We had an AWESOME time.  We ended the day with a delicous meal and a scary movie over at the Taylor's house. 

A little warmer than we would have hoped. 

Love Fall: Summer Flashback

It's been a while.  We're still here.  It's Fall and still HOT in Co, but hopefully cooling off soon.  Looking forward to cool weather, seasonal beers, weddings, and a whole lot more.  We had such a great summer, and wanted to flashback on some of the highlights!

Summer Highlights:

• Spent three weeks traveling through Europe.  We absolutely loved that trip.  Great times, amazing memories.

• Katie joined running group and started training for her 3rd Marathon coming up Oct. 17th in Denver.

• Went to Maine for Mike's grandfather's 90th birthday.

• Katie's friend Erik came to visit, and we climbed 14'ers

• Spent a week babysitting Cody.

• Katie and her friend Katie ran the Muddy Buddy in Boulder!

• Mike went w/Eric to Mile High Music Festival in Denver.

• Went to OH for Mike's 10 year reunion and Drew and Molly's wedding shower.

• Mike started playing in a volleyball league

• Grady got snipped.

• We went to Seattle/Gorge (for Dave Matthews Band show and to see the Platte's and Katie's Mom)

There was more, but that was some of the really good stuff.  Our Fall is really busy but we look forward to what it will bring, and we will try to be better about posting.

A picture from October Fest in Breck w/friends.

DMB @ The Gorge

We had an amazing time celebrating the end of summer by going to see DMB at the Gorge with Mindy and Tyler.  We flew into Seattle late on Friday night, packed up the Suburban early on Saturday, and drove a couple hours to the most beautiful concert venue I've ever seen.  We had the hook up while we were there too!  We had premium camping, pit tickets one night, and met lots of fun people.  It's too bad the band is taking some time off because I would definitely go back next year.  They'll be back though.  Here is the setlist from Saturday night

Squirm *
Granny
Big Eyed Fish *
The Stone *
Funny The Way It Is *
Stay Or Leave *
Fool To Think *
Warehouse *
Rye Whiskey +
#41 *
So Right *
Lie In Our Graves *
Digging a Ditch *
Don’t Drink the Water *
So Damn Lucky *
Why I Am *
All Along The Watchtower *~
_______________
Needle And The Damage Done +
Two Step *

"You gotta babe"/DOMINATE

"You gotta babe" is just one of the amazing quotes I hear from our good friend Faustino or "Richie" as many people call him.  Today I went and visited in his new home.  He has been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma which is an incurable blood cancer.  He's undergone extensive amounts of chemo-therapy and more recently recovering from a broken hip.  The thing about this guy is he's the most ALIVE person I know.  His smile will light up a room , and although he might not admit it he is so wise and wonderful in so many ways.  Today, in his thick New York accent, he told me stories of his childhood, his kids, his parents, his days working construction in New York, and of his beautiful wife Jennie.  He showed me pictures, and spoke candidly on his feelings about his cancer.  "It never quits Mikey, it hides and lurks and adapts to the drugs the docs give me."  Through all of it, and for as long as I've known him he's been able to remain positive.  He even gave me advice about being married, some good advice his father passed on to him.  Every time I visit I leave with a renewed spirit of what it really means to live!

A high school friend of Katie's, Phil Brabbs, also has Multiple Myeloma.  He is also an inspiration to me and so many others.  He started a foundation; CancerKicker.org

The Cancer Kicker Foundation is the vision of a former University of Michigan placekicker, Phil Brabbs, who was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called Multiple Myeloma on 8/8/08; just one day after his 28th Birthday. 

Check it out and find out how you can help DOMINATE!

Richie dancing at our wedding!

Mt. Evans! 14,258 feet above sea level

Katie's good friend Erik Ieuter from Midland, MI is visiting us for the week.  One of Erik's goals in life is to climb every 14'er in Colorado.  A 14'er is a peak above 14,000 feet.  So he flew in Tuesday, and first thing Wednesday morning he and I set out for Mt. Evans.  We got off the Georgetown exit and began making our way over Guanella pass.  We got most of the way before getting turned around due to a rock slide.  This changed things for us.  Now we were going to have to head to a different trailhead to complete the hike.  Instead of the hike being 9 miles round trip, it would be 14 miles with about 4200 feet of elevation gain.  No biggie.  So we drove back to Idaho Springs and took the road up to Echo Lake.  We hiked from Echo Lake all the way past Summit Lake to nearly the peak of Mt. Spaulding before a huge storm rolled in and we were forced to turn around.  Erik was getting shocked through his metal hiking poles, and the wire in pinky (from surgery) was making buzzing sounds.  It began to snow harder as we made our way down to the parking lot at Summit Lake.  I asked a couple who was getting in their car if they wouldn't mind driving us down to our car since they were going that way, and they agreed.  We were bummed we didn't make the summit.  We decided that we would go back the next day and attempt it again from Summit Lake.  So Thursday morning we set out again from Summit Lake, and made it to the summit of Mt. Evans about two hours later!  It took two days, but we did it.  It was a beautiful hike, and we made it to the top right before some weather was rolling in.  Good times, but I am sore.  Erik, however, woke up at 3:30 a.m. this morning (Friday) to go climb Huron Peak.  He's crazy.

Trip to Maine

We travelled to Maine over the 4th of July weekend to celebrate Mike's Grandfather's 90th birthday!  We had a great time meeting, and reuniting with family and friends.  We took the red-eye on Thursday at midnight and made it to Portland, Maine by 10:30 on Friday.  Mike's mom, brother, and brother's fiance Ashley picked us up and we took the scenic route to Belfast.  We stopped in New Harbor for lunch at Shaw's.  Mike got a lobster, and Katie got a lobster roll!  We also stopped at Pemaquid lighthouse, and Round Pond where Mike spent many summers as a kid.  We arrived in Belfast at Pop and Ann's condo, and needless to say he was very surprised to see all of us.  The weekend was full of surprises for Pop.  We went to where we were staying in a nice cottage on the water for dinner and hanging out.  Saturday the two of us woke up and went for an hour and a half jog through the woods.  Then everyone met up and we went for a lobster lunch on a pier by the water.  Saturday night was a very nice cocktail party at a very nice house on a pond.  On Sunday morning we decided to take the sea kayaks out for a spin.  Sunday afternoon was Pop's big birthday celebration.  It started around noon and went late where we were staying.  We had burgers and there were games for the young and old alike.  Pop gave a short speech, and stated that he hadn't been this surprised since the Atomic Bomb was dropped on August 6th, 1945.  We had a really nice weekend!

Pop and Miss Nan

Glow stick fun (our last night)

Katie took this from our front porch the morning we left.  

Go get 'em Grady!

Grady is going to breed!  We're still crossing our fingers, but we're told that Grady is getting some action tomorrow afternoon.  This is big news, and we've been waiting a long time on this.  Do good big guy!

He's a handsome devil!

Hiking

Yesterday I set out for a LONG hike in Boulder.  I parked my car at Chataqua, and took the Mesa Trail, Doudy Draw Trail, and Community Ditch Trail all the way to my house.  If my calculations are correct, I think this was approximately a 12 mile hike.  It was pretty flat most of the way, with some little up and downs.  However, it was very hot and my legs were very tired and sore near the end.  I also ran out of water with about an hour and a half left.  Luckily my amazing wife was getting off work and was able to drive to where I was to drop off some water.  The hike took me just over 5 hours!

Everyone should be a teacher!

I don't know why everyone isn't a teacher.  I can't think of a better work schedule in the world!  I work 186 or so days a year, and have 10 weeks off during the summer.  I guess if you don't like kids you shouldn't teach, but everyone else should get on board.  Here's just some of the great stuff I've been doing with my time off:

1) tubing the boulder creek with Drew Frank (from top of kayak course to 17th St.)
2) riding bikes with Katie to Louisville to get gelato
3) going to Oak Creek to visit with the Risers
4) going for hikes with my bible

Secret plans for the 4th right now, but will be revealed soon.

Katie works hard all day to bring home the bacon!  She is still really enjoying running group (obviously).

Tubing the Creek!  The water was high, but it was a blast.

Cody in the grocery store.

Cody at the beach in Stage Coach.

Summer in Colorado

Now that we're back and have overcome our jet-lag, we're excited for summertime in Boulder.  Katie has joined Running Group again and is training for the Rock n' Roll Denver Marathon on October 17th.  This will be her 3rd Marathon, 3 days, after her 30th birthday.  Mike decided not to join the running group, but may run the 1/2 Marathon.  Mike has already started on some projects around the house.  He's completed the garage by building a ski rack, bike rack, ripping out and rebuilding shelves, and building a workbench.  Other projects include cleaning and staining the deck and painting bathrooms.  Katie is enjoying her stay at home husband!

London to HOME (Day 19)

Well...we're home!  London to Philadelphia (8.5 hrs).  Philadelphia to Denver (4.5 hrs).  DIA to Boulder on the RTD ( 1hr).  Walking from the bus stop to our house (20 min.)  With customs, layovers, baggage claim, etc... we travelled for 23 hours today.  We made it home at 10:20, and were able to sleep until about 5:00 a.m.  Not bad considering.  Good to be home.

By the way, keep tuning in to the blog.  We'll be updating it from time to time even though our trip is over.

Paris to London (Day 18)

We woke up this morning, packed up our packs and headed for the train station for the last time.  That’s right…today we took our last train ride in Europe.  The train ride was a quick 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Twenty-five of those minutes are through a tunnel that goes 150 ft below the floor of the English Channel.  Crazy!  We got to our hostel, dropped off our bags, and went to grab some lunch.  After lunch we walked around Leicester Square and Covent Gardens.  We went back to the hostel and crashed for a good 2.5 hours.  Woke up, went to dinner, then went to an expensive movie!  Tomorrow we head home.  This has been an amazing trip, and we’ll be sad that it’s over but coming home is always great too!  See you soon Colorado.
  

Canyoning in Interlaken (PHOTOS)

Here are some pictures from our Canyoning adventure in Interlaken, Switzerland.  The pictures are of Mike and the group because we only bought his personal CD full of pictures, but Katie did all the same CRAZY stuff!  This was definitely a highlight for us. It was intense, and so fun!

Getting some instructions on what to do next.

What a beautiful canyon!

Our group!

Rapelling!

Jumping!

Swinging!

Superman!

Bottom of the Rappel!

Thumbs UP!

Wadenswil to Paris (Day 17)

We were originally supposed to leave really early (7:00 am) this morning for Paris, but decided it would be better to extend our stay with the Beutel’s.  Good choice!  We woke up and had a great breakfast with Klaus and Uta.  Everything from fruit, cereal, spek (prosciutto), and even toast!  The coffee was great too.  We packed up our bags, and headed out for the afternoon.  We went to a beautiful park, Klaus bought us some groceries for our travels, and had lunch together.  Then we headed to Zurich where we’d be catching our train.  We walked around the parts of Zurich we hadn’t seen yet.  We walked up to an old Fort and had a great view of the city.  Then it was time for us to start our journey back to Paris.  We had to change train 3 times along the way on our 6.5 hr journey.  The trip was smooth, and we even made it back to Paris in time to catch the Eiffel Tower light up!  Thanks Klaus and Uta for a wonderful time.  We wished we could have stayed longer.  Tomorrow we take the Chunnel to London.  We plan on relaxing our last day in Europe. 

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Interlaken, Bern, Zurich, and Wadenswil (Day 16)

This morning we checked out of Happy Inn Hostel in Interlaken, and took the train to visit the Beutel’s in Wadenswil, a small town overlooking Lake Zurich just 20 minutes from Zurich by train.  On our way we stopped for a couple of hours in Bern, the country’s capitol city.  We enjoyed our walk up and down the main street in Bern, stopping to take in the beautiful buildings and architecture along the way.  We weren’t sure where to eat, and in an effort to save money just decided on Burger King.  Then we were off to Wadenswil.  Klaus and Uta were there to greet us, and take us to their home.  We chatted a little while, and upon their suggestion took a ship from there to Zurich to meet Valeska.  It had been 13 years since Katie had seen her, but she spotted her as soon as we got off the ship.  Valeska was nice enough to show us around the old part of town, and as we were walking Switzerland scored a goal against the Spanish in the World Cup, something that wasn’t supposed to happen.  Valeska said it was a miracle, and all of Zurich went crazy!  It was a lot of fun to see.  We then headed back to Wadensil on the train to have dinner at the Beutel’s.  We had a great meal, and after watched some old videos of the Fischer/Beutel kids playing in Midland, MI.  Definitely a blast from the past!  After a great night of catching up and reminiscing, it was time to say goodbye to Valeska and Jurg, and off to bed we went.

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Interlaken (Day 15)

Today we started the day out right…LAUNDRY at an actual laundromat!   We then set out on our hiking adventure.  We weren’t really sure what to expect, as the information desk told us that trail 50 was a “lovely hike”.  We hopped on a train headed into the mountains.  About 30 minutes later we arrived to a small town.  It took us a good  45 minutes to find the trail head (45 minutes of searching uphill).  Eventually, Mike, the fearless leader found trail 50.  The hike was beautiful with flowing waterfalls and green all around us.  However, I would not call it “lovely”…it was pretty much straight uphill for 2 hours…OUCH!  Luckily there were AMAZING views and a Snickers bar awaiting us at the top.  We thought about taking the train down but ended up hiking back down.  We are so hardcore :)  So, here we are blogging in our pajamas, drinking beer and eating brie.  Life is good!  Tomorrow we head to Zurich to see our friends.  It has been 13 years, we are excited!!!

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Interlaken (Day 14)

This morning we went to the grocery store and picked up some cereal and milk among other things!  First time that breakfast wasn’t bread!  After breakfast we walked around Interlaken just exploring the town.  It’s such a beautiful place, and the people are SO nice.  We went back to the hostel, and ate some microwaveable spaghetti bolognese before heading out for our CANYONING adventure.  If you don’t know what canyoning is let us tell you.  We got all dressed up in wetsuits, lifejackets, and helmets and drove 20 minutes up a canyon.  Our group was prepped about the crazy stuff we’d be doing in the water, then we were off.  It’s a mix of rapelling, sliding, and jumping through the rapids flowing through a narrow canyon.  It was INTENSE!  We had so much fun.  We will be sure to post pictures when we get back to Colorado.  We got a cd full of snapshots.  By the time we got back, we were EXHAUSTED.  We took showers and an hour nap.  We decided to go grab a drink before dinner at an outdoor cafe.  We then headed to the bar under our hostel for some DELICIOUS ribs and wings while watching the World Cup.  Tomorrow we’re going to go hiking up in the mountains!

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Cinque Terre to Interlaken, Switzerland (Day 13)

Long day of travelling.  We took a train from Monterosso to Milano, Milano to Spiez, and Spiez to Interlaken. We arrived in Interlaken late and ate McDonald's for dinner (only cost us $17).  Katie had a salad though that she was really excited about because she hasn't had salad on this trip because it's been so expensive.  Katie has already planned the first week of our dinners back in CO; different variations of salads!  No pictures today, but the train ride coming into Interlaken was beautiful!

Cinque Terre (Day 12)

Today we decided to hike AGAIN! Our legs were pretty tired from the nearly 4 hour hike we did yesterday, but we were psyched to do some more hiking. We wanted to hike up to a church overlooking the town of Monterosso. Mike led us down the wrong trail to start. It was beautiful for a little while, but then we would have needed a machete to get anywhere so we turned around. We found the correct path and started hiking UP! It took around 50 minutes to get up to the church. It was definitely worth it; beautiful church and beautiful view. We came down, and decided to explore the town of Manarola. So we got on the train. The wrong one apparently. It took us to Riomaggiore and from there we had to buy another ticket and wait for the train to Manarola. Once we got to Manarola, we were starving so we got some slices of pizza and ate on the steps right along the main street. We spent a little time walking up the main street before heading back to our room for a nap. We were spent! We woke up, went to dinner and then to the pub to watch England vs. USA! 1-1. The English gentleman we were watching the game with was not happy about the tie. Another great day in Italy. Tomorrow it’s off to Interlaken, Switzerland!

Cinque Terre (Day 11)

Today we hiked the coastal pathway through all of the towns of Cinque Terre! We woke up early, got our hiking attire on and grabbed some coffee before boarding the regional train to Riomaggiore. We hiked without stopping through the towns of Manarola and Corniglia before stopping in Vernazza for lunch. That part of the hike was a good 2 hours and 15 minutes. We split a delicious pesto pizza, and Mike got the tastiest beer at a small pizzeria in Vernazza. We also climbed up to the top of the castle to check out the beautiful view. Then we were off to continue to finish the hike from Vernazza to Monterosso. This portion of the hike was very hilly, and took us about an hour and a half. When we got to Monterosso we jumped in the ocean and spent some time relaxing on the beach. For dinner we ate pasta again, then went to a pub near our room to watch France and Uruguay play in the World Cup. We’re tired! Goodnight.