"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!