Boz at BVCC

Boz came to Boulder Valley Christian Church a little while back and I shot some video of it. Here is the condensed version consisting of Sydney dancing and Bryce trying to get into trouble. And yes I do teach her all her moves!

We're on YouTube!

I just bought iLife '08 and one of the new features in iMovie is publishing to YouTube. So my first experiment was to take Sydney's 4th Birthday clips and photos and create a video. Check it out!

The Idaho Springs to Georgetown Half Marathon

Family at Idaho Springs
Originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas

Well all the training has finally culminated in the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon on Saturday morning. Melissa left at 5:45 with our neighbors who were also running the race in order to get the registration packet and make the start time of 8am. Me and the kids slept in and left at 8:15 so we would be there in time to see Melissa finish. We struggled to find a parking spot but did managed to get there to see her finish. Notice her bib in the picture says 3676 so there was a large group of runners there. Many more than the "around 200" that her friend told her (probably so she wouldn't be nervous). Anyway she finished really well even though it was quite hot throughout the race. We walked around the Idaho Springs football field afterwards and I finished her free O'Douls with a little help from Bryce (see the picture in Flickr). For a cool map of the route check out what her Garmin produced with a little help from Google Maps: Route Map.

Ball SW Picnic at Boondocks

Racing at Boondocks
Originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas

The Ball SW department picnic was at Boondocks fun center this year. They organized a dinner for us and then we had unlimited use of the facilities which include mini golf, bumper boats, go karts, laser tag, batting cages, and tokens for video games. Sydney had a lot of fun on the bumper boats and go karts. We also had fun blasting each other in the laser tag arena. There's another picture in my Flikr photostream of Ryan Melton and I playing Dance Dance Revolution. Towards the end of the evening we found this game with a revolving table containing plastic dinosaurs. It cost two tokens and you had to move this dinosaur mouth down and catch the dinosaurs which you then won. I'm not a gambling man but I can see the addiction factor because I was cleaning up at this game. A few times I grabbed two dinosaurs and Sydney, Bryce (and Melissa) were all cheering for me. I ended up winning 11 dinosaurs and gave a few to a coworkers kid because I had every species! It may sounds pathetic, but it was an exihilarating end to a great night.

Rocky Mountain National Park Pictures

Flowers - RMNP
Originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas

Back when Opa and Oma came to visit they stayed in Estes Park. Melissa and Bryce had already flew out to Minnesota when Sydney and I decided to visit them in Estes Park. We all went up into Rocky Mountain National Park to Bear Lake. We took a few pictures at Bear Lake when I decided to run up to the Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lake while Opa, Oma, and Sydney walked around Bear Lake. I took the picture of this flower at Dream Lake and started towards Emerald Lake when I turned around because of threatening weather. I starting running down the trail passing all the tourists as it started to rain. I made it back to the car where Opa, Oma, and Sydney were waiting just as it really started to pour. Enjoy the pictures!

Sydney in the Midwest

Sydney spent this last week playing with Opa and Oma in Iowa and Grandma Jayne in Minnesota. My parents drove out for a week at Estes Park and then last Sunday took Sydney back to Iowa with them. They stopped overnight in Omaha and went to the zoo Monday morning which was a nice way to break up the trip. After that Sydney slept until Des Moines (so did Opa) and then they made it to Independence where Sydney promptly disappeared into the basement to play with toys. I guess she did more of the same on Tuesday and then Wednesday Opa and Oma took her halfway to Saint James where Grandma Jayne picked her up. When they arrived in Saint James, she promptly went down in the basement to play with barbies. Again came more of the same on Thursday with a side trip to see great grandma. Friday Sydney and Jayne flew to Colorado where a happy homecoming was had by all. Apparently Sydney forgot she had a brother, because shortly after the happy homecoming she stole Bryce's toys away from him and knocked him down. Timeouts ensued and by today (Sunday) she's pretty much back under control. Yep, a few days with the grandparents can get a kid thinking they're faultless but we've straightened her out.

Tomorrow she goes to her third vacation bible school of the year. I'm begining to think people believe we're just trying to get rid of her for a few hours during the week. Actually she loves going and it's not like we drive around looking for the VBS signs. One was our church (BVCC), one was her preschool (COC), the last one is where she goes to MOPS. Fun for her and a nice break for Melissa and Bryce. Hang in there guys, she goes back to preschool in a few weeks! Just kidding.

4th of July Fun

Sydney fighting fires
Originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas

For the 4th of July we stayed in the neighborhood. They had a kids parade led by a Westminster fire truck and we managed to convince Sydney to ride her big girl bike. I think that was a mistake though, because I ended up pushing her most of the way around the neighborhood. After the parade the firemen set up the hose and let the kids take turns "operating" it. Sydney was really into it and loved sitting in the firetruck. They bought fried chicken and drinks and everyone else brought a dish to share which made quite the feast.

That evening we went to Ryan and Amy's house to help Ryan celebrate his birthday. Later we decided to head to the Broomfield Commons soccer fields to watch the fireworks. The weather was iffy with some strong wind and weird clouds but we went anyway. While we were sitting there we could see Westminster and Thornton start their fireworks but nothing from Broomfield. Eventually everyone started leaving so we did too. About half way home, BOOM starts the Broomfield fireworks. Thanks for the notification Broomfield. :-P What a bummer, but at least we were able to see them from home if not feel them. We finally ended up at another neighborhood party where Sydney got to try some sparklers. After that it was time for bed.

Building a House in Alaska

I spent from June 28th till the morning of July 4th in Healy, Alaska helping Brian build his house. We did a lot of framing while I was there and I learned more than I ever expected about the process. One of the guys said, "I'll have to bring you out the next time I build a house." I think he said that because he knew I was working for free. In any case, I think it's safe to say that most of my framing days are behind me. When I got back all my coworkers asked how my "vacation" was. I said, "What vacation? I was framing a house!" I also learned that when you tell anyone outside of Alaska that you're visiting Alaska, they automatically assume you're going on a fishing trip. Anyway, it was fun to see Brian and pregnant Katie and help them build the place they'll be living starting this fall. Brian has an amazing grasp of the building process considering this is his first house. However, its a good thing Katie's step-father John is in charge because at one point he and I built an interior wall to his bathroom without a door! Brian set up his tripod for each day of construction and has taken some great pictures of the process. Check them out at his blog here.

Release of the Butterflies

Butterfly in Purple Salvia
Originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas

Sydney got a container of live caterpillars from Aiden for her 4th birthday. They come in a jar with food and just eat until they form cocoons by attaching themselves to a little paper disk at the top of the jar. We then moved this to another mesh container about the size of a beach ball and waited for them to hatch. Unfortunately, hatching takes about a second so we missed the process of hatching for them. Eventually we let them loose in the garden by unzipping the top of the container. Most just flew away but the one in the picture hung out and let us take a few pictures of him. Butterfiles are fun!

Bolder Boulder Pictures

Melanie and Melissa
Originally uploaded by jason_m_thomas

I've finally posted some pictures from Melissa's running of the Bolder Boulder. She had a great time and a great run, beating her goal pace by running less than 8 minute miles. I don't know how she does it but it was fun to watch from the sidelines with Sydney and Bryce. We were joined by my buddy Matt and his kids Corrine and Jack who were watching Melanie who is with Melissa in this picture and some of the other action shots. After the race we walked around with some of the other 50,000 runners and got some free popsickles for the kids and other schwag. We then went back into the CU football stadium for the memory day tribute where skydivers landed carrying the flag from each branch of service and the American Flag. This was followed by the national anthem and a jet flyover which Bryce and Sydney really liked. They both totally crashed after that because we all got up at 5am in order to get Melissa to Boulder for her 7am start. The race she's really training for, the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half marathon, is coming up soon on Saturday, August 11 at 8am. We'll keep you posted!