Stephanie's Birthday and the Teva Mountain Games

Montie had been visiting us Coloradans for a week, so on my way over to Vail, I met up with him and the Petersens for supper.

I got into Beaver Creek around midnight, so I was happy our rafting jaunt didn't start until mid-morning. Joe's boat is not self-bailing so we had an epic adventure through flood-level almost continuos rapids that resulted in an almost swamped boat with poor Lindsey bouncing around like a pinball.  The water was so cold that both of my legs were bright, bright red.  Definitely memorable and fun.

We were celebrating Stephanie's birthday, and Joe chefed up two BBQ's for her during the weekend.

The Teva Mountain Games were going on, so we watched a few events including the Raft Cross and Speed Retrieve.

I love it when a good chunk of the Colorado crew gets together.

Darren had just driven all the way from Las Vegas and reached us by Sunday morning bearing an entire bag of California oranges

Stephanie's second BBQ

Snowshoeing Birthday

Tara and Eric were gracious enough to let Joy, Darren, and I stay at their house last minute in Denver.  The next morning, while Joy drove carefully back to Fort Collins, Darren and I joined them for some blizzard snowshoeing up past Nederland.  I was actually scared when we first got out of the car because of the Patagonia-esque ferocious wind.  Thankfully most of the wind was blocked once we entered the woods.

The first lake

The very windy and exposed second lake

I couldn't actually look at the lake because the wind and snow burned my eyes

We stopped in Boulder on the way back for one final birthday treat: crepe-age!  I am quite sure the place is owned by the same company in Breckenridge.

The Holy Cross Wilderness Loop

Day 1

Day 2

After crossing Fancy Pass

Day 3

Rafting the Arkansas in Colorado

Joe and Stephanie invited us to join them and Stephanie's parents on a trip down the Arkansas on their new raft.  It was so nice to see friends and enjoy lots of laughs and adventure.

We had some confusion finding the other members of our group

Water wings are manly

Chaco loved riding on Brian's kayak...the dog has serious separation anxiety

The kayakers

Yummy, sandy shore lunch

The rafting crew!

Riding the bull!

I wonder what they are doing

All the river rats

On Sunday Darren and I climbed elephant rock while Olivia and Brian kayaked The Numbers.  Afterwards we went to a restaurant in Buena Vista and watched the World Cup final.  Olivia and I were 
going for Spain because Robben from the Netherlands kept flopping, but then Iniesta started flopping in over time and scored the winning goal for Spain, so we were only slightly happy they won.  Come on people, this is futbol, not the Oscars!

Olivia came back with us to the Springs to study and take study breaks hiking in Red Rock Open Space, climbing at Garden of the Gods, and playing lots of emotional board games