It only stings for a few minutes...

Max is now at the stage where he wants to try ALL kinds of things off the diving board. Which is pretty much what I remember doing all summer long when I was growing up. There was lots of tennis and swim team practice, but most of our time was spent goofing around in the pool and doing crazy tricks off the diving board. We would even send our little dachshund off at times - wearing a life jacket - of course. I'm sure he LOVED it.

Anyway, Max was super keen to try a flip on Sunday. He was a bit apprehensive at first so he practiced off the side. After this trial run he was feeling pretty confident. He promptly got in line and tried a flip off of the board... and landed flat on his back! He came up screaming - in complete pain - "IT HURTS SO BAD!" He has not tried another flip since... but today he thinks he should go for a backward dive... to which Alex replied, "MAX, I DON'T THINK THAT'S A GOOD IDEA."

I think he should TOTALLY go for it.

Evolution of a Dinner Conversation

Max has finished everything on his plate - as usual - and starts looking around the table for any food left on our plates. He ends up - as usual - eyeballing Alex's plate. It's still half full of food.

*Alex, are you done with your fish?

*No, Max... you can't have it. I'm going to eat all of it.

Incredulous looks all around.

Eventually, she does indeed finish it. Max downs another glass of milk. He eats twice as much as I do these days. Alex actually eats more than a few nibbles. It's fairly bazaar watching them both at the dinner table now. I could swear it was just yesterday when it was one big, babbling, mess fest.

Alex starts chatting about gymnastics... and seriously, I'm always so amazed by the details in her recollection of an event. She can talk about what she did - or didn't do, how she FELT about it, what other girls did - or didn't do, what other girls were wearing... She's just so aware of her surroundings.

Max, on the other hand, is not like that. At all. It pains him to try to tell you about his day... or even his gymnastics class an hour ago. However, this is the sort of thing he does throw out there:

*Did you know that any number + itself is always an even number?

Ya, that's true, Max. There's talk of even and odd numbers. Did you know that there are also negative numbers?

*Ya, like -15. Discussion on how weird it is that there are negative numbers...

Ya. So what would you get if you subtracted 11 from 10?

*-1. Duh.

More incredulous looks.

Yep. That's right.

Stop saying, Duh.

What They're Doing When They're Not Watching Sponge-Bob

Yesterday we tried hiking a ways up Mt. Crested Butte, but they weren't too excited to have to use their legs to go "NOWHERE" ! The whining reached astronomical proportions... and I was beatin' down pretty quickly. So we went to town for lunch with Angie and lots of play in the park. They had no problem using their legs there... for 2 hours.
Then we drove to Taylor Canyon for some climbing on real rock with my good friend, Tom. Max had a great time talking and grunting his way up.
Alex was determined to do "much better than Max." She didn't end up getting quite as high, but she had some pretty brilliant moves... We'll definitely have to do more of this when we get home.

Crested Butte

I have now been with the kids for 5 days straight without a break and the fracture lines are definitely beginning to widen.

At this point, when Max and Alex aren't fully engaged in an activity, they are either fighting with each other, otherwise annoying each other, playing with each other - but annoying me with their various, irritating noises, or complaining and whining about a perceived injustice.

So it was with great disappointment when we discovered this morning that all of the mountain activities - I had thought/hoped we could do - aren't open until after we leave - and they're too young for horseback riding or river rafting. I tried enticing them with a treasure hunt under the ski lifts, but they weren't interested in WALKING... AT ALL.

Thankfully, there is a little pottery painting studio downtown. We spent all afternoon slapping paint on all kinds of ceramic items. It was fun - but it wasn't what I'm used to doing here. It's strange being here with children.

I want to play in these gorgeous mountains. I will admit it... I want to escape... to feel free... to be quiet.

It's just not going to happen.

Ouray

We drove into Ouray Monday afternoon and soaked in the Hot Springs Pool for a couple of hours - until we were complete prunes and starving for dinner. It was one of the best times I've ever had with the kids. We had perfect weather for hanging out in hot springs - cloudy with light rain. At first the kids were completely mesmerized just watching the rain drops ripple on the water. But before long Max was doing laps on the slides while Alex swam... and swam... and swam. She never got cold!!! Then we all played a great game of catch with our little, Nerf football.

The next morning we got up and played at the park for a while before the pool opened.


We happened to get done swimming at the same time Dan rode into town - on his 3rd day of the bike tour. So the kids 'helped' him set his tent up in the park and we took in the spectacle of hundreds of riders descending upon a small town. Then we made our way to Crested Butte.

Molas Pass

On our way from Durango to Ouray we stopped at the top of Molas Pass to enjoy the view. To get to this overlook you can either walk this nice, short, safe path OR you can - as Max did - and then Alex insisted on doing - and then I had to do - climb/scramble up a very steep and very NOT safe rock wall.

It was somewhat without incident... and then this sweet stranger offered to take our picture.

We Rode the Train!

We rode the train from Silverton to Durango today.

All I can say is... there was a lot of excitement to get ON the train... and... after that... not so much. Alex fell asleep in my lap 30 minutes in and Max busied himself with playing checkers on my iphone and running back and forth to get hot chocolate. Free refills!!!!! AND he got to cross 2 cars to get to the snack car! Should I be worried that his favorite part was finding out that there was a snack car?

He also ended up having to poop during the ride. After what seemed like an abnormally long time - he finally emerged from the bathroom and announced - VERY LOUDLY- that the bathroom was AMAZING!!! Afterwards, he proceeded to tell everyone in our car (they couldn't help hearing) about the toilet... and how it worked... and about how big his poop was... and that it was in the shape of a horse shoe... and IT STILL WENT DOWN when he pushed his foot to flush it!!!

I can't even begin to describe what it's like... getting used to those sorts of public conversations...

Anyway, since Alex was on my lap most of the way I just sort of sat there and watched the gorgeous scenery fade in and out. It was actually very relaxing... and then... after watching everyone bounce from one window to another - taking thousands of photos... I thought... shit... I guess I should get one too... so I stuck the camera out the window and snapped this shot towards the end. I think it'll do.