Babcock peak, more broken bones, jobs, silly talk and prom 2018.

Spring, for Brad, is spent either kayaking, motorcycling, or back country skiing.  The conditions have to be perfect for each, so Brad lets the weather dictate the activity.  Last weekend was perfect for another ascent up the mountains for some back country skiing.  The route Brad decided to conquer, Babcock Peak (one of our local 13 footers), was too tough for the little boys, so just he and Jordan went.  Jordan's wrestling coach, Leo, went with them and, being a cross country veteran, was a great companion and offered sage advice.

I guess to get a great ski on a high mountain you have to leave bright and early so you can ascend the mountain when it is frozen.  Brad, Jordan and Leo left at 4:00 am the morning of the adventure.

 You hike up the mountain with all your ski equipment on your back until you reach the snow.  Sometimes, before you are ready for it, you encounter a patch of ice that you didn't see and end up face down sprawled on the ground like this:

Yep, that's Jordan.  And yes, that's Brad taking the picture, laughing so hard and telling Jordan to just lay there he has to get a picture of this (which Jordan is willingly doing because he is tired).  Don't worry though, no broken bones (thankfully!) and Jordan seemed to have a good sense of humor about it too.

At a certain point on the ice, the terrain becomes steep and you put on your cross country ski boots and crampons to help with traction.

 Here's a few pictures to give you an idea of the steepness of the terrain they are climbing.

 

Love the following, we call it Brad's Mary Poppins picture because it is so steep it looks like he is flying.

For real, right?  Let's just call him Braddy Poppins.

Here are a few other pictures that are not quite so dramatic.

When it is so steep and so high in altitude, even looking back can make you lose your balance and initiate a dangerous fall.  You can see the terseness on Jordan's face here as he looks back to give Brad a thumbs up for a picture.

It took them about 6 hours to summit.  They started climbing at six and were at the top around noon.  A much more relaxed thumbs up from Jordan.

A celebratory moment for Brad.

And time for a father/son picture before they descend down (which Jordan hates because even though he is shorter than Brad he is not as short as the picture makes him appear here; he is standing on lower ground).

Brad said to go down you have to wait until the shadow has subsided and the sun is hitting the snow just enough to turn the icy snow into corn(that's what you call spring snow).  Brad described it as his best ski ever.  One mile of pure corn as they descended the mountain.  It took them just a short hour (or a long ski hour) to get down the same distance they climbed.

A great bonding feat and adventure for Dad and son before Jordan heads off to college this fall.

No broken bones from that trip.

Riley got his cast off.  He took one last picture of his cast before he said farewell.  Something about the signatures make the cursed cast beloved in a way.

The very day Riley got his cast off, Ben broke a small bone in his foot!  Really, I'm serious.  Lucky for us, no casting necessary.  Ben's small break was very similar to Jordan's foot break this last December and Ben should be up and running fully in a week or two.  As you can imagine, I am DONE with broken bones.

Jordan got a job this week for the local river store and will soon be teaching kids to kayak and guiding tourists down our local river in a raft.  Until he turns 18, the river comes up and he gets his guiding certification finished, he is just doing odd jobs in the store.  The job is keeping him busy and tired.

Some silly talk that has been going on around here.  Our twelve year old, Riley, thinks it's funny to substitute the word poo into every song he sings lately.  Here's a few examples:

From the song Kenzie performed for the local Voice competition instead of Been talking about the way things change, Riley sings been talking about the way things poop.

From the song cats in the cradle instead of "cats in the cradle and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon...it's little boy poo and the man in the moon.

Or from nothing without love instead of I am nothing without love, I am nothing without poo.

Jordan, Ben and Jake will sometimes join in, *sigh*

Hoping this phase will end soon, but I promised I'd tell the teenage years as they truly are...so there's the twelve year old boy truth.

A couple of silly things Ben has said lately (no potty talk here, but funny nonetheless).

"Maybe Tianna really is Demi Lovato and just hasn't told us!"  This came after a brief discussion from me talking about how much I like the songs from Demi.  Then I wandered onto the topic of how similar in looks and sound our old, beloved assistant, Tianna, is to Demi.  I'd insert a picture of Tianna here but I don't have one so a picture of Demi will just have to do (I know I've said this BUT REALLY Tianna looks JUST LIKE HER):

So Ben helped me realize the truth and I texted Tianna (or should I say Demi) and let her know the secret is out.  She can't fool us!

"Are midi-chlorians real?"  That question came from Ben at the dinner table after discussing star wars.  Not sure if Ben was being serious or not, but it was said.  Please know that we discuss star wars often enough at our table and apparently are big enough fans that the question was asked by our very smart, 14 year old son.  We should be proud.

Finally, last night was prom for Jordan.  He didn't attend with a girl.  He had planned on asking a girl, but something went awry there before he got a chance, so he just went by himself with a big group of friends, both boys and girls.  As always, I don't have a picture of the friend group because he never sends them to me, but here's a picture of him before he headed out our door.

Since he didn't have a girl beside him, I asked Kenzie to stand in with him so I could capture the perfect prom moment to post on facebook.

Pretty good shots if you ask me.

And here's a picture of him with his friend group.

Love that handsome boy.  Can't believe he will be leaving us so soon. (Yes, there are tears in my eyes just writing that last sentence, call me silly if you will.)