The great road trip of '08 - part 3

TUESDAY

On Tuesday morning the big boys - daddy and Uncle Jeff - rented bikes and road the Boreas Pass while Aunt Steph and I took the little boys to the grocery store. Andrew opted to stay home with Grandma and PaRon and throw rocks.

Taking T and Wyatt to the grocery store together gave us a taste of what taking twins shopping would be like. They did well riding in their little fire truck shopping cart but it was a good thing the buckles worked. My favorite part of that experience was the need to be on flying debris alert. Wyatt can shuck off his shoes and socks in amazing time and it turns out he can even do that while driving an emergency vehicle through the City Market. His brand new yellow Crocs came off one by one and were thrown out of his moving cart in the produce and soft drink aisles. The socks came flying out together somewhere near the dairy aisle, much to Thomas' delight.

After the grocery store we went shopping and all the boys got new Breckenridge gear. Steph and I are truly growing up - we spent all our cash on the kids and neither of us bought a thing.

PaRon and Grandma had lunch with friends that day so Steph and I fed the boys and got naps going. While the little ones slept, Steph and I took Andrew to Maggie's Pond and we fed the geese, which he also lists as a highlight of the trip. During that feeding frenzy we discovered that geese really like sourdough bread (who knew?!) and that the term, "getting goosed" is rooted in a real behavior. That was pretty entertaining for all of us.

After naps we rounded up the whole group and hiked the Burro Trail, which runs up Peak 8. The trailhead was within walking distance of our condo which was a selling feature. Mark knew about it because it was the first part of the Breckenridge Mountain Marathon that he's run a few times, which gave me new respect for that run. It also fit the bill for being a hike "up a mountain," which was very important to Andrew. He really needed to cross that one off his list of things he had accomplished. I have no idea how far we walked but it was a gorgeous wooded trail that followed a stream and it was uphill enough to make me feel like I'd had a little exercise.

It was on this trek that Thomas perfected his now copywrited back-in-for-a-ride manuever. He began putting his signature touches on this move during the walk.

The back-in-for-a-ride manuever is accomplished by T jumping in front of PaRon while he walks and then reversing course and backing into his legs. When his back makes contact with the front of PaRon's shins, he stops moving and throws his arms straight up in the air without saying a word. The first few times he did it, PaRon assumed he had just stumbled and would step around him, but it became obvious that it was intentional and that his hope was that he would get lifted onto PaRon's shoulders for a ride. Needless to say, once it worked the first time, it was repeated over and over and PaRon carried Thomas on his shoulders for the better part of the Burro Trail adventure.

I feel as though I'm blogging with one hand behind my back because of my shortage of accompanying images, and this next part really requires visuals for full effect. There are photos and video that will eventually surface, but for now, you'll have to just bear with me. It might be a "you had to be there."

On the way back down the trail, the boys all ended up with walking sticks. Thomas had his first and I suspect that PaRon gave it to him as bribery to get him off his shoulders. Once Thomas had one, Andrew had to find one. Once Wyatt realized the cousins had them he needed one too. The problem was that Wyatt's was a little short. Andrew and Thomas were using theirs as if they were seasoned hikers, until they began swinging them like weapons. Wyatt was giving it his best go, but was doing a darn good Helen Keller impression as he attempted to reach the ground with a stick that was about six inches too short to do him any good. We should have just found him a stick that was appropriately sized but we were all laughing too hard to do much to help him. We got some pics and video that will make me laugh everytime I see them for years to come.

Tuesday evening included more Olympics viewing and a walk to Coldstone Creamery because it's always a good idea to give kids cotton candy flavored ice cream right before bed.