Daddy Daycare...

Elizabeth is in California to surprise an old friend by showing up for her baby shower. She didn't take any of the kids... So hold on kids, 'cause it's time for daddy daycare! (Cue ominous music)


Overall, my first full day went really well. It helped that Liz left us with a crock-pot full of beef stew to ease me into it last night. The kids woke me up around half past six, which is on the later side of normal, and I began the day of outdoor activities I had planned. By 8:30AM we finished our breakfast of home made McD's style egg cheese and ham muffins and were out the door. Jeremiah is now quite accomplished at riding his bicycle (since it has training wheels does that make it a quadricycle?) so we rode to the local park. The other two rode in the trailer behind me.

After spending an hour or so running around the park we headed home for snack time. The kids ate bananas while I prepared for our next activity. Since the weather was so awesome (sunny and 75F) I wanted to go for a mountain bike ride in Waterton Canyon. The only problem was how to take all three kids along since JP's training wheels just wouldn't work on the dirt... Well, if necessity is the mother of invention perhaps cabin fever is a distant cousin because by the time 11AM rolled around I was rolling down the driveway with not one but TWO bike trailers behind me. Connecting the two trailers involved adding a new hole to one of them to mount the hardware. Yes, as affirmed by passing motorists, bicyclists, and runners - I am still "The Man".

Yes, not one but TWO trailers with THREE kids

Once inside Waterton Canyon I shot this video for Liz:

Despite how out of breath I was, I made it 7.5 miles up the canyon to this covered picnic spot where we dined on PB&J, crackers, oranges, bananas, and drinks.

Kids enjoying their picnic lunch

I let the kids run around for around a half hour before loading them up and heading back. We saw tons of wildlife and beautiful early spring scenery. Here are some photos I took while riding today.



Whitetail deer



Juvenile bighorn sheep



Mature male bighorn sheep



A group of bighorn sheep climbing the canyon



A fisherman I spoke with claimed he caught and released 8 trout in this section in 30 minutes

The remainder of the day involved JP and Rachel riding their bikes around the neighborhood, watching Cars the movie, calling mommy, eating Mac'N'Cheese for dinner, bathing the kids and putting them to bed. Overall it was a very rewarding day and the kids were overall pretty awesome. I mean it's just got to be a good day when my 3 year old maintained a good attitude all day and helped his brother and sister. You know, today he started to turn into my right hand man. That's the kind of thing that will bring a tear to any dad's eye.

 -Paul