UP 3985

The TRAIN the TRAIN!!

This morning at ~8am the historic Union Pacific 3985 Steam Locomotive rolled down the tracks from Cheyenne to Denver. My wife, kids and I all stood track side and watched this historic event go down.

Here is a quote from Union Pacific about this event.
"We are proud No. 3985 will pull the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Circus train on September 28. History will be made that day when No. 3985 will pull a 65-car train that is more than 6,000 tons and nearly 6,100 feet long, the most for a steam locomotive in the 21st century," said Dick Hartman, Union Pacific's director of public affairs for Colorado and Wyoming."

Here is some facts about the train.

Union Pacific's No. 3985, an articulated locomotive with a "hinged" frame to allow it to negotiate curves, is 122 feet long. It weighs more than one million pounds, has six-foot diameter drive wheels and can reach a top speed of 70 miles per hour. No. 3985 was built in 1943 for fast freight service and was retired in 1959. In 1981, it was restored to running condition by UP employee volunteers for special service. This is the first trip for the locomotive after undergoing maintenance work during the last two years. The Challenger is based in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Our kids really like to see these big trains with the big steam trails rolling down the tracks.  They get so excited to see them.  These pictures don't do justice to the size of this locomotive, but if you look at the wheels they are just a tad big smaller then me!!  Yikes that thing is big.

KOZMO

KOZMO WE LOVE YOU!!

Today our 12 year old lab was diagnosed with Cancer, this cancer attacks his joints and will start to affect his lungs and kidneys so not sure how much time we have left.  As just a pup he learned family love by going everywhere with the family and even being kept a secret in an apartment complex that didn't allow dogs.  It wasn't long and we moved to the country Kozmo started to show his skill.  Kozmo learned to retrieve 2 birds over water before age 1, he was also diagnosed with shoulder problems shortly after that that ended his long term  hunting capabilities. Sure he's still retrieved a few birds for me but at age 5 we transitioned him into training his replacement a female lab that was gun shy.

While this was a challenge I think she learned many things from Kozmo and as a direct result is a great retriever and is very good around kids.  Kozmo is an excellent dog that still wags his tail with excitement, when the tail stops we will know he gave it his all and the end is near.

For today we focus on the joy he has brought to this family and hope for more, we know his journey is short but treasuring the moments still left.  If anyone says Todd you are soft or "It's only a dog" has never owned a lovable lab that will do anything for his owner.  And if you feel Im soft for loving a dog so be it but this dog would take a bullet for me and gladly do it even at age 12.

Here is to a great DOG!!

Company Picnic

Yesterday was our Company picnic that we have done now for 3 years I believe, and this year they had a Hawaiian theme.  The food was grilled Mahi Mahi with a pineapple glaze on a bed of rice, it was good however im not sure if it was what contributed to my being sick this am or not.  The kids really enjoyed this event and you can tell it was targeted towards the kids as most of the activities were kid related.  Seanna really enjoyed getting her face painted and she started a wave of Butterflies getting painted right after.

Dylan got some mad tribal tattoos laid down on his arm and said, next year im getting my face painted, as everyone commented on Seanna's because they could see it while Dylan's was not so visable

Of course we couldn't leave without going fishing and the kids really enjoyed catching the fish.

It's great to work for such an awesome company that does things for the employees like this, it's truly great.

Disc Golf

Been a few days since I made a post and wanted to comment about a few things.  One of the things that I really enjoy doing besides rollerblading is playing disc Golf.  Just about a month ago Intel designed and built a disc golf course right on campus.  I used to play all the time at the HP course and on occasion I make it over to EPIC to play a few round. ( I always bypass the water as my discs are attracted to it)  While this is awesome that I now can walk out the back door and play on my lunch hour or before work my shoulder has taken quite the beating from it.  I've played ~27 holes in the last 2 days and squeezed in a softball game as well.  I do recommend everyone going out and playing no matter what you think your skill level is because everyone can throw a Frisbee.  It's fun and a great source of exercise,  If you ever want to play a round let me know I now a couple of courses around the area that we could hit up and play.

Waste Management Part 2

Thought I would provide a quick update about the now final story of Waste Management.  As promised they came and picked up our dumpster on time and removed it from our place, we were so happy to finally see a end.  Well about a week later i get a email saying I have a new bill from WM.  I login to my account to find I have a $180.00 bill waiting for me to PAY!!  Well I look and they have billed me $150.00 to come get THEIR dumpster.  Keep in mind it's on my property and it's THEIR dumpster not mine that I asked them to haul off.  They own it why do I have to pay to remove it?  And to top if off I think a $30.00 fuel charge is quite obsessive!  They came and got it in a pickup truck and trailer, where did they take it to??  Even if that truck get's 10MPG that means they hauled it over 100 MILES!!  Ault is only 5 miles away, and Denver is 60 miles away.  So of course I get this bill during our vacation and i said I would deal with it when I got back.  Monday I get back to work and I have a Voice Mail from WM.. (This is the funny part) apparently the guy that left me VM is the new route manager and wants to come out and work out the problem with our account so we can continue to get trash service with them.  Are you starting to see the trend that WM has no communication!!  We closed our account and he wants to come out and talk about our service.  So I call Tammy back at WM and she apologizes for the BILL and states that it was her fault and that she corrected the issue and we will not have to pay the $180.00 bill... OH HAPPY Day, and Thank You LORD!!  I have to say in every company there are always great employees and Tammy was great, I appreciate all she did to help remedy a bad situation.

Dylan Parade

Eaton Day Parade

The preschool decided to do a float in this years Eaton day Parade and my son was able to ride on the float.  While I was not able to attend as I was at a funeral I did get to enjoy the pictures that my lovely wife took while I was gone.  If you have never been and you live close I recommend attending it kicks off with a nice street Dance on Friday night and of course lot's of meeting up with old friends.  It's followed by the Parade on Saturday and a Lions club BBQ in the park on Saturday afternoon.  There is also a car show and some booths from local establishments in Eaton.  Saturday night is where EATON really shines as they have a great famiily fun night with kids and adult activities followed by arguably one of the best if not the best Firework show.  This year I heard a handfull of people saying that the firework show was better than Greeley.  Sunday morning concludes the Eaton Day festivities with a Pancake breakfast.

I also had the joy of having my 2 Aunt's (Pat and Margret) join us at Northern Colorado Cowboy Church on Sunday Morning followed by some great fellowship at the Eaton park to catch up.  It was good to see them I feel bad that my oldest son is 4 and it was the first time he's ever met his Great Aunt.  We will have to plan a road trip to see all the family sometime.  One of the best times I can remember as a child was road tripping across the country in a 84 Suburban to see my uncle Graduate from the Naval academy.  It was a great time and got to see lots of family and cool places.

Last Day

THE LAST DAY!

Well for the last day of our "Stay Cation" we headed up to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the first thing that i thought was odd was why was there a zoo in the middle of a massive golf course subdivision.  Looking at the houses I could tell it was an expensive neighborhood, I stopped and picked up a flyer for a "LOT" that was for sale, amazing that for $975,000.00 you can have 1.3 acres and that's it! No house no nothing..  Anyway on to the journey thru the zoo.  Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is known for having the largest display of Giraffes and there was no disappointment there!  The Kids really enjoyed feeding the Giraffes crackers, and they even got to pet them a few times.

This little guy was so CUTE!

No Shortage of cool looking Birds as well

There was lot's of cool stuff for the kids to play on also, they had fun exploring and of course they couldn't stand the smell around the monkeys.  Im always amazed at the fact they put them indoors and they are the most fowl smelling animals in the Zoo.

After playing around on all the toys I decided to give the Kids a High 5 for being so good!!

Of course right before this my wife was trying to be a monkey!!

After Shelley got done Making Monkey noises we headed back down the mountain to take the "SKY RIDE", for thoose of you that know my wife she is not big on Heights and is a little scared of them, she did very good during our trip and I think she concurred some of her fears of heights.  The Sky ride takes you all the way up to the top of the park on a ski lift.  I couldn't pass up the opertunity to show off my rock wall climbing skills.

 After we got of the sky ride we headed over to say good bye to the Giraffe's and I captured this little guy making a pig of himself on berries!!

  After that we also drove up to the shrine of Will Rodgers the view is simply amazing!!

Our trip was very relaxing and we enjoyed ourselves, the kids were very good and minus the fact that no matter what time we put them to bed or how much they ran they never slept in past 6am on any morning.  Also most days Dylan never took a nap, Seanna perfected the art of sleeping in the car during our adventures road trips.  We ended the journey home With a quick stop at JB's for dinner and then a countdown of miles to home!!  Everyone was ready for some much needed sleep... This guy needed some also :)

North Pole

NORTH POLE

Today we visited Santa's workshop at the north Pole, well really it's in Colorado Springs but it felt like it was at the north Pole compared to Canon City.  Due to the cruddy weather here in the springs we have been limited on what we could do, we managed to enjoy Santa's workshop before the downpour of rain for about 4 hours.

This Pole is always COLD.. It was frozen

Dylan and Seanna really liked the rides and there was nothing that Seanna wouldn't go on!

This is such a awesome picture with the wooden frame

Me and the boy!

After our time at Santa's workshop we then ventured back to the hotel for some really really cold outdoor pool play.  The kids really like the water however it's not very fun for adults when it's ~70 degrees outside.  I would've posted this last night however i stuck my memory card in the wrong slot on my laptop and spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to flush it out.  A pin, a paperclip and a knife and finally it was out.  Then I had to fight with the Internet authentication for almost 1 hour, so at 11:15pm I finally was online :(

Royal Gorge

The Big White Bridge

As we headed to the Royal Gorge bridge that is what my son kept calling the bridge, when are we going to go on the big white bridge.  Even after we went across and saw the bridge he said, we haven't went on the big bridge yet.  I guess when you see it from below it looks bigger than when you are on top of it.

 

After I forgot my memory card in my laptop and had to walk back to the truck something told me that getting a golf cart would be fun.  Well I hooked it up and it was probably the best 15 bucks spent on the trip, we drove that thing everywhere.  The kids loved it and it made doing everything with a cranky Seanna much easier.

The bridge is really quite awesome when you get on top of it but it takes a view from the side to really appreciate the workmanship of the bridge.  Shelley pointed out this spot as being a great spot to take a picture of the bridge.

They have lots to do at the Gorge and you can spend as little or as much time as you like, having the cart we were able to do soo much more in a lot shorter period of time.  I took the time out and threw some Axes which was fun and I was quite good at it, the kids liked the merry go round and I couldn't convince Shelley to ride the big SWING!

After we left the Gorge we went back to Canon City had lunch and then headed out for a very scenic drive while the kids napped on Phantom Creak road.  This is part of the Gold Belt tour and someday I would love to do the whole tour on a motorcycle.  I know my dad would love it also so the plan is for the boys to get bikes and take a tour!!  There are lots of cool scenery along the way the bridge is awesome also and not bad for a bunch of miners!!

Sure wouldn't be right If I didn't get a self portrait!!

Maybe another Image that could be up on flickr!!

Off to Santa's workshop if the weather will hold out!!

Royal Gorge Train

All Aboard!!

Day 2 we took in the Royal Gorge train, train ride was a couple of hours and after having to stand in line for a short period to get tickets we  finally boarded.  Poor Shelley got pushed while standing in line by some very rude person that was very impatient!!  Here are some pictures as we wait to depart the station!!

This was the "Vista Dome" car

You'll notice pictures of me with my Hat on backwards, I promise Im not turning into a gang member, when I take pictures I have to turn my hat around so the brim doesn't hit my flash.  Dylan is becoming quite the good photographer, he took this picture of Shelley and me with my DSLR!

AW the long awaited bridge.. We will show you the bottom today and then the view from the top tomorrow.

The staff on the train are very friendly and we really enjoyed the train ride, Dylan hasn't stopped talking about it.  After that we grabbed a bite at the infamous Pizza Madness and then headed out to Skyline Drive for a very scenic view of Canon City.

After a very nice scenic tour we decided to check out the Holly cross Abby and the Winery, The kids like walking thru the grape fields and enjoyed playing in the nice open area.  Of course they have a great logo!!

After the winery we took a quick tour of the dinosaur museum, while small it was definably geared towards kids, it was just what are two needed, they played colored and got to dig for bones in walnut shells!!

Since the Hotel Internet seems to never work at night the pictures are of the day before, I've called tech support 2x both around 10pm so Im sure he will be real glad when I leave canon City.  Today we are off to see the Gorge bride and then take a very scenic drive back towards Colorado Springs.