Item:  The WALKER
Price: $30
Top Speed:  1-2 MPH
Features:  Bears, anti-lock breaks, bumpers, adjustable bucket seat 
Preferred Road Type:  Hardwood Floors

Inara loves her walker.  It is her preferred mode of transportation, and her battering ram.  You got to watch your ankles in our house, cause at a moment's notice you could get wacked in the lower leg. I refer to it as the "Imperial Walker", as it lays devestation on those who get in its way.  It is especially funny when Inara wants to get into the family room where there is carpet.  She doesn't have enough horsepower going forward, so she will turn the walker around and go in reverse, which we call 4x4 mode since she has more power.   The best $30 I ever spent, endless hours of entertainment.  See it in action by watching the below video.

Well, we are finally moving into our house tomorrow.  I am looking forward to it, but my back isn't.  I am fully expecting my back to be completely jacked come Sunday.  Maybe I can join Marisa at the chiropractor and we can get the family jacked-back discount.   

On a side note, I am feeling the pain of being a home-owner.  Some things in the house are not working, the yard is in horrible shape, and I am constantly thinking of things I need but dont have.  For example, that part of the yard is very dry (the sprinkler system must be missing it), I need to water it.  Oh, I guess I need a garden hose unless I want to carry buckets of water from the kitchen.  Hey, I need to unhook that wire from the ceiling in the basement.  Hmmmm...can't reach it,  I need a ladder, or I need to develop some mad jumping skills.  Man, it sure would be nice if i had something in the garage to put my tools in, or on.  Hey, a workbench!  Well, for now the floor is a good spot :)

Actually, home ownership has been great so far, but it is still fun to share the adventures of it!

 

I was staring at this math problem today, and I began to wonder what you women out there thought of it.

Greg came out an over the July 4th holiday and we decided to head up to Winter Park ski resort for some good ol' fashioned mountain biking.  Well, as it turns out, it was pretty hardcore.  They rent full body armor with the bikes now.  That got me a little worried.  Although I came out unscathed, my Dad didn't fair so well.  He took a pretty hard fall and got some bruised ribs.  They rate mountain bike trails similar to ski trails, with greens, blues, and black diamonds.  Winter park only has blues and blacks for mountain biking.  I will leave you with a few photos, check out the gallery for more.  Oh yeah, on a side note, I played soccer last night for the first time since the infamous ankle injury.  Marisa was not too elated by my decision to play, but I am glad to report that everything went smoothly, and my ankle felt great.  We won 5-1 and I scored 3 goals, so I was pretty happy with the outcome.  I may join a league, as long as Marisa doesn't kick me to the curb for doing it.  Oh yeah, mountain biking pictures......

Body Armor!

Nice view Thane!

One of the easy parts

Well, we have come to an agreement with a seller to purchase her house.  What does this mean?  Well, if all goes well, we will have the keys to our house on July 28th.  Now for some details....The house is 2588 sq feet above ground and has a 1450 sq ft unfinished basement, for a grand total of 4015 sq ft.  It has 3 bedrooms, plus a study, 3 full baths, and a 3 car garage.  The family room has speakers built-in to the wall, and the entire house is internet ready with rooms pre-wired with ethernet cable.  It has hardwood floors in the entry and through the kitchen.  It was built in 2004.  It has a huge master closet, and the master bath is huge as well.   The other two bedrooms have a jack n jill bath.  The house is in a community in Highlands Ranch called Firelight.  I feel like we got a good deal, but only time will tell.

One big problem, Marisa and I have enough furniture to fill about 1200 sq ft, considering that was what we had previously.  There will be a lot of emptiness in some areas for awhile...Eventually, I would also like to finish the basement, which will be a significant expense, however, it would be nice to add a bedroom, bathroom, media room, playroom, and storage room down there.  That will be a ways down the road...

Well, i will leave you with a couple pics...

The family room....with our agent and Inara's new friend Addison

Master Bath...

Front of house, I dont like the color too much, but will paint later on.

 

How do you know what you want, and what is a good deal?  I have seen probably 50 houses online, and I have officially visited about 10-12 now.  I must say that house hunting is stressful.  Can I please mesh the positive things of all the houses I've seen into my one perfect house?  The first thing I learned is there is going to be some give and take unless you have money to burn (duh!).  Maybe that is the exciting part of house hunting, finding the one that fits into your budget and you have to "give" the least.

Well, there were two houses we have seen that are at the top of the list at this moment.  The one we like has a decent size back yard, a mountain view, 3-car garage, and was built in 2004.   I also really like the speakers built into the wall.  Who likes to run speaker wire to the back of the room?  Not me.  I wish it had a finished basement, granite counter-tops in the kitchen, and a loft on the 2nd floor.  Well, if had all of those things, it would probably be out of our price range.  The good thing is, those are all things that can be done later (with exception of adding a loft).

Well, my brain is going at 100mph right now, if you get a chance, check out my photo gallery as i have added some new pics of Inara, pics of house hunting, and some others!

Well, I flew back to California last weekend for Brian's bachelor party.  We went to Pala casino near Temecula.  The trip was great!  I golfed 3 days out of the 4 days that I was there.  I love golf and I am excited about finding cool courses in Colorado.  I have picked up this nasty slice on drives.  It is awful, I hit the ball hard and far, but it is often ends up on the fairway to the right.  I need to fix it, bad.  I am going to hit the driving range, since it is on my way home from work.  Anyways, back to the California trip.  It was great being back for a couple days.  I enjoyed the wonderful traffic that hasn't dissappeared.  It was also blazing hot, like 101 on Friday.  I realize, I despise hot weather.  Nothing makes me more angry then 100 degrees.  You can't do squat outside, and I love being outside.  We golfed on Friday and I almost became a carcass on the fairway.  Thankfully, colorado summers rarely see 100.  I am glad to be back.  Brian is moving out here in June, and he wants to be my neighbor.  Not sure how I feel about that, but we'll find out soon enough :)

Well, I am rambling, so I will leave you with a photograph of a couple of pals. I have updated our photo gallery, so check them out by clicking photo gallery above.

Now that I am resident in a state where awesome skiing is very close, I decided to buy a season pass.  I bought the colorado pass which gives me unlimited access to Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and 10 days at Vail and Beaver Creek.  I figure I will be skiing and snowboarding a lot next season (especially since winter golf is out).  All of those resorts are less than 2 hours away, making day trips possible.  Plus, I will be able to go whenever, so if we have a huge snow-fall, I can head up the next day for tons of fresh powder.  Another cool factor of the season pass is, that I have the option of gettting up to four $50 tickets for friends.  Since lift tickets are $80 at breckenridge, keystone and arapahoe, and $90 at Vail and Beaver Creek, that is pretty good savings for incoming friends.  I also get 6 ski with a friend discount tickets, the discount varying depending on the season and busyness of the resort.  In a couple years, i will introduce Inara to skiing.  Kids under 5 are free.  That will be a fun day!

On another note, I tuned up my Mountain Bike this weekend and took it out.  I left my house on bike and found some good trails.  I am looking forward to heading up to the mountains to bike down the ski resorts.  We did that at mammoth for my bachelor party and it was a blast.

Being the great husband that I am, I decided to help out Marisa so she could leave the house and take the car out if need be after some snowfall.  Aren't I thoughtful? Now she can see where she is going!

It snowed here pretty good yesterday.  To celebrate the moment, we went sledding!   Check out the pictures and videos in the gallery.  Below is a picture of Baby Inara, ready for some sledding action.  Well, okay, she didn't really go sledding...