Lovin' Summer

I have just a few days left of my summer break, and while it's always sad when it comes to an end, I'm really glad I was able to do everything I did and enjoy my time off.

I just returned from an awesome trip to Washington to see my sister. We truly made the most of our time and packed in as many activities as possible.

We spent the first week in Port Townsend enjoying concerts on the dock, coffee, amazing meals and cocktails, farmer's markets, coffee, movies at the Rose Theater & Starlight Room, beach time, exploring Fort Worden, visiting Olympia, hanging out, oh, and did I mention, coffee?

Movie Night at the Starlight Theater

Chillin' at Fort Worden

Wall Spins at Fort Worden

During the week, we also took the ferry for a day trip to Victoria, BC where we wandered the shops and visited the art gallery at the Robert Bateman Centre.

The Parliament Building and a Totem Pole in Victoria, BC

For the last weekend in Washington, we went to Seattle. We started the weekend with a trip to Emerald City Trapeze. Stacie worked on the gazelle, and I worked on the penny roll. Even though I was having trouble with the form and timing, I was able to make the catch at the end of the day.

Penny Roll Catch

After trapeze, we wandered around Seattle and had a late lunch at The Pink Door. That evening, we decided to walk to the Space Needle, and on a whim, went to the Chihuly Exhibit. We had fun taking pictures and loved seeing everything lit up. We even enjoyed dessert and a bottle of wine while waiting for dark. It was one of those perfect days that makes you smile just thinking about it.

Outside the Pink Door in Seattle

The Space Needle at the Chihuly Exhibit

While in Seattle, we also went to the North American Women's Parkour Jam. Unfortunately, I injured my ankle a few weeks before the trip, so I had to take it easy. However, it was still fun to be a part of the event, and Seattle has some amazing training spots. We were also able to coordinate a visit with some of our cousins and had a great time walking around Seattle and having dinner at Tulio. On the way back to the hotel, we stumbled upon the Seafair Torchlight Parade and joined the crowd to watch.

Lache at Gasworks Park in Seattle

Hanging out with our cousin Beth in Seattle

My visit ended with a concert and Marymoor Park. We had a blast listening to Colin Hay, The Violent Femmes, and The Barenaked Ladies.

Cracking up at the Barenaked Ladies Concert

After returning home, I was able to visit with some of my other Portland cousins. We had dinner at my house and went to Elitch's together.

Dinner with the Earnests & Keturis

Freaking Out on the Tower of Doom

I took my first few aerials classes, and even had the chance to play on the outdoor rig during Nat Jam. It requires very different types of movements from what I'm used to, but it is a good challenge, and something new to work on each week. It was nice to be able to still do something at the jam with a sprained ankle.

Gazelle on the Outdoor Aerials Rig

Livin' Easy Belizy

My summer started off with a trip to Belize. We had a ton of fun and felt like we were able to see much of the country on our trip.

Some of my favorite photos from the trip

Belize seemed like a perfect mix of adventure in the jungle and relaxation on the beach. For the first half, we stayed at Sleeping Giant Lodge. We had a different activity for each day and started the week with cabe tubing. Within the cave, we floated in a line of six with only our head lamps to illuminate the inside. We spent the afternoon indulging with the included rum drinks and sampled at least one of every color.

Entering the cave for some tubing

Afternoon drinks

We spent the next day exploring the Mayan Ruins of Xunantunich and Cahal Pech. It was amazing to see the massive monuments and living quarters. Cahal Pech was smaller, however, there was a lot to explore. The afternoon included reading in the hammock and relaxing.

Xunantunich

One of my favorite parts of the trips was the Black Hole Drop in which we hiked through the jungle for about an hour and a half, and then rappelled down a 300 foot sinkhole. The views were amazing and the rappel was exhilarating. We enjoyed lunch at the bottom before hiking out.

Starting the Black Hole Drop

On our final day at Sleeping Giant, we started out disappointed when the Waterfall Hike was cancelled, but we were able to go horseback riding instead. When we arrived, our group had just left without us, so we were able to look at the birds and jaguars within their animal area, and then we took a boat ride up the Belize River. Along the way, we saw howler monkeys and giant iguanas. It was pretty cool to ride through the rainforest and encounter some more howler monkeys.

Boat Ride on the Belize River

Horseback Riding

When we arrived back at the lodge, we were informed that there were two surprises for us. The first was a giant coconut with a straw. The second was an over the top dinner on a private balcony, complete with candles and flowers.

Surprise #1

Surprise #2

For the second half of our trip, we drove to Placencia, and then took a boat 20 miles off shore to Hatchet Caye. While on the island, we snorkeled, kayaked, and relaxed on the beach and at the pool. We also took a boat to a nearby turtle spot. When we arrived, there were several boats cleaning their catch, which attracted turtles, sting rays, and sharks.

Dock Handstand

Sea Kayaking

 

Marine Life while Snorkeling

I also had a goal to do a backflip on the beach, which I finally attempted on our last day.

First Beach Backflip

Our final day travels included a boat ride back to shore, a small plane from Placencia to Belize City, and two more flights back to Denver. I had been anxious about the small plane considering it would be my first time in over 20 years. While it was a bit emotional, the flight was relatively smooth. It was a long day, but well worth it for the trip.

Small Plane Flight to Belize City

The day after returning home, we participated in Challenge Nation with a few friends. We dressed up in an 80's theme (Let's Get Physical) and ended up taking 4th place overall out of 54 teams.

Our photos at each checkpoint

Team photo near the halfway point

Everybody in!

It has been a great start to the summer so far!

Countin' Down Until Summer

The school year is coming to an end, and I'm anxiously awaiting the start of summer break. This spring, I've taken a few short trips and have continued to do a ton of parkour. I love how I am still so excited about it, and after watching a few of the videos in my earlier in my posts, I'm realizing how much I've learned and how much I've progressed.

My biggest accomplishment has been a standing backflip in the grass. I'll admit it took me much longer than it should have, and while it's still not perfect, I was so excited to finally build up the confidence to try it.

Some other skills I've been working on this spring are side flips, websters, wall flips, kong precisions, lache precisions, and combining moves together. One of my summer goals is to get more comfortable flipping outside on harder surfaces.

Side Flip

Wall Flip

Kong to Webster

Lache to Webster

Side Flip at the Park

I have also been working on building confidence with obstacle courses. I love when I can link several moves together and make everything flow smoothly. I've learned a ton of new bar tricks including flyaways (on hard ground), quasimodos, and castaways. Additionally, I have been taking a break dancing class, and while I feel like most of the class involves me falling on my face, it's still fun and I've learned several cool freezes.

Cast to Baby Knee Giant to Butt Flip

Quasimodo

Castaway

In February, a few friends from work convinced me to take a day off from work to go to Steamboat for a long weekend. We had fun tubing, snowshoeing, and just enjoying each other's company. It was definitely worth taking a sub day.

Posing with Olaf

Snowshoeing on Rabbit Ears Pass

For spring break, We went to Moab with several friends. Besides camping, we went mountain biking, hiking, and rappelling.

Magnificent Seven Ride Bike

Turtle Pose in Canyonlands

Elephant Butte Rappel

I have one week left of work before summer break starts. I can't wait for two months of trips and parkour.

Hangin' Out With My Sisters

I have really been enjoying my time off for the holidays, and as usual, am sad it will end when I go back to work on Monday. This year, we had a big night out for New Year's Eve with a black tie dinner and beer pairing at The Copper Kettle Brewery. We had fun with friends and felt especially fancy in our "black tie" attire.

All Dressed Up for New Year's Eve

The week before Thanksgiving, my sisters were able to visit Denver. This was the first time all four of us have been together in about eight years. Besides eating lots of great food, drinking craft beer at several breweries, and hanging out with each other we enjoyed our visits to The Denver Art Museum, Cherry Creek, Canvas Uncorked, The Chihuly Exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens, and Red Rocks.

Our Dreamcatchers Ready for the Museum at Canvas Uncorked

Happy Hour at The Mountain Toad Brewery

The Chihuly Exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens

The Denver Botanic Gardens

Tacos & Margaritas at Pinche Tacos

Little Man Ice Cream in the Freezing Cold

Walking the rails at Red Rocks

Right before school started, I hurt my knee walking down the stairs. It forced me to take another break from parkour, but I am finally feeling like it's getting back to normal. It still hurts when I move it certain ways, but I'm happy to feel mostly healed. This past week, I landed my first few backflips without a spotter. This was a huge accomplishment, as it's something I've been wanting to do for the past year. I'm feeling much more confident with the move and am hoping to eliminate the drop soon.

Getting Used to Backflips

Before the end of summer, we finally finished our yard. I'm so happy to have it complete after a full year and am looking forward to spending lots of time outside next summer.

Our Finished Yard with Furniture

Our Finished Yard with Plants & a Garden

Travelin' to France

Summer has been going really well, and I just returned from a big trip to France. I went with my sister, Stacie, and we were gone almost three weeks. We definitely enjoyed exploring, eating, drinking, walking, and relaxing.

We flew into Toulouse and took a rental car to the small village of Siran. Getting to Siran was quite the adventure in itself, but we finally made it. We spent the first few days relaxing and recovering from jet lag. Once caught up on our sleep, we spent the next week exploring the nearby villages, eating great food, visiting a few markets, and enjoying being in a new place. We stopped at a nearby winery (Chateau de Rieux) twice during our stay, toured the abbey at Caunes de Minervois, and enjoyed the weekday trucks that visited the village. We were invited to a neighbor's house for some appetizers and drinks, and it turned into a fun filled evening talking with people from London, Ireland, and France. After our time in Siran, we ventured back to Toulouse, stopping at Carcassonne on the way. It was an amazing castle where we took hundreds of photos.

We spent the night in Toulouse and enjoyed wandering the city. Then next morning, we had a five and a half our train ride north to Paris. Once we arrived, we spent some time planning out the rest of our stay in Paris. For the first two days, we used our Museum Pass to visit the Arc de Triomph, Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre, Centre de Pompidou, Saint Chappelle, Musee de Moyen Age, and the Pantheon.

Outside the Louvre

Outside the Pompidou

After our busy museum days, we took a few days to just explore the city. We visited a ton of parks and took a day to visit the Eiffel Tower. We also took a Parkour class from ADD Academy. The workout was much more intense and the style was more artistic, but it was fun to try something new.

Each day we visited the patisserie for a baguette and/or desserts. We tried several restaurants and decided the one below our apartment, Le Tournebride, was by far our favorite. It was a new experience and interesting to be in a new country. I was definitely pushed outside my comfort zone when trying to navigate around the country and communicate/order food in another language.

Here is a slideshow with just a few of the hundreds of pictures from our trip:

Last week, we attempted and completed the Tour de Bcycle. The challenge is to check into each of the 83 Bcycle stations in Denver in one day. It was quite the challenge and with the hot day, it was very exhausting. We made it though, and now we will receive a shirt and our names on the Bcycle website. It was a fun way to tour the city and see the most important places in Denver. We even stopped at Civic Center Eats for lunch.

One of the many Bcycles I rode during the day

Page 1 of the order of the stations

Our finishing selfite at Botanic Gardens

While I was gone, Eric spent a ton of time working on the yard. It has come a long way in the past year and it is approaching completion. The deck, wall, patio, and sprinklers are complete. We also have a place for a garden and the grass is starting to come in. Once we buy some patio furniture and put in some plants, we will have a nice outdoor space to hang out in.

Turnin' 30

The past few months have been hectic with both Eric & my 30th birthdays, our anniversary, and the end of the school year. As a result, we've been to several nice celebration dinners at some new restaurants and eaten a ton of food. For our anniversary we went to Fruition, and I woke up the next morning wanting to go back. My favorite dish was the Pasta Carbonara with Pork Belly, and I have been craving it ever since. Eric took me for an Italian five course dinner at Panzano for my birthday. The Fried Brussels Sprouts and Pastiche (Housemade Cheese Tortellini w/ Spicy Meatballs) were amazing. Some friends took us to Potager to celebrate all of the above along with the start of summer, and me winning "Teacher of the Year." We shared several plates, and few bottles of wine, and had a great time.

For my birthday, we started the day with breakfast at home. After a mellow morning lounging around, we went shopping at Cherry Creek. We had a healthy lunch at Harmon's to counteract the sweet breakfast, and then went to Freerunning and worked on side flips, punch front flips, and websters. Afterwards, we went to Cannonball Creek Brewery and ate pizza off the Basic Kneads food truck. We ended the evening with a walk around the neighborhood looking for the perfect place to do an outside flip. Unfortunately we did not find a place, but I know we will continue looking. Lastly, we enjoyed birthday cake while watching TV on the couch. The weather was gorgeous, and made for a great day.

Birthday Breakfast of Doughnuts, Breakfast Sandwich, Breakfast Burrito, & a Frappuccino

White Chocolate Raspberry Chiffon Birthday Cake

I am still addicted to Parkour and have been going to class at least three days a week, sometimes five. I started going to another new class called Moveabilities (MoAbs). The first half is focused on Parkour, and the second half is a more intense workout, sometimes using some aspects of a Crossfit workout. I am usually the only one there because it is earlier in the evening, so we always work on one of my weaknesses. Often, we work on skills that we use during the following evening's class, and I definitely see the benefits of working on it beforehand. We have been working on my fear of heights by jumping from taller objects and precision jumping over tall gaps. I am also still nervous about kong vaults to precision considering that is how I hurt my knee, but after the last class, I am feeling much more comfortable with them and am working towards landing on taller boxes.

Between Tricking and Freerunning, I feel I am moving closer to my goal of doing a flip outside off of a short wall. There are a few places near my house and work that I have been eyeing with this goal in mind. I know it will still be awhile before I will be successful with this, but it's something to work towards. A few weeks ago, I did my first backflip off the side of the AirTrick. While it still gives some spring when you jump, it is much less than the trampoline, and I am finally starting to feel comfortable with the motion.

I am finding myself looking at my surroundings in a new way and imagining balancing, jumping, or vaulting over different objects I see when driving or walking. My window from my classroom overlooks part of the roof, complete with electrical boxes, pipes, and gaps between walls. Not that I would actually do Parkour on the school roof, but I enjoy the new perspective of looking at things differently. I did have fun doing some "mini-Parkour" moves walking back to my car the other night while downtown. There were a ton of walls to vault over, a wall to balance on, some planters to precision jump, a tree branch to swing from, and an electrical box to climb on.

View From My Window at Work

We finally took advantage of some tickets we received last year and went to see "Once." The music was great and even though the story didn't end the way we would have liked, we enjoyed it.

Attempted Selfie Before "Once"

Eric has made a ton of progress on the yard and it is getting close to being finished. The below pictures show the nearly completed retaining wall, a new stamped concrete patio, a new sprinkler system, fresh topsoil for our garden, and freshly seeded grass. I can't wait until it is finally finished and we can enjoy our yard.

 Freshly Seeded Grass

New Stamped Concrete Patio

Gettin' Back To It

After about six full weeks of having an injured knee, I finally was able to return to Parkour. I know I probably pushed it and went back before I was ready, but I was getting more and more frustrated with not being able to go. I could see a considerable difference in my mood and energy levels compared to when I was going to Parkour. I was testing my knee daily and as soon as I was able to jump off the bench in our bay window and not feel like I was hurting it worse, I went back to class. I had to take it pretty easy for the first few weeks, but I am now almost back to where I was pre-injury, although I still can't bend my knee all the way.

Since returning, I have started attending Tricking and Freerunning classes to address my latest Parkour focus on flips. Tricking incorporates elements of martial arts kicks which can then be used to increase momentum when flipping or twisting through the air. During this class, I have been working on my back flips. It doesn't seem like it should be very difficult, but last weekend I did my first black flip on the trampoline. It was an exhilarating rush to finally accomplish something I had been wanting to do for so long. I'm hoping to progress to the mats and the Air Trick without needing a spotter.

Freerunning is all about flips and is my new favorite class. I'm often the only one there, so I get tons of one on one attention and can choose to work on whatever I want. I've been working on front flips off of elevated objects, side flips, and wall spins.

I have also been to a Women's Parkour class and did my first six foot lache. Accomplishing this was one of those moments where I started thinking there was no way I would be able to do it, and within a few minutes, I was feeling pretty comfortable with the new skill.

6 Foot Lache

My next overarching focus will be on building confidence. It's not uncommon for me to "chicken out" or take a really long time to try something. I know this is partly because I am still recovering from an injury and am afraid of hurting myself again, however, I need to find a way to move past it. I often hesitate at several points during obstacle courses and this adds unnecessary seconds to my overall time. It is especially frustrating when I continue to pause, even after I've done the obstacle and know I can do it. Last weekend, I was working on wall spins. On my first two attempts with the sharper angle, I did the spin without any issues. Then, I started over thinking the move and was unable to complete another one. I really wish I could find a way to stop psyching myself out and be more confident in my training.

The past two weeks I have started participating in a writing group. I think it will ultimately be a big step towards writing a memoir. It's not uncommon for people to tell me I should write a book, and this seems to be a good starting point. I am enjoying the process so far and I am interested to see where it will take me.

This week was Spring Break, so we took a mini camping trip to Moab. I was definitely disappointed that our campsite was nothing more than dirt and a fire pit, as I much prefer to at least have an outhouse. While there, we went mountain biking. I rented a really nice mountain bike to help me take advantage of some of the trails. The upgraded bike definitely made a difference and I found myself attempting much more than I would on my current bike. We rode Sovereign, Porcupine Rim, and Klonzo. This was my second time on the Sovereign trail, and it was a relatively mellow ride. The next day, we were shuttled to the top of Porcupine Rim, which was a 17 mile, mostly downhill ride. I really enjoyed the first half, but started to get tired partway through and was anxious to finish during the second half. We split off from the group for the third day as I was in need of a shorter and less technical ride. Klonzo seemed to be perfect for this, and if I go again, this would be a good first day ride. While I enjoyed the trail, I was still pretty tired and sore from the previous two days to fully experience it. Unfortunately I spent all my time mountain biking trying to catch up with the group, and didn't take any pictures.