Lilly's Christmas Dance Recital

Hip-hop.

Sugar Plum Fairies

First Ski Trip

Lilly and I took our first ski trip this weekend. The snow was fantastic and we had a great time. The morning was a little bit of a bummer because Lilly's bindings weren't fitted correctly for her skis. The first sign was one of them falling off as we got on the first lift of the day. It wasn't until we were at the top of Super Bee before we realized they were unskiable. Brian of Christy Sports gave us a hand assessing the problem at the top and offered to set us up with a free rental pair if we could make it down to their shop at the bottom. What a nice guy. His line to me was, "Mind if I take a look? I do this for a living." Not, "I'm Vice Blankity-Blank of Awesome Land."

After a little carrying by me and a lot of snowmobile ride by a Copper Mountain saint, we were at the bottom and ready to go again. Lilly had a rocky morning with bad skis, hunger and getting cold but the afternoon was all smiles and made the trip worthwhile. She now has season-long rentals from Christy Sports and the old pair are going back to be sold at Sniagrab.

What fun to ski with your kiddo.

Peter Pan

Lilly's drama group put on Peter Pan last week. Lilly played Peter Pan and Nana, the family dog. The play was fun to watch and Lilly did really well despite being very nervous the days leading up to the performance.

My sister Beth has pictures of the play on her blog.

Yogi Lilly

Lilly taught us a yoga lesson tonight. Lesson learned from the young teacher: "No farting in yoga class!"

Great Hike!

Holly and I hiked the Bergen Peak trail at Elk Meadows park today. The snow started halfway up and didn't stop until this evening. What a cool hike. Boo made it the entire way. I credit the Gatorade he gulped at the top.

Castlewood Canyon State Park

Hiking in Castlewood Canyon State Park. This park is about an hour south of Denver and the main attraction is a canyon cut by Cherry Creek before it flows north to downtown Denver.

Happy hikers in the foreground, the canyon wall in the background.

Giant boulder left after many floods of the creek washed away the surrounding sand.

Family Hike

Pictures of the Rotach family hiking at Elk Meadow Park near Evergreen, CO.

New Jobs

Holly and I both accepted new jobs. Holly will be a Sr. Accountant at The Breakaway Group starting this Wednesday. I will be a Software Engineer working at Raytheon starting next Monday.

Family Mountain Biking

A family mountain bike trip to Copper Mountain today. Holly's first off-road mountain bike trip and Lilly's longest. The trail was a fire road (Road A) that took us from the base area at 9,700 ft to the ski patrol headquarters at 12,000 ft. There were a couple setback early with Holly and Lilly forgetting to pack their helmets and Holly's chain breaking 100' into the ride. Holly rode well and Lilly was an extra boost whenever the trail got steep and rocky. We finished with pizza at Jersey Boy's in Dillon. What a great ride and a great day!

I did it!

Holly and John at the top. (photo by Lilly)

Lilly at the top.

Random Summer Pictures

I haven't been good about posting here lately. Two months...wow. Anywhoo, I thought I'd toss up a few pictures before going back to feeling guilty about not posting.

Lilly and I went to a Rockies game while Holly was in Italy (possibly the subject of another posting). We saw the Rockies jump out to a 8-1 lead against the Cubs only to make it an interesting 8-7 win in the 9th. Jeez. At least Denver got free tacos from Taco Bell because the Rockies scored 8 runs. A couple service dogs in training sat directly behind us and licked the back of our necks the entire game. Awww...

Lilly in the "Mile High" row - exactly 5,280 feet above sea level.

Lilly from close to our seats.

We had season tickets to Elitch Gardens and spent a few weekend days (and weekdays for Holly and Lilly) at the park. Interesting summer with Lilly growing past 48" allowing her to try the "big kid" rides.

I rode in the Moonlight Classic charity ride with a couple guys. It is a ride that starts at midnight, starts and ends at the state capitol and winds 14 miles through the city. A way to make the ride interesting is not passing a bar without stopping in.

I got in a few mountain bike rides. Below is Buffalo Creek, one of my favorites. I wiped out here on a ride in mid-August and cracked a rib. It's almost all healed but still hurts when I sneeze.

This hike was in Estes Park. We camped at Jellystone Campground one weekend in August. Estes park is summer in Colorado.

On the Three Sisters hike looking at the 14,000+ foot Long's Peak.

Lilly took horseback riding lessons this summer. Below is her riding Sandy.

This is Lilly leading Sandy from the barn.

Lilly leading the full grown pony.

In August I flew out to Baltimore to visit John Hosler, a friend from ISU. He is now a tenured history professor at Morgan State University and part of the trip was to help him celebrate. The more important reason for the trip was an in-person fantasy football draft. This is a picture of my friends Cory Plants, Tom Dekyruff and John looking out over the harbor. We had a great time and drank plenty of National Bohemian beer. $6 a 12-pack!

A sunset over Central Park in Stapleton. The view from here is very beautiful with the mountains and downtown Denver.

A homemade taco pizza. Hey. The title of the post says Random.

Black Hills Vacation

We traveled to the Black Hills in South Dakota for my cousin Carise's wedding. We had good weather, saw beautiful scenery, did Mount Rushmore, got to see a lot of family on my side, rode the 1880 Train from Hill City to Keystone, cooked over a fire, swam, rode bikes, rode horses and went to a beautiful wedding ceremony and reception. Below are some pictures.


Sylvan Lake - we stayed in cabins close to the lake


Another of Sylvan Lake - with Lilly hiking on the rocks


Holly and Lilly on a hike with the lake in the background


Boo with a dress collar - now he can get into the country club.


Lilly and Megan on the 1880 Train


Lilly on the train


Holly and Lilly at Mt. Rushmore


Lilly and 4 dudes


The wedding was at The Chapel in the Hills

Berthoud Pass

Doug (a friend from work) and I rode Idaho Springs - Winter Park - Idaho Springs yesterday. The route goes over Berthoud Pass at 11,000+ feet. Lots of climbing and a spot or two where we hit 50 mph on the way down.


Route Profile


Continental Divide


Doug looking out over the switchbacks


Also a popular spot to backcountry ski

Colorado Springs & Royal Gorge

This past weekend Holly, Lilly and I hosted Kalie and her friend Alysson. They flew in to attend a candidate camp at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Sunday we went down to Colorado Springs. The girls went on a rafting trip while Lilly and I hiked. Rafting was a good time. They were happy they didn't fall out of the raft as they were cold enough being splashed. With the recent rain and snow melt the river was too high to raft through Royal Gorge.

After the trip we drove to the Royal Gorge bridge. It was late so we didn't go in the park but we were able to look over the edge and see the river below.


A great hike with Lilly.


Cacti in bloom.


Hiking above Cañon City.


Royal Gorge.

Happy Birthday Lilly

Lilly turned six years old today. Wow!


And Scooby-Doo on Channel 2?

Swimmer

Summer is here and Lilly has started swim lessons. I was surprised at her confidence when going off the diving board.


Not a problem dad...

Horseback Riding

Lilly went to an introductory horseback riding class this weekend. Here is a picture and a video.


Lilly riding Sandy


This is fun

Lilly's Dance Recital

Lilly's dance recital is this weekend. These videos are from dress rehearsal yesterday. Cameras aren't allowed into the final performance.


Tap Routine


Balet Routine

Juniper Pass Ride

View from 11,000+ feet. Part of a 60 mile, 5,000ft ride. The guy in the pic is Doug, a riding budy from work.


Wow.

Pools are Open

The Stapleton pools opened this weekend.


Lilly loves to swim.

1st Day of Summer

Lilly's first day off of school was today. She and Holly spent part of it at Elitch Gardens.


Ferris Wheel


Shootout with Mom

Grandma and Grandpa Weekend

Holly's mom and dad came out to Denver to visit us this weekend. It was great to see them again and spend time with them. The weater was fantastic and we were able to spend a lot of time outside biking, hiking and relaxing.

Friday evening we rode bikes with Beth and Geoff to The Berkshire restraunt in Stapleton for dinner. Saturday morning Holly and I were able to go on a windy bike ride east of Denver. Lilly then had a soccer game in which she had two goals and two assists! We biked over to Udi's for lunch after the game. We then headed to REI downtown to walk around and play. Jerry and I biked down on the trail system. It is a nice ride along the South Platte River. We all took a trolly ride from REI along the river past Invesco Field (Broncos' stadium), Elich Gardens (amusement park), the Children's Museum of Denver and the Denver Downtown Aquarium. It was a nice ride run by volunteers who gave a nice history of downtown Denver.


Trolly Ride

After downtown we went home for grilled salmon and some relaxing in the alley while Lilly played with the neighbor Lily.


Lilly R and Lily S

Sunday we headed out to Red Rocks park. There is a great outdoor ampitheater which people use for a stair workout with great scenery. We played around on the stairs and hiked on a trail close to the park.


Stairs


Family Hike


Nice View on the Hike

Sunday afternoon we headed over to Geoff's for a great dinner on the grill.

A perfect weekend.