Mud Addict-In-Training

[JC w KC redux]

Thanks for sharing Shane. Good to see you and Calvin out and about.
If you want to try a different approach (and check a bunch of stuff out) you can go to Deep Groove/Byzantium via the CCC road, cut uphill left of Onomatopoeia, then stay on top of the ridge toward Little Flatiron - veering right toward and up past Toadstool's right side and then just a short jaunt from there. It is a long way out there but rewarding for solitude, fun easy climbing and probably cell reception.

here's mud in your eye 

[Brad Young]

Nice photos. They make me miss Pinnacles. Luckily this very weekend, I'll be seeing it again.

That boy is getting really big. Does he know yet that he's gonna be a big brother?

[looks easy from here]

Thanks everyone. We're excited. 2 more months!

Is that last pic bouldering a V7 dyno?

Ugh, she'd better not be. One of my kids already wears beanies and specifically goes looking for short rocks. I don't need another in the family.

Thanks for the approach info JC. I had wondered about that as an option. I believe I went up that ridge with Brad during the Tour of Mud, but I didn't realize it until I had already thrashed my way there. It sounds easier than coming in laterally or going all the way over the top.

Luckily this very weekend, I'll be seeing it again.

That boy is getting really big. Does he know yet that he's gonna be a big brother?

Eventually we'll get out to another group event. 

Yes, he knows. Most of his cousins live in Modesto, so he doesn't have to share the spotlight much. This'll be quite a change for him, so we've been trying to prepare him as much as possible. Sometimes it seems to sink in a little more than other times. Like this morning when we got to meet the very new baby brother of one of his friends at playschool. 

[looks easy from here]

Well, she's no longer a fetus. The fam took a trip out to the Rolling Stones Friday, and the littlest one climbed more than me, mama and big brother combined!

[Brad Young]

I know you well enough to understand that you know what's coming. It's gonna get harder and harder to keep up with her....

Speaking from experience.

[looks easy from here]

Umderstand? Heck, I'm counting on it! My previous ropegun moved to Reno. I'm hoping to keep this one local until she's at least 18. 

[NOAL]

Nice! Got those hand gestures down.  My adult climbing partners seem to only know one of the middle finger variety.

[JC w KC redux]

Nice shots Shane - funny too.

Good to see someone enjoying those routes.

[looks easy from here]

Thanks!

Yeah, her stoke level was pretty much 100%.

And thanks, too, to JC, KC and Brad for developing it. Bolts and anchors are hard to come by in those grades, and it's an especially great place to take the little ones, because the climbing's so mellow but still steep and fun, and in the mini camyon they were conveniently trapped while mama and I were climbing.

Calvin was also there, but I didn't get a chance to get a good shot of him while we were dealing with Miriam. He was primarily content to boulder solo and deride the rest of us as "rope pullers". Where did I go wrong? 

[Brad Young]

Where did I go wrong? 

You haven't. Yet.

Wait until he's 17. At that point everything you do and everything you've ever done will be wrong.

But, as you and Ms LEFH witnessed with me and my older daughter Katie last June, they come around. Or, as Mark Twain said (paraphrased): A boy of 14 is amazed at what an ignoramus his father is. By the time that same lad turns 21, he's equally amazed at how much the old man has learned in seven years.

Keep up the good work.