Fall Is In the Air! (Tyler's weekly)

Life is good in the Mile High City. The past week there has been a sense of fall in the air. Macy and I have both had allergies and the temperature has changed. It has been pleasant in the days and cool in the night. This probably is one of my favorite times of the year. During summer, meaningless baseball games and NASCAR are the only thing on ESPN. During late summer America's sports network becomes so desperate that resolve to cover events such as the world series of poker and little league baseball. All of that goes out the door on Saturday with the beginning of College Football season. I love waking up, throwing on a hoody, and watching college game day. Saturday night I plan on ignoring my wife and children and sitting down for the California/Tennessee game with a hot dog, bag of Doritos, and a Coke. Beyond college football, on Sunday and Monday there is NFL, and we begin the last 20 games of 160 game baseball season, which is when the chase for the pennant and wild card becomes interesting. This will be my first football season with 2 kids. It is really going to put the pressure on Jacque to step up to the plate. Speaking of baseball, the Rockies are in contention for the wildcard for their second time in franchise history. They won't make the playoffs, but usually by this point in the season they are twenty games out and people have turned their attention to the Broncos, who are 1-3 in the preseason. This week we went to the Rockies game on Saturday night. Unlike last week when we sat in the rock pile, we had my company's seats, which are located 20 rows behind home plate. It is amazing how fun it is to go to the game when you can see. We intentionally arrived at the game late, which allowed us to stay through the 9^th inning. Keaton slept almost the whole game. Macy watched, danced, ate dippin' dots, and spent some time at playground. Not to rush past fall, but Macy and I are very excited for winter. This week Macy got a Charlie and Lola book from the library called "Snow is my Favorite and my very Best" and I received my Ski magazine gear guide in the mail. When fall begins in Denver, winter begins in the Colorado high country. Breckenridge, which is located just west of the continental divide and has a summit elevation of 13,000, actually received a dusting of snow this past week. Last year A-Basin opened in October, which is just around the corner. I have been doing my best to convince Macy that she loves skiing since she is going to start lessons with her dad this winter. I think I would probably deal with a child piercing their nipple better than I would a child who did not want to ski. I have faith that Macy will not disappoint me. In other news, Macy enjoyed her first week of preschool. Last week I told everyone about our experience shopping for a backpack. What I did not tell everyone was that Macy really wanted a backpack with wheels. I being the cheap and somewhat practical father that I am informed Macy that she was going to preschool not the airport, and that the backpack with wheels was not worth an additional $4.95. Well, on Tuesday Macy was the only child in her 12 student class that arrived at school actually "carrying" a backpack. All of the other student's packs had wheels. Hopefully she would not notice that her father was cheaper then all the other fathers, who had to have felt the same way that I did. After all she is only 2 ½, and will rarely carry anything heavier then a paper cup art project and a stuffed animal for show-and-tell. Following school Jacque anxiously waited to pick Macy up. While all of the other kids ran down the hall to their mothers pulling their backpacks. Macy lingered in the background dragging hers on the ground. Jacque asked: "Macy, why aren't you wearing your backpack." She replied, "I was just pretending that it had wheels." She repeated the act on Thursday. Internally I have wrestled with purchasing a new backpack, but have decided even if it means compromising my child's self-esteem I should stand my ground. At the rate she is going she may where a hole in the bottom of her backpack and get a new backpack soon anyway. In addition to going to the baseball game, this Saturday we went to the water park for the last time of the year. The entire family took a trip down the lazy river. Keaton was not sure how much he liked the 42 degree water or the falls splashing on his head. With starting school Macy has turned into a big girl. This week she decided that she no longer needs her potty seat, and that she can get on the toilet all by herself. Keaton has continued to find his voice. He is learning at a young age that he will have to talk loud to ever be heard over Macy. I think that is actually what happened with my sister and me. I fear that our children to could end up in speech therapy one day for talking too loud. The I find myself repeating the words of my Father "Tyler/Macy, you don't have to yell, were right here" as of late. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,

Tyler