The Miskes

Boy Scout Service Project

October 24, 2012 in chores, scouting | Permalink

As the new assistant scout leader for our 11 year old scouts, I got to tag along on the service project on Tuesday night, October 23. Angie was out for the evening so I took Tan with, leaving Bren to fend for himself in the twenty minute gap between when we left and when she got home.

Dallin and Tan and I, along with 5 other scouts and the leader, went to work cleaning at a nearby nursing home facility. They wanted us to clean rails and baseboards. I also cleaned the tops of door frames and fire extinguisher boxes. We were done in about an hour and then returned home to do some family time. It was fun, and I hope the kids learned something about service and charity.

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Tags: chores, scouts, Utah, Utah County

Bear windchime at Keystone Condo

October 13, 2012 in Keystone Condo, Photo | Permalink

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Bear windchime out our Keystone Colorado Condo Balcony

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Cousins at the birthday party

October 8, 2012 in Photo | Permalink

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Brennan’s ninth birthday with the family. Dallin holding his little cousin Cohen.

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Aspen Grove Waterfall

September 24, 2012 in Utah, Video | Permalink

While on our hike up Aspen Grove I shot a few minutes of video and put them together in this cute little compilation. We ran around on the rocks and climbed a bit, hopped from rock to rock, touched the spray from the waterfall and the water running over the cliff faces, chased caterpillars and ate. All the good stuff.

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Tags: Alpine Loop, Timpanogos, Utah, Utah County, waterfall

Tan and the Bungie Trampoline at Snowbird Oktoberfest

September 18, 2012 in Photo, Video | Permalink

While at Snowbird for the Oktoberfest event, we had all-day all-access passes. When we go to events at Keystone there are usually bungie-tramps set up, and sometimes it’s free, and sometimes it’s paid, and we’ve never had the chance to get Tan on one, despite her fondest wishes to try it.

Here we had the chance, and while the boys took off to lap the Mountain Flyer zipline, I waited in line with her to do the bungie-trampoline. She ran right out and did flip after flip after flip, with all her new gymnastics skills. She had a really good time, and I’m glad we got her on it.

When we were done we found the boys over on the Ropes Course, and Tan totally wanted to try it. I had to go with her to help manage her route-finding and harness handling skills, but she did all the hardest routes and had a blast.

Here is a bungie-tramp video and some pics from the bungie trampoline and the ropes course.

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Tags: gymnastics, tourism, Utah

Tan and the Alpine Slide at Snowbird Oktoberfest

September 17, 2012 in Outing, Photo, Video | Permalink

While at the Snowbird Oktoberfest on September 16, we got all-access day passes for the kids and I. Tan is too small to ride alone, so I was her ride-buddy for the activities. We did the Alpine Slide right away. She was really stoked. We got on the chair and rode up.

The first time up I helped her get on, but she was so physical I didn’t need to help her at all after that. The line at the top to take a sled was pretty long, but they had a juggler with a unicycle to amuse us in line. The kids got to try their hand at spinning plates.

When it was time to ride down, Tan wanted to be in charge of the control stick, and I went ahead and let her. By our third trip down she didn’t slow down very much at all. She totally loves it. Maybe she’ll be a Luge competitor?

: Looking back at Brennan in the chairlift behind us

: Tan brushes hair off her face on the chairlift

: Tan looks out at the alpine slide in anticipation

: Tan tries juggling in line

: Tan and I sit behind Bren in line at the top of the slide

: Dallin at the top, preparing to take off

: Brennan at the top preparing to slide

: Dallin is in front of us on this trip down the Alpine Slide at Snowbird

: Tan is thrilled – she loves going down with minimal braking

: Tan on the chairlift above the alpine slide at Snowbird

: Watching the juggler while in line at the top of the chairlift

: Juggler entertains the crowd at the top of the chairlift for the Alpine Slide

: Brennan tries to juggle too, in line at the Alpine Slide

: Tan drops the plate while juggling – it’s only plastic though :)

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Tags: family fun, tourism, Utah

Tan and the Yodeling Contest at Snowbird Oktoberfest

September 17, 2012 in Utah, Video | Permalink

We went as a family to the Oktoberfest celebration at Snowbird Ski Resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake City. First thing we got there we went into the food tent for some classic German Style food, and sat up near the stage. The kids all participated in various activities, including musical chairs by age groups, in which Brennan came in 3rd for his age, and the yodeling contest that Tan and Bren totally rocked. Here’s a video compilation from the yodeling contest.

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Tags: award, family fun, tourism, Utah

Aspen Grove Hike to Waterfalls

September 15, 2012 in Hike, Utah | 1 comment

This afternoon Angie went to a skating comp in Salt Lake, so I took the kids up around the Alpine Loop road to see the fall colors. I was intending to hike up Timpooneke Trail, but the trailhead parking area was under construction and cars were parked all up and down the road for a couple miles making a horrible traffic jam. It was a lot worse because I got behind a car that was obviously not meant to be on this road, going about 15-20 mph up and over the summit.

We finally got to Aspen Grove about a half hour longer than usual, and parking was a lot easier to deal with. We thought we were going to be behind a busload of tweeners, but they made a wrong turn to Stewart Falls (thank goodness) and we were pretty much alone on the trail.

We went to the two waterfalls along the trail and got to play on the rocks and chase caterpillars. Afterward we continued around past Sundance and into Orem, and it turns out this was the prettiest side with the best colors. I teased Dallin about possibly climbing Stairway with me this Winter, and right now it was just a smudge of shiny liquid on the cliffs.

A pretty fun day out with the kids.

Aspen Grove Fall Hike September 2012

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Tags: Alpine Loop, Timpanogos, Utah, Utah County, waterfall

Dallin puts his Flexline on his new bike

August 30, 2012 in Bicycling, Project, Utah, Video | Permalink

Since Dallin has been biking so much, and has been accepted to a Jr. Development bike team, we decided that Mom’s old mountain bike wasn’t going to cut it anymore, so we got him an old-new Fuji bike in his size from Bike Barn in Lehi. Because he’s 11, and so small, we needed something between a 42 and 45 cm, depending on the top tube angle and where it butts to the seat tube.

He had him on a 47 cm Fuji at Mountain Sports Outlet in Silverthorne, CO, figuring it might work, since it has a really sloped top tube, but when he dropped forward off the saddle, like at a stop sign, it racked him good.

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We asked around at some of the other local stores. The Trek store said they don’t even make bikes that size (in spite of there being two in their catalog) and another in American Fork was willing to look on their catalog if we got serious, but that it would probably be in the mid-range for price. Bike Barn was happy to dig through their catalog and found an older model Fuji they could order in for less than half price. Sold!

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Today we went to the store to pick up the bike and get it sized. He rode it around their little back lot a few times, then we brought it home. The first thing we did when we arrived was to have him put on his bottle cage and his Flexline Hydration system kit. Then he rode around the block a few times after a short gear shifting tutorial – as it’s a little different from the two mountain bikes he has ridden.

Here’s a little video of him mostly working alone on that project.

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Tags: Utah County

Vail Pass Bike Ride with Dallin

August 28, 2012 in Bicycling, Keystone Condo | Permalink

We were in Colorado for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge to catch Stage 5 in Breckenridge this past weekend (August 24th). While here Dallin decided that he’d love to try Vail Pass. I had run down it before as training for the Steamboat Half Marathon, and knew it was 12 miles downhill from the Rest Area to the Frisco Rec Path parking at the West Exit on I-70.

Elevation Profile for Biking Vail Pass from Google Earth – distance-based

We loaded up our bikes in the car (some disassembly required) and took off on Saturday morning (August 25th) and parked at the Frisco Rec Path parking. We put the bikes together and took off up the trail. It was pretty easy going for the first 3 miles, and we stopped at the Officer’s Gulch rest stop to use the bathrooms and snack. I was trying to keep him hydrated and sugared up. He had his Flexline Hydration system on his bike, so he had easy access to water while on the path up. He also had a second bottle for when we were stopped.

In Copper Mountain we stayed off the rec path and followed the roads to the end of the condo area, where we got back on the path by the creek. We stopped again for a few minutes, just a little after mile 6. Dallin took off a few minutes before me, and I had to work hard to catch him. As I passed an older guy on the trail he said “your son is flying – it’ll be hard to catch him”.

Vail Pass ride from Polar RS800CX Graph

I managed to catch him in about 3 miles, and he was moving pretty quick for how steep it was. We pulled over at a bridge to rest and eat for a few minutes, before the final mile. Dallin said he was sure glad to have the Flexline since he didn’t think he could have gone up that hill so fast while trying to use a regular bottle. I was going to try to get some video on this section, but it wasn’t working out at all today.

We made it to the top in about 11.7 miles and 1900′ of vertical. We hung out for a while eating and drinking. Currently the Vail Pass Rest Area is dry – they turned off the water last year and took out all the sinks. We did a lap of the rest area to rewarm our legs, then went down. We managed to go fairly slow for a bit until we got to Copper Mountain. We stopped at the gas station on the East side of Copper to use the bathrooms, then continued.

I led, doing a little fartlek to give him a good experience. I managed to pull him along at 26 mph for a while, probably the fastest he’s gone for any length of time. We got to the car and broke down the bikes, and went to Abbeys for our traditional croissant sandwich before going home to hang out in the hot tub. All together it was 23.3 miles in 2:57. Not too bad for his second > 20 mile ride, and this time with nearly 2000′ of vertical.

Bike Vail Pass