Connor participated in the Wednesday Night Jumping Series at Howelsen Hill. He finished 6th in his grouping with a two-jump combined distance of 7 meters.

He was surprisingly enthusiastic about participating – asking several times if he could go.  It was a bitter cold night – 4 degrees by the time we left the hill.

Check out all of the pictures and videos here »

December 13, 2011

BOX
2×12 6ft (2)
2×12 8ft (2). I bought one 16′ board and cut it in two. The lumber yard delivered 2 by mistake and I will return the extra one.
4×4 8ft (1). Cut into 4 11.25″ blocks for the corners

SEATS
2×12 10ft (2)
2×12 12ft (2)
(The boards for the seats are longer than the ones for the box because I will be cutting 45s on the corners where the seats meet.)

HARDWARE
5″ long 3/8″ carriage bolts (16)
3/8″ washers (16)
3/8″ hex nuts (16)
Box of 3 1/8″ deck screws

TOOLS NEEDED
Drill
1/2″ speed bit
1 1/8″ spade bit (to countersink the 5″ bolts in the 4×4′s)
Ratchet, socket

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The first thing I did was mock it up just to make sure I didn’t make a mistake with the board sizes in the design.

Once I was fairly confident that all of the measurements were correct, I cut the seats.  I miter saw might have been handy, but it probably wouldn’t have cut through the entire width of the 12″ board anyway.  I used a circular saw and it was good enough.  The joints didn’t match up perfectly, but they turned out good enough.  And, I’ll take the ‘hey, it’s just a sandbox’ excuse at this point.

Connor was very helpful throughout the whole process.  Here he is helping disassemble so we can move on to staining.

Kathy did most of the staining

Once the stain dried, it was time to reassemble it at it’s final location under the deck.  We considered several locations around the property – including the back yard and under the North end of the deck – but decided that this was the best spot for it.  It’s in the shade most of the day and not exposed to direct rainfall – although there is some dripping from the deck above.

I put down landscaping fabric to keep the weeds, trees and worms out.

The seats are attached with 10-12 3″ screws.  This has made them fairly stable, although I will probably use corner brackets underneath to tighten them up.

Once everything was reassembled, it was time to add sand!  I opted for 50 lb bags of play sand from the lumber yard.  It was finer and cleaner than anything I could get from the gravel pit, and – once I factored in dump truck delivery of bulk – not that much more expensive.  It also saved me from shoveling and wheelbarrow-ing.  The bags were easy to carry.  I calculated the total cubic yards and determined that 50 bags would fill the entire sandbox to a depth of 8″.  However, I stopped adding after 40 bags, figuring that it was deep enough, and also realizing that I would have to haul all of the sand out one day after the kids lose interest.  The lumber yard took the other 10 bags back with no restocking fee.

The kids jumped in before I was able to fill the box and have been enjoying it ever since!

It’s funny – the sandbox looked so big in the garage.  But now that’s assembled and the kids have ALL of their toys in it, it kind of looks small.  They have lots of toys and most of them are big.

Several people have asked what I’m going to do for a cover, noting that sandboxes are usually the neighborhood litter box.  I’ve thrown a drop cloth over it while I look for a better solution, but the truth is that we don’t have cats in the neighborhood, so I’ll probably just put a nicer tarp over it for the winter with some hand clamps on each side.  I think a big exercise ball in the middle will keep the water from pooling.

Spirit Challenge
May 14, 2011
10K

Course description:  Road.  Mostly flat, out and back.  Start at parking lot of Strawberry Park Schools
Conditions:  Pleasant, sunny

Brian 55:08 (8:52)
18/36 overall, 17/22 M, 7/9 age group 40-49

Kathy 57:51 (9:18)
21/36 overall, 3/14 F, 3/5 age group 40-49

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Steamboat Half Maraton
June 5th, 2011
13.1M

Course description:  Road.  Rolling, but mostly downhill, starting at Moon Hill on RCR 129
Conditions:  pleasant, sunny, cool, hazy from fire in AZ

Brian 2:03.00 (9:22)
403/939 overall, 181/307 M, 30/52 age group 40-44

Kathy 2:03.17 (9.24)
408/939 overall, 226/632 F, 35/89 age group 40-44

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Spring Creek Memorial
July 23rd, 2011
9M

Course description:  Trail.  Mostly off trail bushwacking on the way up, all Spring Creek trail on the way down
Conditions:  pleasant, cool, sunny

Brian 1:33.29 (10:23)
42/81 overall, 28/42 M, 8/12 age group 40-49

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Steamboat Triathlon
August 28th, 2011
6.2M

Course description:  Road.  Mostly flat, out and back.
Conditions:  Ideal.  Sunny

Brian:  48:35 (7:51)

Kathy:  54.28 (8:47)

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10K at 10,000 feet
September 4th, 2011
6.8M

Course description:  Trail.  Doubletrack, singletrack, forest service road
Conditions:  Ideal.  Cool, sunny

Brian:  1:00.21 (8:52)
30/152 overall, 21/72 M, 9/30 age group 40-49

Kathy:  1:10.56 (10:25)
76/152 overall, 31/82 F, 9/23 age group 40-49

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Emerald Mountain 12K
September 10th, 2011
7.5M

Course description:  Trail.  Singletrack, road
Conditions.  Ideal, sunny

Brian:  1:13.09 (9:45)
20/56 overall, 18/33 M, 8/9 age group 40-49

Kathy:  1:27.30 (11:40)
41/56 overall, 13/24 F, 3/7 age group 40-49

Height: 3′ 6 1/4″ = 42% ile

Weight: 44lbs = 73% ile

Height: 38″ = 73% ile

Weight: 29lbs = 35% ile

Connor has an interest – bordering on obsession – in skiing this season.  He spends hours studying the trail map and has a mental checklist of all of the trails he has skied and all the lifts his ridden this year.  Some days it’s all he talks about.  He knows the vertical rise and length of every lift.  He knows when the backup lifts run and even knows the names and location of lifts that don’t even exist anymore.  He has an unwavering goal to ride every lift this season – and the only one he hasn’t been on is Christie III – which runs only occasionally.

In other news – Abby is still cute.

Connor participated in several of the Winter Carnival events this year. The Soda Pop Slalom was on Friday on Headwall at the Ski Area. He wore the helmet cam.

Soda Pop Slalom

Bumps and Jumps at Howelsen. No video, just high-flying action shots.

This moose munched on willow branches across the street for about 45 minutes, then took a nap in the snow.  The kids named him Noodle.

Click to play…

Part I

Part II