Raible Designs

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Matt Raible — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:36:26 -0600

It's hard to believe Jack is 21 today. He had a summer internship writing code for an outfit in the UK and now has a part-time job at CU. He switched his major from trying to get into the Engineering school to Information Science. He still plays basketball quite a bit, but also has a new favorite person in his life: Alex.

They've known each other for a couple of years, and they became a couple last November. She's into photography, skiing, and Jack, matching our family values quite well. They spend so much time together, we call them Jalex.

I visited Jack in Boulder this morning to give him some birthday cards and the mini keg of Fireball his grandma gave him. He sure is a handsome fella!

Happy Birthday, Jack! We can't wait to celebrate with you in Vegas in a couple of weeks! 🥳

Life Update: New Job, Same House, and Same Awesome Family!

Matt Raible — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 09:31:40 -0700

It's been over eight years since I wrote a life update blog post. At that time (2016), we'd just moved into the "Raible Ranch", the bus was finished, and the kids were in high school. I'd just started one of my few-and-far-between full-time jobs at Stormpath.

Fast-forward to today. Our kids are in college at the University of Colorado during the Coach Prime Era, we're empty nesters with an affection for live music, and our pet zoo is cuter than ever.

You probably know me. But in case you don't, my name is Matt Raible, and I'm married to a fabulous woman named Trish McGinity. She's been a hero in my life ever since I met her in 2010. She dazzled me so much, I asked her to marry me at Versailles in 2011. We married in my hometown (Condon, Montana) in 2013, on the most beautiful lake you've ever seen.

When I met Trish, I was an independent consultant, and she was in cybersecurity sales. On a fateful night in 2010, on a friend Jarvis's birthday, I asked her what she had done for a living. She said, "Have you ever heard of OWASP?"

My heart lifted and I felt a moment of joy. This woman was speaking my language! 14 years later and Oh My!, Trish has had an incredible influence on my life and career.

You might think of me as the AppFuse guy, the JHipster promoter, or some dude who talked about Okta a lot. I'm cool with that, but it's irrefutable to say that Trish hasn't influenced my career. She encouraged me to lean into cybersecurity and constantly said I was "doing it wrong" with my carefree attitude toward security.

These days, I'm a Senior Cloud Engineer at CrowdStrike, the foremost cybersecurity company in the world. My previous gig was with Okta, where I spent seven years educating developers about OAuth and OpenID Connect.

I'll admit, I had a lot of anxiety about joining CrowdStrike. In late June, after enjoying funemployment, I had three excellent offers from FusionAuth, Yugabyte, and CrowdStrike. It's the first time in my life that I've had more than one offer at the same time.

The first two opportunities were excellent. But, both had maybe equity. As an old fogey in the twilight of my career, I thought guaranteed equity was a better opportunity. I chose the company trajectory over my passion for open source and Java. I accepted the CrowdStrike offer on July 3rd as we were departing for a 4th of July trip to Montana.

At that time, I felt totally confident about my decision. I was taking the path less traveled and abandoning all my Java celebrityism for a skyrocketing company that was kicking ass and taking names. You're supposed to do things outside your comfort zone, right?

Take the road less traveled.

I was a little worried about the equity though. After all, CrowdStrike's stock price was at an all-time high.

I turned 50 on July 16th. We hosted a backyard party at the ranch the weekend before (July 13th), complete with a local Grateful Dead band. Shakedown Street was excellent and everyone had a good time.

The Incident

On my birthday, while blowing out candles, I wished for CrowdStrike's stock price to drop.

On Friday (July 19th), I woke up to more unread texts than I received on my milestone birthday. A lot of friends were aware that I'd accepted a new job at CrowdStrike and were texting me about an incident.

Apparently, CrowdStrike had just caused a worldwide computer outage. If you were flying that day, you were probably affected. I received more text messages that morning than on my birthday.

My response was positive: this situation will be very good for my equity grant's strike price!

I quickly realized that CrowdStrike was way bigger than I originally thought. There were computer issues at the golf club I ventured into that morning. Their systems were down and they apologized. I smirked, apologized back, and mentioned I recently accepted a job offer from CrowdStrike.

I started working for CrowdStrike on July 29th. 10 days after the incident. I quickly realized that making developers aware of CrowdStrike wouldn't be a problem. Everyone knew about us because of July 19th. In a sense, it was a blessing in my DevRel journey at CrowdStrike.

I worked at Okta for seven years and there were a couple of incidents. CrowdStrike's response was waayyyy different than Okta's.

First of all, CrowdStrike's incident wasn't a breach. It was a bug that they shipped. It was totally their fault. Okta had a full-on breach that they didn't disclose for a month. Regardless of the incident details, as a tech worker for said company, it's a severe morale hit when it happens to you.

That's been one of my biggest struggles. I was extremely proud to join CrowdStrike as a Senior Engineer. Heck, I passed the coding test using Java, and they were a Go shop! When this all happened in June, I was so proud of my non-traditional path to excellence in the tech industry.

I wasn't hired as a senior engineer who cranks out code, maintains functionality, and implements new features. Instead, I was hired as a "Senior Engineer - Cloud" that's focused on DevRel. I'm still a developer advocate, but my title indicates I can still sling some code.

I've been coming up to speed on Go and Python as fast as I can. I've also been doing a lot of CrowdStrike Foundry tutorials, finding/fixing issues, and improving our learning materials as fast as I can. I even published my first CrowdStrike blog post!

Get Started with Falcon Foundry

Now that I've filled you in on the life of Matt Raible, I feel like I've ignored the best parts of my life: Trish, Abbie, and Jack.

Trish continues to excel as the Head of Cybersecurity Communications at Empower. Yes, the Empower that has the naming rights to the Empower Field at Mile High where the Denver Broncos play. We haven't experienced box seats yet, but we're still hopeful. Trish is the star of her team, and it's her favorite job, ever. She's delighted at the fact that I'm asking her if SIEM and SOAR are acronyms or just fancy industry terms.

You're probably wondering if we're evil parents at this point. You've learned about Trish and me, but what about the kids, the pets, and our parents? I mean, this is a life update after all!

The kids are doing great. As a casual blogger, I still managed to post about both of their birthdays this year. Jack and Abbie are thriving!

They're still in school at CU Boulder and enjoying the Coach Prime Era. Abbie's a senior and already has a job. That's quite an accomplishment, and we're very impressed!

Jack's thinking about dating. He didn't try out for the CU basketball team, but he's still interested in making it happen.

The pets are currently spoiled. Trish's best friend, Caroline, has moved in. She takes the two dogs (Daisy and Kai) on daily walks. I tend to like the same activity, and they're very good at pretending it's their first walk of the day with both of us!

Our parents are thriving too! I recently attended Trish's Dad's 85th birthday celebration. He's doing splendid and likes to swim and play tennis daily.

My parents are still loving life in Montana. A friend of theirs has a photo trap set up for wildlife on the homestead. He captures some amazing photos! Check out his website for more fabulous shots.

Trish has more to her story. She's experienced some of the most extreme ups and downs of her life. In July, shortly after we celebrated my birthday, we spent a week in Estes Park. The reason was simple: she wanted to compete in a horse show and I wanted to support her, explore the nearby trails, and visit the local breweries.

We decided to make her lifelong dreams come true and leased the most kick-ass horse she could find. His name is Athos, and he was the horse she competed with in Estes Park. He's 18.2 hands tall, which means he's 6' at the saddle. Trish is only 5'1". They won Reserve Champion on their first collaboration!

Trish and Athos were a match made in heaven. Until they weren't.

A month ago, Trish fell off Athos after a jump in a training lesson. It was a tack failure while demoing a new saddle, and the stirrup strap slid right off. She almost saved it, but proceeded to fall and injure herself badly in the process. When I met her at the ER (Emergency Room), her pain level was 9.5/10 for her wrist and 3/10 for her ankle. She broke both her wrist and her ankle in the same accident. It wasn't Athos' fault, but rather a faulty stirrup bar.

Since this happened, we've learned I'm a terribly grumpy caregiver, she's had her wrist surgically repaired, and her ankle had surgery a week later.

Breaking two bones at the same time really limits your mobility. I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. Trish is optimistic that she'll compete with horses in the future, but she's also realizing it gets harder as you get older.

What's Next?

Trish, Jack, and I have all had midlife crises this year. Trish cranked things up a notch to be a world-class eventer with horses, then got hurt. Jack was going to be an aeronautics engineer, then took a helicopter flight over Glacier National Park and changed his mind. I abandoned all my Java experience and chose CrowdStrike, a Go and Python shop.

Abbie's a senior in college and already has a job. I think she's winning the family badass contest!

We have no idea what's next. But we're proud of Abbie for securing her first job.

As for the rest of us? We'll figure it out. Raibles and McGinitys are known for thriving in the face of adversity. 💪😃

For a photo and video experience of our summer adventures, see my Summer Adventures 2024 album on Flickr.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Matt Raible — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 22:23:57 -0600

Jack is growing up fast and today marks his 20th birthday. He's a sophomore at CU and loves to play basketball. In early July, we made a trip to Montana where he learned how to wakeboard and took a helicopter ride with Abbie and Baba (my dad).

He amazed us with his perseverance on the basketball court and at the gym this summer. He frequently exercised six hours a day! This could be one of the defining years of his life if he walks on to the CU basketball team. Either way, his dedication to the craft is awe-inspiring. He's in the best shape of his life. I'm impressed!

We believe in you, Jack. Happy Birthday, awesome one! 🖤💛

Farewell to the 2023-2024 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 09:30:45 -0600

This year's ski season was delightful! This was largely due to our acquisition of a new condo in the mountains, lots of free time to ski, and some epic powder days with friends. I achieved 30 days of skiing, with 19 being alpine and 11 being cross-country. The season started for me on October 30 when we got enough snow to go cross-country skiing in our backyard.

We didn't make it up to the mountains for downhill skiing until mid-December. That's when we closed on our condo, nicely coinciding with Trish's birthday weekend.

Happy Birthday to my winter-loving Wonder Woman, @TrishPhoto! 🎉❤️ pic.twitter.com/1Ec60gLlN4
— Matt Raible (@mraible) December 17, 2023

I started my Funemployment experience on February 1st and spent the following week in Winter Park, skiing with glee and my newfound freedom. I skied nine days in February, mostly during the week.

In March, I flew to Vermont and went skiing at Sugarbush for a friend's birthday.

We frolicked in Winter Park and Steamboat during Spring Break.

I threatened to not purchase the kids' ski passes for next year if they didn't ski four days. They both fulfilled that obligation in April and we had some fun family weekends on the slopes.

I did a marvelous road trip to the Utah JUG, hitting Copper, Snowbird, Alta, and Steamboat along the way.

We celebrated our final weekend of skiing with a tailgate in the parking lot at Mary Jane on Saturday and a bluebird day on Sunday.

Now we're in the dawn of summer and I'm excited for car show, mountain biking, golf, and rafting season. Hefe looked smashing at the VWs on the Green car show in May!

It's showtime at VWs on The Green! 😃 #vwotg #vwbus #HefeTheBus pic.twitter.com/VG0QcEgvYF
— Matt Raible (@mraible) May 19, 2024

I especially like this photo I captured that afternoon.

We went rafting a few times on the Upper Colorado in June. On Father's Day weekend, the CFS was above 5300!

The mountain biking has been excellent in the high country and the views are magnificent.

I ❤️ Colorado! For more ski season photos, see my 2023-24 Ski Season album on Flickr.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Matt Raible — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 12:06:33 -0600

Today is a monumental day in the life of Jack Raible. Not only is today his 19th birthday, but it's also his first day of classes at the University of Colorado. He moved in last week and had a week to settle into his new surroundings.

He's been playing hoops for 1-2 hours a day on our basketball court for the last six months. We recently asked him why he was playing so much, and he mentioned he wanted to play on CU's team before he graduates. I love it when someone dreams big! We'll be rooting for your success, Jack!

The whole family traveled to Boulder yesterday afternoon to celebrate his birthday. Today, both kids sent a picture before their first day of classes began.

We're so proud of you, Jack, and hope you have a wonderful college experience. Happy Birthday, buddy! 🥳

Farewell to the 2022-2023 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Fri, 7 Jul 2023 08:26:24 -0600

You can tell your Spring is a whirlwind when you don't have time to write your end-of-ski-season post until July!

My ski season started way back in October, on Halloween at A-Basin, to be precise. It ended with an Okta + Gradle Developer Ski Day on April 13th. I'm proud to say I achieved 39 days of skiing, with 15 being alpine skiing and the rest being cross-country skiing. A lot of the cross-country skiing was done in our backyard, on the neighborhood bridal trails. We got lucky this year because it snowed in early January and stuck around until February. That's rare in our neck of the woods.

The highlight of the ski season was celebrating Trish's 50th birthday at A-Basin. We rented a few spots on the beach, invited a bunch of friends, and had a blast.

The onesies were Trish's idea. 😅 You can buy your own from Tipsy Elves.

Other big moments include skiing with the Morse family and friends in Winter Park, cross-country skiing in Crested Butte during Winter Tech Forum, and skiing with Jack in Steamboat during his Spring Break.

I partnered with my friend, Brian Demers (now at Gradle), for a Developer Ski Day at A-Basin. He was in town speaking at the Boulder and Denver JUGs, and we're thankful our management approved the event!

After we put away our skis for the season, Jack celebrated his last prom with friends, I took the kids to a Denver Nuggets playoff game, and we got Hefe ready for show season.

We visited my parents in Montana for Mother's Day.

Recharging in the backwoods of Montana with family. Started the day with coffee, mimosas, and huckleberry pancakes. ☕️🥂😋

Happy Mother's Day to all the incredible moms out there! ❤️? pic.twitter.com/sjmChuzNpo
— Matt Raible (@mraible) May 14, 2023

And we celebrated Jack's High School Graduation at the end of May. Congratulations, son!

We celebrated our son Jack's high school graduation this week and had a fabulous time with family and friends. Here are a few of my favorite photos.

See the full album on Flickr with Julie and Trish's awesome photos: https://t.co/XSoUZnjOSk

Congratulations, Jack! 🥳 pic.twitter.com/1Ea1LZrFML
— Matt Raible (@mraible) May 27, 2023

June was fun too. We traded in Trish's Tesla Model X for a Chevy Suburban because the latter is a much better tow vehicle for our whitewater rafts.

Jack and I got to go to NBA Finals Game 2. We had a great time, even though it was the only loss by the Nuggets in the Finals.

We were afforded this luxury because we bought Nuggets half-season tickets this year. What a year to start being a season ticket holder! The Denver Nuggets won the NBA Championship on June 12th. I may have gotten misty-eyed a few times after they won. 🥹

Now that it's summertime, we're getting back on the river, polishing our VWs for shows, and excited that both Abbie and Jack are going to CU Boulder in the fall. Next ski season, we're looking to get a place in the mountains again. I can't wait to see what the future holds!

For more ski season photos, see my 2022-23 Ski Season album on Flickr.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Matt Raible — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 23:40:58 -0600

Our youngest child turned 18 today. He's embarked on his senior year of high school and has a good group of friends he likes to hang out with. They celebrated his birthday last night at the Kid Cudi concert followed by an after-party with additional friends at the ranch. Trish had fun decorating our downstairs with his friends and surprising him when he arrived home.

Tonight, we celebrated with a family dinner, had lots of laughs, and enjoyed solving a puzzle together for a good hour. Thanks to my sister, Kalin, for sending such a fun gift!

Happy Birthday, Jack! We hope you have a wonderful senior year of high school and make many lasting memories. 😊

Farewell to the 2021-2022 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Tue, 24 May 2022 11:10:55 -0600

I had a lot of fun this ski season, but I didn't make it to the mountains as much as I thought I would. I bought both the Epic and Ikon passes with high hopes at the beginning of the season. The rest of the family had Ikon. The ski season started for me on Nov 24, 2020 with a backyard cross-country ski. It took me another month until I ventured up to the high country. A-Basin didn't have a whole lot of snow on Dec 23.

I got to ski with the Makofsky family at Copper on New Years Eve.

The next day, Trish and I enjoyed a fresh blanket of snow to ring in the new year. 🎊

There was a boys trip to Jackson Hole in late January.

And more nordic skiing with our pups, Daisy and Kai.

We skied with the Morse Family and played with the Snyders in Steamboat.

And closed out the year with a day off the internet at Mary Jane.

My stats for the season:

15 days downhill
11 days cross-country

26 days combined is a far cry from last year's 51! It makes a big difference when you rent a place in the mountains like we did last year.

There weren't that many ski days with Abbie and Jack this year. Abbie ended up skiing a lot with friends from CU Boulder. Jack is looking as handsome as ever. Here's his prom photo with friends.

Trish was the fantastic photographer for the big night.

Hefe the Bus is ready for summer, as are we.

We're traveling to Alaska with my folks for their 50th anniversary, Trish just rented an RV for adventuring to Montana, and we have a week-long rafting trip starting at the Gates of Lodore. I hope you get a chance to opt outside in the next few months too. Giddyup and get out there! 🤠

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Matt Raible — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 16:20:27 -0600

Jack turns 17 today! He's an ambitious kid these days that's interested in going to a hard engineering school for college. He mentioned this morning that he's going to try to and get into some of the harder ones. If you have suggestions, please leave a comment!

Jack is a junior in high school, the tallest in the family, and works at Code Ninjas teaching kids to code. His sister moved out and started at the University of Colorado last week, so he has the downstairs of the Raible Ranch all to himself.

Happy 17th Birthday, Jack! 😀

I think you're going to have a fun year being the solo kid. We look forward to helping you continue to be the awesome person you are.

Farewell to the 2020-21 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Wed, 2 Jun 2021 13:31:07 -0600

This ski season was interesting to say the least. Because of COVID-19, most Colorado ski resorts required reservations in order to ski. This wasn't too painful because we did most of our skiing during the week.

We recognized that social distancing might be an issue on weekends, so we rented a condo in Winter Park for the season. This allowed us to ski weekdays while working remotely. We didn't have it the whole season, just a week every month.

The ski season started for me on November 24, 2020, with some backyard cross-country skiing.

I was super pumped when I drove our Syncro Westy to the condo and discovered it fit in the garage! My first day on the slopes was Friday, December 4th.

The Fraser River Trail was just across the road from our condo, so it was easy to get some cross-country skiing in too.

That weekend, Trish and Jack joined me and we went Nordic skiing at Snow Mountain Ranch's Nordic Center.

We took the day off on Trish's birthday; skiing corduroy groomers in the morning and cross-country in the afternoon.

I'm normally a big fan of taking two weeks off for Christmas and New Years. Since everyone stayed home for the holidays this year, I chose to work through them. I took off the first week in January instead.

I worked in Stout the Syncro in the C-Lot at Mary Jane when I returned in February. That's the day I learned that four hours of Zoom costs about 7 GB in bandwidth. I tethered on my T-Mobile phone the whole time and only had to buy an additional 10 GB (for $10) at the very end. The fresh powder at the end of the day made it worth it!

Hawaii Adventures in Kauai

My parents like to get away from Montana in the middle of winter. Before the pandemic hit, we ventured to New Orleans. This year, we decided to head to Kauai for two weeks. There were many COVID protocols in place for this trip.

We had to have a negative COVID test 72 hours before departure. We had to show those results when we landed in Kauai. Then we had to quarantine in a "resort bubble" hotel for 72 hours. Next, we had to take another test and receive negative results. After that, we were free to rent a car and start our island adventures. Abbie brought her boyfriend, Joseph, and best friend, Rory, along with us.

We left early for the airport because my parents took an at-home test and hadn't received their results yet. Since they had a 3-hour layover in Denver, we figured I could take them to a local Walgreens to get tested and everything would be good to go.

When we were driving to the airport, Trish's engine light came on in her Tahoe. By the time we arrived at the airport, the vehicle was obviously dying. We called AAA to pick it up and I jumped in a Lyft with my parents. The local Walgreens was hesitant to test without an appointment, but we told them our situation, and a manager there did his best to make it happen.

The manager was successful—I received the results on my phone as the plane was taxiing down the runway!

On our last night, Trish and I saw live music for the first time in over a year!

Trish ordered a new lens for her camera when she saw the Albatross nesting nearby. It arrived just hours before we flew home.

March Madness

When we arrived home in March, I headed back to the condo for our week. I arrived late at night and texted the owner to tell him I couldn't get the hot tub to turn on. He texted me back three times before I woke up the next morning. I had the wrong dates! People were checking in that night, so I had to wash all the sheets and get out of there quickly. I got all my work done in the morning and hit the slopes in the afternoon.

I returned the following week and had a blast skiing with my buddy, Bill Lyons. He's been a ski instructor at Winter Park and Mary Jane for decades and showed me some hidden trails. Thanks, Bill!

We'd just returned from Hawaii, so we figured we might be able to skip Spring Break. Then we learned Abbie had senioritis and wanted to rendezvous with her similarly-minded cousins near a beach. Trish's parents have a place in Naples, Florida. Since they weren't using it, we made a plan, bought some tickets, and spent a splendid week with Trish's brother and his family.

The owner of the Winter Park condo offered us a few free nights in April, so Jack and I headed up for the weekend. Just before leaving, Jack approached me and asked, "Do I have to go? It's so boring up there." I agreed with him. It was boring and I liked that. I told him to bring a good book and get in the van. We cross-county skied and had a beautiful day of corduroy runs to end the season.

My stats for the season: 28 days cross-country skiing, 23 days downhill. That's 51 combined days! 😊

Detoxed and Fully Vaccinated

At the beginning of April, Trish and I started a 21-Day Sugar Detox. Abbie, Jack, and I were fully vaccinated by the end of the month, and Trish was well on her way.

I'm happy to announce that I'm #FullyVaccinated. Had 2nd @pfizer shot on Apr 14. I feel lucky 🍀 to have experienced no symptoms other than extreme joy. 🥳@TrishPhoto and I just finished a 23-day sugar detox too. We're feeling good!! ✌️ pic.twitter.com/6chqkFbPB7
— Matt Raible (@mraible) April 28, 2021

The following week, I rode my bike into Thrive DTC and marveled at their remodeling project.

The Graduate

May came quickly and with it, the end of the school. I snapped photos of both kids on their last days.

Abbie graduates from high school this Friday. My family is flying into town today. Trish's arrives tomorrow. We have the VWs all cleaned up, our landscaping/carport/basketball court project is finishing up, and we're grateful for everything that brought us to this point. 🥰

See all 148 photos on Flickr →

Happy Birthday, Jack

Matt Raible — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 13:31:53 -0600

Yeehaw - today is Jack's 16th birthday! 🎉 He's been driving a lot in the last year and has a driver's license driving test this afternoon. If he passes, he'll be getting his license next week. I feel like it's a big milestone because a driver's license has the notion of freedom, especially when you live out in the country as we do.

Jack is a sophomore this year and started school last week. Both he and Abbie attend in-person classes two days a week. They do school work remotely the other three days. Jack was just starting to blossom last March when he joined the track team, but they shut things down before the season really got started. I hope he'll try it again — I really enjoyed doing track when I was in high school. He's an excellent boater and happily rowed a couple of days on our Desolation Canyon trip last month.

Happy 16th Birthday, Jack!

For some photos of Jack through the years, see my Jack Turns 16 album.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Matt Raible — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 21:54:35 -0600

Wahoo! Jack turned 15 today and got his learner's permit for driving!! His first DMV experience was short and sweet, and the drive home was nerve-wracking (for both of us). He was terrified to be behind the while, during rush hour traffic, turning onto a three-lane road. I was determined to maintain tradition and have his first drive be down Parker Road to Dairy Queen. The good news is we made it, and I got to see a lot of emotions he's been suppressing in his teenage years. 😅

Jack is a freshman this year and he's adjusting to high school nicely. It helps that his sister is a junior and offers advice daily. You can tell they're pals in their first-day-of-school picture.

Jack is now taller than me by a couple of inches. I'm OK with that since he's been helping me record Denver meetups lately. I especially like the one he did of Venkat's talk on Kotlin for Java Programmers at Denver JUG earlier this month. He and Abbie also taught a Devoxx4Kids Denver workshop in July. What can I say ‐ I'm a proud dad!

Happy 15th Birthday, Jack! We had a ball celebrating with you tonight.

A Beautiful Adventure to JBCNConf, Barcelona, and Boston

Matt Raible — Sat, 29 Jun 2019 09:33:15 -0600

I love it when school's out for summer. The feeling you have on the last day of school as a kid is like no other. It's a terrific feeling. The feeling of freedom. Our kids graduated from 10th and 8th grade at the end of May. We didn't give them much time to rejoice and whisked them off to Barcelona for a few days at JBCNConf and a bit of family vacation.

Oh my, it was so much fun! First of all, there's nothing like traveling to a foreign land, bringing some of your favorite people with you, and getting to experience it with old and new friends. We arrived on Sunday and experienced a wonderful evening at a conservatory for the JBCNConf speaker's dinner.

Monday was Memorial Day in the US, so we took advantage of our day off and booked a trip with Spanish Trails to explore Montserrat. Montserrat is a rocky mountain range in Catalonia, Spain. "Montserrat" translates to "saw mountain" in Catalan, owing to its jagged, sawtooth appearance.

On Tuesday morning, I took Abbie and Jack to JBCN4Kids and they learned all about game programming in Spanish. Their Spanish skills were tested, and there was an excellent keynote by Brian Goetz in the middle of it all.

That afternoon, Josh Long and I planned and practiced our Full Stack Reactive workshop. We had a nice lunch with my family and Mario that day too. Josh and I delivered our workshop on Wednesday morning.

If you'd like to see the slides @starbuxman and I never used during our Full Stack Reactive Workshop at @jbcnconf, we published them on @speakerdeck:https://t.co/LPyJvCxod6

Thanks to everyone who attended. We had a wonderful time! ??#reactive #java #springwebflux #reactjs
— Matt Raible (@mraible) May 29, 2019

The legendary @mraible and I got to close down @jbcnconf with a 2h workshop. Thanks to all those who joined! Couldn’t ask for a better co-presenter, audience, or way to spend the day. I love my life. pic.twitter.com/EbuqdblSsJ
— Josh Long (???, ???, ???? ????, ??? ????) (@starbuxman) May 29, 2019

Our family vacation in El Vendrell began shortly after that.

View this post on Instagram

@1trishphoto in her happy place 💕🥰

A post shared by Matt Raible (@vwsforlife) on May 30, 2019 at 7:00am PDT

We enjoyed the experience so much, Trish and I are thinking about spending even more time in Spain next year.

Goodbye, Barcelona! ?? ????

We had a splendid adventure touring your mountains, city, and beaches. ??@TrishPhoto is intrigued by the notion of visiting again next year.@spring_io and @jbcnconf 2020 with remote work in between? Sounds fun! ???? pic.twitter.com/340myZ1wai
— Matt Raible (@mraible) June 1, 2019

For more photos, see our album's on Flickr: my Barcelona, JBCNConf, and Boston 2019 or Trish's Barcelona 2019.

On the way home, we stopped in Boston and hung out with Trish's brother's family. Our niece, Morgan, graduated high school. We are very proud of her and had a blast celebrating the event.

We started off summer pretty well so far. We've been to Barcelona, Boston, and even had a weekend of whitewater rafting on Fathers Day weekend. Life is good in the Raible Hood! 😊

Farewell to the 2018-19 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Sat, 25 May 2019 15:25:37 -0600

Holy cow! 2018-19 was one of the best ski seasons ever!!

It all started in December with some gorgeous powder days and only got better from there.

Trish and I took her birthday off (December 17) and enjoyed a beautiful day with no crowds.

New Years in Winter Park

I planned things like a skiing dad should, and scheduled a family vacation in Winter Park for a week that included New Years Eve. If you've followed me a while, you'll remember that we made our dreams come true in 2011 with mountain views.

Buying the Ski Shack in Winter Park was one of the best things Trish and I ever did. It had spectacular views and provided an opportunity to make another dream come true: 42 days in a season!

Man, that place was awesome. We had to sell it when I joined Stormpath and we bought the Raible Ranch.

We have many fond memories of Winter Park, and some of our best friends live there. If you're familiar with fraternities and sororities, you'll know what I mean when I say my little brother has a place there. Trish's little sister does too. Joe and Chris are special people in our lives and we always have a blast when we get to fraternize with them.

Chris Caldes is incredibly special since she married us in 2013.

We thoroughly enjoyed partying at her house for New Year's Eve and celebrating with a plethora of folks from our rafting family.

Cross-Country Skiing

Not only did the powder fall like mad, but I rekindled my love for cross-country skiing. It was snowing so much in our backyard that I went out and bought x-country skis. Hiking with our dogs (Sagan and Daisy) in our backyard is fun, but skiing is a whole other level. There's bridal paths everywhere, and they're border collies, so I let them run free and we have a ball. It's one of the coolest parts of living in the country.

It all started with x-country skiing at Devils Thumb Ranch over the New Years Holiday.

I also played hooky a few times. My co-workers wouldn't know because I'm pretty productive at work. In fact, one of my favorite stories of the year was on a Friday morning. I'd put in a lot of hours that week and when I joined the team call for the week, my friend Lindsay said "I just hope you're not working!"

That's when I turned on my my video camera and revealed that I was sitting in Stout the Syncro at the base of Mary Jane. Trish and I woke up early, drove to Winter Park, and joined our conference calls as you normally would. The difference was we were skiing fresh powder and grinning from ear-to-ear. That was probably my favorite all-hands meeting of the year.

Multi-tasking at its best: listening to the company All Hands meeting while getting fresh tracks at #MaryJane. ? #PowderDay #LifeAtOkta pic.twitter.com/WNXH5qjWwT
— Matt Raible (@mraible) March 1, 2019

Skiing at Wolf Creek

The other untold story from ski season is about a ski trip to Wolf Creek. I'd was returning home from DevNexus on a Friday night. As we were landing, I saw the powder forecast in Wolf Creek and texted a bunch of skiing friends.

Alonso is in Wolf Creek for the next week. There's 1-2 feet in the forecast by Tuesday. He has sleeping for 8. Road trip!

I received one positive response from my buddy Ryan Moore on Saturday afternoon.

I'm in on WC.

To make it happen, I worked all day Sunday, writing two blog posts in one day. We departed early Monday morning and arrived in Wolf Creek around 1pm. Along the way, I received a reminder that I had a call with a Fortune 500 company who was interested in Okta's API. I had no reception when I received the reminder, but we found three bars 10 minutes later. We pulled over and I took the call like I was sitting at home.

Knee-deep powder greeted us that day, and we had a ball. We stayed with our friends (Chris, Mary, and Luna) that night. Chris Alonso is a very important person in my life. He was the wicked-smart computer science major that I knew in college. He's the one that showed me coding might be a fabulous career and convinced me (by example) that it's what I wanted to do. It was fitting that his newly-built house in Wolf Creek didn't have internet access, or cell phone reception.

On Tuesday morning, I needed to publish a blog post before we hit the slopes. We had a choice: go into town for wi-fi, or head to the ski resort and hope they had cell reception. We figured, "of course they'll have reception at the resort". We woke up at 6 am, left the house by 6:20 and were in the lodge by 7 am.

They did not have cell reception. Nor wi-fi. There was 24" of fresh powder in the last 12 hours.

We were the only ones in the lodge aside from the folks that were opening up the kitchen. A lady mentioned that she had cell reception. I asked her if I could tether from her phone to get an internet connection. She didn't know what I was talking about but lent me her phone regardless. An hour later, I had completed my task of creating a pull request for my blog post to be published.

The lifts didn't open until 10 am that day because of power issues and so much powder.

The powder was thigh-deep and glorious.

Around noon, I had to fix things in my pull request before the blog post could be published. I found the same lady, borrowed her phone again and took up a cross-legged position in the hallways downstairs (near the power outlet) to publish and promote said blog post. I tipped her $40 that day. I doubt she knows how much she influenced my wonderful skiing experience.

The crazy part of the story happened the next day. There was a blizzard warning in Denver and we knew the pass might close at 6 am (for avalanche blasting). We woke up at 5 am on Wednesday to start our journey home. Since Ryan knew the area better, he took the first shift. When we left Chris's house, he asked, "how many miles does the van get to a tank?"

My answer: the most I've done is 266.

His response: we're at 250.

We drove over Wolf Creek pass and found the nearest gas station on the other side. When we arrived, we were at 265 miles on the tank. Phew!

I drove for the rest of the trip and experienced the most treacherous driving conditions of my life. If you live in Denver, you'll remember this as Bomb Cyclone 2019 #1. We had a DJUG meeting scheduled that night, a Java celebrity speaking, and I needed to get back in time for it. The winds and visibility were absolutely ridiculous along the way. There were many times where I had 10' of visibility and the winds were so strong they almost blew us off the road. Following a snow plow just after South Park was a life saver. When we got to Bailey (1 hour from Denver), 285 was not plowed and there was a foot of snow on the road. 4WD and following UPS trucks with chains got us through it all.

While driving through Denver in the blizzard conditions, I realized that it would be a bad idea to do the DJUG meetup that night. My fellow organizers canceled the meetup around the same time. It's nuts to reminisce and realize the April meetup was canceled too (because of Bomb Cyclone #2).

I have another good story that proves how good it was. I bought brand new powder skis at the end of February. The shop was willing to put my old bindings on my new skis, but they needed 2-3 days to do it. For the whole month of March, I never had an opportunity to do it! The powder was too frequest.

Spring Break in Steamboat

We took the kids to Steamboat for the first half of Spring Break and had an absolute blast!

That was our last ski trip for the year. However, it did snow this week, so I did get one last backyard x-country ski in. My only regret is we didn't make it to Crested Butte this year. That's OK, there's always next year!

VWs on the Green 2019

As is tradition, we showed both our awesome VWs in the Denver's annual VWs on the Green Show. We spent several hours polishing both rigs and are happy to report that Hefe won best in his class! He's only lost one year since we've had him finished. That was last year, and Stout the Syncro won, so we're on a five year winning streak. Next year, we plan to show up, enjoy the crowd, and not enter. We've won enough, so we'd like others to have a chance.

For more photos of this year's ski season, see my album on Flickr.

As I write this, I'm on my way to Barcelona for JBCNConf 2019. I'm taking the whole family with me since Trish is fluent in Spanish and Abbie and Jack have been studying it for a few years. On our way home, we'll stop in Boston to see our niece (Morgan) graduate from high school. It's a great start to a sure-to-be fabulous summer. 🌤

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Matt Raible — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 21:35:00 -0600

Jack turned 14 today. Last weekend we celebrated with his friends at our local Topgolf. I'd never been before, so I was eager to go, and we all had a great time.

However, the real highlight happened when we were cruising home in our '66 VW Bus amongst a gaggle of Lamborghinis. We had all his friends in the bus when four Lambos and a Bently pulled up alongside us. We cruised with them for a couple miles, grinning from ear to ear.

Jack's favorite thing to do these days is to play video games with his buddies, specifically Fortnite (a.k.a. "fork knife"). He's got some basketball skills too but doesn't play on a team. He excels at skiing because we make him go all the time and he's only a centimeter or two shorter than me. He's sure to be taller than me soon!

Jack is in 8th grade this year. This was the first year he traveled across the pond to visit Europe. He's getting in some miles: Paris in June, Crete in July, and we're heading to Ireland next week.

Happy 14th Birthday, Jack!

Farewell to the 2017-18 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 07:50:32 -0600

Summertime has arrived in Colorado! Typically, I try to write my "end of ski season" blog post in April or May, but this year it slipped until June. Do I have a good excuse?! Not really. Things got busy with my trip to Richmond and Oktane 18, that's all.

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet, to mirror the ski season. We didn't receive a whole lot of snow in the Rocky Mountains so the powder days were few and far between. There were a couple though, and I got to spend a powder day with some old friends at Winter Park!

The kids and I skied a few days in December, but it wasn't anything to write home about. For New Years, we packed up the Syncro and headed for Crested Butte.

Crested Butte had OK conditions, but the real fun happened when we ditched downhill and tried Nordic skiing. We spent a few hours with James Ward and daughter Josie on a beautiful cross country ski adventure. I grew up cross-country skiing to the bus stop, so it was a real hoot to do it with the whole family.

The real magic happened when I visited the Utah JUG in February. I drove through several snow storms on the way and arrived just in time for my talk on microservices, JHipster, and OAuth.

The next morning, there was 17" at Snowbird. That was a lovely morning.

That evening, Trish and the kids flew in and we hit Alta the next day. They still had fresh snow in spots and lots of sunshine.

We spent Sunday and Monday in Park City and got dumped on again. 17" again on Monday. Wahoo! We stayed and skied the morning, then endured a long 10-hour drive home.

Those were the main highlights of the ski season. Both kids are legit skiers now and will ski blacks all day if the snow is good. OK, maybe not all day, but for a few hours at least.

As for the VWs, Stout the Syncro won his class at the VWs on the Green show! Hefe the Bus didn't win anything, but he sure did look good!

Summer 2018

Now it's pretty much summer in our neck of the woods. We spent last weekend rafting on the Upper Colorado and we're hitting the Arkansas near Salida this weekend. I've been riding my bike(s) a lot, but haven't done a lot of single track trails. I hope to fix that soon.

If you're a developer that follows this blog - I hope to see you on the road in the coming months! I'll be at JHipster Conf next week, KC/DC, UberConf, and JCrete in July, and Boston JUG in August. Hope y'all have a great summer.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Matt Raible — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 16:05:14 -0600

Thirteen years ago today, my son was born. Jack has grown up to be a wicked smart and fun kid to be around. He started the 7th grade this year and is into Xbox, basketball, hanging out with his friends, and exotic cars. He dreams of driving a Lamborghini one day and enjoyed pretending he owned a bunch of Ferraris a few weeks back.

This weekend, I cleaned up Hefe to chauffeur Jack and his buddies to Dart Warz for an afternoon of fun with Nerf guns.

As expected, the boys had a great time. A few of his friends had a sleepover Saturday night and competed to see who could stay up the latest. They made it pretty late, but no one saw the sun rise.

My parents drove down from Montana to help revel in Jack's birthday. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and celebrating with his mom and her husband, Dave. Thanks to Julie and Dave for being such awesome co-parents!

Happy 13th Birthday Jack!

Farewell to the 2016-17 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Tue, 23 May 2017 09:26:02 -0600

The 2016-17 Ski Season was a fun one for the Raible Family. Abbie and Jack are good enough that they can zoom down the mountain without looking back. Their preferred runs are now blacks and they're no longer intimidated by moguls. We spent most of the season skiing at Mary Jane and Winter Park, but also had some trips to Crested Butte, Steamboat, and Montana.

On our way to Crested Butte (near the end of January), Stout the Syncro's front drive train started making crunching noises and we had to pull over. It was almost midnight, and we knew we couldn't fix it on the side of the road, so we called AAA and spent the night in a nearby hotel. I rode back to Denver the next day with the tow truck driver on the bumpiest ride of my life. The tow truck's tires were out of balance and it felt like things were going to fall apart at any moment. We later discovered that several things failed that night: one axle broke, a CV went out, and a wheel bearing was gone too. Trish and the kids spent the day at a hot springs in Buena Vista while I drive Trish's Tahoe back to complete the trip. While we missed a day skiing, the day we made it for was great and CB continues to be one of our favorite resorts.

I had some awesome solo skiing adventures too: skiing in Sweden after Jfokus, skiing in Steamboat during Winter Wonder Grass, and Miller Time 2017 in Northstar, California. Miller Time is an annual event to remember a great friend, Jason Miller, who passed on way too early in October 2015.

The highlight of the season was when we traveled to Big Sky Resort in Montana. I'd never skied at Big Sky before and it's been on my bucket list for years. We stayed a week during the kids' Spring Break and experienced some of the best skiing of our lives. When I asked Jack if he had any goals for Spring Break, he said he wanted to "ski 5 double blacks". There were so many double blacks on the mountain, it was unbelievable. We had his goal accomplished by noon on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to use our GoPro until Wednesday. However, that was the day we skipped skiing and did zip lining, so that was a ton of fun. I left my phone and laptop at home that week and thouroughly enjoyed being disconnected.

The video below shows our zip lining adventures, as well as some footage of our best day skiing. It was a powder day, we were on one of the first chairs, and we had fresh tracks all morning. There was an immmense amount of giggline, smiling, and hooting and hollering that morning.

More photos of our ski season adventures can be found on Flickr.

Stout 5.0 and Hefe 3.0

Now that ski season is over, it's time to focus on our favorite summertime activities: VWs, horseback riding, mountain biking, and rafting. Stout 5.0 and Hefe 3.0 were released at the beginning of May and they've both been running great!

Stout 5.0 (painted hood) and Hefe 3.0 (stereo) are lookin' pretty good on this fine Colorado day! ?? #vw?? #vanlife #vwbus #21windows pic.twitter.com/te9OvbJXA3
— Matt Raible (@mraible) May 6, 2017

Driving Hefe around with his rockin' stereo has been a lot of fun. You can imagine the kids giggling in the back with no seatbelts and ragtop down.

Hefe won best in class (Custom Bus 49-67) at VWs on the Green last weekend. Two years in a row baby!

More photos on Flickr → Stout 5.0 and Hefe 3.0

Speaking of winning, Abbie and Tucker have been tearing it up at the Colorado Horse Park. They've won 24 ribbons over the last five months!

Ski season is over, summer is almost upon us, and both our VWs are in tip-top shape. I really can't ask for anything more!

The Last Day of School

Matt Raible — Tue, 2 Jun 2015 08:31:31 -0600

Today marks the last day of the school year for Abbie and Jack. I wrote about their first day of school back in August. It's Jack's last day in 4th grade and Abbie's last day in 6th grade. I snapped a picture to capture the memory as they were rushing off this morning.

For summer activities, Abbie is still horseback riding every week. Jack is playing flag football and his team has been dominating. Both just joined a swim team. They competed in their first swim meet last weekend and did great. This is the first summer we didn't sign them up for a bunch of summer camps. We figured their daily 8am swim practice would be enough. I'd love to do a summer Devoxx4Kids class, but I'm having some difficulty finding volunteer instructors.

For summer vacations, we've only planned one: a 4-day road trip through Wyoming, Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park. From there, we'll head to my parent's house for a fun-filled 4th of July. Our current plan is to drive the Syncro and The Bus. Yeah, it's a long shot that The Bus will be done after all these years, but one can dream, right?

Farewell to the 2014-2015 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Tue, 12 May 2015 08:19:03 -0600

My family and I had a terrific ski season this year. Last year was an epic year with 11 resorts and a heli-skiing trip to British Columbia. This year, we skied Winter Park/Mary Jane, Steamboat, Copper, Crested Butte and Telluride. I logged 42 days of skiing, my most ever.

My season started on November 19th at Winter Park. Trish and I skied it again together a few days later. Opening Day at Mary Jane on November 28th was beautiful.

It's a BEAUTIFUL opening day at Mary Jane! #75WPR pic.twitter.com/l3BfKJgz5y
— Matt Raible (@mraible) November 28, 2014

Over Christmas and New Years, we stayed at our Ski Shack near Winter Park and got a number of days in. My buddy Joe Lamont and I skied together on the coldest day, when it was -6°F at the base of Mary Jane. I was pumped when got to ski with Mattias Karlsson and his family just after New Years.

Had a great time skiing with @matkar and his family this morning. Impressed by their skiing and snowboarding skills! pic.twitter.com/7iGZkg36M0
— Matt Raible (@mraible) January 4, 2015

For Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, we escaped the crowds and drove to Steamboat. The conditions weren't great, but we had a fun time nevertheless.

In early February, I did a hut trip in the Roaring Fork Valley with a great friend of mine, Ryan Moore. We climbed uphill a lot, sweated a lot and created some great memories.

For Presidents' Day Weekend, we packed up the kids and drove our Ski Bus to Crested Butte.

We enjoyed a fabulous weekend skiing with the kids and socializing with James and Jenny Ward. I also had fun surprising Trish with a family photograph session with Alison White.

In late February, we hosted our first tailgating party at Mary Jane. It was a powder day and the runs were great. I made some delicious buffalo chili and we enjoyed cold beverages with friends.

The kids had a couple days off from school in early March, so we packed up and headed for Telluride. The kids and I had never been before and boy were we impressed! The weather was beautiful and the kids found the courage and desire to do a number of double blacks. We had a blast that weekend, especially since Abbie and Jack both became fast and fearless.

The trip to Telluride marked an end to 5-weekends-in-a-row of skiing. I wrote about the fun we had in Skiing Adventures with our Syncro in the Rocky Mountains.

On March 13, day #36, I had one of the best ski days of my life (so far). My no-sugar and lots of exercise lifestyle helped me accomplish a 30,000 vertical feet day at Mary Jane. There was seven of us that day and we skied mostly blacks. It was hard to believe I pulled it off without eating or drinking anything all day. I was in the best ski shape of my life.

I slowed down a bit in April due to starting with a new client and visiting Trish's parents in Pennsylvania. However, my company's 9" rule kicked in on April 17th.

We ended the year with a tailgate party at Mary Jane on closing weekend. I spent the night in the Syncro at Mary Jane to get primo parking. A number of friends and kids showed up and we celebrated the end of the season with lots of smiles.

Summary
We had a blast this ski season. Normally, I shave my beard to a goatee at the end of ski season. However, this year I've signed up to a write a book on JHipster. Hipsters often have nice beards and mine seems to be pretty good right now, so I think I'll grow it until I've finished the book. Hopefully my bus will be done by then and I can get a nice author photo with my beard and a finished bus.

Next year, I hope to ski another 40+ days. Jack will be in 5th grade and can get three free days at all the resorts. We asked him if he wanted to travel around like we did last year with Abbie. He said he'd rather stay in Winter Park most of the time and do a few trips like we did this year. I'm OK with that. It was a glorious ski season.

Skiing Adventures with our Syncro in the Rocky Mountains

Matt Raible — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 06:01:09 -0600

Our Syncro Westy was returned to us in early February, after being in the shop since just before Christmas. It was in the shop for body work caused by an accident that was my fault. Luckily, no one was hurt and the damage was minor. The morning after we got it back, my awesome friend Ryan Moore and I packed it up and headed on a hut trip near Aspen, Colorado.

The next weekend was one of the most popular skiing holidays: Presidents' Day Weekend. We packed up the kids and drove our Ski Bus to Crested Butte. I took my guitar and Trish took her banjo (we both started taking weekly lessons at the beginning of the year). Our drive was smooth and our weekend was fabulous.

Saturday was Valentine's Day and I surprised Trish with a photo shoot of our family. I'd secretly hired Alison White to take our pictures and we met with her to talk about what we wanted on Saturday morning. After a fun consultation, we ventured to the mountain, picking up James Ward along the way. We skied a few runs together, stopped at the Ice Bar for a car bomb, then whisked off to our photo shoot.

We are extremely pleased with the results. Thanks Alison!

The next weekend, Trish and I packed up and headed to our Ski Shack in Winter Park. We stayed up late that Friday night, preparing chili and other fixins for a fun tailgate on Saturday. We didn't get much sleep, but we were in "C Lot" by 7:30 and on the lifts shortly after they opened. It was a powder day, and the runs were great. We met up with friends at our van around noon and enjoyed some tasty chili and cold beverages.

The last weekend in February, we met Trish's brother (also named Matt) in Vail. He was on a ski trip with a number of friends and Trish drove up to ski with him on Saturday morning. The kids and I slept in a bit and arrived at Copper just in time for free parking near the lifts. We skied all afternoon, then met up with Trish and Matt for some cocktails, then dinner. That night, we did some winter camping in the van.

The final weekend in my 5-weekends-in-a-row of skiing was a wonderful trip to Telluride. The kids had Thursday and Friday off of school last week, so we loaded up and drove to Telluride on Thursday. It took us most of the day to get there (7.5 hours), but the weather was beautiful and the roads were dry. Our van was too tall for our hotel's garage, so we had excellent parking spots all weekend.

This was the breakout weekend for Jack. Abbie's been skiing awesome all year and Jack's been pretty timid (lots of turns, going slow). There was something about our first day at Telluride that inspired him, because he loved their double blacks. We skied lots of steep runs, did laps on the terrain parks and flew down the mountain on blues. Telluride had a Spring Break atmosphere and our ski-in/ski-out accommodations didn't hurt. It was a glorious weekend. Trish and I were both very proud of the kids and how fast and fearless they've become on skis.

Full Album →

I'm extremely happy with our Syncro's performance and its new H6 (Subaru Outback) engine. It's been averaging 20mpg, most likely because I drive 55mph in the slow lanes up the passes. I figure we drove it just over 2000 miles on our 5-ski-weekends-in-5-weeks adventure. We thoroughly enjoyed skiing at Crested Butte, tailgating with powder at Mary Jane and shredding the double blacks at Telluride. I know we'll be back to all of them, some sooner than later.

In fact, I'll be meeting a few friends at Mary Jane this morning to attempt 30,000 vertical feet in one day. It'll be my 36th day of skiing this year. Happy Friday! Life is Good.

The First Day of School

Matt Raible — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 16:05:34 -0600

Another school year is upon us! This year brings a big change: Abbie is now a middle schooler! I missed blogging about the beginning of school last year because Trish and I were honeymooning in Ireland, Italy, Thailand and Fiji. For fall activities, Abbie and Trish are leasing a horse, so they'll be doing lots of riding. Jack is inspired to learn how to program, but I can't help but think some outdoor activities will be more fun. I hope to keep him interested in programming by organizing a fall Devoxx4Kids Denver.

Personally, I'm not quite ready to start thinking about the fall. With a 6-day rafting trip down Desolation Canyon over Labor Day weekend, we hope to squeeze the last little bit out of summer before it's over. We'll be taking both kids and driving our Syncro with its new engine.

When we get back, it's time for football/tailgating season, leaves changing and the finishing of the '66 Dream Bus. With the interior getting painted soon, I believe the final push is right around the corner!

Related: The First Day of School 2007, 2010 and 2011.

Father's Day Weekend on The Arkansas River

Matt Raible — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 08:53:10 -0600

I really enjoy being a father. I consider it one of my greatest responsibilities, one that has many rewards. There's nothing like hearing your son say "Dad, I'm really glad you made me go on this trip" (on our Yampa trip) or your daughter making you a Happy Father's Day book that says "you invented FUN!" Like many years in the past, we celebrated Father's Day Weekend with a camping trip.

Trish and I both invited our Dad's to join us, and they delightfully agreed. Trish transported her Dad to Denver by flying to Pennsylvania last Wednesday and road-tripping back with him. I flew my Dad in and picked him up from the airport Friday afternoon. We had a bit of road-tripping ourselves, with a drive to Fort Collins (to pick up our enhanced Syncro), then to Winter Park (to pick up our raft), then back to Denver.

Saturday morning, we packed up our sleeping bags, life jackets and border collies and drove to the Cotopaxi KOA on the Arkansas River. We arrived late afternoon, and were quickly impressed with the KOA's glamping attributes. We had an excellent riverside spot, with RV hookups for the van and a sweet concrete patio. We enjoyed a wagon ride, frisbee, fishing, and marshmallows by the fire before retiring for the night.

On Father's Day, we rafted the Upper Bighorn Sheep Canyon, putting in at Salida East and taking out at Vallie Bridge. The rapids wild and wet, but easy to navigate. Our favorite was Tin Cup Rapid; it was sloped like a bunny hill, with a nice big wave at the bottom.

On the way home, we stopped to see the Royal Gorge. We were disappointed to find "America's Highest Bridge" was closed. Later, we found out on June 11, 2013, they suffered extensive damage caused by the Royal Gorge Fire. This wildfire destroyed 48 of the 52 structures on the Bridge & Park grounds, including their Aerial Tram and antique carousel, as well as the park's visitor center. Trish snapped some good photos of the kids while we marveled at the view.

After the Royal Gorge, we drove to Colorado Springs and stopped to see the '66 Bus Project. The brakes, clutch, accelerator and shift linkage is all installed. Now they're working on custom fitting the back seat and air tank (for the air bags). There's a good chance it'll be able to start and drive by the end of the month.

Speaking of Volkswagens, we got some new bumpers installed on our Syncro last week by Rocky Mountain Westy. Coupled with a new set of tires, the ol' van is looking pretty good these days.

Thanks to our Dads for making the journey to see us and spend such an awesome weekend together. You both are always fun to hang out with. We can't wait to do it again soon!

For a more extensive picture collection from this weekend, see Trish's 2014 Father's Day Weekend album.

Past Father's Day Trips:

2008: The Father's Day Camping Trip
2009: A Fun Father's Day at Great Sand Dunes
2010: Another Fun Father's Day at The Great Sand Dunes
2011: Good Times on The Annual Father's Day Camping Trip
2012: Father's Day Weekend at The Oregon Coast
2013: Father's Day Weekend on The Colorado River

Rafting the Yampa through Dinosaur National Monument

Matt Raible — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 22:30:23 -0600

In January, my friend Brice sent out an email to a bunch of folks asking us to apply for a river permit lottery. He sent us links to lotteries for Dinosaur National Monument - Yampa River and Desolation Gray - Green River. There were 10 of us on the email and we all applied for both permits. In mid-February, I found out I won the Yampa permit and the trip planning began. This was a huge deal for some since they'd been trying to get this permit for 10 years.

When we got all the details worked out, we were scheduled to launch on Saturday, May 31 and take out on Wednesday, June 4. Our put-in was Deerlodge Park and take-out, Split Mountain. If you're interested, you can see a map.

Over the next four months, many emails flew between us (33 pages if printed out) and much planning ensued. We had a planning BBQ, endured a permit-award-never-sent-fiasco and I tried to back out for Abbie's 5th grade continuation ceremony. Since I was the permit holder (and had to go), the crew convinced me it was a trip of a lifetime. We left Abbie in Denver for her ceremony and took Jack with us. When we launched on May 31, we had 21 people, 8 rafts and one inflatable kayak. Of the crew, 6 were children (aged 6 - 11).

Day 1 (10 miles)
We knew there was high water going into the trip. We later found out that June 1 may have been the highest flow of the season, with between 17000 and 18000CFS. We were only on the river a couple hours the first day. The river was swift and we marveled that none of the rapids we went through had names. Our friend, The Professor, flipped in his ducky, but had no issues recovering. We camped at Teepee Hole that night.

Day 2 (16 miles)
Sunday morning, everyone was in good spirits. It was our first day with named rapids and we all were looking forward to it.

Sunday started out with TeePee Rapid, a Class III. We all stayed right and made it through just fine. The waves were big, but nothing seemed dangerous. We paddled through Little Joe (Class III) and wondered why they named Big Joe (Class II) "Big". We soon learned why when we saw one of the first rafts flip in the middle of it. It was a blue raft with our friends, Eagle Dave and Jake. A few more rafts went through the same route, then a silver raft flipped right in front of us. It contained our friends, Chris and Brice, as well as their kids (6 and 9).

Yes, things got scary all of a sudden. I instantly realized I didn't want to follow their route and rowed as hard as I could to go right instead of left. Once we passed the flipping hole, I rowed as hard as I could to try and reach Brice on the left. It was the hardest I'd ever rowed in my life, yet I couldn't get across the river to stop and help. Luckily, a couple other friends did reach him and were able to help. Chris, thinking quickly, had grabbed both their boys (while flipping) and swam with them until Erick and Galin (11 yrs old) rescued them with a throw bag.

We arrived at Harding Hole about 30 minutes after flipping/recovering. Emotions were high and all the kids were a bit freaked out. Many asked to go home. Luckily, a ranger and number of trainees were camping nearby. They helped calm nerves by giving us advice and offering to run safety for us the next day.

Day 3 (18 miles)
On Monday, we got to experience the biggest rapids of the trip: Warm Springs (Class IV). We stopped and scouted, as well as let the kids walk around the rapid. There was a tall haystack wave in the middle of it, as well as a huge "Maytag" hole at the end.

Luckily, everyone made it through just fine and spirits ran high with accomplishment. The rest of the day was particularly enjoyable as flat water brought us floating and relaxing. Many water fights ensued between boats and laughter erupted off the canyon walls.

We celebrated 80s night with style at Box Elder campground that evening.

Day 4 (14.5 miles)
Tuesday was another floater in the morning. We stopped at the confluence of the Yampa and Green River and enjoyed the view.

In the early afternoon, we stopped at Echo Park and enjoyed our first non-groover toilet in days. We also gathered water and took the kids on a hike to see some petroglyphs.

As we progressed that afternoon, we hit some more rapids that sent some fright through the kids that flipped on Sunday. We stopped for a couple hours to hike, play Yahtzee and relax in the sun.

Then we continued to camp at Big Island that night. Our last night on the river, we spent in a beautiful camping utopia.

Day 5 (13.5 miles)
Wednesday, everyone gathered their things early and had their boats packed by breakfast. It was our morning to cook, so Trish whipped up huckleberry pancakes and dazzled our taste buds. We had one big rapid, Moonshine (Class III), to get our blood pumping. We scouted, the kids walked, and everyone made it through just fine. There were a few more rapids (SOB, Schoolboy and Inglesby) through the rest of Split Mountain Canyon, but none that inspired scouting. We landed at Split Mountain take-out around 2pm, said our goodbyes and headed home. Trish, Jack and I arrived back in Denver just before midnight.

Summary
Wow - what a trip! When we first read about floating through Dinosaur National Monument, we thought it'd be more of a float trip with some fun rapids. Instead, it greeted us with lots of fast water, tons of rapids and not-so-much floating. In the 2014 Boating Information Booklet (PDF), item #5 in the Safety Recommendations says "Rig to flip!" This was no joke.

Everyone was well prepared and we did rig to flip, we just never expected it to happen on a Class II. With kids in the boat, it shook everyone up a bit, but we became a stronger team because of it. Sloane, one of the most experienced rafters on the trip, wore a GoPro through much of the trip. You can view a video of our adventures below, or on YouTube.

Good times, great friends, fantastic memories.

more photos on Flickr →

Farewell to the 2013-2014 Ski Season

Matt Raible — Sat, 10 May 2014 12:30:54 -0600

We took things up a notch for this year's ski season: we bought a ski bus (a.k.a. The Syncro) and rented our ski shack out for the season. Our goal was to ski all over Colorado since Abbie had free days at every resort. Personally, I racked up 28 days of skiing, Trish had similar numbers and, Abbie and Jack got between 15 and 20.

We picked up the ski bus with a road trip from Sun Valley, ID to Denver. We were hoping to ski at Jackson Hole on the way home. The sub-zero temperatures quickly changed our minds and we learned about its sub-par wind resistance driving through Wyoming.

The kids and I started the season with a trip to A-Basin, followed by a day at Keystone. Then Trish and I hit Mary Jane before heading to Montana for Christmas.

Around this same time, Trish sold her Xterra and we became a one-vehicle family. The Syncro had its first (and only!) breakdown on the way to my parent's on Christmas Eve. We raced Santa Claus to The Cabin, packed in a rented sedan with two kids, two dogs and two cats. We realized afterward the car had bald tires and a broken windshield-washing system. Thank goodness the roads were dry.

The Syncro remained in Bozeman for a week while getting repairs done at Straightaway Motors. We enjoyed the beauty of Montana without it, sledding, skiing at Big Mountain and celebrating New Years with good friends in West Glacier. Taking Trish and the kids skiing in Montana was a ski-life highlight for me. As a teenager, I learned how to downhill ski at Big Mountain and it was really cool to show my family its awesomeness.

Both Abbie and Jack started the season snowboarding. They switched to skiing when Trish took them to Steamboat the same weekend I went heli-skiing in British Columbia.

At the end of January, we stayed with our good friends, the Tillis, and skied at Breckenridge.

The next day we skied Copper and had an 11" Powder Day at Mary Jane a few days later.

The snow continued to fall when we drove to Aspen for Superbowl weekend. It took us six hours to drive there in a blizzard, but the 36" of fresh snow the next day made it all worth it. We skied Snowmass and had a ball.

The Syncro burst a cooling hose clamp going over Vail Pass on the way home. It was Superbowl Sunday and we were rushing home to watch the Broncos. Luckily, I was able to fix it enough to get to a gas station and buy some new hose clamps. I'd rather not talk about the Broncos performance that evening.

In mid-February, I replaced the propane tank on the Syncro and installed a portable heater.

We celebrated with our first winter camping excursion in Mary Jane's Challenger Lot. The next morning, we found ourselves plowed in. We learned you're supposed to move when you hear the snow plows in the middle of the night. We enjoyed first chair that morning and all our runs with fresh tracks.

The next weekend, we camped for two nights in Avon for WinterWinderGrass. We skied at Copper and Vail that weekend. In the evenings, we drank delicious Colorado beer and listened to some really great live music. We left the propane heater at home and got along just fine with sleeping bags.

At the end of February, we took the kids to Beaver Creek, where they had their first 10-run day with us. That was the day we realized they could keep up with us on the blues.

For St. Patrick's Day weekend, we drove to Crested Butte, one of our favorite resorts in Colorado. The kids both had 20 runs that day and impressed the hell out of us. It was a beautiful weekend, and I even got to hang out with James Ward on Saturday night.

In April, we gathered with friends at an A-Basin Beach Party. It was the first time the kids camped with us in the Syncro and they loved it. We woke up at 5am to get a good spot and there were already two cars ahead of us in line. They opened the gates around 7am. We stayed at our friends, the Ellens, in Breckenridge that night and skied there the next day.

The season ended with a few days at Mary Jane and Winter Park. We spent a couple nights at Devils Thumb Ranch on the final weekend.

more pictures on Flickr →

Summary
By my count, we made it to 11 unique resorts this year. That's a far cry from the 25 resorts we have in Colorado. Nevertheless, we had a great time and put almost 10,000 miles on our Syncro since we bought it. It's been a slightly stressful winter as a one-car family. But, like I mentioned, the Syncro has been humming along nicely.

In January, I realized the only way the Syncro was going to work long-term was if I became a VW mechanic. My Dad is an excellent mechanic, so I talked with him and learned how to fix most problems we've had. It's been a fun learning experience so far. We did wrestle with some cooling-system issues every-so-often, but we were able to fix them by tightening clamps and keeping the cooling tank full. Last week, Rocky Mountain Westy upgraded the cooling tubes and tank. Next week, we'll be getting axles replaced and some steering enhancements - things that tend to go bad after 185K miles.

Our biggest regret of the season was renting out our condo in Fraser. We thought we'd enjoy traveling all over Colorado and camping in the van. We did enjoy the trips, but working from the van wasn't great and it was too small to bring all our pets (two cats, two dogs). It also lacks a hot tub.

Next year, we're psyched that Crested Butte has been added to the Rocky Mountain Super Pass. We'll likely hit many of the same resorts again, and I'd like to spend more time at Steamboat, Telluride and Wolf Creek.

In the meantime, mountain biking, camping, rafting and VW show season is right around the corner. We're heading to Moab next week for Syncro Solstice, entering our first show at Volkswagens on the Green, rafting/dancing with our kids at Campout for the Cause and doing a 5-day river trip down the Yampa in Dinosaur National Monument. Yeeeeee haaaw - I love Colorado!

Spring Break in Florida: Golf, Beaches and Boats!

Matt Raible — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 20:34:59 -0600

Florida is a beautiful state, with sandy beaches, excellent fishing, fun people and a great enthusiasm for golf. When I dreamed up Trish, I knew she'd have an awesome family, but I never expected her parents to have a house on a golf course. Trish's grandma, Claire Stanley, is a legend in her own right. I've never met her, but I knew I loved her when Trish's dad first told me about her "layered shots". When I saw Claire's name listed several times on the walls of the The Country Club of Naples, a deep respect came over me. Claire picked out her house on the 17th hole (Trish's favorite number) of the Country Club in 1966, when the establishment was founded. My bus was born in 1966.

Today, Trish's parents have turned it into a golf and relaxation oasis, complete with beautiful orchid gardens, a sweet pool and Japanese decorations from the country where they first met.

As a golf enthusiast, I'm embarrassed that we've only visited her parents in Naples once before. We bought Abbie and Jack golf clubs last year for Jack's birthday, and they both like to play the game. To make up for our lack of visiting family in Florida, we took our kids on a golf vacation for this year's Spring Break.

We learned a technique for kids golfing in September 2012: have them tee off from the 150 marker so they have a chance to par the hole. We arrived in Naples on a Saturday, had a nice family brunch on Sunday and played golf with the kids that afternoon. The kids had a really good time, even beating us on a couple holes.

The sunset on Sunday evening was gorgeous, especially with the kids frolicking in the waves.

On Monday, we woke up early and boarded the Key West Express before sunrise.

We arrived in Key West around noon and hung out by our hotel pool for most of the day. That evening, after marveling at the sunset, we took the kids on a Key West Ghost Tour. It was a bit long at 1.5 hours, but the story of Robert the Doll was excellent.

Tuesday morning, we met up with Abbie and Jack's Mom, Julie, and her fiancé Dave. They had Dave's kids with them, and we all headed out for a sailing, parasailing and jet skiing adventure together. Everyone had a great time, as is evidenced by the photos below.

Trish and I handed the kids over to Julie that afternoon and spent a few more hours in Key West. We rented bikes, visited the southernmost point in the US and enjoyed a cocktail on the beach. We especially liked seeing the house that Trish's Mom, Maureen, grew up in.

Around happy hour, after visiting the World of Beer, we boarded the Key West Express and traveled back to Trish's parents.

The rest of the week was an ideal vacation: golfing, swimming in the pool, swimming in the ocean, walking on the beach, dinner on the beach and fishing in the Everglades. Trish's Dad, Joe, booked us a fishing trip in the Everglades, starting from Everglades City. He and I had to wake up before dawn on Friday to meet our guide, who was waiting for us at the dock at 7:30. From there, we spent six hours boating, casting, reeling, catching some, losing some and having a fabulous time. Our catch at the end of the adventure was two Trout and one Flounder (caught by our guide, Tony). Nevertheless, we had a delightful day and savored the sun and the water in a beautiful location.

Saturday, we played some more golf and took an evening flight home. It was a fun spring break and I'm glad the kids got to enjoy it with both parents and multiple grandparents. More than anything, thanks to Trish's parents for their hospitality and fun-loving lifestyle. We had a blast!

For more pictures, checkout Trish's Spring Break 2014 or my Spring Break in Florida.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Matt Raible — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 14:41:19 -0600

My son Jack, or "J Jackson" as he liked to be called, turns 9 years old today. In the last year, he's grown up quite a bit. He learned how to play basketball last fall, snowboard last winter and became a Webelos Scout in the spring. This summer, he learned how to ride a motorcycle and had a blast whitewater rafting with us. He did a fabulous job being my Best Son in our wedding.

This past weekend, we had a birthday party for Jack -- complete with a huge inflatable water slide. Trish and I flew in from our honeymoon 10 hours before the party started, but still managed to oversleep from jet lag. Nevertheless, we made it in time for some good fun and had a great time celebrating with the whole family and new friends from his new school. Below are a few choice pictures. The rest are on Flickr.

Jack's favorite thing to do is play Minecraft or watch YouTube videos about it. His sister still knows how to push his buttons, but he's learning to ignore her. This is a big year for Jack as he's starting a new school and making a bunch of new friends. I know he'll do great and I look forward to helping him adapt and enjoy it. Happy Birthday Jack!

Related: Jack's 8th, 5th, 4th, 3rd and 1st birthdays.

The Trifecta 2013!

Matt Raible — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:25:09 -0600

The last time I pulled off a Trifecta (3 ski resorts in 3 days), it was in 2010. I hadn't met Trish yet and DU Hockey had started their we're terrible in the playoffs streak. Last weekend, I decided to go for it again, this time with fiancé and kids in tow. We originally intended to ski Friday afternoon, but Abbie had an important "Mayor Election" at school and we were unable to leave early. By the time we arrived in Winter Park, the lifts were closed.

When we drove to Steamboat on Saturday, we only intended to ski 2 days. We dressed up in our outfits and got ready for the warm, mashed-potato conditions on Steamboat's closing weekend.

The conditions weren't great, so we only skied for a couple hours. Then we hung out with Trish's friends (Jenn and Todd) for the rest of the afternoon, swimming and frolicking with our kids like good parents do. On Sunday, we woke up and checked the ski report. While Steamboat did get 8" of fresh powder, Copper had 13 inches! So we packed up the car, puppies, and kids and drove 2 hours to Copper. When we arrived, we weren't disappointed. The kids were loving it and the conditions were great.

When we stopped for lunch, I was a bit disappointed that our ski weekend was about to end. Then I checked the Winter Park forecast, was pleasantly surprised, and asked "Hey, kids - should we complete the Trifecta and skip school tomorrow?" Of course, they said "YES" and our plans were set. We did a couple more runs, listened to some good live music at the base, then headed to our mountain views in Winter Park.

Sunday night is when the fun started. I didn't call the kids in sick for school, nor did I call in sick for my current client. I simply told them both we had a unique opportunity to complete a Trifecta and the snow was too good to leave.

Monday morning we woke up to 7" of fresh powder and by the time we got to Mary Jane, it was knee-deep. The runs were unbelievable. I skied several bump runs on Mary Jane without ever hitting bottom. It snowed hard all day long and by 2pm, they'd closed Berthoud Pass. This meant we had to stay another night. Some friends were stranded, so we offered them to stay with us and we enjoyed a nice evening reminiscing about all the fluffy snow and face shots. The first photo below is the snow accumulation on Monday morning; the second is from Monday at Happy Hour.

Skiing a Trifecta with my family seems like a perfect way to end the ski season. However, it's been snowing all week and I've had several powder runs since Monday. It's snowed 37 inches in the past 7 days and there's more snow in the forecast this weekend. Winter Park's Springtopia starts tomorrow. Live music, fresh powder, the Nuggets in the playoffs and a place at the base with good friends.

The fun ain't over yet!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Matt Raible — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:12:46 -0600

Eight years ago today, Jack was born. Today, it's hard to even imagine him as a baby or a toddler. But then again, we all looked quite a bit different back then.

These days, Jack has his own website and prefers to spend his free moments playing with Beyblades or his new Nintendo 3DS. He started 3rd grade this year and has excellent math and reading skills, even though he's the youngest in his class. As he grows older, he's starting to like the same things I do, particularly fishing, skiing and golfing.

Last weekend, we threw a birthday party for Jack at Julie's house. He invited some of his close friends from school and had a Beyblade tournament. Fun was had by all and you couldn't wipe the smile off his face when he went home.

This fall, Jack will be playing lacrosse again and might even pass up his sister in height. He sure is a handsome kid. Happy Birthday Jack!

Related: Jack's 5th, 4th, 3rd and 1st birthdays.

The First Day of School

Matt Raible — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 13:01:30 -0600

The first day of school always marks a big change for my family. We have to start getting up early, start our scouting adventures and figure out some sports to play. This year, it seemed to come faster than ever. I'm sure that had nothing to do with the fact that we were gone most of the summer.

Abbie and Jack's first day of school was yesterday and they couldn't be happier. Abbie is now a 4th grader and Jack is in the 3rd grade. Heck, they even seem to have some fashion sense!

For fall activities, Abbie is doing horseback riding and Jack will be playing lacrosse at DU. Both are pumped about their sports and Abbie had her first lesson last night. She looks pretty good on a horse if you ask me.

In other life news, our house is a disaster (we're halfway through getting our kitchen remodeled), our deck project is almost done and The Bus will be finished in just a few more weeks.

OK, I made that last part up - one can dream, right?

School's Out for Summer!

Matt Raible — Tue, 5 Jun 2012 10:25:54 -0600

One of the main reasons I started this blog was to document my life. I like writing technical blog posts because it allows me to save knowledge in my brain and open up space for new stuff. It's been a couple months since I wrote any tech posts, but rest assured there will be a flurry in the near future. In the meantime, I'd like to reflect on my kids and how proud I am of them.

They both finished school two weeks ago today and I made sure and played Alice Cooper's School's Out several times that day.

Loudly.

I love how the song tries to capture the "greatest three minutes of your life".

Abbie and Jack had an athletic spring; both participating in their sport of choice. Jack chose lacrosse and learned how to play some mean defense. Abbie chose basketball and scored her first hoop in a game. I think I was in 5th grade before I scored in a game, so she's one up on me. Below are their team pictures. Lookin' good kids!

In addition to sports, both kids were involved with Cub/Girl Scouts and performed in the school's talent show. I guess they like to be in front of an audience. I wonder where they get that from?

Cruising around the Western Caribbean

Matt Raible — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:05:57 -0600

I've heard great things about Disney Cruise Lines from friends, especially as a fun adventure for kids. That's why I was super pumped to talk my family into going on a Western Caribbean Cruise for Spring Break. As you might've read in my last post, we spent a week in Crested Butte before embarking on our cruise.

While in Crested Butte, I enjoyed the Java Posse Roundup, but unfortunately had to do client work most of the week. However, that didn't stop James Ward, Trish and me from building a Shot-Ski and doing a 5-minute lightning talk on it. We had a great time doing research, getting locals to help us out and beta testing it with JPR attendees. I'll write a blog post on what we learned in the near future. In the meantime, you can check out Trish's Making a Shot-Ski photos.

We left Crested Butte on Thursday (March 29th) and drove back to Denver to meetup with my parents (who drove down from Montana). Friday morning we hopped on a plane and flew to Orlando, Florida and took a bus to Port Canaveral. Abbie and Jack were at their Grandma's in West Palm Beach, so Trish's parents picked them up on their drive up from Naples. We all met with near perfect timing and boarded the Disney Magic around 4 o'clock Friday afternoon.

We were immediately impressed with our rooms (we had 3 staterooms next to each other on the 5th floor forward) and their nice portal windows. We saw dolphins jumping in Port Canaveral as we departed and witnessed a horn battle between our ship and the Disney Fantasy. The Disney Fantasy was embarking on its maiden voyage and we saw it many times throughout the trip. That evening, we ventured to the first dinner seating (at 17:45). We were pleased to find out we'd have the same servers all week, at different restaurants throughout the ship.

Key West
Saturday morning, we arrived in Key West and had from 12am-9pm to explore. We took a tour in Key West and learned a lot about the history and architecture of the town. Last time we visited Key West, I was super impressed with Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. It was fun to show it to everyone and we savored some tasty beverages at Margaritaville afterward.

We returned to the ship for dinner that evening and enjoyed the service of Omar (our main server) and Marijah (his assistant) once again. A couple hours laster, the boys (minus Jack) returned to shore to do some bonding. We wandered about, set a match to some cigars and made it back on the ship before it departed. We spent the remainder of the evening in the ship's Sports Bar watching March Madness and talking about Trish and my upcoming wedding.

Sunday was a day at sea and we made the most of it. Lots of swimming, relaxing, playing with kids and enjoying each other's company. The ship had two different places that you could drop your kids off and Abbie (9) had a lot of fun attending their activities. Jack wasn't that into it and spent most of his day visiting the soft-serve ice cream machine. That evening, Trish and I journeyed to a romantic dinner at the ship's 18-and-older restaurant and celebrated our 1-year "moved in together" anniversary.

Grand Cayman
Monday, we arrived at Grand Cayman early in the morning and were ashore by 8am. We had a snorkeling expedition planned so promptly gathered and headed out to sea on a snorkeling boat. The weather was beautiful, the water was warm and snorkeling around a shipwreck was a very memorable experience.

We visited the Hard Rock cafe to get my Dad a t-shirt, purchased some Tobago Rum Cakes and finished with a tour of the new Cayman Islands National Museum. We were back on the ship by 4 so our parents could have their own romantic dinner that evening.

Cozumel
Tuesday morning, we woke up in Cozumel. Trish and my parents headed to shore for some exploring while I slept in with the kids and ate at the "something for everyone" breakfast buffet. In the afternoon, we all headed to shore for a submarine ride. The submarine adventure was very cool, going down 120 ft. and even taking us to the edge of a cliff on the ocean floor. We got to see several schools of fish, loads of coral reef and even a sea turtle swimming along the bottom.

The highlight of Cozumel was Manuel. After the submarine ride, we took a taxi to a restaurant with a great view and had a couple margaritas and some excellent steak tacos. While we were finishing up, a man walked up to us and asked if we wanted him to play us a song on his guitar. We said yes and gave him our small change ($1.75) for his serenade.

Shortly after, we got up to leave the restaurant and walk back to the ship. That's when Trish came up with a brilliant idea and asked Manuel if he'd be willing to walk with us around town and play music the whole time. She offered him $20 and he quickly agreed.

What followed was lots of laughs, smiling and dancing through the streets of Cozumel. Not only from us, but also from many of the locals. Manuel was an excellent mariachi musician and provided an exciting sense of celebration around us for the next 20 minutes.

Wednesday was another day at sea as we traveled from Cozumel to Disney's private island in the Bahamas: Castaway Cay. We got a kick out of the ship's activities, from Beer Tasting to watching the John Carter movie in 3D. I snapped some sweet photos that night as we were watching the sun set over the horizon.

Castaway Cay
At first, I thought Castaway Cay was going to be like Disney World, just on an island. I was expecting all kinds of rides and an amusement park. I was surprised to find it was nothing like that, but more of a private beach with all kinds of bars, games, water sports and even a water slide. The kids had a blast building sand castles, learning how to play checkers and exploring the island. I had a massage to the sound of ocean waves in the afternoon and we hopped back on the ship around 5 that afternoon.

That night, we had to pack up our luggage by 10 and put it out so it could be checked into our flight the next day. Disney did an awesome job of handling our luggage both to and from the cruise. All we had to do was attach bag tags in Denver and our bags arrived at our room shortly after boarding. On the way home, we gave them our bags on Thursday night and didn't see them until arriving in Denver.

The last morning on the Disney Magic was a bit early. We had to be at breakfast at 6:45, were off the ship by 8 and at the Orlando airport by 9. Our flight was at 7 that night, so we suddenly found ourselves with 9 hours of free time and nothing to do.

LEGOLAND
Last year around this time, Jack was struggling in school and getting in trouble almost every-other-day. In an attempt to promote good behavior, I told him I'd take him to LEGOLAND if he had 10 days in a row of good behavior. This didn't seem to help and we ended the school year with no trip planned. However, when this school year started, he had excellent behavior (which has continued all year) and quickly remembered my promise.

As we were sitting in Orlando's airport, I remembered this promise and 30 minutes later we had a car rented and were driving to see some legos. We spent a joyous day there, riding the few rides they had and marveling over all the things you could build with legos. It was a fun way to end our wonderful vacation.

This cruise was a first for myself, my kids and my parents. We were extremely impressed with Disney's Customer Service and have never felt more pampered in our lives. All the crew we interacted with knew our names by the second days and were some of the most kid-friendly people I've ever met. The food was excellent, the weather was beautiful and the activities were plentiful. It wasn't until the last night that we realized there were 15 bars on the ship, and by that time it was too late for a pub crawl. Oh well, there's always next time.

For more pictures from our Disney Magic voyage, see our photos on Flickr.

Spring Break!

Matt Raible — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:01:44 -0600

Spring Break is a wonderful time of year. It's near the end of the ski season and spring is in the air. Ever since I split with Abbie and Jack's Mom (5 years ago), she's taken the kids to West Palm Beach (Florida) for Spring Break. Their Grandma is a teacher and she has the time off, so it's always worked out well.

This year, I decided to change things up a bit and plan my own Spring Break vacation. In true "Matt and Trish" style, we didn't just plan a trip to an exotic location for a week, we planned a trip to several exotic locations. We started off by taking the kids to the mountains over the weekend and treating them to a fancy dinner at Devil's Thumb Ranch. This trip was mostly to get our skis for this week's trip.

Yesterday, we drove back to Denver, dropped the kids off at their Mom's (they're flying to Florida today) and continued on to Crested Butte (a.k.a. "the last great Colorado ski town"). In Crested Butte, I'm signed up for the Java Posse Roundup. We're here for the week to enjoy the conference, the beautiful weather and the great town of Crested Butte. I'm sure we'll figure out a way to get some Spring Skiing in along the way. We're staying at The Ruby of Crested Butte, which turns out to be the nicest Bed & Breakfast I've ever stayed in (thanks for the recommendation James!).

This Friday, we'll be heading to another adventure with the kids and both Trish and my parents. I'll make sure and write about our journey when we return. In the meantime, I've discovered the kids only have 1 week off for spring break, not 2 weeks. So I guess I'm to blame for them playing hookie on a boat when they should be in school. Oh well, they don't look too upset, do they?

Oregon, Cape Cod and Fun in Winter Park

Matt Raible — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:50:52 -0600

I'm proud to say it's been almost a month since my last blog entry. This can only mean one thing → I've been having too much fun to blog. The good news is I finally found time to write about our recent adventures, so grab yourself a tasty beverage and read on.

Within hours of my last blog post, Trish and I hopped on a plane to visit my good friends, Clint and Autumn, in Oregon. We flew into Portland and spent the weekend hiking in Silver Falls and drinking good beer at the Oregon Brewers Festival and Edgefield. Edgefield is one my favorite places on Earth, encapsulating a farm/resort environment with 27 different features. The features range from a soaking pool to a winery to a pool hall to scotch tasting in a shack next to a garden.

The weekend was especially fun since Autumn was pregnant and it was two weeks before the due date of their first child. Broderick Jordan Wilburn Foster was born yesterday and I hear the whole family is doing well.

Trish and I spent the night at Edgefield on Saturday and caught an early flight from Portland to Boston the next morning. Her brother (also named Matt) lives near Boston and we drove our rental Volvo convertible (to fit in with the New Englanders) to his house Sunday night. On the Hertz Bus from the airport met Nigel Parry, a professional photographer. Not just anybody, but someone that's shot pictures of some very famous people. Trish is also a photographer, so they had a long conversation and it inspired her to resign from her sales job last week. Actually, it wasn't that meeting, she's been wanting to be a famous photographer since she was in high school. Now that dream shall happen. She's awesome.

On Monday afternoon, we picked up Abbie and Jack from the Boston airport. They flew up from West Palm Beach on their first unaccompanied minors flight. We drove them to Cape Cod and settled into Trish's parents house near the water. The rest of the week, we had a blast with our friends Chris and Julie and the entire McGinity clan. We boated, grilled, flew down the water slides, played miniature golf and toured Martha's Vineyard. We had a pool party, played some pool and sang our hearts out at karaoke. Trish's brother's kids are the same age as mine, so you couldn't wipe the smiles off our kids' faces, especially when we had the tunes cranked with the top down on the convertible.

For more pictures of this super-fun trip, see Summer Fun in Oregon and Cape Cod part 1 and 2.

After returning from Boston, we had a week without kids and lived it to the fullest with a John Butler Trio concert at Red Rocks and the Winter Park Beer Festival. Trish's friend Joanna and my good friend, "The Professor" joined us for a weekend of mountain biking and sweet mountain views. We even got to hang out with James Ward and his wife Jenny at the beer festival. Sunday, we hiked up the beautiful Columbine Lake Trail. Trish's dog, Sagan (named after Carl) chased sticks and was his crazy self as usual.

We drove back Monday morning to be there for the kids first day of school. They sure start early these days don't they?

I rode my bike 168 miles to and from work throughout the following week. The next weekend, we took the kids up to the Ski Shack for their first time. I hired a guy to make queen-size bunk beds for them, so they had a blast in their new roomy beds. On Saturday, we had a garage sale since the previous owners left a bunch of beds and couches and we didn't need all that furniture. The turnout was great and we got to hang out with Jodi and James, Suzie, and The Lamonts. All of these folks are old friends that just happened to be in the mountains for the weekend. One of Trish's best friends, Chris, has a place less than a mile from us and we had a blast with her on Saturday night. Thanks for the fun memories Chris!

On Sunday, we took the kids the Winter Park Base Area where they have Disneyland in the Mountains as I like to call it. An alpine slide, miniature golf, a maze, a climbing wall and a Chili Cook-Off to keep Daddy happy. We met our good friend Suzie there and had a lot of fun with Chris, Brice and their crazy kids. Enjoying an Avery White Rascal at the Cheeky Monk's happy hour was the perfect way to end the day.

Sunday night, we were graced with the presence of a beautiful sunset.

That pretty much catches you up-to-date with the goings on in my life. As you can tell, it's been a great summer so far. I'm really looking forward to the fall too. Broncos season, a trip to Hawaii, learning new technologies, talking about them at Devoxx and a new gig.

I've decided to leave Overstock because I'm a die-hard Broncos fan and I can't work for a company that supports the Raiders during football season. There's a good chance I'll be back after the season, just in time for The Greatest Snow on Earth.

This weekend, my parents are meeting us in Winter Park for Labor Day weekend. We plan on fishing, hiking, smiling and enjoying each other's company a whole lot. Tomorrow is Jack's birthday. I gotta run ... it's time to go buy a bike, play a little golf, hit the pool and go to the BBQ before tonight's CD Release Party.

4th of July Adventures in Montana

Matt Raible — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:24:54 -0600

Montana is one of my favorite places on earth, especially the The Cabin. Like last year and the year before, I spent a couple weeks at the cabin for this year's 4th of July. Last year was interesting because I met Trish two days before my vacation. This year, she joined me for the 2nd week, along with her Dad. It was also the "90s Reunion" for the Seeley Swan High School, which I attended my freshman and sophomore year.

My parents have lived at the cabin for a little over a year now, having retired there last year. It now looks like it did when we were kids. That is, it feels like home rather than just a cabin in the woods. Their retirement cabin is coming along nicely and the finished bathroom with a toilet + shower provides a nice break from the outhouse and sauna. It was interesting to see all the logging being done on The Homestead. My parents hired someone to clean things up and it looks great so far. They're not clear-cutting, just thinning the forest to reduce fire danger and give more resources to the big trees.

There were several highlights of the trip, but one of my favorites was our Float in the Swan Valley Parade. Abbie came up with the idea (Happy Birthday America) and we decorated an old trailer with streamers, balloons and a birthday cake to celebrate. Abbie made up a song and sang it throughout the entire parade (with a portable microphone and amp). We all got dunked afterwards, drank some cheap beer and had lots of fun fiddlin' and swinging. The fireworks that night were epic and Trish and I were amazed late night when we smiled on a crowded campfire with many of my parents' old friends.

The next day, we woke up, recovered a bit and then headed for Glacier National Park. We spent the afternoon at Big Sky Waterpark and had a great night's rest at Glacier Mountain Lodge. Trish woke up early the next morning for some sunrise shots at Lake McDonald and we enjoyed a short hike to Avalanche Lake that afternoon. Unfortunately, Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed due to snow so we were unable to drive to the top. 2011 is the latest they've ever opened.

The rest of our vacation was spent doing early morning airport runs, riding the 4-wheeler, golfing and hanging out with old friends. For the trip home, we took the scenic route, driving through Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We stopped along the way to spend the night at Jackson Lake Lodge, shortly after marveling at a Grizzly Bear and her two cubs along the highway. Trish snapped some some magnificent sunset and sunrise photos and we packed up the car for the final journey home. After being gone for 3 weeks, I've never seen the kids happier to cross the Colorado State Line.

As far as vacation destinations go, Montana is one of my favorites. This year was special because I had the pleasure of sharing it with Trish. She's always wanted to photograph Glacier National Park and the Grand Tetons and we were lucky enough to visit both. I also got to share a lot of smiles and memories with old classmates and friends. I experienced the joy of seeing my parents back home, living as Montanans once again and loving every minute of it. I smiled proudly as Abbie thought up the "Happy Birthday America" float and then sang on it the whole way through the parade. I simply loved spending so much time with my family in such a beautiful place.

Finally, I'd like to share a picture montage that Trish put together of the trip. Below that are some of her best shots from our adventures. As always, you can find see my latest photos on Flickr.

Good Times on The Annual Father's Day Camping Trip

Matt Raible — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:38:01 -0600

Four years ago, I started an annual tradition with my kids: The Father's Day Camping Trip. The last two, I've flown my Dad in and we've journeyed to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. This year, we decided to stay a little closer to home and head up to Lake Granby. Both my parents flew in again, the kids returned from a month in Florida, and Trish and I packed up her puppies for a wonderful weekend.

When we arrived, the weather wasn't great. We showed up an hour before sunset and had just enough time to setup our tents before the rain started. It proceeded to rain throughout the night, but our tent help up nicely and we never got wet.

On Saturday, we did some fishing, hiked along the East Shore Trail, rode our bikes, and had a great time relaxing and enjoying each other's company. It only rained for a bit in the afternoon, the rest of the time we sat back and enjoyed beautiful views.

On Sunday, we drove back through Rocky Mountain National Park, saw a moose and her two calves and enjoyed a delicious lunch at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. I really enjoyed spending so much time with my family this weekend. The good news is we get to do it again when I meet them at The Cabin in Montana next week. In the meantime, Trish and I are off to Jazoon for a few days of fun in Switzerland.

If you'd like to see more pictures from our Father's Day Camping Adventure, please see my Father's Day at Lake Granby album on Flickr.

Abbie's 8th Birthday and Other Happenings

Matt Raible — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 06:45:30 -0700

This past weekend, we celebrated Abbie's 8th birthday. In the wee hours of the morning on November 5, 2002, I became a father for the first time. It's hard to believe my little girl has grown up so fast. As a 2nd grader, Abbie is into singing in the shower, playing piano, anything pet-related and teasing her brother. She also excels at school where's she's won a couple awards and recently got published in a book of poems.

In addition to last weekend being a wonderful weekend of celebration, it was a weekend of introductions. You might remember my "super-fun friend Trish" from the Epic Weekend in Estes Park. Trish is an Amazing Woman I met this summer and someone I've nicknamed my Double Rainbow because I've been so mesmerized with her. Yeah, it might sound a bit over-the-top, but that's somewhat the mantra of our relationship. This weekend was the first time I introduced Trish to Abbie and Jack. The meeting went smooth as butter and I'm relieved to say everyone got along great.

In other news, Jack recently lost his first teeth the same way Abbie did, by getting them yanked. He had his first adult tooth coming in and had 4 baby teeth that were getting in the way. Before and after pictures are below:

Coincidentally, when I wrote about Abbie getting her first tooth, I spoke at the Colorado Springs Open Source User Group and visited The Bus. Just over two years later, Jack got his first tooth and I spoke again in the Springs. I tried to visit The Bus on that same trip, but ran out of time. To make up for it, I drove down last weekend, met with Motorworks Restorations and formulated a plan (911 engine, airbags, 5 speed tranny, Porsche wheels and brakes) for finishing the restoration. With any luck, I'll be driving it next summer.

On the work side of things, my co-workers and I recently moved to a new office in LoDo. The new space has been awesome so far. Next week, I'll be traveling to Devoxx with Trish. The following week, I'll be at The Cabin. Then it's off to The Rich Web Experience in Florida. If you happen to be in Antwerp, Northwest Montana or Fort Lauderdale in the next few weeks, maybe I'll see you along the way.

An Epic Weekend in Estes Park

Matt Raible — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 00:13:38 -0600

A couple years ago, a good friend and I headed up to Estes Park for a day at the Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Festival. I was so impressed with the venue, views and music that I vowed to return. Last weekend, I invited my super-fun friend Trish for a party in the hills. I'm happy to report it was once again an awesome festival, with perfect weather.

Highlights of the weekend included: dining at The Rock Inn, the parade, riding bikes around town, lunch at The Stanley Hotel, fly fishing along the river, Ed's Cantina and many hours of excellent Celtic music. For more pictures, checkout the full set on Flickr.

After leaving Estes Park on Sunday, we drove back to Denver, hoping to watch the Broncos game in LoDo. At one point, I thought I'd have to listen to the whole game on the radio. Luckily, we got hooked up and got to watch the 4th quarter. My sadness over the Broncos loss was erased within a couple hours as we celebrated Jason Giambi's walk-off home run at the Rockies game. You gotta love that it's already been documented on WikiPedia.

In other news, Jack's turned 6 a couple weeks ago. He's in 1st grade now and currently into Super Mario on Wii, Bakugans, and Transformers. He also seems to have an intense addiction to Angry Birds on my iPhone. We had a blast celebrating his birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese and the Broncos game.

As summer fades and fall starts to kick in, I'll be attending the Great American Beer Festival, the Denver Broncos home opener with my sister, training for ski season and (hopefully) enjoying Rocktober. I love fall in Denver.

The First Day of School

Matt Raible — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:05:19 -0600

Summer isn't over, but my kids' summer vacation is. Today, Abbie and Jack went to their first day of school for the year. I've never seen them more excited, except maybe on Christmas or their birthdays. While taking pictures this morning, I told Jack to smile like he was playing Wii. I was expecting a huge smile, but instead got the pose below.

I remember loving the first day of school when I was a kid. It's great to see Abbie and Jack doing the same.

I especially like the thought of the things that follow the beginning of the school year: Broncos Football, DU Hockey and (my favorite) Ski Season. It's gonna be a great year.

Related: The First Day of School, 3 years ago.

Happy 8th Birthday to this blog!

Matt Raible — Sun, 1 Aug 2010 15:48:38 -0600

Eight years ago today, this blog was born in the wee hours of the morning. I was inspired to start it after reading Dave Johnson's article on Roller. I have to say, it's been a great ride and I remember the early days like they were yesterday. Many of the Java bloggers wrote daily and shared short tips, tricks and snippets on their blogs; much in the same way we do on Twitter today.

A lot has happened in my life since this blog was started: Abbie was born, Jack was born, I started AppFuse, wrote Spring Live, had some really cool gigs and gained a whole new perspective on my life.

For those long time readers, you might've noticed the vacation posts have picked up recently and the technology posts have subsided somewhat. The good news is this indicates I'm having a lot of fun; the bad news is I'm not learning as much as I'd like. Hopefully that'll change soon and I'll be writing about developing apps for the online video space in the near future. There's a good chance the posts about my life and how much fun I'm having will continue, especially as Abbie and Jack continue to grow into world-class skiers.

As usual, I have many ambitions for this fall, including helping Apache Roller, finishing AppFuse 2.1 and learning how to play the guitar. Along the way, I'll be helping build/release some kick-ass software for a major cable provider, building a sauna in my basement and enjoying the hell out of Devoxx 2010. You can sure I'll be blogging about these along the way, as well as many years into the future.

Thanks for reading all these years, it's been a fantastic experience.

My Summer Vacation in Montana

Matt Raible — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:12:02 -0600

My favorite time of year is summertime. My favorite place to spend it is in Montana, often called "The Last Best Place" by natives. This year was no different and I spent the last two weeks at my family's cabin celebrating the 4th of July. Shortly after returning from our Father's Day Camping Trip, my parents packed up Abbie and Jack and headed on a 3-day road trip through Wyoming and Montana, camping and sight-seeing along the way. I followed them a few days later and made the 950-mile drive in just over 14 hours. With scenes like the one below, the trip was very enjoyable, despite it being so long.

The first week I was there, I worked remotely. It's always fun to tell people The Cabin has no electricity or running water, but it does have DSL. To be fair, it does have electricity, but it's not "on the grid" electricity - it's my Dad's concoction of generators, batteries and inverters. While I worked most of the week, I did manage to get a nice mountain bike ride in along the Foothills Trail to Holland Lake.

My real vacation began on the 4th of July weekend and we did it up right with the Swan Valley Parade and lots of big fireworks I picked up in Wyoming. The kids dressed up as Woody and Jesse (from Toy Story) and walked in the parade all by themselves (first time w/o me). They were especially excited when their pictures appeared in the local paper the following week.

Last week was spent hiking to Glacier Lake in the rain, golfing in Seeley Lake and Columbia Falls and hanging out with my good friend Owen Conley and his family.

The kids and I drove home last Sunday and it only took us 15 minutes longer than it did for me solo. I think they're quickly becoming road-tripping professionals.

My favorite part of this year's trip to The Cabin was seeing it as a home again. My Mom retired in April and my parents moved back to Montana shortly after. Seeing how happy they are there is truly magical. I especially enjoy the thought of visiting them and all the wonderful folks in the Swan Valley many, many times in the future.

To see all the pictures I took on this trip, check out the slideshow below.

P.S. An interesting note about all the pictures I took - they're all from my iPhone 4. I forgot my camera's battery at home and it seemed like a good experiment.

Another Fun Father's Day at The Great Sand Dunes

Matt Raible — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:22:36 -0600

For this year's Father's Day Camping trip, my parents drove down from Montana and we headed to the Great Sand Dunes (like last year). My friend Jason and his Dad joined us, as well as my co-worker Noah and his family. The weather was beautiful, the sand was hot and we had a blast flying kites while admiring the Medano Fire.

On Saturday, we spent several hours on "the beach" watching the kids play, flying kites and sipping on cold ones. A good time was had by all.

To see all the pictures I took on this trip, see my Great Sand Dunes 2010 set on Flickr.

Abbie and Jack's Field Days

Matt Raible — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:49:39 -0600

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending my kids' field days. For those who aren't familiar with field days, it's basically a sports day for elementary schools. The best part of this year's field days was seeing my kids have so much fun with their classmates. Of course, it didn't hurt that their teachers were also smitten with the thought of the school year coming to a close.

I took a few pictures and shot a bunch of video to remember how much fun they had. I know most readers won't enjoy these as much as I do, but I always like posting fond memories on this blog. Below are a couple videos I compiled and enhanced with appropriate music.

I especially like Jack's friend's dance moves at the end of the video below.

If you have trouble viewing either video here, check them out on my YouTube channel.

Celebrating My Mom's Retirement

Matt Raible — Fri, 7 May 2010 00:18:24 -0600

A couple of weeks ago, after attending Abbie's Talent Show, the kids and I packed up and headed to Oregon for a weekend. This weekend marked a special weekend for my parents. When we arrived, my Mom had a week left of work before she retired from the Bureau of Land Management. You might've read about my Mom in the past. And you might know that my Dad retired last year.

My Mom has always enjoyed her career and I like to think I get a lot of enthusiasm for my own career from her. She taught me to love what you do for a living. When we lived at The Cabin, she had the drive and ambition to go back to school to get her degree in Forestry. Upon graduation, she got a job with the BLM and we moved to Oregon. My parents have lived there since 1990.

The weekend we spent in Oregon was somewhat magical. My parent's house sold in March after being on the market for only two weeks. They had a week left before they packed up and moved back to The Cabin. This meant the outside was pristine (because they fixed it up for the new buyers) and the inside was mostly packed. It was a sunny 3 days that weekend (which is rare in Oregon) and we had a blast at the Oregon Garden Brewfest, enjoyed a sunny BBQ with old friends and shared many memories derived from their 20 years in Oregon.

It was a somewhat bittersweet experience, meeting with all their friends and talking about their move to Montana. Many expressed sadness that they were leaving, but that didn't stop my parents from grinning ear-to-ear. You could see the excitement of moving back home sparkle in their eyes.

They have a huge challenge ahead of them and it seems they couldn't be happier. They'll be working on The New Cabin many long days and expect it to take a year or two.

I think my Mom said it best in an email she sent my sister and I a few days ago:

It's 9:30 and we are at Quinn's Hot Springs. Your father is snoring, he didn't last long when his head hit the pillow. We got here about 3, had a glass of wine and then soaked in the pools for an hour. Had a good dinner (I had buffalo short ribs -- mmm delicious) . They have a network, so I'm using my ipod for email.

I was crying when I drove across the state line because it felt so good to be home!

We are having a very nice drive home!! We love you!!!

Congratulations on Retiring Mom! You deserve it more than anyone else I know.

Enhanced Version » My Mothers Day Card

Jack's Skiing Like A Madman!

Matt Raible — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:56:05 -0700

My kids have been skiing since they were pretty little. Abbie started when she turned 3 and Jack started when he was 2. I don't know that I'd recommend starting kids that early because it's taken a long time for them to get good. Abbie was good last year and it looks like Jack is coming on strong this year.

On Saturday, I took Abbie and Jack up to Copper Mountain's Tubing Hill. It was a balmy 45°F day and we had a blast flying down the mountain. I especially liked run #3 that had a double jump in its path.

After tubing, Jack proved he's a crazy 5-year old; then we grabbed our skis and hit the slopes for a couple runs. By the 2nd run, Jack was flying past both Abbie and I and giggling while doing it. It was a special moment for me considering he's been skiing since 2 and only recently let go of me.

Today, we headed to Winter Park for a few more runs. Since Jack has become bolder, I decided to skip the lift-walk-bus-walk pain-in-the-ass section at the bottom of Winter Park and park at Mary Jane (where you can easily walk-ski to the lift). We ended up skiing at the top of the mountain most of the time. I recall a couple times where Jack would go flying past Abbie and I and I'd think "I really hope he doesn't wipe out 'cause that's gonna hurt." By the end of the day, he was skiing down blues and even tried some bumps. Great job today Jack - you've made me proud.

With Spring Skiing right around the corner, I think there's gonna be some good races in the next couple months.

Upside Down Man Saves the Day

Matt Raible — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:54:31 -0700

Yesterday, Abbie and Jack showed you how to be a superhero. Today they're back with an action-packed video titled Upside Down Man Saves the Day. Watch it if you'd like to see how to take out a tiger, wrestle an alligator and diffuse a bomb. This short film was written, directed and filmed by Abbie, the only thing I did was add the music. Enjoy!

If you have trouble viewing it here, check it out on YouTube.

How to be a Super Hero by Abbie and Jack

Matt Raible — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:42:29 -0700

For some reason, my kids are very interested in Super Heros lately. In fact, they know so much about them that they've decided to start teaching others how to become one. Checkout the videos we shot earlier today with their step-by-step instructions.

I hope Abbie and Jack's tips help you become a super hero!

Labor Day Weekend at The Farm

Matt Raible — Wed, 9 Sep 2009 08:22:40 -0600

This past weekend, the kids and I journeyed into the Colorado mountains for a weekend of camping, hiking and fishing. It was my good friend Matt Good's 50th Birthday Celebration at his place affectionately known as The Farm. We had beautiful weather, wide open spaces and lots of laughs with good friends. Jack even managed to land a girlfriend (Amanda), who somehow became his "ex" in the same hot tubbing session. They got back together the next morning.

On the way home, we took the long way and traveled from Ute Pass Road to Frasier, stopping at Lake Evelyn Trail for an hour hike and some fishing. I even let the kids drive a few times on the "bumpy road" and we managed to skip most of the traffic on the freeway.

More than anything, I was impressed with Abbie and Jack's ambition on this trip. They really seem to love hiking and fishing and don't drag their feet like they used to. They're also enthusiastic about camping and sleeping in a tent. I'm awful proud of my little munchkins. Below are some pictures from our weekend.

Thanks to Matt and Pam for hosting us and congrats to Matt on officially becoming an "old man". For more pictures, please see my Labor Day 2009 set on Flickr.

Happy Birthday Jack!

Matt Raible — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:12:45 -0600

Five years ago today, Jack was born. I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it feels like it's been ages since he was a baby.

We were renting the house next door (while ours was being remodeled), I was just finishing up a contract with Open Logic (when it was just Rod and Eric) and Julie's contractions had begun. I finished my last hours with perfect timing (around 4:00). Julie was sitting at the kitchen table negotiating with a guy about some house-related stuff (our General Contractor had died and Julie took over 8 months pregnant). She told the guy she "had to go" because she was in labor and off to the hospital we went. The good news is it was only a few blocks away, so we made it there in short order. Our friend Tonya drove us.

Miraculously, Julie was able to "hold Jack in" until her sister flew in from San Diego. He was born just after midnight.

A few days later, my good friend Ryan called me out of the blue (hadn't talk to the guy in years). He asked me what I was up to and I told him I was a father for the 2nd time and just had a baby boy at Porter Hospital. He said, "No way - I just had a baby girl 2 days ago!" Turns out, his daughter Sophie was born 2 days after Jack, only a couple doors down. We'd left the hospital only a few hours before they arrived.

This weekend will be filled with multiple birthday parties, happy kids, and lots of good memories. I love this time of year.

Happy birthday Jack!

My Summer Vacation in Montana

Matt Raible — Sat, 1 Aug 2009 11:38:40 -0600

As an adult, I've often reflected upon my childhood and one of my favorite times of the year: Summer Vacation. The feeling that fills your mind and body on that last hour of school before summer break is simply awesome. I don't know when I began longing for that feeling again, but I'm pleased to say I enjoyed it again this year. I took an entire month off from "working" and enjoyed a proper summer vacation at my family's cabin in Montana.

My plan to take a month off began formulating years ago when we'd drive to the cabin for the 4th and only spend a few days before driving back. The trip was never long enough.

I started talking about spending all of July at The Cabin a couple years ago, but never committed to it. My opportunity finally came last December when Julie asked me if she could take the kids to Florida for 3 weeks for Christmas. I quickly realized that, as a kid, 3 weeks in Florida was an awesome opportunity and agreed to give up my time with them. However, I also realized I could get some negotiating power from the agreement and said "only if I can take them to the cabin for 3 weeks next summer".

For regular readers, you know the rest of the story. My Dad flew to Denver for Father's Day Weekend, stayed the following week and then we embarked on our journey to Montana on Monday, June 29th. The first week was great and we had tons of fun during the rest of July. Here's a list of some highlights:

Running a 5K while Abbie and Jack ran the 1 mile "fun run" with my Mom. It was Abbie's first race and she got 1st place with a time of 11:05.
Hiking to Holland Falls.
Picking Huckleberries.
Greeting my sister after she rode her motorcycle for 13 hours in the rain.
Spending my birthday at Big Sky Waterslides, something I used to do every year for my birthday.
Golfing with my family in Columbia Falls.
Building a set of bunkbeds for the kids.
Rides on "Rocket" (4 wheeler) with the kids, especially when Jack would say "go as fast as Rocket can go".
Golfing with my good friend Owen in Seeley Lake.
Prepping and pouring the floor on the New Cabin.
Fishing with my Dad in "Joe's Jungle" and installing a new window in the cabin afterward.
Teaching Abbie and Jack how to shoot a gun (a .22 pistol) for the first time.
Getting my next gig.
Traveling to Idaho for Clint and Autumn's Wedding Reception (they got married last December in Costa Rica).
Seeing Abbie get all googly-eyed over an older boy in Idaho.
Staying up to watch the sunrise in Idaho.
Milling D Logs for the kids' Treehouse.
Making it from The Cabin to Denver in 13 hours with only one speeding ticket.

More than anything, it was great to spend so much time with my parents and children. The Cabin is a very special place to me and I'm proud I can take my city-slicker kids to let them experience the outdoors and live like I did growing up. In the city, they always have an adult nearby and are never left on their own for long. They wear helmets when they ride their bikes in the alley, even though they have training wheels on and couldn't fall over if they tried.

In Montana, the rules all change.

In Montana, the adults worked on the New Cabin and the kids were left to occupy themselves. Their imaginations ran wild and they played with each other for hours every day. They made me see and remember one of my favorite things about childhood - infinite possibilities. As I kid, I was a dreamer and used to think that anything was possible in the world (flying, teleporting, you name it). I'm happy to see that Abbie and Jack believe that anything is possible too.

A week ago, I returned to Denver after driving almost 4000 miles in 30 days. I feel refreshed after so much time off. I've got my goals and ambitions in line for the rest of the year and I'm looking forward to writing more, smiling more and doing great things for my new client. Over the next several months, I'll continue to work with GWT and even have plans to talk at The Rich Web Experience in December. When I travel for work, I'll be in Boston and Cupertino. Hopefully I'll see some of you along the way.

As usual, you can see all my pictures from the past few weeks in my Montana 2009: Weeks 2-4 set on Flickr.