Thanksgiving Weekend, part 2

Go here for Thanksgiving Weekend part 1.

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Later Saturday morning, we planned to go to Helen Hunt Falls, walk around the lake at the Broadmoor, and go to Garden of the Gods that day. We also had my two nieces for the day, so now we were up to eleven people. Two vehicles were definitely in order. Sadly, we couldn't get to Helen Hunt Falls because Cheyenne Canyon was closed due to the flooding this summer. Huge disappointment. Up the street is the Starr Kempf house so we checked out his kinetic wind sculptures. They're so amazing.

We went the few blocks down to the Broadmoor and met with quite the variety of construction, but finally made our way around to the lake. It was stunning, as ever. We walked around, taking more pictures, but it was a little awkward, given the, um, class of people who stay and live at the Broadmoor.

Then it was off to Garden of the Gods (for yet another vantage point!) after a quick stop at Sonic for hungry and thirsty people. Apparently, beings that it was a beautiful day and a holiday weekend, a LOT of people thought a trip to Garden of the Gods was a good idea. Meaning that parking was a little challenging and we had a bit of a crowd with which to contend as we walked around the park. But again, it was nice to be out and about, walking, taking pictures, and just generally enjoying the day.

I think this is so awesome!

The Garden of the Gods
given to
the City of Colorado Springs
in 1909
by the children
of
Charles Elliott Perkins
in fulfillment of his wish
that it be kept forever
free to the public

Many thanks to the Perkins family!


That's my kid - yeah, he's taller than I am, but he's still my kid. {wink}

Awww...sisterly love!

Always the climbers in Garden of the Gods.

Quick! Run past the lady with the camera already. Sheesh.

One of my lovely nieces.

The oldest and the youngest of the collective offspring.

Somebody was getting tired.

The volleyballer. Out of her element.

Did I mention that someone was tired?

Like...really tired.

But not too tired to race John back to the car!

We decided on China Village for dinner for their last night. They got their things packed up and we just vegged a bit for the remainder of the evening. In the morning, as the car was being loaded, Carrie and I squeezed in a quick head shot for me, and then they were off a little before 8:00.

She did a great job with my head shot, don't ya' think?

As opposed to the last two times she's come, this one didn't feel quite so short. Sure, I'd love to have had them stay for another day or two, but the time we had was fun and wonderful and not so rushed. We loved meeting Chris (they were married last December) and enjoyed the kids. I guess it's about time we make a trip to Kansas, though, since the count is currently Godwins visiting = 0 and Hilgert/Evans visiting = 3. We'll have to see what we can do to make it so.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I tried to put this all into one post, but good night, Irene, it became HUGE. Plus I just discovered I need to upload more photos. But more than that, I need to go to bed. So here's the first part of it. But it will be finished in the second part, which is pretty much finished. Because I don't want to do that multi-part, never-ending blog story again. But I digress.

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We had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend. Carrie, Chris, and most of the kids came out for a visit. They arrived Wednesday afternoon and we hung out for awhile, then headed off to Bird Dog for some excellent BBQ. Mom and Dad joined us, too.

Since our house is a bit on the cluttered side, adding 5 people to the sleeping arrangements is a little interesting. So we borrowed Mom & Dad's motorhome so Chris and Carrie could have a guest room in our driveway. Unfortunately, the heater quit running in the middle of the night, so Carrie was a little too cold (fortunately we didn't have this week's weather, because it's going to be very, very cold. But that also meant that she was up and in the house much earlier than otherwise. Once I smelled the coffee and heard the talking, I joined her. Since John's an RV technician, he was able to get the furnace fixed that morning.

Everything for the Thanksgiving dinner came together nicely. Mom brought her amazing pies, delicious (or so I hear) sweet potatoes, a veggie (whew!), and cranberries. It's what she always brings. Susan (my sister) brought homemade rolls and biscuits as well as some Cool Whip for the pies. We provided turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. It's all pretty standard most of the time. Susan and her family used to spend the day in Denver, but it's been nice having the here with us now.

Apparently I'm the pie nazi because people sure wanted pie in a hurry after that big old meal and I said, "no." Because I'm mean like that.

On Friday, seven of us headed to Denver to go to the Aquarium. It's been years since I've been, so it was fun to be back there again. Our boys stayed home and while we missed them, it did allow us to take one vehicle. Had a tasty lunch at Red Robin...yum!

Plenty of leftovers for Friday's dinner and it was nice to just hang out at home after being out and about all day. Carrie and I did make a couple of small grocery runs, though.

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Saturday, Carrie, Chris, and I got up super early again as I'd heard there would be hot air balloons flying in from the west over Pike's Peak shortly after sunrise. Bundled up, we arrived before sunrise and got some beautiful pictures.

Following the live stream of the launch, I learned that they would have to move to a new location. By that time, we'd already shot the sunrise, the Peak, Garden of the Gods, and whatever else, plus we were cold and in need of caffeine. So we zipped down to Starbucks and headed back over to a slightly different vantage point for some new photos. The balloons finally were visible, but they were so far west of Pike's Peak that they were just little dots in the sky. Enough of that.

After we dropped off Chris, we picked up Jack and his skateboard and drove down to the skate park. Fortunately, it was very UNbusy, which was nice for Jack to try things out. Of course, Carrie and I walked, sat, and took pictures. It's what we do.

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Stay tuned for Part 2.

Pre-Thanksgiving

Usually when the week of Thanksgiving rolls around, I think that I'll have the boys do some school during those first two or three days. And then that usually doesn't happen. So this year, I just told them they had the week off. Done deal. No guilt over what we didn't do. No stress over the lack. This was a good decision.

Monday morning, some of The Girls* met at Starbucks. We had a blast. We had so much fun that we seemed to annoy certain other people. Obviously those people needed to gain a sense of humor. Whatever.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Tuesday morning, some of The Girls* met at Starbucks. We had a blast. I don't think we irritated any other Starbucks patrons this time. Since it's the store where my sister works, we don't get severely out of hand or anything, just laughing at silly stuff and having some fun. We wouldn't want to tarnish her good name, after all.

* The Girls - consists of my mom, my sister, some dear friends, and me. On rare occasions, we actually ALL get together at the same time. Alas, it wasn't to be this time. Thus the need for two days at Starbucks. But we still didn't get everyone. We'll keep trying, of course.

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I did a little cleaning earlier in the week and wrapped up shopping for Thanksgiving dinner food items. I had no desire to be in the grocery store come Wednesday.

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On Wednesday, I felt the need to photograph someone and Caleb is my go-to subject. It's so nice to have one cooperative son when it come to photography. Well, for Zach, he's just happy to assist behind the scenes. Which is also nice. Everyone has their part to play, right?

Color?

or B&W?

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Okay, rather than one very long post, I'll split this one into a couple. So the rest of the week will show up sometime soon.

Baby Steps

So maybe the answer to getting back into blogging isn't to think I'll post 4-5 times a week. Maybe it's to do this in baby steps for now. Perhaps the goal should be one weekly recap. Posted on Saturday, Sunday, or maybe even Monday. Then start filling in what I can during the week. If you've seen What About Bob? you know all about baby steps. I think I'll give it a try. Sans Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Because they don't know me. And I wasn't in their movie or anything.

Last Sunday, we celebrated my Dad's birthday in our usual way. Dinner, presents, and cake (sometimes including ice cream).

Everyone should get some Cheetos for a birthday present, right?

I hope he gets them all!

My pretty Mom.

Cousins

The things that happen when you sit in front of a white board!

We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which was very, very yummy! We hadn't been there in a long time, so I think that made it taste even better.

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Caleb really likes to dress in nice clothes. He got the green tie for his birthday and hadn't had a chance to try it out. Or learn how to tie it. Come to think of it, I still don't know if he knows how. I think I did that one. Guess I'd better make him practice if he's going to wear one of those!

Naturally, he throws in an interesting expression.

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Tuesday was my last day doing two Bible studies on the same day. It was a little crazy keeping up with that schedule, but at least one of the studies was lighter and we only met every other week. The other study is Beth Moore's study on the book of James. The James study has been just incredible. I'm amazed at the things I learn in her studies that I never knew or heard before, even though I may have been through a book of the Bible many times. It's always good, but sad to reach the end of a study. Good because of what I've learned (and hopefully seen implemented in my life), but sad because it's over.

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This morning, my niece was in a play. This was her third play since she started taking acting classes. She's so good at acting. It's just in her. That's probably why she's such a fantastic model for my picture taking. This one was called To Be or Not To Be and she played a portrait. Okay, she played Cinderella in a portrait in the library and she (along with Peter Pan, the March Hare, and a couple others) came to life. It was really quite cute.

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Over the years, I've done a variety of arts and crafts. The one thing I could never do is knit. Mom has taught me numerous times and I don't know what the issue is, but I just can't keep the tension correct. Either it's so tight the stitches won't move, or it's so loose, it's a big, sloppy mess. I can, however, crochet. Which is even stranger to me - I can keep tension just find in crocheting. Not sure what that's all about. Anyway, I don't do it much any more because of the problems with my entire upper right appendage. But since I've separated the keyboard from the laptop and raised the laptop monitor to a more ergonomic location, my hand and arm aren't so bad.

When I take Zach to bowling, there are a few moms there who crochet. Which made me feel like perhaps I should crochet again. So here I am, dabbling in the world of yarn and hooks. I mostly only do it while at bowling. That way, I won't get carried away, crochet too long, and cause myself more pain.

My current project is a shawl/scarf. It started out to be a scarf, but the not-really-a-pattern that I was creating wasn't working out for me. So I opted for a pattern out of a magazine I'd recently purchased. Sadly, I've run out of yarn and it's not done. So it will either be a scarf with angled ends, or I'll buy one more skein of yarn. Yes, I know...it will probably not be the right dye lot. But I don't think I care.

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Mom and I had some more stamping time this afternoon after the play and lunch. I'm about to the half-way point of total number of cards needed. It looks like we'll have to plan one or two more stamping days, though, if I'm going to get them all done this year.

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Remaining activities sans photos:

• Homeschooling
• Birthday lunch with a dear friend and Mom at Panera
• A trip to the annual Holiday Food & Gift Fair
• An evening of cleaning up the scrapbooking bench
• A meal delivered for a new mom whose husband is deployed
• Birthday cake shared with a new friend from church and her kids, dogs, and cat
• Attempting to resolve our lack of voice mail notification
• Fun and laughs at the grocery store with Lucy
• Impromptu visit from another friend and eating pierogies together