Ryan and I are off to Chicago for our anniversary trip. We will update the blog next weekend!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Happy Birthday, Baby Bekah!
Today my precious girl turned one. Ahhh, her first birthday... So special. She brings us so much joy every day, and today was no exception...except she brought it to many family members all at one time. I will offer a second birthday post next weekend, but here is the brief...
Ryan and I are off to Chicago for our anniversary trip. We will update the blog next weekend!
Ryan and I are off to Chicago for our anniversary trip. We will update the blog next weekend!
Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo. How about you, you, you?
On Wednesday I decided to take the kids to the zoo. They were having a special dinosaur exhibit that we didn't want to miss.
B walks most of the time, but he really digs the option to sit when he chooses...
B thought it was AWESOME! Bekah was less enthusiastic...especially when I swatted a blood-filled mosquito off of her leg and panicked that she may have contracted...(I won't finish, I'll just pray for Xanax...)
B has been wanting a hand-held fan. I bought him one at the zoo. Then it broke by the time we got home (no joke.) But he did think the brachiosaurus was pretty cool! It was life-size...
And the T-Rex...
The alligator (crocodile?) was a highlight too. Even though we were in and out of the zoo in an hour, we hit up the highlights: dinosaurs, reptiles, komodo dragon, bear, lions, and elephants. Hooray! That's about all Mama can take of summer at the Houston Zoo!
B walks most of the time, but he really digs the option to sit when he chooses...
B thought it was AWESOME! Bekah was less enthusiastic...especially when I swatted a blood-filled mosquito off of her leg and panicked that she may have contracted...(I won't finish, I'll just pray for Xanax...)
B has been wanting a hand-held fan. I bought him one at the zoo. Then it broke by the time we got home (no joke.) But he did think the brachiosaurus was pretty cool! It was life-size...
The alligator (crocodile?) was a highlight too. Even though we were in and out of the zoo in an hour, we hit up the highlights: dinosaurs, reptiles, komodo dragon, bear, lions, and elephants. Hooray! That's about all Mama can take of summer at the Houston Zoo!
Fly Trap
Tuesday was Kids' Club day at a local nursery. We had never been before but decided that we'd get out and about in search of big fun. And big fun we had!
The kids were treated to an educational video on insect eating plants, and then they were taught how to grow and care for their very own venus fly traps! B was HOOKED!
He planted his own fly trap and has since fed it many super-flies we have been hunting around the house.
B has already requested to have his birthday party at the nursery. We'll see about that, but I am excited that they are planning to begin their very own kids' class!
The kids were treated to an educational video on insect eating plants, and then they were taught how to grow and care for their very own venus fly traps! B was HOOKED!
He planted his own fly trap and has since fed it many super-flies we have been hunting around the house.
B has already requested to have his birthday party at the nursery. We'll see about that, but I am excited that they are planning to begin their very own kids' class!
Closing Time
Bye-bye old house. Benjamin asked me yesterday if we could drive by our old house because he didn't get to give it a kiss and hug good-bye. I'm not sure how the new owner would react to my sweet baby snuggling up to his brick.
We closed on the house a week ago. It was bitter sweet. I didn't think I would have any reaction except relief, but I am holding back the "miss" of a very memorable and happy home. It sounds like B is doing the same.
We did take the kids with us to the closing table. I wanted them to be a part of the process, the formality, the transition. Perhaps I wanted them to distract me a bit, too. Nevertheless, they were wonderful.
Sunday morning, after a long day of moving that was Saturday, B was treated to a lovely morning of waffle making with Grumpa. At least our temporary move is a happy place!
We closed on the house a week ago. It was bitter sweet. I didn't think I would have any reaction except relief, but I am holding back the "miss" of a very memorable and happy home. It sounds like B is doing the same.
We did take the kids with us to the closing table. I wanted them to be a part of the process, the formality, the transition. Perhaps I wanted them to distract me a bit, too. Nevertheless, they were wonderful.
Sunday morning, after a long day of moving that was Saturday, B was treated to a lovely morning of waffle making with Grumpa. At least our temporary move is a happy place!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Construction Update: July 26th
It's been a long week.....but we've hit our first big milestone.
We had movers all day on Saturday emptying our old house so we ran by our lot Sunday to check to see what things were looking like.
I still have access to the inspection website so I knew that we didn't inspect on Friday so I was curious to see what the delay was.
The beams were all dug, the poly was down and the cables were in - it just needed the form float installed. The float is basically 2x4, 2x6 or 2x8s that are placed to change the elevation of the concrete.
If you have brick on your house you have a little ledge around your foundation that it sits on - that is created by float. You would also see it wherever you have interior details - the tire stops in the garage, where the the drop shower pans are, at the step down from the house to the porch/patio, etc. (You can probably see some of this if you look really closely in the next picture)
The residential industry right now is in a bit of fluctuation - there has been an unexpected surge in home starts in the first half of 2012, particularly in Houston, and as a result there is a shortage of skilled trades as well as delivery drivers. When things got slow over the last 3-4 years there was a sort of self cleansing/weed out of trades and many have moved into other industries....particularly the oil fields.
The other thing we're seeing are manufacturers (like lumber and brick) resisting the need to bring all their plants and production lines back up to full throttle. They don't know if this surge is real or if it will die out so they don't want to sink tremendous capital into re-hiring and training if they don't have to. Everyone is still undecided and no one wants to commit.
As a result, our scheduling lead times have gone out two to three times in some specific areas over the last 4-5 months. Getting concrete redi-mix deliveries is one of those areas.
All it takes is one guy not showing up or not getting his job finished in time for the next guy and it can completely wreck a schedule. That's a fairly big contributor to high blood pressure and inappropriate word usage among construction managers. So the slab pour was pushed to from Monday (because it didn't go through inspection on Friday) all the way to today.
It's the nature of the beast and you just have to roll with it as best you can. Especially because this isn't the only house that is being built out there. Balance has to be maintained across the entire work load - you can't spend 90% of your time on 10% of your job load.
Jennifer graciously took Benjamin and Rebekah by this morning so Benjamin could watch the concrete trucks and the pump truck pour OUR slab - but unfortunately the pour that was scheduled before ours was out in Conroe and was delayed so our slab didn't pour until several hours later than expected.
And you wonder why construction managers always seemed stressed out and pacing while on their phones? He's got 10-15 of these going all at once....and that's just the construction side of the job. The sticks and bricks, as I always catch myself refering to the construction side as, are the easy (and fun) stuff - the homeowner side is an entirely different beast.
I happened to make it out after work just as the last 20 yards were being pumped in. I didn't check to see what the final concrete amount was - but now I'm kind of curious. I would guess with the driveway, sidewalks, and the slab took between 140-150 yards of concrete. That's roughly $10,000 worth of concrete.
Now that the slab is poured our next big milestone is framing.
The frame pack is currently scheduled to deliver on Tuesday so what needs to happen between now and then is that the forms will need to be stripped off the slab (that's all the wood you see), the exterior clean/trash guy comes by and picks up the trash and then we get a couple loads of dirt dropped off and the tractor/skid steer comes by and grades out the lot.
Once the frame drops and the framers jump on it, we'll see a lot of big visible progress really quickly so that should get Jennifer excited. If nothing else, it'll make for good pictures for you.
I expect that it'll be dried in by the 9th or 10th of August (that's the frame, windows, house wrap, and roof).
"And awaaaaaay we go....."
We had movers all day on Saturday emptying our old house so we ran by our lot Sunday to check to see what things were looking like.
I still have access to the inspection website so I knew that we didn't inspect on Friday so I was curious to see what the delay was.
The beams were all dug, the poly was down and the cables were in - it just needed the form float installed. The float is basically 2x4, 2x6 or 2x8s that are placed to change the elevation of the concrete.
If you have brick on your house you have a little ledge around your foundation that it sits on - that is created by float. You would also see it wherever you have interior details - the tire stops in the garage, where the the drop shower pans are, at the step down from the house to the porch/patio, etc. (You can probably see some of this if you look really closely in the next picture)
The residential industry right now is in a bit of fluctuation - there has been an unexpected surge in home starts in the first half of 2012, particularly in Houston, and as a result there is a shortage of skilled trades as well as delivery drivers. When things got slow over the last 3-4 years there was a sort of self cleansing/weed out of trades and many have moved into other industries....particularly the oil fields.
The other thing we're seeing are manufacturers (like lumber and brick) resisting the need to bring all their plants and production lines back up to full throttle. They don't know if this surge is real or if it will die out so they don't want to sink tremendous capital into re-hiring and training if they don't have to. Everyone is still undecided and no one wants to commit.
As a result, our scheduling lead times have gone out two to three times in some specific areas over the last 4-5 months. Getting concrete redi-mix deliveries is one of those areas.
All it takes is one guy not showing up or not getting his job finished in time for the next guy and it can completely wreck a schedule. That's a fairly big contributor to high blood pressure and inappropriate word usage among construction managers. So the slab pour was pushed to from Monday (because it didn't go through inspection on Friday) all the way to today.
It's the nature of the beast and you just have to roll with it as best you can. Especially because this isn't the only house that is being built out there. Balance has to be maintained across the entire work load - you can't spend 90% of your time on 10% of your job load.
Jennifer graciously took Benjamin and Rebekah by this morning so Benjamin could watch the concrete trucks and the pump truck pour OUR slab - but unfortunately the pour that was scheduled before ours was out in Conroe and was delayed so our slab didn't pour until several hours later than expected.
And you wonder why construction managers always seemed stressed out and pacing while on their phones? He's got 10-15 of these going all at once....and that's just the construction side of the job. The sticks and bricks, as I always catch myself refering to the construction side as, are the easy (and fun) stuff - the homeowner side is an entirely different beast.
I happened to make it out after work just as the last 20 yards were being pumped in. I didn't check to see what the final concrete amount was - but now I'm kind of curious. I would guess with the driveway, sidewalks, and the slab took between 140-150 yards of concrete. That's roughly $10,000 worth of concrete.
Now that the slab is poured our next big milestone is framing.
The frame pack is currently scheduled to deliver on Tuesday so what needs to happen between now and then is that the forms will need to be stripped off the slab (that's all the wood you see), the exterior clean/trash guy comes by and picks up the trash and then we get a couple loads of dirt dropped off and the tractor/skid steer comes by and grades out the lot.
Once the frame drops and the framers jump on it, we'll see a lot of big visible progress really quickly so that should get Jennifer excited. If nothing else, it'll make for good pictures for you.
I expect that it'll be dried in by the 9th or 10th of August (that's the frame, windows, house wrap, and roof).
"And awaaaaaay we go....."
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Construction Update: July 18th
For the last 10-12 days, construction in Houston has been in a rain induced coma. It's pretty crazy to think that just 12 months ago I thought the grass in my yard was going to light on fire from the friction caused by walking across it in sneakers.
Our lot cleared the bank on Monday and today was the first chance the plumbers (who were literally flooded out of their shop at the end of last week) had to put in plumbing grounds.
The foundation cables should deliver tomorrow and hopefully the concrete guy can get all the beams dug and get the slab made up for inspection on Friday. The goal is to pour on Monday, but we have to pass inspection on Friday for that to happen.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
On a brighter note...kind of...
After some brief hysteria I experienced last week as I realized the Bekah needs to learn to talk ASAP, I have been drilling words into her precious brain. We have made progress! Her first word is... "MAMA!" Okay, so the only downside is that when she says this she really means "more." The girl wants more food. Always. It, apparently, is the priority. Heaven forbid she actually realize that I AM HER "MAMA!" Nope.
"MAMA" = "more food NOW"
"MAMA" = "more food NOW"
Moving Time
Well, the countdown is on. Friday we close on the sale of our home. I have been packing slowly and steadily for weeks. The scary thing is that I don't actually have ANY IDEA how much more I have to do! (Notice that I'm saying "I" because Ryan's herniated disc prevents him from doing anything but sitting on the couch.) Anyhow, since all of the uncategorizable stuff ends up on the open surface areas the most of the house looks cluttered as opposed to empty. But tonight I have started to see the emptiness. Our bathrooms are only left with the necessities. B's room's walls are barren. What has really shaken me is putting the kids' sheets into boxes. I know it will only be in storage for a short (prayerfully) time, but there is something jarring about packing away your children's belongings. The house is a death trap. The floors are covered in the remaining toys. Everyone sleeps at night...but me. It is overwhelming in so many ways. Such is moving.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Happy Birthday, Cinco!
Last Sunday we drove out to the ranch to celebrate Cinco's first birthday! He is so sweet, and we loved being with the family. It was an outdoor BBQ full of fun kids' activities. A GREAT day for it!
B slid down the water slide with Uncle TJ...
Bekah loved the water, too!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Nonsense
While waiting in suspense for "Weekend Parties, Part 2," here are a few moments I captured lately.
A week ago Monday I did the unthinkable: I took both kids to the eye doctor for MY check-up! Now, it did occur to me that this was a poor choice, but my reasoning was that the kids are unpredictable and could be disruptive...or worse. When the nurse called me back to the exam room she seemed to be thinking the same thing because she had a look of HORROR on her face. Seriously, I thought she was going to turn me away. Fortunately, B is almost always perfectly behaved, and Bekah was impressed enough by her surroundings to keep it together. Long story short, the Dr. and staff were shocked at how patient and almost invisible (no pun intended) they were. After the dilated my eyes I was darn near blind, so this picture has no focus, but you can see them "keeping it together..."
While my reasons were wrong in suspecting this was a bad decision, my suspicion itself was correct. Despite having a relatively mild prescription, I am darn near blind. I just have some sort of super optical muscle that encourages me to use miraculous strength to see all day everyday. Consequently, the dilation made my eyes relax SO much that I couldn't even see with my glasses on. Don't worry. We made it home...glad it was only about five miles from the house...NOT a good choice...
Bekah is a super snuggler. She LOVES to nuzzle on things: blankets, people, etc. Too cute.
Here she was eating lunch yesterday: blueberries, organic chicken sausage sans casing, and brown rice. As always there were Cheerios on her tray too. It is notable that today she decided that she, like her brother, will no longer eat cheese. Super. Not that I eat cheese, but it sure would be helpful to be able to feed my kids cheese...much more portable, cheaper, and convenient than my meat standards...
Don't worry. She eats lots of other foods too. She, like the boys, LOVES mango and avacado. We are generally a fruit-heavy family (while our veggie intake is noticeably slim...working on that...)
A week ago Monday I did the unthinkable: I took both kids to the eye doctor for MY check-up! Now, it did occur to me that this was a poor choice, but my reasoning was that the kids are unpredictable and could be disruptive...or worse. When the nurse called me back to the exam room she seemed to be thinking the same thing because she had a look of HORROR on her face. Seriously, I thought she was going to turn me away. Fortunately, B is almost always perfectly behaved, and Bekah was impressed enough by her surroundings to keep it together. Long story short, the Dr. and staff were shocked at how patient and almost invisible (no pun intended) they were. After the dilated my eyes I was darn near blind, so this picture has no focus, but you can see them "keeping it together..."
Bekah is a super snuggler. She LOVES to nuzzle on things: blankets, people, etc. Too cute.
Here she was eating lunch yesterday: blueberries, organic chicken sausage sans casing, and brown rice. As always there were Cheerios on her tray too. It is notable that today she decided that she, like her brother, will no longer eat cheese. Super. Not that I eat cheese, but it sure would be helpful to be able to feed my kids cheese...much more portable, cheaper, and convenient than my meat standards...
Monday, July 9, 2012
Weekend Parties, Part 1
Saturday we began our big weekend full of parties. We went to Benjamin's friend, Guy's, birthday party at a rec center in The Woodlands. I actually think Bekah had more fun than B...
Bekah found a nice "pillow" and snuggle up to the Velcro... Hey, nothing wrong with nuzzling foam cubes in the middle of a room full of rowdy three-year-olds, right?
She thought this shape was especially interesting. Good thing we'll be starting Gymboree soon...
There is B! We finally convinced him to blow caution to the wind and step out with his "friends." Not sure if he actually remembered who Guy was...
Bekah, still up in the action... OMG, she is so cute I can't even HANDLE IT! LOVE THOSE CHEEKS! Everyone says she looks exactly like B, but, of course, she doesn't actually look ANYTHING like him...weird... ;)
Okay, so she was the only "baby" there...this "little bitty walker" going around staring at everyone and playing fearlessly with the big boys.
While the other boys were body slamming the foam cubes, B opted to build a tall foam structure...
Pretty sure it had something to do with this guy...the Dada...
We had loads of fun! I loved catching up with the girls, and I loved a good day of wearing out the kiddos! Happy birthday, Guy!
Bekah found a nice "pillow" and snuggle up to the Velcro... Hey, nothing wrong with nuzzling foam cubes in the middle of a room full of rowdy three-year-olds, right?
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Breaking Ground
As I'm sure all of you know, we're moving! We're under contract on our current house to close on the 20th and construction on our new house is getting started.
Honestly, I'm probably more excited about this whole process than Jennifer is. I've always wanted to build our long term home but I never wanted to live in the subdivision I built/worked in. Now that I've taken my new position in the office I'm not technically building it (nor would I technically be allowed to even if I was still out in the field) but it's going to be close enough.
We had our Pre-Construction Mtg with our construction manager, Steve, last week and I think I might have scared him. I brought a completely marked up set of prints along with a marked up set of prints for the plumber and concrete guy.
I want to be as helpful as I can be, but I do realize that there is a fine line between being helpful and being the homeowner that causes you u-turn in the middle of the street to avoid. It's just really hard for me to let go of the reigns on something I love to do.
The lot was cleared and benched last Friday so we snapped a picture.
Benjamin wanted to pose for me....and then was quite upset that he had mud on his shoes.
The next step is to set forms, have a form survey done, and then drop dirt inside the forms to build up the pad (it's called form fill). That has all been completed and this is how it looks as of this evening.
The reason for the achingly sloooooooooooooooooooooooooow progress is because Steve has to wait for a clear lot to move any further. The clear lot is basically the OK from our corporate office letting everyone know that the bank has come by and the lot has been purchased from the developer by the company.
Once the clear lot comes the plumbers will be out to put in the grounds (all the drains that go into the foundation) and then the foundation cables will be delivered so the concrete guys can dig the beams and make up the slab for the inspector before we pour.
Basically it'll be 4-5 days from clear lot until we can pour concrete. I'm dying to get going.
Honestly, I'm probably more excited about this whole process than Jennifer is. I've always wanted to build our long term home but I never wanted to live in the subdivision I built/worked in. Now that I've taken my new position in the office I'm not technically building it (nor would I technically be allowed to even if I was still out in the field) but it's going to be close enough.
We had our Pre-Construction Mtg with our construction manager, Steve, last week and I think I might have scared him. I brought a completely marked up set of prints along with a marked up set of prints for the plumber and concrete guy.
I want to be as helpful as I can be, but I do realize that there is a fine line between being helpful and being the homeowner that causes you u-turn in the middle of the street to avoid. It's just really hard for me to let go of the reigns on something I love to do.
The lot was cleared and benched last Friday so we snapped a picture.
Benjamin wanted to pose for me....and then was quite upset that he had mud on his shoes.
The next step is to set forms, have a form survey done, and then drop dirt inside the forms to build up the pad (it's called form fill). That has all been completed and this is how it looks as of this evening.
Once the clear lot comes the plumbers will be out to put in the grounds (all the drains that go into the foundation) and then the foundation cables will be delivered so the concrete guys can dig the beams and make up the slab for the inspector before we pour.
Basically it'll be 4-5 days from clear lot until we can pour concrete. I'm dying to get going.
Monday, July 2, 2012
2012 Colorado Trip
We had our family trip scheduled to go to Colorado for Jennifer's family reunion for quite some time but we went under a little difference circumstances. Her grandfather, who lived in Estes Park, passed away the week prior so it turned from a family reunion to a memorial.
Instead of flying up to Estes Park, we decided to make it a road trip. We were on the road by 5pm on Friday (CST) and arrived at 11am (MST) on Saturday. It was 19 hours of craziness.
The most notable event occured when we were out in the Panhandle. There was a tremendous wind that we just casually attributed to it being the west Texas wind you always hear about. There was also some wicked lightning - we're talking about sideways lightning, circular lightning, big fat lightning. It was at that point we started to wonder if we were going to get sucked up by a tornado. It turns out it was just a storm but there was a 15-20 minute stretch there that we were fairly worried.
The kids were WONDERFUL, frankly they were better than I was. The only two Bekah meltdowns were directly due to dirty diapers.
Benjamin woke up at 5am just as we were crossing from Texas into New Mexico so Jennifer took a little nap and then her and I switched in Raton, NM and I slept until we got to Denver.
When we got to Estes Park, Grandmommy and Aunt Bonnie were already there so we got to crash a little as they watched the kids.
It was unseasonably warm up there for the entire week - and we found out the hard way that A/C is optional. The house didn't even have ceiling fans so we had to rock it old school with the windows open. I just prayed that a chipmunk didn't come through the window - Jennifer doesn't do critters so we're talking about a sequel to the epic squirrel scene from Christmas Vacation.
A little later in the afternoon Uncle TJ, Aunt Emily, and Cousin Cinco arrived....and then a bit later Cousin Sam made it into town. Jennifer made some speghetti for dinner and we all caught up on what was going on in our worlds Sunday morning Sam picked up his mother (Aunt Joni) at the airport in Denver and then Uncle Jonathan and Alice arrived.
Jennifer and Emily and TJ and Cinco took Benjamin to Trout Haven to go fishing, which Benjamin LOVED. He caught his lunch.
The memorial service for Jennifer's Grandfather was in the afternoon and we all drove out to their place in Allenspark and had the service down by the stream. We met Uncle Tim there and some cousins that they hadn't seen in decades so that was an unexpected pleasantry. Afterwards everyone came back to the rental house and Jonathan and Alice grilled up a wonderful dinner.
TJ, Emily, Jennifer and I stayed up Monday night after all the kids went to bed and caught up - it was really nice.
Monday found a group of family members leaving so we said goodbyes to Joni and Sam as well as TJ, Emily, and Cinco.
Then we loaded up the remaining family and headed into Rocky Mountain National Park to see if we could see some of the animals. We went all the way up to the top (+11,000 ft. above sea level)....the clan was split into two groups (Johnathan, Alice, Tim, Bonnie and then Me, Jennifer, Kids, Grandmommy) and when we got halfway up the other car stopped and let us know that they didn't have enough gas to get up to the top so we combined forces and crammed into one car (I'm pretty sure Grandmommy) and then prayed the whole way up that Uncle Johnathan wouldn't accidentally kill off the whole family with one miss-turn on the tiny, tiny road.
We did make it to the top and the kids played around - it was one of those times that will be etched in my mind.
Bekah was just starting to walk and she pushed Benjamin around in the stroller - it was the funniest thing ever - watching her push with every bit of power she had with her chubby little legs. And then they laughed and laughed together.
Nothing on this earth makes me happier than when my children laugh together.
That evening some of the family went to go see a movie (that apparently wasn't all that great) and the rest of us stayed home.
Tuesday morning we loaded the kids and Grandmommy up in the van and drove down to Boulder so Momma could refill a prescription. We went to go eat at The Sink (where Jennifer and I dined during our trip to Boulder in '09 to watch A&M play CU) - I love that place. Of course, in a college town, at a college jive 10:30am is a bit early but they let us in and seated us until they could get the kitchen fired up. I will say, they have the BEST cheesy bread sticks.
A sidenote on Boulder - TOO MANY FLIPPIN' BICYCLISTS.
When we got back to Estes Park, Grandmom Betty came over for an early dinner and then we went back to Rocky Mountain National Park again to see what kind of wildlife we can see.
Apparently we got there too late. A girl who was standing there said some of the rams had come down and gone back up, then someone else said they just saw a moose and two bear cubs. We saw a couple elk about 600 yards away. Johnathan and Alice went a different route in the park and they ended up in the middle of a herd of Elk. It was pretty impressive.
Wednesday I was in charge of breakfast so it was donuts for all. Then Johnathan and Benjamin worked on their second floor puzzle of the trip just before they had to head back to Minnesota.
As soon as they left, Jennifer and I loaded up Bekah and we headed north to the wild state of Wyoming. Our destination was Laramie, where my cousin Erin, is in grad school. One lesson we learned was that old school maps are misleading. I looked at my map and said, "Hey it's way faster to take 287 through Fort Collins" while we were told "Hey it's way faster to go further out to I-25 and take it north". What the map didn't mention was that 287 took you through town and through the Colorado State campus....about 50 lights later we got through.
All of that part of the country is gorgeous but there was one particular spot, 22 miles north of Fort Collins, that was like a painting. Unfortunately, I left our camera at the rental house so all we had was our phones to snap a picture.
As soon as you cross into Wyoming the trees vanish and the pavement. Wyoming was kind of cool looking because it looked like a desert w/ grass - no trees, no life, just lots of hills and valleys.
We met Erin at her new house and chatted a while - Bekah seemed to remember that Erin was one of her favorite people that she met back in December. We went to dinner at a restaurant aptly called Altitude and met Erin's boyfriend, Adam. Jennifer doesn't drink but since the place was a brewery she tried the $5 sampler - and if those were "samples" I'd hate to see the size of their regular serving. It was a really nice evening. While we were gone, Benjamin went with Aunt Bonnie and Grandmommy to see Madagascar 3 and they had a great time.
On Thursday Benjamin and I got up and I took him for a little Guy's Day. We went to Fun City, which is the local game venue. We rode the go-karts, then played putt-putt (which he really liked), then rode the go-karts again, then he wanted to play another round of putt-putt. We each made a hole-in-one.
From there we went home to eat and then went to Grandma Betty's to see her new place. Later in the evening, Benjamin shared our first milk & Oreos.
I had plans that evening to meet my good friend, Zach, in Boulder. He made the long drive up from Colorado Springs for dinner. We met up at the corner of Broadway/Walnut which is a street away from Pearl Street. I hadn't ever been to Pearl Street before - it's the big long road with all the restaurants and bars and retail. It was a VERY interesting crowd - had a very bohemian feel to it.
We ate at Old Chicago, which was a pizzeria, and caught up for a couple of hours and then walked around on Pearl Street. It was really great to catch up - it was a good reminder that good friends are hard to come by.
Friday morning we went back into Rocky Mountain National Park one last time to see if we could find some cool stuff and then we took off to make the loooooooooooooong ride home.
One thing this trip really drove home was how much Jennifer and my musical tastes are different. Holy cow it's like night and day.
We got through Colorado Springs and into New Mexico and then a bunch of lights lit up on the dashboard. Jennifer FREAKED out. We were able to make it through it and made it all the way home - in one piece, and sane. My folks met us at the house when we got back to watch the kids so we could just crash. And crash we did.
Instead of flying up to Estes Park, we decided to make it a road trip. We were on the road by 5pm on Friday (CST) and arrived at 11am (MST) on Saturday. It was 19 hours of craziness.
The most notable event occured when we were out in the Panhandle. There was a tremendous wind that we just casually attributed to it being the west Texas wind you always hear about. There was also some wicked lightning - we're talking about sideways lightning, circular lightning, big fat lightning. It was at that point we started to wonder if we were going to get sucked up by a tornado. It turns out it was just a storm but there was a 15-20 minute stretch there that we were fairly worried.
 | |
| The seating chart |
The kids were WONDERFUL, frankly they were better than I was. The only two Bekah meltdowns were directly due to dirty diapers.
Benjamin woke up at 5am just as we were crossing from Texas into New Mexico so Jennifer took a little nap and then her and I switched in Raton, NM and I slept until we got to Denver.
When we got to Estes Park, Grandmommy and Aunt Bonnie were already there so we got to crash a little as they watched the kids.
It was unseasonably warm up there for the entire week - and we found out the hard way that A/C is optional. The house didn't even have ceiling fans so we had to rock it old school with the windows open. I just prayed that a chipmunk didn't come through the window - Jennifer doesn't do critters so we're talking about a sequel to the epic squirrel scene from Christmas Vacation.
A little later in the afternoon Uncle TJ, Aunt Emily, and Cousin Cinco arrived....and then a bit later Cousin Sam made it into town. Jennifer made some speghetti for dinner and we all caught up on what was going on in our worlds Sunday morning Sam picked up his mother (Aunt Joni) at the airport in Denver and then Uncle Jonathan and Alice arrived.
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| Momma, Benjamin & Uncle TJ fishing |
Jennifer and Emily and TJ and Cinco took Benjamin to Trout Haven to go fishing, which Benjamin LOVED. He caught his lunch.
The memorial service for Jennifer's Grandfather was in the afternoon and we all drove out to their place in Allenspark and had the service down by the stream. We met Uncle Tim there and some cousins that they hadn't seen in decades so that was an unexpected pleasantry. Afterwards everyone came back to the rental house and Jonathan and Alice grilled up a wonderful dinner.
TJ, Emily, Jennifer and I stayed up Monday night after all the kids went to bed and caught up - it was really nice.
Monday found a group of family members leaving so we said goodbyes to Joni and Sam as well as TJ, Emily, and Cinco.
Then we loaded up the remaining family and headed into Rocky Mountain National Park to see if we could see some of the animals. We went all the way up to the top (+11,000 ft. above sea level)....the clan was split into two groups (Johnathan, Alice, Tim, Bonnie and then Me, Jennifer, Kids, Grandmommy) and when we got halfway up the other car stopped and let us know that they didn't have enough gas to get up to the top so we combined forces and crammed into one car (I'm pretty sure Grandmommy) and then prayed the whole way up that Uncle Johnathan wouldn't accidentally kill off the whole family with one miss-turn on the tiny, tiny road.
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| The family portrait |
We did make it to the top and the kids played around - it was one of those times that will be etched in my mind.
Bekah was just starting to walk and she pushed Benjamin around in the stroller - it was the funniest thing ever - watching her push with every bit of power she had with her chubby little legs. And then they laughed and laughed together.
Nothing on this earth makes me happier than when my children laugh together.
That evening some of the family went to go see a movie (that apparently wasn't all that great) and the rest of us stayed home.
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| Bekah at The Sink |
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| Benjamin & Grandmommy at The Sink |
Tuesday morning we loaded the kids and Grandmommy up in the van and drove down to Boulder so Momma could refill a prescription. We went to go eat at The Sink (where Jennifer and I dined during our trip to Boulder in '09 to watch A&M play CU) - I love that place. Of course, in a college town, at a college jive 10:30am is a bit early but they let us in and seated us until they could get the kitchen fired up. I will say, they have the BEST cheesy bread sticks.
A sidenote on Boulder - TOO MANY FLIPPIN' BICYCLISTS.
When we got back to Estes Park, Grandmom Betty came over for an early dinner and then we went back to Rocky Mountain National Park again to see what kind of wildlife we can see.
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| Benjamin using his binoculars to look for the animals |
Apparently we got there too late. A girl who was standing there said some of the rams had come down and gone back up, then someone else said they just saw a moose and two bear cubs. We saw a couple elk about 600 yards away. Johnathan and Alice went a different route in the park and they ended up in the middle of a herd of Elk. It was pretty impressive.
Wednesday I was in charge of breakfast so it was donuts for all. Then Johnathan and Benjamin worked on their second floor puzzle of the trip just before they had to head back to Minnesota.
As soon as they left, Jennifer and I loaded up Bekah and we headed north to the wild state of Wyoming. Our destination was Laramie, where my cousin Erin, is in grad school. One lesson we learned was that old school maps are misleading. I looked at my map and said, "Hey it's way faster to take 287 through Fort Collins" while we were told "Hey it's way faster to go further out to I-25 and take it north". What the map didn't mention was that 287 took you through town and through the Colorado State campus....about 50 lights later we got through.
All of that part of the country is gorgeous but there was one particular spot, 22 miles north of Fort Collins, that was like a painting. Unfortunately, I left our camera at the rental house so all we had was our phones to snap a picture.
As soon as you cross into Wyoming the trees vanish and the pavement. Wyoming was kind of cool looking because it looked like a desert w/ grass - no trees, no life, just lots of hills and valleys.
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| Cuz Erin at her new digs |
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| Lefty |
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| So GQ |
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| Vrrrrrrmm |
On Thursday Benjamin and I got up and I took him for a little Guy's Day. We went to Fun City, which is the local game venue. We rode the go-karts, then played putt-putt (which he really liked), then rode the go-karts again, then he wanted to play another round of putt-putt. We each made a hole-in-one.
From there we went home to eat and then went to Grandma Betty's to see her new place. Later in the evening, Benjamin shared our first milk & Oreos.
I had plans that evening to meet my good friend, Zach, in Boulder. He made the long drive up from Colorado Springs for dinner. We met up at the corner of Broadway/Walnut which is a street away from Pearl Street. I hadn't ever been to Pearl Street before - it's the big long road with all the restaurants and bars and retail. It was a VERY interesting crowd - had a very bohemian feel to it.
We ate at Old Chicago, which was a pizzeria, and caught up for a couple of hours and then walked around on Pearl Street. It was really great to catch up - it was a good reminder that good friends are hard to come by.
Friday morning we went back into Rocky Mountain National Park one last time to see if we could find some cool stuff and then we took off to make the loooooooooooooong ride home.
One thing this trip really drove home was how much Jennifer and my musical tastes are different. Holy cow it's like night and day.
We got through Colorado Springs and into New Mexico and then a bunch of lights lit up on the dashboard. Jennifer FREAKED out. We were able to make it through it and made it all the way home - in one piece, and sane. My folks met us at the house when we got back to watch the kids so we could just crash. And crash we did.
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