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Way of the Weekend


I’m having a little trouble keeping up. What day is it again?? Oh yea, Monday. See right now all the days are kinda blending together. Our big party at work is just 10 days away and I’ve been working around the clock on various things, mostly giant banners that are going to the  printers soon … like tomorrow. These banners are 10′ x 3′ and so just doing the designing of them on my computer is err … kind of excruciating. Saving takes MINUTES. Half of the normal operations I’d do for texture or whatever, I can’t. It’s a new experience for me and while I’m sure I’m learning a lot, it’s on the frustrating side.

But I did take some time off this weekend to do the normal things like laundry and swim lessons and grocery shopping. We also spent a couple of hours (at two different times) going over the piece of land we’re interested in buying. My sister and I took my mom to an amazing restaurant to celebrate her birthday and we went to a graduation party for my cousin.

Saturday we even snuck away for a little while to go for a great run on N Table Mesa … a 5 mile jaunt that starts out by going straaaight up. It was super hot on Saturday and there is practically no tree cover there. I ran out of water like 2 miles in. But the views were incredible and as usual I felt great (ish) after the run. I chugged a whole (GIANT) Gatorade afterward. It was excellent.

But the week is here again. Everyone in the house has a cold and we are just trying to make it ’til Friday when we have our next camping trip to look forward to.

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On Her Way to the Top

As I mentioned, Tabby started her first rock climbing course last night. She has been looking forward to this for a while, ever since she saw some of the little kids climbing over a year ago. The class starts at age 5 and so we signed her up for the first one available. I unfortunately missed her first class since I had to work late, but I understand she was one fearless little Gecko, climbing swiftly up the wall. The class is an hour and 15 minutes long, which is by far the longest class/sport she’s taken. Even soccer was only an hour. But she really seemed to take to it.

She described the process of getting down for me when we met up for dinner. “You just have to let go, but then the wall kind of holds you, so you have to kick away and let yourself fall. But it’s OK because it’s just a little bit and the rope holds you.” I can’t wait to check it out in person.

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It’s a Big Week

There are lots of cool things happening this week. My father-in-law is having a birthday (Happy Birthday, Sandy!). My cousin Tana is graduating from high school (Congrats, T!). We are celebrating my mom’s birthday, though it was actually last week, and Tabby is starting her climbing class (charmingly called “Geckos”).

But the big world has a couple of neat events going on this week too. Today and tomorrow you can see an almost once-in-a-lifetime event, the Transit of Venus. This means that Earth’s and Venus’ orbits will overlap and for about 6 hours and you will be able to see Venus as a dark spot on the sun. Folks in CO will be able to see it starting around 4 PM today (using one of these safe methods or via a live webcast). Though it happened just 8 yrs ago, it will not happen again for another 117 years and while I’m planning to be around, I figure I better check it out this go around just in case.

So that’s today. Then there’s tomorrow. Tomorrow is National Running Day! Can I get a YAY??? It’s a day to celebrate the sport of running and encourage others to give it a try. Their campaign got me thinking about why it is that I run. It’s many reasons for me:

  1. for physical fitness – you’d be hardpressed to find a more effective calorie burning workout out there
  2. because I like to eat – and I don’t want to be tied to super strict eating just to maintain my healthy weight!
  3. because it’s fun – I truly enjoy my miles with buddies or solo on the treadmill
  4. because it’s therapeutic – running erases all the stress that accumulates over the course of a day.
  5. to enjoy the outdoors – I can’t tell you all the beautiful views I’ve seen during my runs.

but it all boils down to one thing: I run to feel great! All of those reasons come together and makes me feel awesome! I never regret a run, even a “crappy” run. I am always glad I put in the effort. If you haven’t ever given running a fair shake before (think laps around the track in gym class – that’s no way to build enthusiasm for running, IMHO), I really encourage you to give it a try. Couch to 5K is a great place to start.

To celebrate National Running Day, I will be going for as long a run as I am able to fit in tomorrow morning before work. I would rather be doing a nice run date with Matt or a group run with my girlfriends or checking out a new trail, but Wednesdays are tricky and a solo treadmill run will have to do. It’s still a run!

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Camping at Turquoise Lake

Our second camping foray for the season was a decided success. We left Denver around 2 on Friday and were at the site around 4:30. When we pulled up we could hardly believe our eyes. We had a giant parking-lot sized place to put our campers and then down the hill, we had a ton of picnic tables, grills, fire pits and lots and lots of woods for the kids to roam around in.  The campsite was remarkably secluded and the bathrooms were right along our site as well as drinking water taps. The woods the kids played in were hemmed in by a road but the road was up a somewhat steep embankment so not easy to wander on to. And the lake was just a half mile away. Continue reading “Camping at Turquoise Lake”

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This Crazy Life

What’s going on, you ask?

  • We are headed camping this weekend. We reserved last minute so all we could get was the “group” site which holds up to 75 people (and 15 vehicles). Three families are going so it’s not toooo ridiculous. I’m calling it The Jamboree. I can’t wait. But of course this makes lots of work … to get ready for camping … again. The kids are beyond thrilled and not just because I got them new buckets and bug catchers.
  • My darling over-achieving husband added to our workload yesterday by getting MORE bedding plants at the nursery. He was there to get tomatoes and came home with a bunch more flowers to add to the beds. I was a bit peeved because remember how I hate gardening? Still do.
  • We braised a pork shoulder in Dr. Pepper last night … oh. my. word. We were supposed to take it camping with us but we underestimated how much it would cook down. Unfortunately we were left with about a cup of insanely tasty pulled pork and that will feed … maybe the kids? Maybe me? Not all of us though. Plan B. Costco also has pulled pork.
  • Speaking of cooking, you have probably noticed that the Cookbook Challenge has fallen by the way side. I had fun with it at first but then it got to be a chore, so I chucked it. I have enough chores. I’ll share a recipe when I really really love it. The end.
  • We found a piece of land we’re very interested in. There are about 15 hurdles (big ones) we have to jump through  and very few of them come with guarantees, but we’re very seriously looking into it.
  • I have been pretty slacky on the whole being healthy thing, but I had a serious talk with myself and decided I would correct this. It is actually going pretty well and I’m pleased with myself. Of course this is only Day 3.
  • Relatedly, I am really enjoying running right now. I’ve been chilling more about mileage and just focusing on having good enjoyable runs. Matt and I did a great session at Table Mountain on Saturday. I want to get out to more trails. I love the scenery and the peace.
  • Tabby is doing a photoshoot with some friends on Friday for an outdoors gear company. They will apparently be some sort of team and may appear on a box. The important part (to Tabby) is that they get cash for their efforts. The kid is big on saving money and this thrills her to the core.
  • Ben has a nasty abrasion on his face. He tripped and fell face first this weekend while running … on the side walk. He has been wearing a bandaid over it all week. It looks pretty cute and quite rakish on him. They do feel fast though!
  • I am behind on so many things and trying to get my act together. Work is pure madness right now. I have two very big projects I’m tackling right now and things are falling through the cracks at home as my work hours go longer and it follows me home.
  • I am very much looking forward to a few minutes of peace tonight when I get my hair cut.
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PVC Pipe, Physics and Flying Marshmallows

This weekend we not only gave the kids guns … we made them for them. While at Maker Faire, Matt and I succumbed to the pretty displays and bright lights and allowed Tabby to bring home a Marshmallow Shooter kit. I had no ethical qualms about this you understand – just financial qualms over paying $20 for a few bits of PVC. But it was a neat souvenir and since we got home she’d been begging to build them.


So when we knew we’d be at our friends’ house all evening on Saturday I grabbed a bag of mini marshmallows at the store and we brought the kit with us. This is a ridiculously easy kit to put together. You just snap together a few pieces of PVC and err … that’s it. You load a mini mallow into the mouthpiece of the shooter and puff some air in and it zooms off at an impressive speed. As they’re marshmallows, the projectile doesn’t really hurt anyone. The dads got into it big at the BBQ and kept shooting the kids who would then look down for the marshmallow and eat it.There also may or may not have been a shootout at our house between my sister, Matt and myself after the kids went to bed and everyone else had gone home on Sunday night. I’m not at liberty to say.

If you want to build your own marshmallow shooter, and I recommend you do because they’re all kinds of fun, here’s an instructable to show you how to do it. Though even that isn’t really necessary. You take 1/2″ PVC pipe and connect it with Ts and elbows and such until you have the configuration you want. You have to have only two open pipe ends one for blowing air into and one for the marshmallow to exit and you can do just about whatever configuration you want and see what works best. Don’t glue the PVC – not only is it unnecessary but PVC glue is pretty toxic and definitely something you want to avoid if you can!

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The Weekend

It was a nice long weekend. The kids went to stay with my parents while Matt and I had a date. The kids missed their grandparents and had a great time hanging with them while Matt and I ran errands in peace and went to see American Reunion, which was fun … and as it’s at the bargain theatre, CHEAP. Yay.


In the morning we picked them up and went right to a birthday party at the train museum. They both had a wonderful time.


Ben in particular enjoyed the cupcakes. Continue reading “The Weekend”

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Happy Trails to Preschool

Last Thursday, Miss Tabitha said bye bye to Preschool. She donned her homemade chaps (her preschool is a kids “ranch” and so there’s always a bit of a western theme there) and sang a bunch of fun songs about the farm/ranch and her days at her school. The last song was a “Happy Trails” and we were invited to sing along with the kids. It was almost as bad as Pomp and Circumstance for eliciting tears.

Then she was capped (with a cap made from a paper plate and paper bowl) graduate of preschool and handed a diploma. She, and all the other kids, told us what they wanted to be when they grow up. Tabby said “ballerina” which is the very same thing she’d told me a few days before when I’d asked. The answers were great, ranging from policeman (or “cop!” as said by one sweet looking little girl) to princess to wedding planner to super striker to mom.

She will actually be back at preschool in just a few weeks, this time with her sidekick Ben, to attend the daycamp program they have, but otherwise, preschool is done and before we know it she will be in Kindergarten officially. It was probably just because she graduated, but all weekend she’s looked bigger, older, more grownup to me. I miss her as the little girl who toddled around with her binky, but I love the big girl she’s become.

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San Fran Days 3 and 4

By Sunday afternoon we’d had enough Maker Faire – well Matt and I might’ve been able to stay a bit longer, but the sun was hot and the kids were exhausted – Ben in fact fell asleep on Matt’s shoulders walking back from the fair – and so we went back to the hotel and had naps. Immediately following naps, we loaded in the car and headed south to Campbell, CA where we visited my Uncle Ted and Aunt Susan. They have a lovely home in Campbell. Ted is an amazing crafsperson and has restored a number of Model A automobiles. He currently has three: a sedan, a coupe and a pickup. They are all in amazing condition and we were all treated to a ride in the sedan. It was the first time a carseat had been in there!!

After the car rides, the kids went crazy running around their backyard. They were loving having room to move and they loved their gardens (things were very well watered) and their tangerine tree. It was quite a disappointment to hear that they wouldn’t be able to grow one back in CO. Then we were treated to a lovely dinner and of course wonderful company. After dinner the kids conned Aunt Susan into reading them a dozen books or so (I have a suspicion she wasn’t too hard to convince) and Matt and Ted talked shop. Once the kids were entirely exhausted we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we drove into SF to meet up with our friends, Donna and Ed at the California Academy of sciences. It’s a beautifully built building with some really wonderful exhibits. We got to see a planetarium show that talked about the eclipse of the sun (which had been the day before) and the Transit of Venus, a truly once-in-a-lifetime event that will be happening on June 5. We also loved the amazing rainforest exhibit and the beautiful aquariums.

But perhaps our favorite exhibit was the penguins. These African Penguins who reside at the California Academy of sciences include in their number one male penguin over 29 yrs old (about double the normal life span of one of these guys) named Pierre. A few years ago, he molted but didn’t grow any of his feathers back. He couldn’t swim much because it was too cold and the other penguins started to shun him because of his appearance. Eventually, his keeper decided to see if she couldn’t help him out with a wetsuit. Not only did it get him back to normal penguin life, but it also allowed him to grow back his feathers. It was a really cute story and we got to see the penguins be fed. The kids brought home a book about him which has been well loved already.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and went to downtown San Mateo which is a nice little area. We had lunch at a funky pizza shop with TVs installed at the ends of the booths (the kids watched Sponge Bob) and checked out a giant toy store. And after the longest wait in a security line ever, we flew back to Denver.

Just about every trip we go on with the kids is easier. This time we only had one carseat on the plane since Tabby is in a booster now and they cannot be used on a plane. We also had no diapers and that was a big big deal. Even little things like the fact that I packed only one sippy cup for each of them and they can each carry their own backpacks is a pretty good deal.  It is really great to be able to show them the world.

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We Have a Winner

As chosen by Random.org via Rafflecopter, Liz is the winner of the $50 gift card to Uncommon Goods! Congrats, Liz and thanks to everyone for entering, but especially to Uncommon Goods for the Giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I will be back tomorrow … or maybe Monday with a wrap-up to our San Fran Trip.