Heading West

Family Kickball

beth2271 — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:19:00 GMT

I am laughing as I write this. The memory of my sisters playing kickball is an endless source of amusement to me and other members of my family. My excuse for not playing was improper footwear-flip flops don't cut it-and an improper foundation garment. Both of these situations could have been remedied easily but I really just didn't want to and those excuses were as good as any.

The first game was made up of anyone from the YMCA who wanted to play. Our team was at a distinct disadvantage as it had both Austin age 4, and Noah age 5. Since neither had ever played it did not look good. We pinned our hopes on the powerhouse St. John sisters to even things out. How young and foolish we were.

Our first inkling of trouble came when Leah came into possession of the ball. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details but the ball rolled out of her hands and then she proceeded to fall onto the ground. We in the stands were howling with laughter but the best part was yet to come.

Picture MRB as Rosie O'Donnell in A League of Their Own-minus about a hundred pounds. Mostly picture the skirt and tennis shoe action. I have a picture of this but she has forbidden me to post it. Although I could totally take her, I won't post without permission.

So, she has on a skirt and tennis shoes, the ball is rolling her way in the outfield and she reaches down to get it, trips on it, rolls over it, and lands on her back with her skirt up around her waist! We are momentarily stunned in the stands. Then, mom and I look at each other and absolutely start crying we are laughing so hard. I'm laughing again just thinking of it!

We cap off that game with Noah B running to third instead of first and Colin tagging his own team member with the ball.

Another game is started with just our family and a few interlopers who would come to regret their decision to play. While Colin redeemed himself by beaning Jessica with the ball at first base, Stasia knocked down an 8 year old, stepped on his foot and then stole his lunch money. Well I made up the last part but not the rest.

And so ended another fun family sports outing!

What a day!

beth2271 — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:05:00 GMT

On Wednesday, 9 of us left for a 1:00 trail ride with about 20 other people and 2 young wranglers. The usual afternoon thunder clouds were moving in as we left the stables. Within 15 minutes it was drizzling and a few minutes later, we all got slickers on as the rain began to come down steadily. In spite of the weather, the ride was going great and the scenery beautiful. About an hour into the ride, the thunder and lightning started in earnest. We were coming out of a lovely meadow, not under tree cover, when it began to hail - and then HAIL!!! The pea size hail came down in a fury and spooked the horses. Chaos ensued. Horses were going everywhere. I saw little Caroline and her horse charging past me. She was screaming, terrified. Then my horse headed down an embankment, with me hanging on for dear life. Fortunately, within a minute or so, all the horses had settled down and no one was the worse for wear, though it may be awhile before some of the little kids will get back on a horse. Since there was still lightning around us, the wranglers moved us up on a hill in small groups and left the horses in a group down on the trail. From what they told us, any lightning would seek out the largest heat source - the horses. Fortunately, that theory was not tested. Once the storm passed, we all got back on our horses, a bit shaky. We got back to the stables about an hour late. Normally, this wouldn't have been a problem but we were supposed to be leaving for something the kids had planned to celebrate our anniversaries.

Dave and I and my brother Bob and his wife Carol are both celebrating our 45th wedding anniversaries this year, the reason for our family reunion in Colorado this year instead of in Destin, FL where we usually gather. The 7 cousins had been in contact planning something special for us. Conference calls and much secrecy. The week before we left, we were told to bring something besides shorts and jeans to wear for a special night and a renewal of vows. When we got back from our horseback adventure,cold and wet, we rushed around and got in the cars in about 20 minutes. We still didn't know where we were going. We arrived at St. Malo Retreat Center about 30 minutes later - a beautiful, old stone church. We had a private Mass there, complete with a musician, and renewed our vows. There were more than a few teary eyes! It was so special and just perfect!

When we got back to our cabins, a catered dinner awaited us, complete with wedding cake. The kids toasted us and there were more tears - happy ones, of course. The kids had also put together a DVD of family pictures going back to our wedding days. It played throughout the evening and it was hard to pull away from the images with all the memories they sparked.

After dinner, they cleared the dining area for dancing, complete with disco ball and spotlights. What an amazing day! How blessed we are to not only have great marriages but an incredible family! Beth, Leah, Melissa, Anne, Alan, Jessica and Stasia - thank you more than words can say for an unforgettable night, We love you all!

Pat

Back in the saddle

beth2271 — Mon, 2 Aug 2010 20:20:00 GMT

Monday:

My favorite line of the day from Rachel upon hearing we were forcing her to go to a teen night down at the community center: "I'm on vacation, why would I want awkward moments with other teenagers?"

Another good one from Rachel, upon seeing me trying to upload pictures instead of being with everyone else: "Geez mom, way to take the family out of family vacation." ouch.

A perfect Sunday

beth2271 — Sun, 1 Aug 2010 16:40:00 GMT

You might think rain on the first full day of vacation would be a big disappointment. It was actually perfect. Most of us came from HOOOOOTTTT weather and were looking forward to a change in temperature. What better for that than a rainy thunderstorm? Except for Noah B, all of us are in long sleeves and pants. More than a few of us are in jammies and have been since early afternoon. A hearts game has been going on since after lunch, naps were had all around and beer drinking started way before 5. Babies were passed from relative to relative and groups of small children are basically doing whatever they want. Today that included Chips Ahoy and cheese puffs for lunch.

The teenage boys decided today was the perfect day to climb the mountain and came back soaked and happy.

And we still have dinner...

Perfect.

Rocky Mountain High CO

beth2271 — Sun, 1 Aug 2010 08:05:00 GMT

The whole crew is here!

We drove from Frisco through Rocky Mountain National Park climbing to 12,000 ft. It was an amazing spectacular drive. The meadow at the top, above the tree line, was beautiful. If you didn't worry about rolling into the tree line or oncoming traffic below or all the way down, it would be a fun place to play. Those few things and the fact that you are gasping for air just taking a step. Other than that...

We were the first to arrive and waited for Robert to come from the airport. The kids were beside themselves excited.

Everyone else started coming in after that and Leah and MRB were the last to arrive about midnight.

Stasia started the week off right with no holds barred spoons and we put a big dent into the beer and gin.

Going to be a great week!

Countdown is on!

beth2271 — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 07:20:00 GMT

7:20 am MST: countdown till I see my man, T minus 8 hours give or take...

ALONE!!!

beth2271 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:20:00 GMT

Mom and Dad are having dinner with a friend and I sent the children outside. Sitting here with a beer and some solitude. I am watching them out the window and am amazed they are still out there. Noah wanted to see the dead fish from a big rain storm a few days ago and the other 2 are keeping him company.

Sounds perfect?

I go to turn on some music on itunes only to discover that 10,000 songs have disappeared-along with all my playlists, movies and all purchases. I HATE ITUNES.

I hoping some of the young brain power coming to Estes Park tomorrow can remedy this situation pronto.

Did mention I hate itunes?!

Fun with Markers

beth2271 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:30:00 GMT

Frisco CO

beth2271 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:30:00 GMT

We are back in sweat shirt weather. We were driving over from Frisco and it started raining. I looked at the temp gauge in the van and it was 68 degrees! Geez-might be time to turn off the A/C?

We are in another 3rd floor walk up and we were sucking wind getting up there. The condo is bizarre. It looks like they are renovating slowly. Granite counters and updated tile in the bathrooms with ancient appliances and a non working fridge in the kitchen. The working fridge is in the dining area.

But it is an absolutely gorgeous view. This is the weirdest place with the best view.

Grand Junction CO

beth2271 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:20:00 GMT

We drove from Moab to Grand Junction CO.

We took a jet boat tour on the Colorado River with the funniest guide I have ever heard. His humor was dry and completely deadpan so it would be one of those "you just had to be there." We were crying from laughing so hard.

More gorgeous red rocks...

Canyonlands Moab UT

beth2271 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:15:00 GMT

We decided to go to Canyonlands in the morning after dying in the heat at Arches at sunset. We packed every water bottle we had and we were on our way.

We hiked a very short hike to the Mesa Arch. Noah was climbing on every rock he could-giving me a heart attack when he was close to the edge.

Most of the views were available to see from the car or a very short walk-jackpot for us!

Fri. July 30 Frisco CO

beth2271 — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:05:00 GMT

Family reunion tomorrow!

We are out of UT and hot weather and back into sweat shirts. We are going to go home and expect fall to start and we still have at least 2 months of summer left in Atlanta!

The kids are so excited to see family and especially Robert. I guess I don't count as family enough for them!

We have a spectacular view from our condo here. We are overlooking a lake with a bike path in front of it. Last night we watched a couple on bikes with two dogs freak out when the dogs spotted a deer and took off in hot pursuit. They and we would have been horrified if the dogs actually caught the deer, but, the dogs had too much of the good life. The deer was basically strolling away while the dogs were huffing from too much puppy chow.

We're going into Breckenridge and "downtown" Frisco today. Dad wants to drive up over Loveland Pass at 11,992 feet. Yes, I know I am obessed with altitude but shopping for cute little Western things sounds so much more fun.

A Hummer photo is worth a 100 Hummer words

beth2271 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:06:00 GMT

Words can't really do our Hummer trip justice (and you know CD is all about justice)

So..I have included a few to give you a flavor of the trip.

It was a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again sometime.

Hummin in a Hummer

beth2271 — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:25:00 GMT

At 0730, Pat and Dave set out on a really great trip. We took a Hummer trip up on Devils' Revenge trail here in Moab.

Trails out here are rated by risk and difficulty from 1 through 5. The driver said this was a solid 3.

Hummers rock and far surpass the venerable Jeep in virtually every category. They are roomy, powerful and will descend and ascend virtually any hill the driver feels compelled to attempt.

The trail we rode intersected the so called "Slick Rock" mountain bike trail several times. The driver delighted in casually mentioning that we'd be a little steep here as he cranked it into a low low granny gear and all we saw for a brief time was the blue sky through the windshield. Then he'd get on the top of the hill and drop the front end of the Hummer over the edge, so that all we saw was a fast approaching surface at the base of the hill that threatened to swallow our vehicle in one gulp.

Needless to say, the pics we took did NOT do this trip justice. Pat said that if she had seen the videos of the ride prior to the trip, that maybe she would not have done it. But she didn't so...she did...and...she loved it.

It was another great memory of a part of the country that can easily turn your normal playtime adventures into white knuckle fun.

Now in addition to all the other stuff I'm going to need, add a Hummer to the list.

Love it here.

Your old Buckaroo,

Cowboy Dave

Arches National Park Moab UT

beth2271 — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:25:00 GMT

We have packed our sweatshirts away and realized that the expression "only gringos and donkeys go out in the heat of the day" has tremendous merit. We started figuring out what to do about 9 am and realized we had already lost our morning window of opportunity to go to any parks-you know the ones made of rocks AKA enormous pizza ovens with us playing the role of the Supreme Pie?

We plan a sunset trip to Arches and do a brief tour of Moab during the day.

We get to Arches late afternoon and it is SMOKING HOT. We had a quart of water each and sucked that down in no time. But man was it worth it. I took over 200 pictures in 2-3 hours. Love that digital camera!

The kids have been amazing on this trip. They have had their normal periods of annoying one another but on the whole-awesome. Noah B has been the biggest trooper of all. He gets up in the morning ready to go and is excited about everything we do. Even Ethan and Rachel are humoring me by enjoying the beautiful scenery and not acting like jaded teenagers.

To Moab-one LOONNGGG drive

beth2271 — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:10:00 GMT

We had stopped at Mesa Verde on the way to Moab. Getting back in the car, driving 27 miles back to the entrance and then on the Moab made for one long day. It wasn't that many more miles than we had driven previously, it just seemed like a much harder drive. We were basically driving through this endless expanse of desert and wondering where exactly was the town we were supposed to be going to. Then it popped up out of nowhere! We stopped to pick up beer-an 18 pack-and went to the house. What a great surprise! This house is the biggest we have stayed in. 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for us to spread out in. Washer/dryer actually in a laundry room that we didn't have to pay for! The little things that mean so much...

I've lost track of what day it is...Mon. July 26

beth2271 — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:00:00 GMT

We have all lost complete track of what day it is. The kids check their phones to find out and I check my computer.

We have seen some amazing things on this trip! I am amazed how huge our National Parks are. We drove throught the entrance gate at Mesa Verde and the next sign we saw told us the Visitors Center was 15 MILES ahead! After we drove that, it was 12 more miles to get to the spot where the cliff dwellers tour started. The roads were curvey and up and down. Our brakes were smoking and smelled horrible by the time we got to the tour. Someone could make a boatload offering a helicopter option from the entrance to the cliff dwellers!

The cliff dwellings were amazing. The structures have been there for 800 years and are 85% intact. The Indians farmed on top of the Mesa and lived in the alcove. We had a nice paved trail down-the Indians? Not so much. The hand holds and foot holds they used to climb up and down were still visible. Distance to the bottom? 1000-2000 feet. I would have had to move...

4 wheeling in Colorado

beth2271 — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:35:00 GMT

My first love as a place to 4 wheel is Utah. We have dear friends there and the trails are well groomed allowing seniors like us to get to some pretty spectacular places with out great personal risk.

Colorado in general, and Ouray, in particular also quicken my pulse a bit. Colorado has a rugged beauty and an unforgiving terrain by which to view it.

The trails are defined as easy, moderate, difficult or the ever challenging, "technical".

Ethan and I spent a lot more time on 3 of our vehicle's 4 wheels than we liked but that is normal here.

I am not afraid to go anywhere, but after 5-6 hours of this pounding, at my age,I'm ready for a cold one and a nap.

The folks out here use their state's land in many ways: camping , hiking, biking, 4 wheeling and jst being outside. They have all the toys too.

We have attached some pictures of the trail rides we took over Tin Cup Pass and into the town of Tin Cup as well as a trip to Yankee Boy Basin traihead and then on up to Imogene Pass.

Like many things in life, pictures and words fall far short of describing the stunning beauty of it all.

Cowboy Dave

Day 8 Durango

beth2271 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:20:00 GMT

A recap of the last few days...

We took a jeep tour in Ouray while Dad and Ethan spent the day driving an ATV. It started out in an absolute downpour for us. By the time we were picked up it had tapered off-lucky for us. We still needed blankets and jackets but the views on the way were so worth it.

The dumbest thing I saw today-a mom in shorts and a tank top with her small child riding in front of her on an ATV with no helmet on either one of them. Going up to the top was going up to 12,500 ft. The weather was rainy and she is taking her child out as if for a Sunday drive-crazy!

We also saw flowers at a drop off. Some guys were up there on July 4th shooting off fireworks. They shot one that they thought was a dud and then it started to go off-one of them shouted that it was live and they all ran from it. One 22 year old ran off the side of the cliff trying to get away from it. I think about the police man who had to notify his family. As a mother,would you ever get over the rage at such a waste?

I wonder what percentage of accidents/fatalities in the mountains are just pure stupidity that could have been avoided and what are true accidents nothing could have been done to prevent.

Later that night, mom and I lie/lay? awake thinking about our drive the next day. Dad has absolutely no idea and is actually looking forward to the challenge. So glad we prevailed.

We drive to Durango the back way. I can't imagine the views were any better than what we saw. It was stunning-as is eveything in this state. It rained off and on but that only added to the beauty as the clouds were a spectacular pattern of gray with blue sky mixed in.

I regained a lot of confidence driving with new brakes and knowing not to ride them. I coasted downhill most of the way.

We stopped for lunch in Telluride and walked around a bit. It had a completely different feel than Ouray but I'm glad we saw it.

We are not staying in the city of Durango but out in Bayfield. We are about 20 miles outside of town staying at a lodge overlooking Lake Vallecito. We are also in the "Penthouse" which means we walk up 3 flights of stairs to get to our lodging! Good thing for teenagers.

Our plan for today is to rent a boat and go out on to the lake. I am betting it is FREEZING. We'll see if we make it into Durango or just stay around here.

The area around here is burned black. We asked the lady who checked us in when the fire was-2002! The timber is all still on the ground and it looks like it just happened. I asked her why they did not pick up the logs. She said that would have made too much sense. Some environmentalists sued to leave it "natural." So now it is just kindling for the next wild fire-geez!

A great trip!

Top of our jeep tour

beth2271 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:25:00 GMT