Good-Bye August!

WOW - August is on its' way out and my favorite month is approaching!! (That would be September just in case you didn't know!) As much as I don't want to see summer end, I am excited about my favorite season of the year that's coming right up! Hot apple cider, golden aspen leaves, pumpkins, snow on the peak, cool crisp mornings.............................

Thursday night the summer decorations were put away - and the fall decorations came out - yes, I know I'm a little early but since I wanted it done BEFORE Sept. arrived, I decided to just do it! I had purchased 3 fall items at Hobby Lobby on Wed. night and they look just like I expected them to - fantastic!

Friday was a rough day at work - I like the afternoons to be nice and slow and Friday was anything BUT that!! By 4:30, I was darn ready to get out of there and friends Martin and Joleen picked up Glenn at our house and then came by the office to pick me up - Joleen had driven her mustang convertible and had the top down so I hopped in the back with Glenn and we cruised on down to Wines of Colorado! Did some wine tasting and had a great meal! It was a wonderful way to end my busy day!

I met the choir girls on Saturday afternoon and we drove to Cripple Creek to see the production of "The Fantasticks" -they have a neat theater there where they do melodramas in the fall, a Halloween show, a Christmas show and a couple of productions during the summer! I can't say the production we saw was one of my favorites, but the crew did a great job and their voices were amazing!

After the show, we went next-door to this HUGE second-hand/antique place that was fixed up so cute - we wandered around and discovered they had a tea room in the back and that's where we settled in. They had lovely decorated tables with lace tablecloths and dainty napkins - we all ordered tea (a list of about 15 different types to choose from) along with scones and lemon cake. The tea was delicious and served in delicate scalloped edged cups and our sweets were ate with a tiny fork - what fun we had just sitting there visiting and enjoying the lovely atmosphere! Definitely a place for a "women's" bunch to go and we will go back!

And today (Sunday), Glenn and I attended our first annual homeowner's association ice cream social and meeting! We met a lot of really nice people and even though the meeting was long, it was informative and interesting! There's a bunch that gets together every month, either at someone's home or at a restaurant and we were invited to go along so we'll have to do that one of these times!

Glenn has informed me that he's watching a football game tonight - ALREADY??? - can it POSSIBLY be football season ALREADY??? I think I just might have a book that needs to be finished tonight............

Singin' The Bathing Suit Blues!

Today is August 27th - now what was it I was supposed to REMEMBER to do about the first of August???? Oh yeah, buy another swim suit because they'll be on clearance! Did I do it? Of course not - it my mind it's still JULY!!

SO after work yesterday, I raced to Colorado Springs with high hopes of picking up a swimsuit for just a few dollars - heck, I would have even paid MORE than a few dollars! But of course I was dreaming - it's August 27th - there are NO swimsuits in the entire town in my size!! (I'm exaggerating a little bit here as I only went to 5 stores)!

I was disappointed to say the least! I did buy a new swimsuit this summer when there were lots to choose from and I DID find a really cute one! But I really wanted to get another one to have for our Mexico trip. My sisters and sister-in-law seem to wear a different one each day and me, I only had a couple - and now that I've reached the "over 55" age, I have decided that the best look for me are the suits with the little skirts to hide all that unwanted flesh!!

As I was looking through each store for a suit, I was amazed to discover that there were dozens of bikini bottoms, but no tops? Now how can that be? Do people actually just buy a swimming suit top with no bottom? Beats me.............

The bottom line is that next Feb. when we take our trip - Patty, Teri and Brenda will all be sporting a cute swimsuit every day and I'll be wearing my one and only one! Sigh..................

The North Pole

An annual event for the last few years has been to take Rayna to the North Pole -this year we decided the 2 boys were old enough to go too! And after spending a few hours there, I was sure glad that we had 1 adult for each child! I'm not sure who was more tired, the adults or the kids!

Glenn and I met Jaime, Rayna, Kylan, Jessi, Evan and Mackenzie Saturday morning at Cascade right at opening time!! Of course, I had told the girls to dress the kids in jeans as it's usually pretty chilly there (high elevation and lots of shade!) Luckily, they didn't listen to their mother as it turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year!!

Rayna was an old pro on most of the rides since she remembers them year after year! Her favorite is the ferris wheel! And little Mackenzie just enjoyed being strolled in the stroller and getting to ride a couple of things!

The boys enjoyed most of the rides although Kylan got a little scared on a couple of them! But you really wouldn't have known they were having a good time by the looks on their faces when they were riding the rides!! Solemn faces - hardly a smile!! But yet they couldn't wait to get on the next one!

Of course we didn't last the whole day - I think 3 1/2 hours did it for us and that included the picnic lunch we brought! Tired and sunburned, we all couldn't wait to get back to our place and collapse with a peach fizzie in hand! It was truly a fun day and we'll be looking forward to next year!

This And That!

It's Friday - I have coffee in hand, groceries all bought and in the frig here at work, and my desk is NOT covered with things to do! Must be a great Friday!

It was cold out again this morning when I got up - 38 degrees! We've had more than a week of these kind of temps in the morning so I guess I will just have to deal with it and know that fall is just around the corner!! In fact, when I walked on Thursday, I noticed that the bushes down by the pond below our house were all gold and orange - I was shocked - how dare they turn colors already when we haven't had a hard frost yet!
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Twice coming to work in the mornings this week, I've seen the herd of elk along the highway and they have several "calves"- they're the cutest little things - running around and jumping - I'm sure by next month they'll be headed up the mountain as elk season starts!

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I'm watching my calorie intake for the next month or however long it takes to drop just a few pounds - the easiest way for me to do this is to write down everything I eat and put the calories beside it and then total it for the day - my, my, I had NO idea how many calories are in some foods! It's amazing I don't weigh 300 pounds! So far, I've done pretty good - what seems to work best for me is the Special K "diet". You eat it for breakfast and for lunch and then eat a normal meal for dinner! Works for me as I just bring a box of cereal into work and some milk and presto - lunch is served! But I'm also cutting way back on my snacks and evening meal just to speed the process along a little bit! Jaime is cutting calories too - we BOTH want to look spiffy and skinny when we head to DisneyWorld this Nov!

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Wednesday night we headed over to D and J's cabin over by Guffey where they have a LOT of acres and cute little cabins on their property! The views from this place are undescribeable! We rode ATV's around the property and up the mountain and had a great time! I think Glenn forgot how much he enjoyed driving an ATV so I have a feeling this may be his next purchase for hunting! It was a wonderful evening!

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We're looking forward to Saturday as Jaime, Jessi and the 4 kids are heading down from Denver and meeting us for a day at the North Pole! Glenn and I have taken Rayna there for several years but now the boys are old enough to enjoy the kiddie rides so it should be a fun day! I'll have my camera in hand to capture the moment so until then...............

Dreams

My alarm didn't go off this morning - could have been because I forgot to set it but after 30 years of setting the alarm, surely it could have gone off by itself! I awoke in a panic because when I looked out the window, it was light - darn - no time to exercise, just get up and get ready for work!

When I do sleep a little later than normal, I dream - very vivid dreams - and I usually remember them! This morning was one of those mornings - and I decided to "interrupt" my dream as it really did correlate with a lot of things I had been thinking about!

The dream: a friend and I were trying to book a mini vacation weekend with other friends and then we had to race back to some place that was having this huge production - we were late and I didn't get to see my relatives before it started - and once the production started, there were people all dressed up with painted faces and I recognized one of them as someone I hadn't seen in a long time!

The interpretation: the friend - one of my close friends had called last evening so I was thinking about her

the mini vacation - Glenn has advertized his granite business on Craigs List and he had a person email him and ask if he did any bartering as they had a hot tub to trade - we sure didn't need a hot tub so he asked if they had anything else to barter and they emailed they had timeshares they would love to trade!

the production - I listened to the Mamma Mia CD on the way to and from work yesterday and thought how fun it would have been to see the live production of this!

running late - of course my subconscious is telling me to wake up since I didn't set the alarm!

relatives - this one is a little far out but last night I had watched a short video on Facebook that my niece had done on her grandfather - it was so well done and I can't wait to see the entire thing - but seeing that reminded me of my grandparents who of course have been gone many, many years now

painted faces - Over my lunch hour yesterday I was reading an article in a new travel magazine, Afar, and it was about bar/restaurant places in Japan where gentlemen go to roleplay a fantasy of being rich and having "maids"! The "maids" are all dressed up in cute costumes and a lot of times paint their faces - it's actually all on the up and up - but it makes the guys feel important after a long day at work! Interesting article!

recognizing someone - I have a friend that lives in San Antonio that I haven't seen in a long, long time and SOMEDAY I will get down there to see her but she crossed my mind yesterday!

Well, how did I do??? Actually this one was pretty easy - most of the time I have rambling, weird ones that make no sense at all! At least it made for a good blog for the day!

Baby Aleah Comes To Visit!

Aleah took her first long "road trip" when her and Jill came down to spend the weekend at our place! I couldn't believe how much she had grown! These little ones just grow way too fast and if you don't see them for a couple of weeks, you can really see the difference!

It was a fun weekend, not doing a whole lot of anything, but holding Aleah and visiting with Jill - we took a long walk one day around the subdivision with Aleah strapped to Jill in a really cute carrier, spent a little time outside on the deck with cinnamon rolls and coffee, watched a movie, and even played a few games of cribbage - it had been a LONG time since I had played so the rules had to be sorted out first! But we enjoyed it and decided we needed to play it more often.

Isn't this picture precious of Aleah - they're so cute when they sleep!! And speaking of sleeping, Aleah is already doing 5 hour stretches during the night between feedings - wow - Jill is certainly doing something right!

We dressed Aleah up both days so I could get some cute pictures of her - she's actually smiling quite a bit, but not on demand of course, so it's tough to capture her cute little smile!! But it sure melts your heart when she looks at you with those blue, blue eyes and smiles!

A friend had brought over a baby scale so we FINALLY figured out how to use it and put Aleah to the test - 10# 7 oz!! She's one healthy baby!

It was hard to say goodbye as I won't see her for another month - I know she'll change a lot during that time so pictures will just have to suffice! After all, Glenn and I are two extremely lucky grandparents to have 5 of our grandkids so close!

Shorter Days????

It's only August - so why is it darker and darker each morning I get up??? It can't POSSIBLY be that summer is winding up - is it??? Oh my - I'm not ready yet for fall - summer, PLEASE stay around another month or two!!

Ocean Journey

It was another fabulous weekend spent in Denver - the weather even cooperated with blue, sunny skies and no rain! Just one of those perfect weather weekends!

I was glad to get out of work on Friday - it was more than busy that day and I was by myself so by the time 4:30 rolled around, I was OUT of there! Glenn decided to just meet me in Woodland Park so we could take right off - it's always a nice thought THINKING we might get to Denver earlier than usual but unfortunately on Friday late afternoon, traffic is downright horrible! We usually end up sitting on the interstate - so many times we'll eat in Co. Springs as we wait for the traffic to subside! This Friday was no exception - after seeing the standstill traffic on the interstate, we opted to take the back roads to Denver - it's a 2 lane highway with much less traffic and it's a pretty, country drive!

Saturday we headed to "Ocean Journey" - I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, the kids or the adults but it was a great time and the kids loved looking at all the fish and sharks and sting rays!

All 3 kids had their cheeks painted too and it was fun to watch their expressions!

At the end of the exhibit, there is a playground where you climb on the whale and the sharks and the kids had a blast running around and climbing on the different fish - we were the only ones in there which made for a great time!!

Saturday night Brad BBQ'd New York strip steaks for dinner - yum!! And Jessi had made an awesome peach dessert that we all devoured too - add a batch of yummy margaritas in the evening and peach fizzies during the afternoon and we all felt full and content!

Sunday the girls had a "Caribou Coffee" outing where we made a few plans for Christmas and attempted to plan a scrapbooking day sometime this fall! Time will only tell if we can make this happen!

After a trip to the park with all the kids, it was time to call it a weekend and head back to the mountains! Gosh these weekends with the grandkids are fun! And there's more to come as Jill and Aleah are heading to our house next weekend - we can't wait!

Thunder and Lightning and Rain, OH MY!

WOW - what a storm we had yesterday! It rolled in just about the time I got home from work and I hurridly unloaded the groceries from the car before the real storm started!! About the time it started hailing, I remembered Glenn's tomato plants on the deck that are in pots - so I threw a coat with a hood on and ran out to rescue them - and yes, I got soaked doing it too but no matter!

As the hail and the rain were coming down, I wondered if a picture would turn out so I tried it - and it didn't come out TOO bad!

Have you ever stood in a home with vaulted ceilings and a metal roof during a hailstorm?? Glenn and I were actually shouting at each other to be heard!

I ran upstairs after a while, realizing the bedroom window was wide open - yup, a really wet carpet! And then I noticed the water cutting a huge channel at the side of the main road - of course it was running at the bottom of our driveway too so it was a bit bumpy getting out of the driveway this morning!

But what I love best about thunderstorms in the mountains is this: The pictures above and the rainbow below were taken at the same time - just from 2 different spots! It can be hailing and raining like crazy and yet the sun will be peeking through the clouds producing a rainbow! The rainbow picture is not great, merely because I had to take it through the window as it was raining too hard to go outside!

I do love thunderstorms but was disappointed the storm came through last night as there was a full moon - and we love to get in the hot tub with a full moon - maybe tonight?

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When Glenn went outside this morning down to his truck, he came back and said there were bear tracks out there! I haven't seen a bear at this house yet - but I guess they're around! Just don't hold your breath for a picture!

My Morning Walk

What I see: a beaver in the pond below our house, hundreds of wildflowers, a deer hiding in the trees, a bunny running across the road, blue, blue sky, 2 horses grazing in their corral, horse tracks on the gravel road, lots of log homes, rock outcroppings against the mountain........

What I hear: birds chirping, the crunch of my tennis shoes on the gravel road, a truck rolling by on the highway, a hummingbird whizzing by, a barking dog, stillness............

What I feel: cold cheeks and ears from the 40 degree morning, a racing heart from climbing the big hill, burning thighs, watery eyes from the cold, a complete peace knowing the joy of walking early in the morning on a peaceful summer day............