Eclipse 2017

How cool was it to see the eclipse!!!!  I usually don't get real excited about these types of things but as the day got closer and closer, I was ready to see it!!

Glenn and I each had a pair of glasses - courtesy of Gary and Jessi - so I made coffee and spent the next hour or so on the deck!!

It didn't get very dark of course as we were in about 87% totality but the temperature dropped about 10 degrees!!  And when I went inside to heat up my coffee, then I realized it DID get darker as I had to turn on the light!!  All in all, an awesome sight!!

Drama And A Musical

Time to head back to Florissant on Sunday morning!  I left early, knowing I had to get home and shower before meeting Jaime, Rayna and Jane in Divide - we were all heading to Annie Get Your Gun which was being presented in Cripple Creek!

Outside of Monument, I noticed the car was acting strange - it felt like I was on a "wavy" highway where it's harder to control the wheel!  But then it was fine - but happened again in Co. Springs.  All I could think of was that the car needed an alignment since Glenn had both back tires off to replace wheel bearings and brakes.

I pulled off the interstate at Fillmore and started up the long, steep hill and that's when I knew I had a flat tire - darn - no place to pull off so I slowed way down (luckily I was in the right lane) and saw up ahead there was a large driveway that I could pull into ( it was a gravel business and plenty of room).  Just as I started turning the wheel to get in there, the metal scraping started and I knew I was driving on the wheel and had ruined the tire................

I went about 15 to 20 feet on the wheel, hoping I wasn't ruining it but had to get off the road far enough so the tire could be changed.  I hopped out and looked - no tire - yes, I had been driving on the wheel but there is no tire there!!  I looked down towards the main road and there right on the corner is my tire - fully inflated and looking just fine!!!

I raced over there and got the tire and brought it up to the car, not realizing what had even happened at that point!!  Called Glenn and after sending him a picture of the wheel and the tire leaning by the car, he informed me I had NO LUG NUTS!!!!  No wonder the tire came off!!!  My guardian angels must have been with me that day as I could have been going 65 mph on the interstate when the tire came off - that wouldn't have been pretty!!

Decided to just call the towing service from my car insurance policy to come over and put the tire on for me - so called in a claim and they said it would be an hour.  And then the rescue company called to make sure they knew where I was at and I told them I needed lug nuts - they said they didn't have any - I told them to stop and buy some for me - no deal - they aren't allowed to do that - would have to tow me!!!  REALLY?????  It's Sunday - nothing is open!!!

I was ticked off by this point so told them to cancel the claim - called Glenn and he said he would be down asap.  And he made really good time and got me back on the road again!!  All we can figure out is that he forgot to tighten the lug nuts when he worked on the car!!

I made it home just in time to shower and throw some lunch in a bag and met everyone in Divide.  We headed to C. Crk along with a lot of other people as it was the motorcycle rally over there!!  They always have a huge flag put up and it's so neat to see it blowing in the wind.............

We all loved the musical - the cast did a fantastic job!!

Rayna took the above 2 black and white photos!  When we came out, they were taking the flag down with the help of the cranes!  After a loud and heavy rainfall on the way home, I was excited to be home!!  And totally exhausted by the days' events!

Denver Babysitting

It was that time of year for Jessi and Gary to go to seminars in Westminster - I'd marked my calendar months ago to babysit for them so headed up on a Thursday to take over!!

Jessi and Gary enjoyed their seminars - I enjoyed taking and picking up the kids from school, having Gwyn to myself all day Friday, and taking them all to the Party in the Park on Saturday!!

Gwyn and I had a ball playing with play dough!!  She liked to handle it ALL, while I would just use small pieces and make cute cutouts for her!!

I had brought Hostess cupcakes, not realizing it was Evan's 1/2 birthday so we all enjoyed them - especially Gwyn!!

Adjustment time!!  I'm so lucky to have an adjustment by Jessi every time I go to Denver - and little Gwyn lays right down for hers!!

Saturday morning when I went to get my coffee, I brought smoothies back for the kids - always a hit!

It was downright HOT outside on Saturday!  I've gotten used to the cooler weather in the mountains so I was quite warm!  Luckily a little bit of cloud cover came for the Party in the Park!  Here we are riding the little train!

The girls decided to get the "glitter" tattoos vs. the face painting!  But you really had to hold still and then the glue had to completely disappear from your arm before the glitter went on - Gwyn put her arm up so one of her stars didn't come out so good!

 They had a photographer there to take your picture with cute little props!  So we grabbed some and got in line and of course you can see the results - I'm standing there like a bump on a log while the 2 older kids are doing really cute things - and poor Gwyn is so short all you can see are her bunny ears!!  Now why didn't the photographer tell me to hold her???

All in all a great time - we played some games and I read hundreds of books (so it seemed!) to Gwyn!  She was my little shadow for 3 days and it was hard to leave her..........................

Glenn's Wildflowers

Glenn is the gardener around here - not me!  He not only has a huge garden out back but also planted wildflowers around a couple of the trees and on this built up hillside.  The results are amazing and I love looking out at all the beautiful flowers!!

Weekend Visitors

We were thrilled to hear that our good friend Cindy from Tx. was flying in to see her daughter Cheryl, grandson Brenner, and Cheryl's boyfriend, Jeremy who now live in Firestone!  They all decided to come to the mountains for a weekend to catch up!!

We had a great time just talking, playing cards, walking the property and feeding the deer!!

The Smiths came out Saturday afternoon for Happy Hour and dinner - some of them played pool and sure had fun!!

Cheryl and Jeremy

Cindy and Brenner

A fun weekend with great friends!!

Shop Update

Slowly but surely, the shop is progressing!  There's just too many other things to do in the summer it seems and the shop sometimes gets put on the back burner!!

Glenn was thrilled to get the tar paper on the top to enclose the roof since we have had rain, rain, rain for weeks!!  He would go out in the morning and would have to sweep water before he could even start working!

The dirt pile in front got moved yesterday and I believe he is working on putting up the rest of the OSB today!!  I'm really hoping it will get far enough along that we can move the stuff out of the garage before winter to get the concrete poured!!!  BUT hunting season is right around the corner - as is our annual fall trip - and a trip to Utah to see the national parks.  So we shall see.......................

Makin' Jam

I love homemade jams and jellies!  And I had NO IDEA they are so easy to make!

My cousins' wife, Adrianne, offered to teach me how to make jam one day so we set up a day and I headed to Co. Springs for my lesson!  She already had the fruit frozen (which she was glad to use to help empty her freezer) and I brought jars and the sure jel!

And she was right - it was surprisingly easy to make the jam!  We made peach and concord grape - I've already used up almost a jar of the peach!!

To make the jam taste even better, she made a loaf of homemade bread that morning and sent it home with me  - gosh it was good!

Since most of the fruit is in season now, I am already stocking up on fruit to freeze for later jam making! 

The Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine

I knew Glenn would get a lot more out of a gold mine tour than me so I asked him to take the 3 boys over to Cripple Creek for their "special outing".  They were all pretty excited to go!

I told Evan he had ONE job to do - make sure Papa took a couple of pictures!  And he did great in reminding him!

The Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine is America's only vertical shaft gold mine tour - it goes straight down 1000 feet (that's 100 stories!!) for the tour - hard hats are required and you also ride an underground tram air locomotive!!

This picture was taken before the tour - outside!

I can't remember what Evan said they were doing here but I think it's a bell of some sort!

And here's the 3 cuties!!  They had an awesome time on the tour and were impressed with the gold mining operation!  Of course the best part was the gift shop - I had given each of them $10 to spend and I was happy with what they brought home - cool gems and minerals!

The boys decided to watch a movie on their last night!

I thought I better take a picture of them with their electronics since that is their favorite thing to do!  They were very limited time wise playing  (as I have strict rules about how long they can be on them) but they sure enjoyed playing with each other!

The mandatory picture with Papa!

And I was totally shocked when I looked at this picture of me and the boys!!  I know Evan has on his hiking boots which makes him a little taller but oh my gosh - he's going to surpass me quickly!!

We dropped Kylan off at his house in Woodland Park and then we met Jessi, Kenzie and Gwyn at our favorite spot again - Caribou Coffee with Jamba Juice right beside it!  Tuesdays are great at Caribou - 2 dark turtle mochas for $5.00 - can't beat it!!

It was a VERY quiet ride home - and an extremely quiet house!  Boys weekend has come and gone and who knows what next year will bring!!

Fishing With The Boys

If there's one thing Glenn does well with the boys - it's fishing!!  We headed to Dick and Jane's pond and hiked to the back pond to fish - it was super mossy this year so the boys were constantly getting moss off of their hooks!!

 Glenn got them all set up and I waited patiently with my camera, standing under the pine tree when the raindrops would fall!

Parker was the first one to catch a fish and he was so excited!!!  Then he caught the 2nd and the 3rd fish!!!  Time for the other boys to move into his spot!!

 Evan was next to catch a fish!

And finally Kylan caught one - probably the biggest!!  Cool - now I could walk back and sit on Jane's deck and read!!

 They fished for quite a while and caught several more - all in all they had a great time fishing!!

By this time it was getting later in the evening and there was no way I was going to go home and start cooking so we decided to take them to Burger King!

One thing about the ages of the boys, they all sleep GOOD - Parker tends to get up before the others  though!

 Monday morning after breakfast I sent the 3 boys out with 3 black garbage bags - time to pick up pine cones - the one thing I MAKE them do when they come as Glenn uses them for fire starters!!  And we have NO lack of pine cones at our place!!

It did take them a while to fill 3 bags - Kylan doesn't look too happy here but all 3 were not complaining and of course I carried the bags to the house when they were done!

 Let's see - how many times did they get in the hot tub???  Several I'm sure - they actually got along really well in the hot tub and had fun squirting each other after I rustled up 3 spray bottles!!

Evan got his special meal at lunch time - Taco Pie!!  Next up - the boys' special adventure!!

Boys' Weekend

It had arrived - boys weekend - 3 boys - kind of a scary thought since I seem to handle girls better but I was game and the time had come!!

We left Jessi's house with Evan and picked up Parker along the interstate - Jill's were over in that area for another function so it worked out well!  Unfortunately the traffic was bad - and our usual 2 hour drive took a lot longer................

We picked up Kylan in Woodland Park and a pizza for dinner and headed to our house - the boys were anxious to get out of the truck and start their weekend!!

Parker's favorite snack - fruit cup up with marshmallows and a toothpick to eat it!!

Papa's cement floor in his new shop was a BIG hit!!  Evan and Parker had brought roller blades and Kylan had a scooter so they had a ball riding around in that big area!!

Each boy got to pick what they wanted for dinner one night - we had Parker's the first night which was pepperoni  pizza - sure was easy for me!!

And then it was back out to the shop - Papa built a ramp for the older boys to use and they loved it!

Parker was still getting used to roller blades so Papa put up a rope for him to pull himself on - with a little more practice, he'll be right up there with the big boys!!

Of course their favorite thing to do is technology - playing mine craft!!  They all join together and play and the first night there was sure a lot of LOUD talking back and forth and pretty soon an argument started................really???  The first night and the older two were already fighting??  I soon put an end to the argument and they all slept great!!

The next morning we played Sorry and once again the arguing over rules started and the name calling - Nana got pretty upset with them so separated the older boys!!  Jaime and Brad came out as they were bringing Kylans' pillow and another scooter and after me having a meltdown (which is very, very rare for me and then Jaime talking to the two boys), I got it out of my system!!!  Both boys apologized and the rest of the time went much better!!

I decided to have a little fun with the moms - I was texting them pictures of what the boys were doing and sent a picture of my large "special coffee" with this note:  Until I finish my coffee and Papa finishes his nap, we have tied up, bound and gagged all three boys in the basement, hope that is OK.  All 3 girls texted back cute things and then I sent the following picture with this message:  U thought we were kidding, didn't you?

I had gotten the kerchiefs out of our ATV bag and told the boys to put their hands behind their backs and to look scared - and they played out their parts well!!!

Papa was going to take the boys fishing over at Dick and Jane's pond so told Parker to practice casting at the house - he looked so cute!!!

And then it was off to fish!!!  To Be Cont'd..................

Denver Swim Meet

Evan and Kenzie are both on the swim team in Denver - and since this was the weekend I was bringing the boys home for "boys weekend", we headed up on Friday!  That week I had thought to myself - now whose house turn is it?  (we usually take turns staying between Jaime's and Jessi's homes) and then I realized - duh, Jaime now lives down here!!  So it did feel strange heading to Denver and knowing we would never be going to Jaime's house again!!

Jessi and Gary have been sprucing up their house with new paint and it was fun to see it!!  It's amazing what a coat of paint and getting the carpets cleaned does for a home!!  Gary grilled up some great chicken for dinner!

Saturday morning was the swim meet - Jessi and I had time for a quick cup of coffee before we headed over to their park for the meet!  Glenn and Gary had went earlier and set up chairs for us on the side hill!  But first, Gwyn is all smiles as Papa reads her a book!!

Evan did awesome!!  He swam in a couple of relays and I think 3 individuals!  He's pretty fast and received first place in a couple of events!

Kenzie did great too!!  Not sure what her placings were but she swam fast and hard and is fun to watch!!

In the meantime, we kept Gwyn occupied and then would go down into the pool area to watch the kids swim - it sure is hard to keep track of all the events!! 

Another little girl had the same swimsuit as Kenzie and as Jessi started taping Kenzie's swim, she realized it wasn't even her - they all look alike!!!

We walked back to Jessi's for a quick lunch and then packed up Evan and headed out!  Sure was fun to see the kids swim!!