January Fun

It seems like the ONLY thing I hear Glenn talk about lately is ice fishing - is a particular lake froze over, what's the wind like, how many did someone catch, when can we go ice fishing, etc etc etc.

After planning another trip to Eagles Nest with a friend that didn't work out due to weather, he decided that him and Gary would head to Wyoming to fish Glendo!  And several plans later, it was FINALLY organized!!

I had a homeowners association meeting last Thursday night that I had to attend - and since he and Gary were planning on leaving VERY early Friday morning, he decided to drive to Denver in the dark.  We rarely do this as neither of us is comfortable driving at night!!  But he did great and we made it up there with hardly any traffic which was nice - but of course lots of construction!

The guys got up pretty early on Friday and headed out!!  Because they took Jessi's car, I had our car so was free to pick up Gwyn from preschool that day and spend the afternoon with her!  It was "cowboy" day at her school and she looked so cute!!

I think the dominoes is her favorite thing to play with me - only we don't play the game - we spread the tiles out for "paths" and divide up the trains and then pretend the trains are doing different activities in different areas of the tiles!!  Creative play at its' best!!

Kids and their phones - drives me crazy but not much I can do about it - ha!

BOTH Saturday and Sunday morning Jessi and I went out for coffee!!!  WOW - that's got to be a record!!  We found a new place which isn't too far away - great coffee and a cute place to sit and talk!!  We picked up the kids after Saturday coffee and did some shopping - this must be at Lowe's!!

The guys ended up coming home late Saturday night instead of Sunday - cold, blowing weather and the fishing was just OK!!  Oh well.........  Gwyn and Kenzie had Awanas Sunday afternoon and Gwyn got another patch for her vest!!  She was pretty excited about it!!

I took the kids out for ice cream for their Valentine's Day gift - DQ is always good except I ordered a berry harvest blizzard and it was AWFUL!!!  They then made me my usual - strawberry and banana!!  So much for trying new flavors!!!

Gary and Glenn ended up taking out the tile in their entryway from the garage and the main level bath!  Next up will be new tile, toilet and vanity with a sink!!  Which  means heading back up there before we head to Mexico!!  Glenn MIGHT get to ice fish at Aurora if the water would just freeze and I'll be able to get one last adjustment from Jessi before we head south!! 

You Caught How Many?

It must be January ice fishing time since Glenn is on the computer EVERY HOUR checking to see if certain lakes are froze over yet!  And plans even change as one day the lake might be froze enough but then the next day a bad wind comes up and the ice isn't safe any more!  So after plans to head to NE Colorado got changed due to the wind, it was off to Eagles Nest, NM.

Son in law Gary was going to join Glenn fishing so the cabin we usually stay in wasn't going to work - the best choice was a 2 bedroom apartment that was part of the lodge  - a great choice!

The drive down was lovely - I enjoy that part of the country and there was quite a bit of snow!  Since we arrived around noon, we were glad our place was ready to check in as Glenn was itching to get out on the ice!

I unpacked and liked the layout of the place - a nice couch to relax on and watch movies and a fair sized table for the computer - I was set!!

Gary was already out on the ice fishing so Glenn headed out - and was back that evening with his limit!!

Thus went the next 2 days!!  Gary and Glenn would get up VERY early and head out on the ice and fish till it was dark!  After cleaning fish, they would head to bed so they could do it again the next day!!

In the end, Glenn ended up catching 74 fish - that's a LOT of perch but we love eating it so will feed us for a long time!!

I tried to get out and walk but Eagles Nest is ALWAYS a sheet of ice everywhere and this year was no exception!!  Kind of takes the fun out of walking when it's so slick outside!  And the wind came up one day which made it miserable for trying to get a walk in!!  Oh well..........I did enjoy walking by the park and saw this HUGE snowman!!

I spent my days reading, computer work, and watching movies I had brought while finishing up a Swedish weaved blanket (that I've only been working on for years now!!!).

Gary headed back home Monday after fishing.  Glenn and I went to the bar for dinner that evening - we were quite disappointed to hear that the adjoining restaurant wasn't open!!  It's the only place in town to eat an evening meal in the winter.  Luckily the bar serves a few items and it's a cozy place with a huge fireplace and a couple of couches to sit on in the corner!

We left Tuesday morning and took a different route home!  Went home via the town of Red River and what a cute town - there's a ski slope there and lots of places to stay and eat - stopped for breakfast at one of them!

Big horned sheep were in the road leaving -I tried to get a front picture of the large one but couldn't get my phone out fast enough to snap before he walked across the road!

It was a pretty ride home - lots of snow on the mountains!

And since Glenn missed a turn, we ended up at the sand dunes!!  If you've ever wondered what they look like with snow on them, well here's a picture!!

Even though it's always very cold and icy, we both love our winter ice fishing trips!

Christmas 2019

Christmas is here and gone in the blink of an eye!  All the preparations - the gift wrapping and baking and cleaning and planning and shopping - somehow gets finished and the day goes by so fast you wonder if it has even happened.......

But it has - and it was wonderful as usual!

Christmas Eve we had dinner over at Jaime's before joining them at their church that evening.  Brad had to work so wasn't with us!  Glenn and I enjoyed the candlelight service and singing all the familiar Christmas hymns.

Because Brad worked the night shift and didn't get home till 6:00am, we didn't go over till about 10:30 that morning!!  Jaime served butter braids with coffee (yum) and the opening commenced!  It was sure fun to watch them open their gifts!

Glenn got a fishing mug from Rayna and Matias!

And Rayna made this plaque for Glenn and I - cute as can be!

Matias gave me an ornament that opened and inside was a beautiful cross and earrings!  Jaime must know I always have cold feet as she gave me tall warm slipper socks!!

I love this picture - I'm not sure what Kylan has on his head- Rayna looks a little disgusted and poor Brad is ready for a nap!!!  And the mess just shows what a fun time it was opening gifts!

 We had a wonderful dinner but unfortunately Brad got called back into work so he sure didn't get his nap!!  Games and a Christmas movie were on the agenda for the afternoon - what a wonderful Christmas Day!!

Sunday Fun

And the fun continues........

Sunday afternoon the Smiths and us had tickets at the Butte Theater in Cripple Creek!  Usually there is a Christmas melodrama but this year they were doing a production called "All I Want For Christmas Is More Olio"!!  And that's exactly what it was - the entire production was an olio!

The show was great and we had a lot of laughs!!  Then it was back to our house for dinner before we once again piled in the car and headed to the Cave of the Winds!  We had read online where they had lights to see and hot chocolate and s'mores - each carload was $25 so we figured that was a bargain!!  All of us can't even get hot chocolate at Starbucks for that!!

We dressed warmly again and headed down the pass - at the booth to pay, the lady asked if we were military and since we were, it was only $20 to get in - SCORE!!

There were beautiful lights on the winding road up and once we arrived, figured out pretty darn fast that it was windy up there!!  Good thing we were dressed warmly, even though the temps weren't too bad!!

This is what we walked through to get into the area!

We each had a coupon for a hot chocolate and a s'more - actually we had an extra set that they had given us so we had PLENTY of coupons!!

Inside the area where you received your hot chocolate they had cute photo ops set up!

Everybody got a long stick and a baggie with graham crackers, a large marshmallow and chocolate.  There were fire pits set up outside so it was fun to roast the marshmallows!

Jaime and I visited the coca-cola bear!!  The tree in the background switched colors to the Christmas music they had playing!!  Pretty cool!!

Only one ride was open - The Windwalker!!  I had taken Evan and Kylan 2 summers ago to do this so Kylan immediately got roped up and did it!!  Kudos to him as it was windy!!

The lights were beautiful and we all had such a fun time!

WOW did we do a lot of Christmas things this year!!  It's always so fun to make memories with the grand kids!!

Electric Safari

One of the fun things to do at Christmas time is the "Electric Safari" at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo!
I kept watching the weather to see how cold it was going to be in Co Springs and sure enough, it was going to be pretty darn cold but the Smiths' and Glenn and I decided we were going to brave the cold and go!

We headed down as soon as Brad got home from work, all dressed in our MANY layers of clothes!!  Judging from the stream of cars ahead of us, we knew that parking was going to be a problem and the shuttle bus from another parking area was a LONG ways away!  We drove up and along the side a car was backing out (hooray!!) so we patiently waited and took their space - the walk in wasn't bad at all!!  We had purchased our tickets online ($2.00 pp discount if bought online!!) and headed in!

The lights were beautiful all over and we especially like this overlook as you can see the whole city!

I always cringe at what they charge for lettuce leaves to feed the giraffes - $3.00 for 3 pieces of lettuce - yup!!!  I know it's for a good cause but you would think they could give you a little more as the giraffe eats the leaf in one bite!!  Oh well - the kids each got 1 leaf to feed them!!

Either they had MORE lights and more places to walk this year or we just didn't walk as fast as usual because we really had to hurry to get back down to ride the ski gondola to the top!  But we quickly stopped at the boxing kangaroos because we took this same picture with Glenn and Rayna 2 or 3 years ago!!

Unfortunately we did NOT make it down to the ride before they closed it - 1/2 hour before the zoo closes......Kylan was pretty disappointed so we'll know next time!!

I LOVE this picture that a kind stranger took so we could all be in it!!

A great time with family!!

Jelly Making Day

It was WAY past time to make jelly this December!!  Just too many irons in the fire and Jaime always comes over to make it along with me - between our crazy schedule and hers, we FINALLY found a day to make it!!  Rayna and Matias wanted to learn how too so they headed over on a Friday morning and we all proceeded to make 4 batches of jelly!

Matias was up first to do the stirring - I told the kids we had to get one batch out of the way before we had coffee and cinnamon rolls!

And then it was Rayna's turn - the kids did all the stirring and measuring - Jaime and I did the filling of the jars and the rest! (somehow the kids didn't help with the clean-up   imagine that!!)

The kids were amazed at how much sugar you use in making jam - guess that's why it tastes so GOOD!!

The final results - 2 batches of strawberry and 2 batches of peach!  At the rate we're eating it (especially with the lefsa I made) we'll have to make more by spring!