Jim arrived in California earlier in the week and enjoyed visiting with his nieces. He and Katherine made Chex Mix and they spent lots of time at the playground.
The boys and I headed to the airport in the morning. Jim had taken quite a few things with him (2 big suitcases, as well as empty bags). I must have looked pretty pitiful with my 4 bags, 2 car seats, and a stroller since the United person pulled me out of the long check-in line to take me to the front. So, our check in was pretty easy. Given that I was traveling alone, I checked the car seats this time. Aunt Julie came in, got the boys dressed, and had breakfast with us after we checked in.
The boys thankfully slept the whole plane ride. Grandpa and Daddy arrived to pick us up at SFO, and we enjoyed In-n-Out Burger for lunch.
New Years Eve 2006
Wendy and Grandma Tracy had prepared
hot pot for our New Years Eve dinner. Each end of the table had pots of broth, to which we added meat, shrimp, fish, and vegetables. It was like a Chinese version of fondue! Yummy.
Jeanne & Jim (Mary's sister), Grandma Goehle, Grandma & Grandpa were all there with the families of the two brothers - Dave and Jim. Quite a crew and it was very fun seeing everyone again.
After dinner, G3 (Great Grandma Goehle) and Grandpa decided to have fun with the sculpting foam. G3 made some wonderful earrings and later a mustache;
grandpa had numerous creations of facial hair (maybe he misses his mustache!).
Jim wanted to relive his cat scratch fever days and that neck growth.
Eliot wore a nice long elephant truck; Katherine soon added one as well.
Jeanne thrilled Miles by making lots of creations for him to see and then destroy.
Before the New Year arrived we opened Christmas presents with the family. The
boys got some help from Jim.
Elizabeth preferred to play with the paper and other toys.
Katherine liked her shirt from Barcelona.
Miles checks in with Grandma and Uncle Jim.
The boys were quite excited to get a bag of
Grandpa marble run pieces. This time they were made of cherry, walnut, oak, and some poplar. They were beautiful. We added steep ramps, a funnel, ski slope, and big drop downs to our vast collection.
Miles and Eliot enjoyed a nice warm bath at Aunt Julie's before heading out to the play in the snow. It was a gorgeous sunny day today. Although it was still cool, the sun felt great. The boys had a great time in the snow.
I love the blue sky mixed with white snow and the green of the pines. Wonderful!
Aunt Julie went crazy shaking the snow off the trees
Eliot laid down and licked the fresh clean snow
Knowing that she and dad would have to return to Denver next Thursday for his surgery, mom was anxious to get home. It looked liked the roads along the western route were fine (snow packed). Mom called along her trip from Conifer where they got another 30" of snow; she saw many cars abandoned on the side of the road. That could have been us, if we had taken 285 on Thursday. Clearly, the winter gods were with us this trip.
Julie got about 8-10 inches of snow by Friday morning in the storm that was expected to last through Saturday. We decided it would be fun to
walk up to Starbucks with the boys and dogs for a treat. The snow was great! This time, it was a
heavy snow that covered all the trees.
Hardly any cars were out, so we could easily walk on the roads, and we only had one major road to cross. The boys enjoyed being out in the snow. It was probably 0.5 miles to Starbucks (maybe a little more).
I liked this
four-wheeler snow plow working on the bank parking lot.
Miles posed on a bus parkbench - lots of snow. Everyone did great UNTIL the walk home. The boys were cold (we didn't have snow boots) and tired. The dogs got excited at other dogs.
You can tell what a great time the boys had!
Julie ran the dogs back while I shuttled the boys toward Julie's house. By this time, they refused to walk the remaining 3 blocks. So I carried one up 20 feet, returned to carry the next one up 40 feet, then went back to get the first one. We slingshotted our way up the street until Julie came to help carry the boys home.
Julie got out in the afternoon to shovel her walk one more time!
We were a bit of a mess. Dad ended up going to the doctor in Pagosa and found out he had a mild pneumonia. Since his hand surgery was a week away, it was good that he got on antibiotics right away.
Mom tried a heating pad to relieve pain she had in her chest. Julie ended up taking her to the ER, just a mile from her house.
Julie's doctor office was 10 miles away and closed because of the snow. She found out she had an infection and also started antibiotics. While they were out, Julie and mom picked up some new snow boots for Eliot.
Miles are packed away somewhere.
Holiday Blizzard, Round 2
My flight out of Denver was Sunday morning. Mom and I watched the weather forecasts to track of the next storm. The meteorologists were unbelievably predicting another huge storm to hit the metro area, east and south. The storm looked like it was going to hit our travel corridor Thursday at noon and would last through Saturday. Mom and I packed up and headed out as soon as we could Thursday morning (around 9 am). We packed lots of snacks, an emergency kit, and even food for Julie's just in case we got snowed in there. By Del Norte and Monte Vista, we were in near white out conditions. Because we had already driven 3 hours across 90 miles, we decided to head toward I-25 fearing that the mountain passes on the other route would be too dangerous. This storm was approaching from the west, unlike the last storm.
It took well over an hour to get across La Veta pass. We saw a few cars off the side and one roll over, so we just took it slow. Once we hit Pueblo, the snow had turned to rain. Since we have been on the road more than 5 hours, we decided to stop for lunch. We headed toward Colorado Springs, hoping to miss rush hour. The snow picked back up in the Springs. We went slow and did fine until Monument Hill. Traffic came to a complete stop partway up the hill. You know it is bad when the snowplow is behind you stuck in traffic and when the radio says they have started to open up shelters in Colorado Springs for stranded drivers. We let the boys out of their seats to wiggle and I kept the windshield cleared. The car next to us was putting on chains as were the 18-wheelers around us. After 45 minutes, the huge orange DOT snowplow started to try and move up the hill. He got up 150 feet up the hill and went to work. Apparently 4 18-wheelers were stuck across the three lanes of traffic and that's why we weren't moving. Finally, traffic started to move and went quickly past the trucks in the lane the snow plow had opened up. We were only 50 miles from Julies. The snow was a blizzard as this point, so we got behind a line of cars and just followed the tail lights. We hadn't intended to stop, but following the car in front of us, we realized that we had exited the freeway only when we approached the gas station lights at Castle Rock. Visibility was unreal. We went to the bathroom and got a drink. We arrived at Julie's 10 hours after we started. It could have been worse and we were just glad to have made it there safely. Julie poured the wine, and we had the pizza she picked up.
My mom and I had planned on a trip to Amarillo TX a few days after Christmas to see my
grandmother, who turned 96 in July. The second storm was due to hit Denver and the I-25 corridor on Thursday when we would have been traveling south. Given the last storm and my Sunday flight to San Francisco, we decided that we had to drive us to Denver rather than chancing getting stuck somewhere.
This picture shows my aunt, grandmother, and Julie talking to Miles and Eliot in Holland via the webcam at Thanksgiving in Amarillo. That was pretty cool for everyone!
Don't they look pitiful!
We all spent the week pretty much sick. First, the boys had the congestion and snotty eyes. Then Jim and Julie got it. Finally, Dad. It wasn't until our last night in Pagosa that the boys seemed their normal selves. Eliot was silly, and Miles was a hoot running around during our Tex-Mex dinner.
Eliot wanted to visit the native animal sanctuary just down the road from mom's house. Mom hung out with Miles in the car, while Eliot and I went to visit the wolves, coyotes and porcupines. The
wolf gave a nice howl as we walked by. The
bull elk was enjoying the snow and grazing on the recent food delivery. The moutain lion was less interested in Eliot this time (
thank goodness, last time he was very frighteningly stalking him). We came right after feeding time. The grizzly bear was hanging out at the entrance of this den.
Jim had to head back to Denver for his 12/27 flight to California. Julie decided to caravan home with him on Tuesday since we weren't sure when the second storm would hit.
Christmas Dinner
I got to cook my traditional Thanksgiving dinner afterall: this time for Christmas. We had our favorites - a 26-lb turkey, cornbread & bread stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, fruit salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, and rolls. Julie provided entertainment with prize poppers, which is why we are all in crowns!
Grammy helps with more giftsEliot hangs with Aunt JulieJim gets a start on his new jobGrammy and Pop each take a turn at reading Dora to the boys
