Our Dutch Tulips
We watched the tulips come up this spring with lots of anticipation. The blue (purple) and organce bed emerged first. Then the purple bed. Eliot's triangle-shaped tulip garden came last (it was still covered in snow through mid-March). His Texas flame tulips were really gorgeous.
A Spanish Dinner
Julie and I hosted a Spanish dinner for Teresa and Diogo to celebrate their upcoming wedding and to get the Wheeler cousins together. We chose a Spanish theme since they were going to Barcelona and Sevilla for their honeymoon. Jim and I chose recipes of foods that we had while in Spain. I got a great opportunity to cook a big meal!
MENUSteamed Mussells
Melon and Jamon
Pork with Whiskey Sauce
Gazpacho
Paella
Potatoes Bravas
Orange and Red Onion Salad
Swiss Chard and Raisins
Sauteed Mushrooms in Red Wine
Red Sangria
White Sangria Punch
Crema Catalana
The kids had a grand time playing with each other.
David helped Rachel setup and start her volcano science project.
+ a short video of the blast
http://picasaweb.google.com/skinnybarnchick/ASpanishDinner
Christmas Present
John and Mary gave Jim and me a tree for our Christmas present, so when the Rowes visited in late April, we decided to chose and plant a Japanese
ivory silk lilac tree in the front yard. The front had not been taken care of since we moved in, so we had lots of beds to set and even designing to do. The tree corner was a
big thistle patch. We got the tree in. A couple of weeks later, I finished the beds and planted the perennials. The
tree bloomed in late June.
Eliot starts soccer
Eliot started playing soccer this spring with Little Kickers 1 through the YMCA. The teams "practice" for 30 minutes, and then play two 12-minutes halves with subs every 3 minutes. It's the funniest thing to watch and lots of fun.
He and Carson pose for a photo before their very first game.
Eliot's favorite parts of the games seemed to be kick-off and the snacks at half-time. The
Pteradactyls in front of the flatirons: Coach Jennifer, Eliot, Carson, the other Elliott, Maisy, Griffin, Luna (missing). Eliot also loved just running around the field. At completely random times (even when he was dribbling the ball), he would take off around the field well outside of the action.
Aunt Julie got to come see a game too.
http://picasaweb.google.com/skinnybarnchick/EliotSSpringSoccer02
Nicole's Bachelorette Weekend
After my trip home (a 10-hour drive that was supposed to take 7 hours), the next day I got back in the car and picked up Paula for a road trip to the Western edge of Colorado. The girls were heading to
Fruita for some awesome mountain biking. Fruita is known for its single track rides and did not disappoint. We had a nice and relaxing week.
Lisa shows off her war wound right before dipping it into an iodine bath - that feels great!
The main point of the trip was to celebrate Nicole's upcoming nuptuals, so the
groom-to-me made an appearance in statue form. There was lots of extracurricular activities having to do with Ray and beer and wine.
http://picasaweb.google.com/skinnybarnchick/FruitaChickTripThe truck's battery died at the campsite, so we had to get a jump the truck to get out of the middle of nowhere and head back to Boulder. Luckily I had jumper cables and we found a nice guy in Vail to give us a jump after filling up with gas. On baited breath, we made it back to Boulder to have a small Radian reunion before Tanya had to catch a plane back to Portland.
By Thursday, a big winterstorm was heading into the panhandle, NM, and Colorado. They weren't sure where it would hit later that day, but it was going to be somewhere along our routes home. We stopped by grandmother's to say good-bye;
Miles gave a big hug. On the way our of town, we saw this
cool R2D2 mail box advertizing the new Star Wars stamps.
All of downtown Amarillo has a series of painted ponies. There are ones for businesses (banks) and other ones sponsored by groups. This one reminded us a bit of Delft, so we named it the
Delftware pony.
We tried to play I-spy across Texas and northern NM, but as Eliot said "it's just too boring out here to play I-spy." We pretty much only saw grass, irrigation sprinklers and the
Texas version of windmills. At Walsenburg, we promised the boys some
playtime at the park while we transferred mom's things to her car. Unfortunately, the snowfall had started and we couldn't play for long.
Mom headed west and I headed North. Luckily, I only hit snow until Colorado Springs, and it was pretty smooth sailing for the most part. Mom almost drove off of La Veta pass twice (as luck would have it, mom took off her snowtires last week), and had to turn around. After learning that the snow would continue for 24 hours, she retraced her path into NM and drove 150 miles out of her way to Santa Fe for the night. She did finally get home on Friday afternoon.
http://picasaweb.google.com/skinnybarnchick/VisitToAmarillo
Amarillo, here we come
The day after Easter, mom and I met in Walsenburg for a road trip to Texas to see my grandmother. She'll be 97 this July! Eliot talked nonstop the entire trip down - welcome to being 5. Grandmother had a respiratory infection, so she wasn't able to go out to her favorite place - Furr's Cafereria. We did enjoy visiting her at the apartment, and she loved seeing her great grandsons. The boys got new Nascars while we were at an antique shop. When the boys got a little loud or restless, we'd head back to the hotel or to do some errands so whe could rest. Eliot's lovely
frog sculpture.
Eliot took this lovely family portrait.
Easter
Aunt Julie came over for yet-another-year of
egg decorating (4 years in a row). The boys made
some beautiful eggs that the Easter bunny dutifully hid on Easter morning.
We woke to 4-5" of snow on the ground - so much for an outside egg hunt, green grass, and daffodils! Eliot loved running around and finding the Easter eggs, but Miles wasn't too sure about the whole thing. Miles preferred what was in the plastic eggs - candy!
Today, we attended LEo's third birthday party. The boys had a fine time. Later that evening my college roommate Zoraya came into town with her husband Allan. They got to meet Miles and Eliot and joined us for dinner. It was fun seeing them since the last time was at our wedding nearly 7 years ago!
We watched the tulips come up this spring with lots of anticipation. The blue (purple) and organce bed emerged first. Then the purple bed. Eliot's triangle-shaped tulip garden came last (it was still covered in snow through mid-March). His Texas flame tulips were really gorgeous.
MENU
By Thursday, a big winterstorm was heading into the panhandle, NM, and Colorado. They weren't sure where it would hit later that day, but it was going to be somewhere along our routes home. We stopped by grandmother's to say good-bye; Miles gave a big hug. On the way our of town, we saw this cool R2D2 mail box advertizing the new Star Wars stamps.
