I don't know how we got so busy...it's supposed to be summer time, with boredom galore catalyzing imagination.

We made it to Texas & back, 2 days driving, 2 days visiting.  It was pretty perfect actually.  Since I know how to grieve in much more healthy ways, this was a healing process for me.  The other day, Miss Monkey wistfully said, "We left Great Mimi behind."  I replied, "No sweetheart, she went on ahead of us."

Since then we have spent afternoons at the TIGAR gymnasium, the Firstborn spent her second summer camp with our fantastical community at Mile Hi Church...and Toddleator E has been along for the ride.  We enjoyed our time together, although she did ask multiple times, "Wheerre's mine Sissssy?"

There'll need to be more specific updates a bit later.  I've got to attempt a workout for myself this morning!

Epic Texas Trip

Me, the 1 and the 5 year old, on the road.

The Drive

Denver to Kansas City ~8 hours, hotel with family....then KC to Dallas ~ 8 hours with a lovely break for bite of dinner with cousins in OKC...Arrived at The House late, alone, setting up children to sleep comfortably in the cluttered dark.

About 11 days later, final breakfast and good byes, then ~7 hours to Amarillo, and another 7 the next day back to Denver.  All was well with the girls, save for baby's diaper rash on the way to Texas and my craving for adult conversation on the way home, it was pretty simple.  Just as I intentioned, smooth and easy.  Much gratitude to live in a beautiful and safe country.

The Family

Graduation of sister from KCAI, congratulations Ariel! Check out her work here.

Hilarity of parents directions through town and parking fiascos, the joys of the family of origin, no?

After everyone arrived back in Texas safe and sound there was much preparation to be done for the newly graduated artist's reception.  First full week consisted mainly of assisting the cleaning and shifting of stuff in order that my sister's party should appear professional.

My mother works and works and works, then works some more.  Dad does as well though his workshop is on the property, no commuting.  My brother lives there and helps out as needed.

My efforts to help were met with apologies and indignant protest. Eventually I stopped asking what needed to be done and simply slipped in what I thought would aid most the mental affected from the visual.  Like windows.  I've discovered that if my windows and mirrors are clean, it can lend a whole feeling of clean throughout my house.  I should have realized, though, I need to be more gentle, and Live and Let Live.  After speaking to several of my contemporaries about their parents' living condition, it is apparently a relative normal stage of life.  It's challenging to live in a place where the prevailing mindset is so different than my own.

The Visits

All the memories of the town where I grew up, drifting through as I pass by this or that landmark. No longer ashamed of my childhood escapades, comforted with the knowledge that I was a child and children do silly, dangerous things, they make mistakes...and that's natural and it's okay.

Difficulties with Miss Manic Monster Monkey while we were there prompted theories that public school is the answer to all our ills---but I don't have "ills" with my daughter. I don't believe that because she is having a hard time she should be yelled at and put away in some distant place 'cause I refuse to learn from the experience, to find a new way.  I don't believe that sending this child into the current education system will help her---other than to teach her she needs to dampen her self  in order to conform to a bureaucratic defined ideal.  It is my opinion that the system is broken and needs to be fully overhauled (another post).

Visiting Great Mimi in the nursing home out East Texas a ways, along with new explanation of who the people were that Miss Monkey was to meet that day, my biological Father and his wife.  The First Born handled the elder home very well considering her past history of growling, overt rudeness, behaving not the least bit friendly to elders.  Though rather heart wrenching I handled it better than I had in the past. Were I able to teleport I would be there every weekend.  Baby E of course was the cutest thing barely on two feet.

Lazy pleasant visits with a college girlfriend and her new husband found them flourishing, and after a gracious invitation we stayed with them our last 2 nights in Texas.

Our last day, my mother got into Grandma-ing a bit, a trip to the Dallas World Aquarium, then tailgate lunch, pony rides and inflatable pool back at The House.  It was a rather idyllic day.

The Snake in the Dolls

In process of clearing the back deck, I discovered an old leather suitcase under a tarp.  Knowing it would have to be moved I thought to peep inside to discover what might tumble out of the rotted thing should I grab the handle and start hauling away.  One glimpse of that singular shape in the shadowed interior and I yelped and jumped back, hearing the rustling inside.  "We've got a snake!!"""  My brother dissected the suitcase with kiln tongs, alternately removing doll parts and fetid clothes before locating the serpent.  After pinning it with the tongs then handled the 3', but rather lanky, scaly fellow, and relocated it to woods near the lake.  We surmised the snake had been hibernating and simply hadn't woken to spring yet.  And, Mom, in very typical fashion did her level best to salvage some of the dolls that had been so poorly stored.  Only a small one survived, if Mom managed to remove serpent funk from the poor thing, I'm sure she sent it off to my Aunt to whom it may have belonged many many years ago---can't wait to hear about the arrival of that package.

And so ends May.  We returned home to jubilant husband welcoming us with a full fridge and a tidy household.  After some serious cleaning of the playroom there was a bit of time to relax and enjoy the holiday weekend.

Road Trip

Captain Read-Every-Sign-Aloud-and-Comment-on-the-Obvious resumed his position of most honorable drive master.  Co-Captain/Navigator Designate Milk-Maker-Baby-Soother-Child-Distractor (wo)manned the co-pilot seat.  Then the Gigglesisters piled in the back seat, and we're off to grandparents house.

When she was 1.5 years Miss Monkey weathered the trip to Texas for grandparents visit with a video player, and by the time we arrived she was zombified.  This year we did it old school, no video.  Books on tape, music, coloring, staring out the window, giggling with the baby girl, and a view finder click-click-clicking away.  It's a 13.5 hour trip (~778 miles), we left at 3:30 am MST putting the girls in the car in hopes that they would sleep for a few hours before the day began, it worked mostly.  One tank later we stop for breakfast somewhere in New Mexico, then it's on the road again.  I estimate it was about 10am or so before we heard the first "Are we there yet?" plaintively from the back seat.  "No, it's a loooong drive to Gramma's & Grandpa's house.  Remember we looked on the map, and talked about how long the drive would be?  All day, remember?  Well, we're about half way there now."  

Then about an hour later, "Are we there YET?" suddenly we are entertained with, "I think you took a wrong turn, Papa.  We should be there by now."  Later interspersed with "When do we eat? I think we should stop at a restaurant."  This continues on into the afternoon, watching the miles and tiny towns roll away.  Eventually, sometime mid-afternoon, I think she surrendered to the car.  It's hard to teach a new person how to sleep in the car, too.  When I was little we took our favorite pillow and blanket and made a bed as best we could, elbowing each other out of the way, to be comfortable enough to sleep.  The more we slept the faster the trip went.  The First Born would have none of this sleeping in the car, I think she just couldn't get comfortable or she wasn't tired enough.  Baby E did great up until the last couple of hours when she had obviously had enough.  I spent that time twisted part-way 'round so she could have a hand to toy with, my guess, to know that she wasn't trapped back there without us.  On our way home---post refreshments and visit with Maui-Amarillo transplant buddies---the baby was fed, diapered, jammied and ready for "bed".  The bigger one fell asleep on cue for bedtime and stay asleep until we were almost to Denver, when, for whatever reason, she was wiiide awake at 11pm.  Miss Chatty-Chatskins, the content of which we understood very little, most of it was dream-conscious gibberish I think, and something about Chuck-E-Cheese.  She almost had a fit when I told her she had to go to bed immediately upon our arrival home.  Gone are the days when we could nurse our babies while the husbands drove, and kids calling dibs on the way-back seat could stretch out for the cruise.

We made it, in good time, and enjoyed our visits with everyone immensely.  Gratefully enjoying every moment.  Happy Thanksgiving.

p.s. when the family joke has become to comment on the "funny lookin' dawgs" in the vast cattle fields of Texas, it's best to surrender to the silliness.

The End, and Begin again

The return trips are always hardest I think. Got home yesterday afternoon. Fiona took a backslide in her improvement from illness, probably 'cause we jumped the gun a little and gave her some milk yesterday. I found out yesterday that VERY little dairy should be give to the stomach virus. She has improved immensely already on cereal w/ water & clear liquids. Durango was pretty nice, I was disappointed that we couldn't explore properly as the baby was SO ill. Gary & I did take FULL advantage of the hotel, as we were almost shut-ins. Salina, UT is not that great, serves only as a stopover, don't stay at the Best Western there. Eureka, NV was tiny and cute not completely commercialized and therefore not dirty(as I described NV before). While driving we decided that Hwy 50 is so much better a drive than I80, more scenic, more chances to see neat little towns and get crazy good coffee and iddy-biddy local shops. Most of the video I took on the way back was in the car, 'cause now we're on a mission, not so much lallygagging. We'll be here for a couple of weeks and then begin the trek back to the new condo in Denver. Lots of packing to do, and if we have some time, a little exploring of surrounding area before we bail out. To be continued...

Is it SprinGS, or sprINgs? Are there any other pronounciations? Can you use it in a sentence please?

Ah the smell of fresh rain & pines...with just a trace of vomit. Fiona vomited 3 times today. The first time, this morning, she made an odd-er noise and when we both turned to check on her she vomited copiously; it was a fragmentary fountain of watery-milk + curdles and stomach acid as she hadn't eaten much to begin with. SO, Gary pulled over immediately, by then she had almost finished dousing the rear of the armrest, the dvd player, not to mention her carseat, then once more outside the car and then she was done for a while. When we stopped for lunch, happened again, and then a little more when we finally got to Durango. Between expelling stomach contents poor baby managed to get down a little water & gatorade, then some saltine crackers. Good gawd, there is nothing so tortuous as watching a child, especially your own, go through something that you can do nothing about except stand by and make them as comfortable as possible. I almost cried watching her dry heave in the parking lot of the Strater Hotel, and once in the room we had to ask for a plastic bag to contain the noxious fumes pervading the room after her second sick-poop of the day. Just now, tonight, she started coming back to life after some dilute gatorade, feverish nap, bread, and she asked(signed) for milk. Gary & I both hope that the bug isn't catching, 'cause, well, you can guess.

I was happy to drive a couple of hours so Gary could get some consult work done. I drove across the great divide (although we've crossed it 4 times already I think), and through a pretty intense rainstorm. Funny thing, the property we were supposed to check out for Pop, it's not in CO Springs. What's the difference between Colorado Springs & Pagosa Springs? About 318 Miles. Yup, we got the town wrong. And because we didn't care to stay in Colorado Springs, we just switched up the plan and moseyed on down to Durango, through Pagosa Springs. The hotel is turn of the century, top notch, we're lucky we got the room. There were no rooms in Pagosa Springs, I think we got the only room left in Durango. It's stormy outside, and there train has stopped for the night, no more CHOOO-CHOOOO, WHOOOOOT WOOOOO, chugga chugga chugga spisssshhhhhhh---every few minutes. http://www.strater.com/
The Durango to Silverton train is a narrow gauge steam train, maybe we'll get a chance to take a ride but not unless baby girl is feeling better. Although her complaints are minimal, it would just be mean to drag her around town while she's feeling crappy. I know I wouldn't like it if it were me!

The Jeep commander we rented is a good road trip vehicle (even has lane change blinker feature, tap the blinker handle and it goes 3 clicks and stops). We've crumbed it up, Fiona vomited in it, I think I've spilled a little milk somewhere, Gary's probably dripped coffee, and then yesterday at Garden of the Gods, Gary backed into a Navigator from New Jersey...we got out & looked, it made a clicking noise and burst into flames, I grabbed Fiona from the Jeep and we ran up the hill. HA, just kidding, that's Gary's version. He didn't look behind well enough, backed out of the parking space, knocked out our tail-lamp with their bumper. The owner wasn't around, Gary wrote a note, and later he and the gentleman had a congenial conversation and traded information. Thomas Family adventure continues!

p.s. If ever in CO Springs, go to Solo's Restaurant, it's SUPERNEATO. http://www.solosrestaurant.com/

Denver and Beyond

After Denver we visited Breckenridge for 3 days, and have just arrived in Colorado Springs. On the way to Breckenridge we stopped off in Central City & Idaho Springs---Gary was searching for coffee. Central city was, umm, odd. It's at the end of a branch off I70, road to nowhere. Over a mountain pass, some nice scenery, and then this cute little town. Well, seemingly cute at first glance. The architecture was all authentic turn of the century, steep narrow streets, colorful buildings. A tour bus had stopped off, it's travellers sitting in the sun, nursing their motion-sickness. 'For Rent' and 'For Sale' signs in between deceptively inviting facades of, can you guess? Casinos. There is limited gambling in areas of Colorado, and it was painfully apparent that this little town was desperately trying to survive, selling out (or into) the casino racket. I'm not a gambler. I don't have the switch in my head that says, "Oh, shoot I just lost $50, better try to win it back!" The house always wins. Central City had a seedy undergrowth, a secret sneaking cancer it seemed. It was a beautiful sunny day, yet the short time we were there Gary & I both felt as if a shadow loomed, something so dark it sticks through daylight; we were uneasy, eager to leave. When we did get back to the highway we talked about the weirdness, shivered and moved along to Idaho Springs. Ah, the gods smile on Gary, there was a Starbucks! He's always searching for good coffee.

When we arrived in Breckenridge, a nice snow-oriented tourist town at 9,650' elevation, we suffered effects of altitude sickness. Fiona slept a lot. The following day I took her out for a bicycle ride on a rented hybrid & Burley trailer. If you rent there, go with Mountain Wave, they're much nicer than the place we rented from. We road about 8 miles total I think, and afterward I had a terrible headache, reminded me of heat stress. Gary had troubles breathing and bought O2 canisters, which I think helped a bit. I read that it takes fully 1 week to acclimate properly to that elevation, pro-sports teams try to arrive as late as possible before matches to avoid effects of altitude in Denver (5,280' elev.). Yesterday we went horseback riding on the mountain above Breckenridge, Fiona rode double with me on a horse named Cash. Larry carried Gary (tee-hee). My horse was gaseous especially up hill, Gary's horse was slow. It was a long ride for the baby girl, she loved the first 2/3 or so. At one point a few minutes before we got back to the corral, Fiona just flopped over the saddle horn, in tragic lamentation of her plight. A nice ride, unfortunately we forgot the camera, BUT there were the pro-photographers on the trail side snapping shots as we rode by, how convenient! ;) There is a website to view the shots of Fiona's first horse-ride, and mine & Gary's first ride together...but I'll have to nail down the specific address before posting it here. On the way from Breckenridge to CO Springs, there is Fairplay, Colorado, a sweet tiny town, ~10,000' elevation, with a restored 1880's museum of the entire original town (outside). The candy shoppe/soda fountain is super-neato with great coffee and huge cakey brownies. Plus the Brown Burro Cafe is a great little local place to stop for lunch.

SO, now we've arrived in Colorado Springs, rocky & red. Last time I was here, about 15 years by Pop's(Gran'pa Alton) estimation, the development was probably just beginning. We camped out on his acreage here, which we plan to recon for him as he hasn't been out here since then either. All I remember from that trip is being car-sick at one point. And the trailer/cabin we slept in, haunted by a giant mouse or small rat--maybe it was a raccoon? Alton-brother was about Fiona's age or a little older, we slept on the floor in sleeping bags. I had to pee in the middle of the night, that's when I think I saw the beady eyes of the rodent lording over his trailer-kingdom. Then there was the potato-shaped polished piece of knotted hardwood I took a great liking to, and Alton adopted a turtle-shell he found, called it Mr. Puh-Tell (at least I think it was that trip). But I digress. :)

So we are here in CO Springs for a week, and then back to California to commence The Move (again). We've secured a classic brownstone condo in Cherry Creek area of Denver, we plan to be there by early September at the latest. It feels like we should just go back to Denver, as if it's home already, Gary and I both think a good sign. Fiona has cut 2 new teeth, and has figured out the rhythm of unpack & stay, pack & move. She's handling herself really well. Sugar Chunks, Sweet Pee, Sugar Pot Pie, she's so sweet makes your eyes water & your teeth ache!

Oh, the world outside is bi-ig & wide/We're goin' for a ri-ide in the car

For some reason I think that everything in Nevada is dirty. That's not a personal affront to Nevada or the people there. Gary suggested it's the smoke in all the buildings. We stayed in Elko, NV last night...what can I say; it was barely three stars, the 'best' hotel in Elko. Maybe I'm a hotel snob now, but I'm not a drunken college girl anymore, and I have a baby that gets into everything. After we got to the room I un-shoed Fiona and she proceeded to test Bunny in all the dresser drawers. She did this for about an hour while Gary went out to hunt & gather. By the time he arrived with the food, I was nervous and had to go out for my luggage wherein the germ-kill handy-wipes were located. Once back in the room I wiped all the handles down, and asked Gary if he thought the bedspreads were clean---he replied, "Well for our purposes, tonight only, we'll assume that they have been washed." Ri-ight. After over an hour of walking around the room barefoot, I happened a gander at Fiona's iddy-biddy-piddys---BLACK I tell you! As if the baby had been wandering a coal mine...OMIGAWD yuk. I wiped her down, put her in her pj's and re-shoed her until bedtime. Then I tried to clean my feet as best I could before I went to bed. Gary & I agreed that the bed may be on par or worse than a bed we slept on in Tampico, Mexico. I think the Tampico bed had critters though, possibly the only thing that made it worse than Elko. So, if you find yourself middle Nevada needing lodging, we think the Hampton Village Inn looked much nicer, although it was rated only 2 stars.

Now we are in Park City, Utah, home of 2002 Winter Olympics. Stylish, cute, art galleries, clean, close enough to Salt Lake but far enough away...did I say cute? On the way here we had to stop middle of the salt flats for an accident. A helicopter had landed on the highway, an overturned sedan nearby, we got out and made foot prints in briny earth. There are big neon yellow signs every so often "Drowsy Drivers Cause Crashes". We saw an odd art tree thing, could have been antennae, and a lots of flat, white, salt crusted earth, mountains bordering distant mirages that must have tricked many 19th & early 20th century travelers into wandering far out of their way...I forgot how big the world is.
Anyway, Westgate Park Resort & Spa, a great deal on Hotels.com, and it's off season. Beautiful late summer weather up here, lots of activities to do year round, maybe we'll just stop here? Just for a couple of days to break from the drive and then keep on keepin' on. Fiona is on her way to sleep in her play pen, rough night last night, though she doesn't seem to want to sleep at all. We've considered just keeping her awake until she collapses but I'm betting that would backfire on us completely. An aside, those who know me, know that I am rather old fashioned in the ideas of children watching tv/movies/gaming constantly. I must recant statements I've made in the past, because possibly the best purchase we've made for this trip has been the portable DVD player, and we've only used it once so far. A last resort today to keep the last couple hours of or our drive calm, Baby Einstein soothed the antsy, cabin-fevered baby until she slept and then we arrived. Just won't use it all the time, little girl like to move. At least now she's more interested in what's going by outside the truck, makes things more fun describing passing trucks, trains, etc. Little person! Half my DNA and half Gary's DNA combined and made a PERSON, we marveled once again during our late lunch today. We're smitten. :)

Summer Sabbatical Starts

Tomorrow we start our road trip to CO to search for a new place to live! It's a little scary and definitely exciting. Costa Rica was Gary's idea, Hawaii was my idea, and now CO is our idea. :) I'm going to try to blog during the trip so as to document, and entertain.

Fiona sleeps late today, she wakes up slow...at this very moment she is jet propelled, attempting take off. She actually plays now, making trips between wagon and Papa & I with objects, 'reading' books, 'talking' on her phone. I think her favorite real person to talk to is Pop, as he mimicks her babble it sounds like an actual conversation of sorts. Watching her problem solve is amazing, one can almost hear her brain growing. AND the sweetest development of late, is affection. Fiona will lean on us, reach out for hugs, give kisses, and cuddle. Most wonderful feeling in the world to have little baby arms around my neck. We just played the run-and-hug game, Fiona runs to Gary and gets a hug, then runs back to me for a hug, back and forth until she gets distracted by Papa's shoes near the door--she into shoes of all kinds, like to try them on herself, try her shoes on us, try the Lili-doll's shoes on herself and us, etc. It's prime opportunity for learning too-big & too-small. Oh, the jogging stroller? It ROCKS.

I'm not solid on strategy for the long car trip ahead, but we have music CDs, a portable DVD player for the indispensable Baby Einstein videos (although it's been recommended not to use them until the very last moment). I figure I'll bring a few favorite toys that will emerge slowly one at time during the trip (plus what oddities we pick up along the way). We plan to drive as much as possible early, so we can enjoy the stop overs the latter part of the day. Gary agreed to the Rule of Flexibility, with regards to a 14-month-old's stamina for sitting in a seat as long as adults.
Luckily it's not necessary to have much of a schedule, as we don't have to return by a specific date. We might drop into Texas, it's dependent on many factors of course, but I mentioned it last night, and since we're both TX -homesick, it's a possibility. I can't wait to see what happens next!