Spring Break #2

This year the kids' Spring Break was 2 weeks after mine. No worries though, I was able to take 2 spring breaks so I could enjoy it with all the kids. Here we all are in the hallway of the hotel walking 4 abreast cuz that's how we do it.  

We had this trip planned for a long time. Bennett was interested in checking out some colleges in Utah. And since it's one of our favorite places to go, we thought we'd leave early and take to kids to one of our favorite spots...Moab.

The day we left, it was snowing. We drove though a lot of fog and snow through the mountain passes. It still looked very much like winter that high in elevation.

Thankfully, by time we hit Moab the sun was out and snow was an after-thought. Although, it was still quite cold and windy.

We were hoping to take the kids through the Fiery Furnace at Arches National Park - the place where we had our most epic hike to date this past September. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be. You have to get a permit in order to hike there and they had no permits left. Not to fear though, we found a hike that was equal in awe and wonder...The Devil's Garden.

The Devil's Garden has you climb rock outcroppings called "fins". Here are Chuck and Chloe on the first fin we came to. 

It doesn't look too scary from this picture. But I was holding on for dear life. Remember our motto: "It's not an adventure unless Mom's scared." This was an incredible adventure.

From this perspective, you can see why I was so nervous. We were out there on the end of that fin with massive drop offs on either side. It was a huge adrenaline rush - if an adrenaline rush means you feel like you're about to throw up the whole time. 

Do you see all those rocks behind Chloe and Bennett, those are fins as well. They are on the edge of a fin we just finished walking down. I can't even describe the fear. The wind was blowing so hard, I almost lost my hat. 

I had to walk the ledge holding on to Chuck's hand with a death grip. It's hard to tell the perspective in this picture as well...suffice it to say it was steep, high, narrow, with a long way to fall off either side. 

I asked Bennett to hold on to Chloe as they scaled the fin in front of us. He held her by her backpack because it was so windy, I thought she might blow away.

This is opposite direction of the fin we were on. Did I mention how cold it was? It was in the high 30s with a wicked 12-15 mph wind blowing. This is not something you can tell from the pictures, everything looks so serene and sunny.

After making it through some difficult (understatement) terrain with our lives still intact, we came across this beautiful vista. Some nice hikers took our family picture.

We finally made it to the Double O Arch, although you can only see the one arch the kids are sitting in. There is another one above them. Come to find out - after the fact - they weren't exactly allowed to be sitting in the actual arch. Ooops. My bad.

After traversing the 1.2 miles of difficult rock fin trail to get to this point of interest, we opted for the "primitive" trail that circled back around. Mind you, there are no maps or other signage anywhere along this trail that is about a 4 mile round trip. We read at the beginning that our trek could take anywhere from 3-5 hours. We did it in exactly 3 hours, probably the longest hike we've ever done as a family.

Which meant some people were getting tired. Thus the need for a pit stop for Bennett to replenish his dwindling food supply and Chloe to take a nap.

These runes were our only guides letting us know we were going the right direction while on the "primitive" trail.

This was the only place Chloe got afraid. She made it through all the places I was scared with no problem. But it was here, where we had to slide down a bit of a steep ledge where she needed Dad to rescue her.

After eating our picnic lunch huddled in the warmth of the car (because we were chilled to the bone), we decided to head over to Dead Horse Point. It overlooks Canyonland National Park. My people are all perched on the edge of a cliff face looking at The Island in the Sky.

Here we're just chillin. Our feet were killing us from our previous hike. This is all we had energy for.

Proof that I too, stand on the edge of cliffs with people I love. 

This picture just makes me happy.

We stayed at the most epic hotel! This will now be our standard for all hotels in the future. 

Because Bennett is Bennett, he brings his basketball everywhere, even on vacation. You should have seen the look of pure bliss when we pull up to this hotel to see that they have a hoop in the parking lot! Life just does not get any better than this. After a 6 hour drive, he was immediately ready to shoot some hoops.

We finished our day by grabbing dinner at the best food truck in Moab. 

We were in quesadilla heaven. We took our quesadillas back to eat in the beautiful lounge of the hotel we love so much.

As a surprise bonus, Chloe's friend, Sydney from Minnesota also just happened to be spending her spring break in Moab. Her and her mom stopped by the hotel to visit for a while. What a small world!

The next day we woke up to rain and fog. But it didn't deter us because we were scheduled to drive 4 hours down to Cedar City. As soon as we got there we picked up some snacks and went immediately to the theater to watch The Lego 2 Movie.

The following morning Bennett had a private tour of SUU. Our tour guide was so kind and gave us a very detailed tour of the campus. However, Bennett wasn't feeling it, even though they had a lot of great things to offer. 

From there it was immediately back in the car again to drive the 5 hours to Grand Junction, CO - our last stopping point before heading home.

Unbeknownst to us, Grand Junction is home of this amazing national treasure called The Colorado National Monument National Park. Look at that! It was stunning. We ended up following the road at the top of the canyon that wound around and around and around for over an hour. We stopped at every single lookout to admire its grandeur and beauty.

Here was one such lookout.

Here was another. I think Chloe had had it with beautiful vistas by this point.

But Chuck and I were soaking it in!

As a final treat on our way out of the park, we watched a family of mountain goats traverse the steep inclines of the canyon.

And there you have it folks. We made it home by Tuesday afternoon and were able to enjoy the rest of our spring break in "staycation" style in the comfort of our own beds. 

Spring Break #1

It's been 3 whole months since we've seen Gavin. I was so happy when he said he wanted to come home for Spring Break. Thankfully, he's break also coincided with mine. He arrived home on a Sunday. We spent the rest of that day just sitting in our room visiting. I love how everyone loves to congregate on our bed. Chuck and I were sitting on two chairs that face the bed. Some of the best conversations have taken place here!

On Monday Gavin and I headed to Boulder. I had previously purchased a Puzzling Adventure activity for us to do so we could learn more about the city. Thankfully, it was a quiet day in Boulder. We enjoyed walking down Pearl Street and learning the history and checking out the bookstores. 

We found a great Indian buffet for lunch and then continued on to The Flatirons where we intended to hike up as far as we could.

Our plan kind of backfired once we got half way up the Chautauqua Trail and there was snow and ice covering the entire trail. We weren't dressed to hike today and certainly were not wearing hiking shoes that might have better traversed the snow-covered path. I'm still wondering why, upon first noticing the snow/ice we didn't just say, oh well, too bad, let's turn around. I'm also wondering why we didn't say, if it's this hard getting up the trail, it's going to be a bear trying to get down, while slipping and sliding on our projected course uphill. Yet we pushed on. Once we finally reached more tree cover of the mountains and the path got even worse from the constant shade, we finally decided to turn around and go downhill. Hard. To. Do! It was like walking down hill on a skating rink with smooth-soled sneakers on. Another adventure neither of us will soon forget. 

Tuesday was Ski Day! It turned out to be the perfect day for the boys to head up to Snowy Range to enjoy the mild weather and slopes. Whenever it's 45 and sunny, you know you're going to have some great skiing in store!

Wednesday brought us the much anticipated Bomb Cyclone Blizzard of 2019. The winds reached as high as 60 and 70 miles an hour. It rained, then iced, then snowed the entire day. This was the view from our front porch. Visibility was zero. It was a complete whiteout - you couldn't even see one street down.  As a bonus, schools were closed for two days straight, so Chloe and Bennett got a lot more time to spend with Gavin. Chloe used her extra time to work on her online driver's ed and hang out with a neighbor friend while Bennett and Gavin watched some 007 movies.

On Thursday, we were still stuck at home most of the day. However, we did brave the roads in honor of Pi Day. You can't let 3.14 pass without a piece of pie.

Chuck took Friday off and the three of us hit the town looking for fun things to do. We went to Old Town Fort Collins and browsed a bookstore and found an art museum.

We enjoyed lunch at Whichwich.

And ended up at The Summit playing video games and air hockey.

On Saturday, the week culminated in the matinee showing of Captain Marvel. Apparently we were only allowed to watch movies the whole week long with the name "Captain" in the title. Somehow I was suckered into watching all the Captain America movies (there are 3). I thought we had to in order to better understand Captain Marvel. At least that's what I was under the impression of. Then, come to find out, it has nothing to do with the movie. They just wanted to watch it. We've always been a superhero loving family. That still hasn't changed the older the kids get. 

And by the way, the kids are mortified in this picture. They absolutely HATE it when we take selfies at the theater by a movie poster. They are so embarrassed! You'd have thought we asked them to sing and dance with a sombrero on their head in front of everybody. Yet, they still smile cuz they don't want to look stupid in a picture either. But we have exactly .7 seconds to take this picture and there will be no retakes! People are looking! You can't be seen looking happy to be at a movie with your parents! Even though these are the same goofballs who happily lay on my bed talking with me until I force them to leave because I'm so tired. I love these people so much!

The Three Mysteries

This is a post that will baffle even the most judicious of my readers. There are three mysteries in this house that will forever remain unsolved. 

Mystery #1 - The Case of the Vape Cartridge

This little guy showed up at our house at one of the most busiest times of the year for us...this past Thanksgiving. We were hosting my brother-in-law and his family (4 total) and our friends from Utah and their family (6 total), plus Gavin flew in from North Dakota, so we were our usual 5. Fifteen of us total. People and kids were everywhere and it was a blast. 

After one of our many outings we come home to find this thing-a-ma-bob. Actually, we found two of them. One was downstairs on the floor and one was upstairs on the entry table. Legos, Playmobiles, and toys of every shape and size were strewn all over the basement. When I saw it, I honestly thought it was just a lego part. So did Chuck. I think I even threw one in with the toys, while Chuck took the other and set it aside. We didn't think anything of it.

That is until after everyone left. One of them is still sitting up on the entry table. Then we realize that the little orange part comes off and it has a nice fruity smell. Hmmmm....that's odd. I don't remember legos smelling like fruit.  We ask each of the kids if they know what it is. Not a clue. We text the picture to our friends. No idea. So, in the age of social networking, we throw it out into cyberspace and let more knowledgeable people than us clue us in to what this little thing could possibly be. 

Seriously, mere minutes later, Chuck gets a private message telling him it's a vape cartridge. The person didn't want to embarrass Chuck incase it was from one of our kids. We were aghast. A WHAT?!? This is so far out of the scope of our world, we were floored that not only did we find one, but two of these babies in our house.

So we texted our friends that were visiting and told them what we learned. They were just as incredulous. If you knew them and their kids, it is preposterous to think that one of their little ones could have anything to do with this.

We grilled our kids over and over. We knew vaping was a big deal at their high school. But both of our kids have very strong moral objections to this activity and don't even hang out with anyone who vapes. Gavin had already gone back to North Dakota. We quizzed him about the origins of the cartridge. He had zero clue. I asked if one of his friends could have put it in his bag as a joke and then one of the little ones in our house over the week might have accidentally found it. Nope. None of his friends vape. 

The only possible explanation I could pull out of my brain after thinking it over super hard was that when we were out on one of our excursions, one of the little ones might have picked it up thinking it was a lego or toy of some sort and brought it back in tiny hands unseen by any adults. That's the best we can deduce. Yet, it still remains a confounding mystery. Weird.

Mystery #2 - The Case of the Blue Toilet Seat

I can't believe I have stooped so low as to post a picture of one of our toilets. And with the lid open! Argh! But therein lies the mystery. This toilet is in the bathroom that sits between the boys' room downstairs. That is not a shadow you see on the toilet seat (like I initially thought it was), it is an honest to goodness blue stain. Chuck is forever on Bennett about keeping it clean. Bennett was like, "Dad, that blue stain won't come off. I've tried." So I took my favorite cleaner, the one that gets any and everything out and scrubbed. Nothing. It's like some alien sat down on the toilet and left its mark. Weird. 

Mystery #3 - The Case of the Leaf Blower That Turned On By Itself

Now that the grass has turned brown for the winter, Ninja has decided that it makes a great back scratcher. She absolutely loves to go outside and roll on her back until she is covered in it. After weeks of painstakingly brushing her for a good 10 minutes each and every time she wanted to come in, Chuck had the genius idea of just blowing her off. When we take her up to the pet store to wash her, they have a blower to help dry her off faster and she likes it. So, in the same vein, she should like the leaf blower that blows off all the grass. She actually does. She sits there wagging her tail and smiling. It's pretty adorable actually and takes half the time as brushing her. Win/win. 

However, after coming home from being gone for about 5 hours, we hear a loud blowing sound coming from the back of our house. I follow the sound and notice that the blower is on full blast out on the patio. We keep it out there for convenience sake. It's just sitting there blowing into the side of the house. For how long? We've no idea. All we know is that when we left, the blower was not on. When we got home, the blower was on. Weird. Why?

The Managers

This foursome is in charge of all four boys basketball teams at Windsor High School. We are so proud of Chloe for trying breaking out of her comfort zone and trying something new and different. She had made friends with one of these girls in a class. The girl suggested she tryout for basketball manager. Chloe thought it could be fun, but she was super nervous because she knew she'd have to take a test on basketball terminology and rules. So Chuck and Bennett taught and quizzed her. She got accepted as manager and then all four girls instantly hit it off.

They fill all the water bottles for the boys. They run the clock during practices. They keep player stats during games. The clean up. They hold all the boys' phones. The list of chores seem endless. They're at practice for 4 hours after school every day and on Saturdays. And yet they all love it. 

I think what Chloe loves most is getting the chance to feel connected to the school and a team without actually participating in a sport. She's not a very "sportsy" girl. But she likes feeling a part of something. She's gotten to know all the players. It helps that her brother is on the team. They travel to all the away games with the boys. They really are an integral part of the team. And she just found out she can letter in Managing. Bonus.

We recently hosted a sleepover for all 4 girls at our house at the end of the season. It was sweet to watch the dynamics of their friendship and to see how well they get along and work together. Chloe's strong suit has always been that she is very adaptable. Her life has sorta forced that on her. It's never easy being the new kid in school - especially when it comes to high school. But she has done an outstanding job, once again, adapting to her new situation and thriving in it. 

College Visits...Take Two

Last year, Bennett and I went on his first college visit. It was at the University of Northern Colorado, only a 30 minute drive from where we live. He was like: meh.  Not the reaction I was expecting from a kid who was excited about the major they offered. But that's why you go visit colleges, because the vibe you get is super important. Can you see yourself living there for 4+ years?

Take two. This weekend we went to visit UCCS - University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. It was love at first sight. This is the view from the parking lot as we were walking to the Visitor's Center.

It already met one of his key criteria - a gorgeous view. He said he has to be able to see the mountains from wherever he lives. It makes him feel happy and thankful to be alive. It feeds his soul. Mountains. Check!

It has to have cool colors and a cool logo. Check. They are the black and gold Mountain Lions. They are part of the larger CU school system. The main campus is located in Boulder which is almost double the size of this campus as well as double the cost. He also prefers to be cost efficient, just like his mother.

They have an incredible Recreation Facility and awesome hoops. But more important than that - they have the major he really wants...Strength and Conditioning. And as the cherry on top, Colorado Springs has 3 basketball training facilities in and around the city. Since his ultimate goal is to be a basketball trainer, this is huge! This means there are 3 potential places where he can intern.

It's close to home. Check. He is our homebody. He loves to hang out with us (and vice versa). The school is only a short 2 hours away from home. Far enough away to feel like he's legitimately living on his own, but close enough to come home as often as he likes. 

There is an expression in Colorado called, "Colorado Cool."  This school has it. It has a really laid-back, chill vibe. It's a relatively new school with modern looking buildings that really appeal to Bennett. During the opening presentation they mentioned that all freshman have access to unlimited food at the dining halls. I don't think he heard a thing after that. That phrase alone is one of his favorite things. They reached his heart. I think they have his vote.

Valentine's Shenanigans

Chuck was in Seattle over Valentine's Day this year. It really wasn't a big deal to me. We celebrate our love for each other all the time. This was just another day on the calendar to me. But apparently, it wasn't for Chuck. He had preplanned some behind the scenes shenanigans that completely caught me off guard. When I got home from work, I found my bed looking like this. I know I did not do this to it before I left that morning. This has Chuck's signature all over it. He has done this before. I half wondered if he came home early, but I had just been talking to him on my drive home from work and he was definitely still in Seattle. I was baffled.

Then I head into the kitchen and see this lovely bouquet of flowers sitting at my placemat. How did he do it?! Come to find out, he used his little minions to help him pull off his preplanned love-scheme. He had pre-ordered flowers and had Bennett pick them up before he went to school. Then he had Chloe decorate the bed with cut out hearts he gave her ahead of time. I truly am so lucky and so loved and so in love. 

The kids and I headed out for a special valentine's dinner, but before hand we stopped to get Bennett a much needed hair cut. This is his Vogue pose.

And finally, the moment we had been waiting for...Maza Kabob - the BEST Afghani food around!

The Dairy Farm

For some miraculous reason, we now live where you can get milk delivered to you. Yes...as in the milkman brings bottles of milk to your door every week. I think we just won the lottery! We had used another company for the first year we lived here. But were unsure as to the treatment of the cows, whether it was humane or not. But since then, we've been alerted to a more local company. After trying a sample of their milk, Chuck was hooked (sadly, I don't drink milk due to lactose intolerance). They informed us that they love to give tours of their dairy farm. So we took them up on their offer.

We thought the kids would jump at the chance to go on a family field trip to a dairy farm (said tongue-in-cheek). For some reason they preferred sleeping in to being active participants with their fun-loving parents down on the farm. Anyways...we won. Chuck and I had a blast and kept texting the kids telling them as much. I mean, look at the Dairy-Go-Round! How cool is that?! The whole apparatus actually moves around in a circle. The cows step onto it, a worker attaches the milking mechanism and the cows just ride around. Our tour guide said you can tell the cows are happy because they're chewing their cud and not mooing. She said they only moo when they are in pain, hurt, or giving birth. It was indeed very quiet.  

See that piece of fabric/plastic hanging to the left of the cow's head? Whenever their head touches that, the cow knows to back out of the dairy-go-round. The funny thing is, the tour guide said the cows can either walk back out of the barn or get back in line to go around again. There is a scanner hanging down over the cows' heads that is just outside of this picture. That scanner reads the chip in the cow's ear. So it will know that this cow was already milked and they won't attempt to milk it again. She said that the most they will let the cow ride the dairy-go-round is 4 times. Then a worker has to direct it away. But there were hardly any workers visible. These cows seemingly just know what to do. She said they get milked three times a day. Incredible! Who knew?!

At the same dairy farm lies the National Headquarters for Noosa yoghurt. All their yoghurt is made with this top of the line milk. Morning Fresh Farms actually decided to partner with Noosa over 10 years ago and it is a win/win for both the companies. Each cow produces 40 gallons of milk a day. And there are a lot of cows. The milk travels through very high tech equipment to the homogenization and pasteurization processes. It is usually delivered the same day. All the excess milk is diverted directly to the Noosa factory so there is no waste. The farm also grows all their own crops to feed the cows. It has been a family operation since 1894. I know, right?! We were impressed too.

Nearing the end of the walking tour, we got to pet a baby cow. I was surprised by how dirty (caked with mud) their skin was because they look so soft but obviously have had fun rolling in the dirt. I was also surprised by how much this little guy wanted his neck and chin rubbed. He was pushing so hard against me - it was hilarious. 

Here is our same little calf just basking in the neck massage Chuck is giving him. It may look like Chuck is pushing this little guy's head back, but he's not, the calf is directly him to the exact place he wants to be rubbed. Also, their tongues are very coarse like a cats. That was new to me as well. 

All in all it was a fun excursion on a gorgeous 60 degree day in February. Gotta love it!

Birthday Blessings

I turned 46 this past Wednesday. Wow! I feel so big now. I still don't feel like a legitimate adult though. It was such an awesome day. This was the gorgeous sunrise I was treated to on my way into work that morning. So lovely! And yes, it was another, 'I-HAVE-to-pull-over-to-the-side-of-the-road-to-take-a-picture' kind of sunrise. This just made me so happy.

I didn't get home from work until 1:45. Unbeknownst to me, Chuck took the rest of the day off and had some perfectly "cori-like" activities planned. He immediately whisked me off to lunch at the Star of India in Fort Collins. Yum! Once you have Indian friends and they introduce you to their culture and food, you are hooked, my friend...there's no going back.

From there, we drove up into the foothills to go hiking near Horsetooth Mountain. Yes. We walked along this ridge of rocks and it was as fun as you would think.

It was pretty cold too. Not that I minded in the least. It was a perfect day for hiking. And Chuck even remembered to bring my hiking shoes and socks. Isn't he the sweetest?!

Here's a good view of Horsetooth from where we were.

It was such a beautifully sunny day! Just perfect. The color blue of the sky in Colorado never ceases to impress me. I just love it. I'm so thankful that we live so close to these majestic mountains that we can come here to fill up our souls any time we want. That was the real gift Chuck gave me.

Of course, time together is always one of my favorite gifts.

Shockingly, Bennett's basketball practice was cancelled and neither he nor Chloe had to stay late after school. They both came home normal time so we were able to go straight to The Summit for half-price laser tag night. It was awesome! We played 3 games. I lost every single one of them, but had a blast. I'm a terrible shooter. I can't sneak up on people. I have zero stealth. I laugh every time I get shot. But we were together, playing and having fun. Such a perfect ending to a perfect day. I'm so happy to be here and share life with this awesome group of people.

Words To Live By

I think the best birthday present Gavin got this year was a simple little pdf that Chuck created for him. What a beautiful reminder of all that is true and good and right. We have to intentionally practice these character traits to build up those muscles. Just one more reason he is the best Dad and Husband EVER!

Wrong Number

Let me explain....

One of my former students loves to knit. She also loves to send me items such as shawls and scarves that she's knitted. I recently got another of her sweet gifts in the mail. I thought I'd take a picture and show her how nice it looked on me.

So I texted her, as the picture attests to and received an interesting reply.

For an English as a Second Language student, her English sure looks pretty good to me. 

I didn't even read it correctly at first. I honestly thought her thumbs shifted on her keyboard and she accidentally typed a swear word unknowingly. That happens alot with my students. They don't spell very well and it's not uncommon to see swear words written out because they phonetically sound like something else they were meaning to say. But then I really read it. And realized, this wasn't my student (a 60 something Cambodian matriarch) at all. This was a complete stranger and they knew exactly what they were typing. (Side note: asf had to be explained to me...I was completely clueless).

The whole problem began because I had two numbers listed in my phone for this student...so I texted both of them. Apparently, one of them is no longer her number.

Ooops...my bad.

Now some young kid (could be girl, could be boy, could be suburban, could be hood, could be any ethnicity) thinks I walk around wearing shawls. I really felt the need to explain myself to this random person that I accidentally texted. But I don't speak that language. I don't know the "hip" way to respond to Mr. Wrong Number (for lack of a better name). I just want to say, "I thought you were an immigrant. Sorry." But that still doesn't explain why I'm wearing a shawl.

Now a picture of a white, middle-aged woman wearing a knitted shawl is floating around on the internet and with my luck it will probably go viral. And all I meant to do was thank my student for knitting me something.

We're 15 days into this new year and I'm off to a good start.