better late than never!

Our plans were to celebrate Dado's 70th birthday in March with a Caribbean Cruise all together during spring break!

Well.... that did not happen for obvious reasons.

So as the COVID restrictions began to lift we started to think of how we could all get together safely... and figured the Colorado crew could drive across the desert to California and we could all hang out at the Etheridge Resort for a few days and pretend like it was St. Maarten!

We not only planned a lovely 70 years, 3 months and 13 days birthday party... but we socially distanced ourselves together for a day at the park, a day at the beach, and a day at the local fun park (fully masked and sanitized, of course!) racing go carts and playing virtual reality games. As always, the time with family filled my heart - feeling especially lucky to all be together and healthy these days. 

the making of an adventure dog

In the three weeks we have had Peace in our lives, she has been all over and had all kinds of experiences!
No doubt she will become a great adventure companion to us all...


She rode up (not on the 4-wheelers but in an OHV!) to the mountains and explored - and got dirty with her boys:

She went to Craig with Sam (to gymnastics!) and went hiking on the trails:

She goes nearly every day with her favorite hiking partners on the trails in town:


And she has been to the lake and is learning to like the water... we have hopes of making her a water dog and a kayak partner!

She has adapted so well to going to the parks and playing with other kids, dogs and people. The boys are still so smitten with her and fight over whose bed she sleeps on. She knows her family and loves to be home with the three of us... but is always up for whatever adventure we want to take her on! 

A little Peace

I  wasn't in the market to add another creature to our household...
But Sam was putting on the pressure for a pet.
(He was asking for a hedgehog.)
Then our dear friends had a surprise litter of pups and the tides turned!
Mama "Liberty" (a German Shepherd) had 7 sweet little mix breed puppies and when we were introduced to this little girl, Sam got on the ball and made a 'presentation' on our whiteboard to convince me we needed her in our life:

¸  

4 weeks old

5 weeks old

7 weeks old

So now we have "Peace" in our lives!
She really is so sweet and the boys love her.

good days

We have moved from "Safe at Home" to "Safer at Home" in the past 2-3 weeks and while our quarantine is officially relaxed a little, we are still pretty comfortable spending most of our time at home, and the rest of it close to home!

At home we still rest well, work hard, keep caught up on all social media and streaming programming, spend plenty of time in the hammock, and manage to be pretty happy together.

Close to home I still hike everyday and the boys get together with a few friends, plus on Mother's Day Sunday I took an inaugural paddle on the lake where social distancing was not only easy, but built in! (It's hard to get real close to anyone when you're in the middle of a lake.)

We are all also working to finish the school year strong. The boys both have one more week of work to complete and I still connect with staff and students regarding end of the school year stuff. After that we will slide right into summer mode with little change...

Q - week 6

One of the silver linings of this quarantine is more time... that paired with the fact that the boys are old enough where I don't feel guilty leaving for hours on end has given me the opportunity to take longer hikes and end up, well..... here:

You could say this is social distancing at it's finest!

I certainly plan to spend more time up here, getting to know some of the new trails a little better.

And now that we are officially not under stay-at-home orders anymore, we will all hopefully get out a little more and explore a little further.

But we will still remain cautious.

I feel extremely fortunate that living in a rural, isolated, small town has meant that I do not know the effects of COVID19 personally. But most of us realize that it is a matter of time for the virus to worm its way to our little corner of the world. Until then, I will simply grin every time I see our state's public health warnings:

cowboys & skis - perfectly Colorado!

Q - week 5

The evolution of a boy's room:

Hamp's first bed (2004)

Hamp's first 'big boy bed' (2006)

Hamp & Sam both get new big boy beds (2009)

Hamp & Sam get bunk beds (2013)


Hamp & Sam move into the big room  (2015)

Hamp moves out....

Hamp goes back to the small room and Sam gets a loft bed (2017)

Hamp & Sam switch rooms (2020)

Q - week 4

We are at a point where we are seeking different ways to entertain ourselves.
I am at a point where I am pretty amenable to any reasonable requests:

Can we build a fire pit in the backyard?
YES
Can we have a fire and make s'mores?
YES
Do s'mores count as dinner?
YES!


Can we put up the tent in the back yard?
YES
Can we sleep in it overnight?
YES


Can I have bloody marys for breakfast on Easter Sunday?
YES!


Sunday was quite pleasant as we ventured up to my folks' house for brunch and an egg hunt! Even though they are still self-quarantining at the beach in Florida, it was nice just to check on the empty house and have a little change of scenery! The boys didn't stay long after the eggs were found and the bacon was gone... but I lingered to finish my aforementioned breakfast and read my book. As I was settling in to a cozy nap, I was startled to hear police sirens throughout the whole neighborhood. At first frightening, I was soon reassured and even delighted at the sight of the Easter Bunny being chauffeured around town in the back of the Sheriff's truck to wave at children in their homes. Now, I can only come up with 3 reasons why this sight brought me to tears:
1) I had been awoken from a nap
2) I had enjoyed 2 bloody marys for breakfast
3) the thought that someone realized that our community was not immune from feelings of isolation and disconnectedness at the hands of this global situation and even though the beloved traditional community Easter egg hunt (along with everything else) was cancelled this year, someone figured if the Easter Bunny made its way through town to wave at everyone it might lift spirits and remind people that we are all still in this together...