Sunday, August 30, 2009

Laughing at the absurdity

Jill and I went and saw Hangover this afternoon. My sweetheart of a mom watched our precious children so we could have a couple of hours to ourselves.
Much has been blogged about Hangover and if it is funny or just plain stupid. Jill and I agree that it really is both. It reminds me of Porkys (back in the 80s, check out IMDB) or Bachelor Party with Tom Hanks (again, IMDB). Lots of laugh but no redeeming qualities other than releasing lots of endorphins into your system from laughing. Come to think of it, that is a redeeming quality in and of itself.
Anyway, there is a scene in the movie where the idiots put a live tiger in the back seat of a squad car. And in the back seat of their car.
Jill and I are driving home, laughing about various parts of the movie, reciting punchlines that made us laugh when Jill turns to me and says, “that whole tiger in the backseat thing, I would have put him in the trunk”.
This broke me up as much as anything in the movie. Here is my super frugal sensible engineer type wife coming up with a REASONABLE way of transporting a live tiger in your car.



Maybe you just had to be there.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Brotherly love

Lots of fabulous pictures coming from my vacation. I know you don't really want to see them, but some have the cuteness that is my son in them. THAT will make it worthwhile.
But on to brotherly love.
Jill and I have noticed lately that the boy will do everything he can, including fighting sleep for nearly 30 minutes just to watch what antics his sister is up to. Really. In the car while we were driving around the mountain on the most treacherous road I have EVER driven, Kat was howling and Kyle was laughing... At her. A LOT.
He even reached out for her and tried to take her hand and reassure her. She flipped his hand back and howled, "NO, Ky-ell!" (she adds the second syllable)
Tonight when he had eaten his fill and hadn't slept in nearly four hours, I carried him to the couch and tried to put him to sleep. Unfortunately, his sister was on the other side of the couch having her supper. (lasagna and berry apple sauce) He fought sleep to watch her and everything she did for nearly half an hour. If she flopped over out of sight, he squalled until she sat up. It wasn't until Kat left the room that he started to rest his head on my chest.
We have noticed this trip that he will sit up on his own to see her. And crane his neck around to see her while we were hiking. If he can hear her voice he imitates a giraffe trying to see her.
As near as I can tell, he is taking notes on how to be a drama queen by the age of two. Oh well, it worked for Freddy Mercury.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Picture Tuesday





The first pics are of Lily lake and Kat's new BEST FRIEND! When the squirrel climbed up Jill's shin, Kat threw her banana on the ground. That little squirrel was in HEAVEN!

Monday, August 17, 2009

The best day of vacation!

This morning was wonderful. Everyone woke up in a good mood and well rested. Kat didn’t know that Gma was going to be here when she woke up. So she came out of the bedroom and saw G’ma on the couch and her face lit up like a sunrise on the ocean.
Late this morning we went to Lily Lake and walked around the lake on the path. This path is great. Colorado has put in a handicapped accessible path all the way around this small mountain lake. You could smell how peaceful it was to see the plants waving in the breeze and the ducks bobbing in the water. I also got lucky and saw a trout in the lake along with a fingerling. Everyone’s blood pressure around that lake dropped by 20 pounds, it was so relaxing. The chipmunks and ground squirrels were friendly and open, thinking nothing of climbing up on your shoe to have a conversation with you (I didn’t get a picture, but one climbed up on Jill’s shoe and tickled her shin). Granted the conversations followed the same path; do you have food to give me? Still, it was nice to see that the critters were so friendly. After we walked around the lake and relaxed, we went across the road to the Bald Pate Inn, which has been open for business since 1917. They don’t serve lunch plates, they have a soup and salad bar along with sweetbreads, cheese, and wine. And PIE. I cannot forget the pie. Granted, we didn’t try the pie, but everyone I talked to raved about the pie.
After lunch, we came back to the condo and took very brief naps. Kat was determined that SOMETHING was going on. After repeated efforts at attempted naps, Jill took the kids out and I snuck in a nap.
When I woke up we took Kat in the Kelty and walked to town to look at an art center that showcases local artists only. I had to laugh when I saw an oil titled “Eastern Iowa”. Yep, that looks like a corn field as seen from a car on I-80. With a barn in the background.
When we walked back, it had started raining and rained the entire two miles back to the condo. We let Kat out and she walked almost a mile uphill. Then we put her back into the Kelty and let her ride. We also saw 4 mule deer in town and one trout in the river that flows through town.
When we got back I shucked sweet corn and Jill made tacos. Stepdad went to the Estes Brewery and bought beer. Truly a great supper after walking four miles. Here it is, 830 and I am the last one still awake. I think I am going to call this a night.

vacation day two


Today, Kat slept until 8am Iowa time. She was pretty tired. We were all pretty tired. Jill was smart and drank lots of water. I woke up dehydrated and sick from altitude and tired.
After a very restful morning, we went to downtown Estes Park to wander from store to store. We were off to a great start when we realized that Kat had poured her entire cup of water into the seat of her jogging stroller. Then we found a children’s park. Kat had a BLAST playing on the slide and jungle gym.
Until someone’s balloon blew by and she couldn’t have it. That started a meltdown that lasted all the way back to the condo.


After supper, we played games and rested. Mom and Fran arrived around 7pm.
Not a lot of exploring or activities, but we are here and rested, somewhat.

Think Nat'l Lampoon Vacation

Golfed again at the company golf outing on Friday. I had a GREAT TIME! A few beers and about a thousand laughs; nearly a dozen balls and about a dozen double bogeys; laughter and laughter and jokes in five hours. All of these ingredients went into a VERY relaxing afternoon.
I wish I could have stayed for the party after golf but Jill and I needed to pack and get on the road for our first family vacation. We got everything packed and ready about 10pm. Since we were completely exhausted, we went to bed, planning to get up in the night and starting our trip in the dark.
I woke up at 3am and we were on the road at 4am. We thought Kat would sleep for the first few hours of the trip since she normally sleeps until 7 or 8 in the morning. No such luck. She sat in her car seat, wide eyed and curious as to WTH is going on.
Her first meltdown and fit came 29 minutes into the trip. As near as I figure she had a meltdown every 29 minutes after that. I shut off my hearing aids an hour into the trip. I brought earmuffs for Jill and she put them on so we could travel in silence.
There isn’t much to say about the next 17.5 hours except that I contemplated jumping out of the car so I wouldn’t have to make the return trip. Or leaving Kat at a truck stop. Oddly enough, 2 year olds don’t travel well in spite of having toys, games, and a video player.
We did manage to get pictures of all the interesting things in Western Nebraska as Jill drove through it at 85MPH. They are shown throughout this entry.