Ellerman Family Vacation 2012: Denver, Day 1

A big thumbs up to our third, and longest, airplane ride. The boys did really well. Really, really well. We had a borderline crazy fit of laughter towards the end of the flight, but the other passengers didn't know we were approaching level 5 meltdown, so they thought it was cute. Kudos to me for packing snacks and more coloring books than we could ever complete in a 3 hour span. This day was mostly packing, traveling, and getting to our week-long accommodations.Not much to report there.

But early the next morning we were up and ready to sightsee! Check out our cool dude shades. Yeah, they are a little crooked, but no one has ever shopped a dollar store for quality.

With every trip, we take a picture of the state's license plate on our rental. Here you go.

I don't know what other people do when they plan a vacation, but I start by looking for good places to eat breakfast, and then I plan the rest of the day's activities around that particular morning's breakfast spot. Maybe not the best strategy for our waistlines, but whatever people, I love breakfast. This morning we took a friend's advice and went to Cozy Cottage to fuel up. And I am so glad we did-everything about this place I loved. The location, the outside patio, the food, OMG, the food, and I also loved the fact that the kids could wander about the patio because we were the only people there that early.

Thoughout the trip we spent most meals coloring while we waited for our food. Coloring session #1 went well.

And the eating that followed it went well. These pictures are for my parents, who always take pics of their food. NomNom.

On this particular day we were going to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding we were attending, but thanks to waking up really early due to the time zone change we had many hours to explore.  We drove to Boulder and explored a bit.

So the reason we picked Denver as our vacation spot is because of this lady getting married. There, next to me is a lady who I have known and babysat since she was 2.5 adn her brother, pictured here was 1.5. Yikes. That'll make a girl feel old, ya know? We had a good time at her rehearsal dinner, playing, chatting, catching up and running about.

I cannot believe she is so old. Nor can I believe I am so old.

I bet her mom cant believe it either.

Who knows what this guy was thinking.

Looking back on the day, it all felt like a blur, but this still stands out in my mind. The boys were playing on the playground and someone got a booboo. A tiny, tiny, tiny little booboo that in this child's mind was enormous. For an hour or so a wet napkin was held against this little nick in the skin, and every few minutes we were given an update not only by the patient but also by his very vocal nurse. I don't know if I remember it because it was unusual for C to be so dramatic, or if it was especially endearing how G took care of C. Either way, it was a sweet ending to a long first day of vacation.

Time for Streamers again...

...cause it's Rhett's 7th birthday! Happy birthday Rhettford! Cant believe you are that old already, you blue eyed wonder. Looking forward to calling this kid later to get really short one word replies to all my questions. Ha, he's not crazy about talking on the phone, this one.

And back to normal.

"normal" being a relative term, of course, but regardless here we are, back to our special normal routine. Here are a few favorite pics from the past week, with more coming once I successfully overcome the piles of laundry awaiting me.

Getting ready...

I cannot tell you how irritating it is to write an entry full of wit and wisdom just to have it all magically dissapear. Woe is me, Blogger!

So, as I have said before in words that are not available to read anymore, we are getting ready for our vacation. The vacation that starts tomorrow that we are hopelessly unprepared for at this time. I must really like the pressure of last minute packing, because I do this to myself all the time. So at home I will be hobbling about, barking orders at K, taking deep breaths and cursing self about procrastination. Ahh. Vacation.

We have been practicing this business of getting ready in many ways. For one, I have been getting ready to walk again, after the metal additions to my body, seen below.

These were necessary due to this unfortunate accident, which happened one morning as I was getting ready for work. Yes, that is my leg bone in a position it should not be. Yes, it was painful.

Its been three months and finally I am getting ready to walk without brace or boot or any other assistance. See how good the bad foot is doing? Its the one on the left, if that isn't obvious. Each physical therapy session my PT measures my foot's dorsiflexion, which is the opposite position you see here, and each week I hope my dilligence exercises bring me closer to the normal range. Currently I am barely into the normal range, after weeks and weeks of trying. Whoot! This "normal" is relative-while it might seen normal according to the chart, this is not normal for me and I am still sporting a limp that makes me look like a little old lady with a bad hip or something. In a pack of AARP'ers I would blend right in, I tell you. Also of interest is that the foot that actually did the slipping on the stairs and caused the injury is the right foot, and it suffered no damage. Hmmm.

My ankle has overshadowed a good portion of our summer, but the haze is lifting and we have been getting ready for other things, too. Like new school! Here the brothers are at new school orientation.

And we are also getting ready to beautify the kitchen. I am beyond excited about this. I am just not a fan of the dark cabinets. If you like them, please don't tell me about it, I dont care.

This impending trip had me shopping for a new pair of shoes, but somehow while in a store I got distracted from my shoe hunt and walked out of the store with her instead. Getting ready for the fall holidays, which are my favorite.

And the scene from our living room whilst I was getting ready for dinner. A super long track for the racing of cars, trucks and whatever else might fit on the track. Whatever keeps them out of my hair in the kitchen, I say.

Athens

We have a vacation coming in just 2 days, HOLLA! And when we go on vacation, the dogs go to our beloved friends in Athens for a vacation of sorts. I like to think of it as vacation for them because there are new smells to be smelled, new bushes to pee on, and hopefully someone there will walk and love on them more regularly than we do. Or at least will "pet" them more gently than the boys do. 

So when one is in Athens and one is hungry and cannot find a place to eat, one usually ends up at The Grill downtown. If the picture above was better you would see the name of the place in the pink neon lights above. Decent food, great milkshakes but I have to tell you that I have never been this sober while at The Grill. If you went to UGA, you know what I mean. So this is where I found myself while waiting for my grilled cheese sammich to arrive. Coloring cows with this little dude. He was questioning why I chose to make each cow a different color when obviously he was making them all green. Way to ruin the coloring, Mom.

Across the table there was more talking than coloring. Someone has hit his stride in continuous talk.

Having kids to us has meant having a built-in excuse for frozen yogurt whenever we want it, and after dinner it seemed only appropriate that we sit outside and enjoy some. Hmm. Tasty.

At some point while we were outside a group of townies came closeby. You know the type, too clean to be panhandlers but too dirty to be regular people. So we sat and tried to enjoy the ice cream, but the boys were really into the townies and were paying very close attention.

And then Townie #1 lit a cigarette. I cannot tolerate smoke, so under my breath I told K that I smell smoke and that I wanted to leave. C, having heard my comment, very loudly explained to me why I smelled smoke. "The man behind us lit a thing and its in his mouth and he is blowing out smoke and that is why you smell smoke". Ahhh....ok, gotcha, kiddo, gotcha. Thanks for explaining, and for doing it so loudly that you shamed Townie and he moved.

During my and C's interaction, G was staring and staring and then finally pointed and said "he went over to those other people. Those people are SO UGLY LOOKING". And then he continued to stare in disgust, like he couldnt fathom how these people looked like they do. So we are faced with the dilemma young parents probably face all the time: simultaneously wanting to correct his behavior by reminding him that we do not point at people and we do not say mean things about people, but then also wanting to burst out into laughter at the sheer shock of what he just did. Thankfully K is a better parent than I when faced with parental emergencies because he could keep a straight face while I stared at my yogurt, and he gave G the talk. And then also decided we should mosy on to another spot.

Which was The Arch, or the gateway to campus.

We had an hour of driving to get back home and decided it would be a good idea to get the kids to run around a bit, so for a good 20 minutes we watched the boys run to that tree way in the back and run back to us. G had a near unfortunate bathroom experience on one run back from that tree, but we managed to make it to facilities in time. And we managed to give a group of waiting young ladies a good giggle in down so, since G can be really dramatic about his bathroom announcements.

And last, I will leave you with this picture, which is the site of one of my and K's first kisses. I told G as much and the look of bewilderment and shock on his face was enough to make me chuckle for a good five minutes. Payback, baby!