On a Ledge B&B

Following Ryan’s gig in the first weekend of January, we went away for the first time in ages - - just the two of us. Chris and Jenn took care of the boys and entertained them at Chucky Cheese…while we headed down for a weekend stay in Manitou Springs, Colorado. It’s lovely there. Really. Or maybe we did nothing and that’s what made it lovely - - I haven’t put my finger on it.
We stayed at the alleged haunted On a Ledge bed and breakfast. I think it’s onaledge (all one word), but I’m not too sure (http://www.onaledge.net/). We stayed in the only room on the first floor in the place and it was guarded by a large armored man holding a sword. But the bed was SO comfortable and the claw foot tub added to the ambiance. We got there late Friday night and ate at some restaurant that served ‘game’ fare. All the food was okay. We quickly returned to the historic mansion that was built by a Texas oil baron and made a fire in the over sized fireplace. We read, played Scrabble and simply took it easy. In the picture above...those couches were our safe haven and our bliss. It was awesome!!

On Saturday we did the same thing. Sat on the over sized couches and Ryan tended the fire and we read and rested. It was refreshing and restful. Sunday…we left and took the above picture with my phone in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. We hope to bring the kids back this summer and backpack, hike and picnic!

So we finally retrieved our kids and Chris and Jenn said, “Maybe one night next time.” I get their sentiments as having three kids of their own and then add our two…it must have been chaotic to say the least.

It was funny. Jack told me he was looking forward to sleeping with Chris and Jenn. This was a couple of days prior to dropping them off. I thought nothing of it at the time. When we picked them up, Jenn said that Jack slept with them. I was about to question her as to why when she said that it was around 11pm on Friday night and everyone else was sleeping except for Jack who was still carrying on. So Chris firmly said, “Jack, if you don’t go to sleep this instant, you’ll sleep with us.” With that, Jack happily replied, “OKAY!” and grabbed his pillow and followed him into their room. Jenn laughed as this comment backfired and Jack got his way. He’s a fine manipulator that Jack!

For MLK Day, I participated in the Marade honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This was my third year participating in the event. I took a lot of pictures throughout the morning of the AmeriCorps groups and other walkers. It was great to see such a vibrant community come together...anyway, I didn’t bring Eban this year as I knew I was going to meet the Lt. Governor and in the event that a conversation ensued, I wanted to be prepared and not smiling and running away to catch Eban! Eban also finished his testing to get into the gifted and talented program in Thornton. There is a school near our house that is a charter school and does the lottery March 15. Ryan will attend this night as I stay home with the boys. It’s a little too reminiscent of the movie Waiting for Superman for me to attend.

Finally, I love the pictures of Eban playing the guitar. At times, he really wants to learn how to play but holding down the strings hurts his little fingers. I know you have to build up callouses for this so he’s taking a rest until his fingers get older…so he says. I also love the picture (while not good) of Jack holding his ears as the continual strumming was not impressive to his three-year old ears.

And of course…the crème de la crème of pictures this month…Jack and Seamus. LOVE it!!!

Snow, Angry Birds, and Ryan the Rockstar

Of course while Tutu was here, there was an impressive snowstorm. Inevitably, there is a huge storm of some sort while she’s here - - blizzard, tornado, flash flood, fire…she brings this with her, I think. Anyway, the boys were stoked about sledding on our driveway. They bundled up (and got mad because I pulled out my camera due to the fact that they were so cute and look at the facial expression I received when I said 'smile'!). Anyhoo...they quickly slid down the driveway (well, Jack did it only once as it was scary). Eban kept on going like the Energizer Bunny. I swear- he’s fearless at times. The boys learned about throwing snowballs and loved it until the icy cold snow got stuck on their faces. They would cry and wail until I brushed it off and then they’d start the whole cycle all over again until the snow hurt their faces too much. Of course, following their outdoor escapades, we went inside for hot cocoa. That evening, Tutu and Eban made ‘mummy dogs’. They rolled up hot dogs in pastry dough with cheese and baked them in the oven. Of course, the fact that they were mummies was so “WAY COOL,” said Eban. The other new fad the boys are into is the game/phone application called “Angry Birds.” They just love this game and I understand as it’s somewhat addictive. They both revel in it. Then at church one Sunday, our friend Keegan introduced them to the game Fruit Ninja so now the boys are fans of this application. Interesting stuff but I certainly find it interesting that the boys can navigate a computer and phone applications with ease. I’m just hoping they don’t start browsing and accidentally buy something like that kid in Europe did…he bought a fighter jet. Nice. Finally, I made a ton of bread in late December/early January. My favorite is an asiago cheese/herb bread. It makes a small 1.5 pound loaf and it’s so easy in the bread machine. I just don’t like the fact that we can’t really use it for sandwiches as the slices are too thick. But Ryan and I love it. Tutu did too!

Tutu left and the boys were sad as they love having the special attention.

The first weekend in January was special as Ryan played in a show in Boulder…he and Liza sang back-up for a singer named Dechen Hawk. They were awesome and really had some great energy which the crowd absorbed. I took my neighbors with me so that was fun to hang out with the backyard neighbors. I also met up with Katie J...SO FUN. Our families owned a boat together on Lake Michigan so we practically grew up together. She's still such a quality human being and just so nice to see her even though we had to practically shout to talk to one another. Anyway, Ryan really did rock it and it was fun to see him play - - more importantly, he was having a blast doing it! Hopefully, I'll be able to load some videos from my phone from that evening...I'm going to run and check right now...

Scooby at Bridlewood Farms

Following Christmas, Ryan was busy at work and I took my mom and the boys to visit my friend’s horse farm. We worked together ten years ago at a PR agency and this was always her dream. She now owns and runs the business with her husband and only house jumpers (a type of horse). They have an indoor facility and an outdoor facility, a huge pond, lots of acres and plenty of room for us to come back in the summer to camp and make s’mores. It’s Bridlewood Farms - http://bridlewood-farms.com/horses.html.
We brought a bag of apples and went around to all the horses to give them snacks. She also let the boys romp around in the trailers they have and the RV because they use these large vehicles to travel around the country in when showing their horses. It was a massive empire…and I know nothing about this world, but it really opened my eyes to another field.
Outside, Gia’s horse was in one of the many corrals and he was covered in a blanket . He quickly ambled over for an apple. His name was Scooby and boy…did that make the kids’ day. They just LOVED Scooby.
We also had a memorable visit to the zoo as the boys were more than crabby. There were brief reprieves of the fighting and that was lovely. Jack loved the cobras again - - at least he’s not kissing the snake window this time. They fought, shoved one another and eventually we just had to leave. They took a lot of photos with their cameras that they got on Christmas so that was at least fun to see them use the cameras.
Speaking of their cameras…below are pictures they have taken. I combined them so I don’t know who took which picture but you can see what they are taking pictures of: