Where, Oh Where Have I Been?

Well, I did go to Ohio for about 12 days! Yes, I just up and left Eamonn and the boys to fend for themselves. OK, not really. I planned out meals, shopped, set up carpool and afterschool care, and THEN I left. People asked if the house was a wreck when I got back. Nope, not even close. It was clean, organized, and all the laundry was caught up on.

I wondered if a maid had been here hours before I got home.

Just kidding. Eamonn is really good about keeping things clean and organized.

I have to tell you, I'm not totally sure the boys missed me all that much! Which I'm OK and not OK with all at the same time. It took a load off of my mind when, a few days into my trip, I realized no one was pining for me. But then I did think, "Why aren't they pining for me?"

It really reinforced to me that as parents, we want to enjoy our time with our kids, but really, our lives are dedicated to helping them get ready to go away from us. Eamonn's cousin said something to that effect to me when Declan was just a baby, but I couldn't really wrap my head around it at the time. In fact, I bet in my post-partum haze, I probably cried into my baby's bald head and thought, "My baby is NEVER leaving me!"

Tee hee. Now that we live in a small-ish town, I often wonder how old they'll be (if they're not at that point already) before they start thinking, "I cannot wait to get out of this one-horse town and hit the city!"

Going "home" to Ohio is always bittersweet, especially at this time of year. Fall in Ohio can be dicey if it's cold and rainy, but for the most part, it's usually very lovely. The yellow aspen leaves in the fall here in Colorado are beautiful, but my heart belongs to the reds and oranges of my youth. And there is a specific smell to every season in Ohio, the smell of an Ohio fall especially brings back such vivid memories: OSU football on the radio, raking leaves, making leaf houses and paths, the smell of actual woodburning fireplaces before everyone switched to gas fireplaces, the crunch of leaves under your feet, the smell of cigarette smoke outside at a high school football game, the sound of the marching band practicing in front of the school, homemade soup on the stove...truly, it's my favorite season there.

I think another reason that going home is so bittersweet, regardless of the season, is that I find I can so easily slide back into life with my oldest and best friends. We sit down over coffee, breakfast, dinner, a beer, and in the summer, with our kids at the pool, and it's like no time has elapsed at all. We literally pick up a conversation as if we were speaking 5 minutes ago, not a year ago. "Wait, where was I? Oh, right..." Wherever you go in your life and wherever you live, you will make new friends, and they will be very good friends. But there's something about people who know your backstory already, who know all of your faults, but love you anyway -- those are the people who make up the very backbone of our lives.

One of the cool things my friend Laurie and I were talking about when I was in Ohio recently was that now our kids have become friends. Even though they only see each other once a year, the kids look forward to seeing each other and spending time together. I love, love, love that my kids are friends with my friends' kids!

On this trip, I also spent time at my Grandpa's, recording him telling stories about himself and our family. I decided to do this after I realized how much I missed the sound of my grandparents' voices. Yes, I want to preserve Grandpa's memories and stories for future generations, but I also don't want to forget the sound of his voice, his laugh, his mannerisms, the way he delivers a joke or story -- all of it. Plus, it's darn interesting to hear what a 99 1/2 year old man has to say!

So that's where I've been!

And in a very fall tradition, tonight I made apple crisp for the boys (gluten free of course!). They scarfed it down. So did I!

I love fall!

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Do I make that same lame (Green Day) joke every year? If not, I feel like I should.

The school year. It's here and I'm glad, but September is also a nightmare in terms of schedules. The kids' schedules. My schedule. Eamonn's schedule. The schools--two different ones this year now that middle school is in the mix. Sports.

A month ago, my September schedule was amazingly clear. Now, it's nearly black with pencil marks, erasings, and more pencil marks. (I still keep a pencil/paper calendar if you can believe it)

Where the heck did all of these meetings, sports practices and volunteer thingys come from?

Last weekend we decided to get out of town for the Labor Day holiday. We headed southeast to a mining area called Cripple Creek. We camped at 10,000 feet (my sister said, "What is it with you guys and camping at high altitudes in the fall?") at the world's highest KOA. It was very fun. We visited the Florissant Fossil beds and saw the gold mines and just had a relaxing time in general.

Some pictures:


We stumbled upon a llama farm. This llama was very interested in Finn!


Cool old dead tree as we started a hike at the fossil beds.


I discovered I love, love, love the pondersosa pines in this area. In our valley, the trees tend to be lodgepole pines (and aspens), which, incidentally, have been partially eradicated by the pine bark beetle. Bummer. But these ponderosa pines were so beautiful and green. I'd never seen pine cones in this green stage before.


One of the things offered by our country's national parks system is the chance for kids to earn a junior ranger badge. It's pretty cool and the boys have done it at each of the national parks we've visited. Here we are out on the Ponderosa Loop at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Stunning scenery and great temps--in the high 60s or low 70s and a light breeze. Coat on. Coat off. Coat on. Coat off. Colorado is fickle like that.




One of the assignments to become a Junior Ranger was to see if you could find an animal track. Any guesses as to what animal left this track?



Indian Paintbrush


Taking the oath and earning their badges.


The Hornbeck Homestead. First homestead in the area was started by a single woman (who outlived three husbands) and her children!



Leaving the fossil beds park.


A chilly morning. Trying to get the fire started.


This area of Colorado was known for its gold mines, which produced more gold than the California and Alaksa gold rushes combined. This tire is from one of the big earth movers.



Views of the very beautiful Lost Creek Wilderness Area.


I couldn't stop staring at it.






Car picnic in the Lost Creek Wilderness Area


Top of Guanella Pass. This pass has been closed for the past two years for construction and paving. It's still not finished, but we could take it as a direct route to Georgetown, finally.


Top of Guanella.


The reason we wanted to get to Georgetown: Our annual trip to the soda fountain. Malts and shakes all around. If the pass had still been closed, it would have taken about two additional hours to get there!

Came out of the soda fountain and...

...ran into my friend, Paige, who I met through an online travel forum many moons ago. We have met once in person, also many moons ago. Now we both live in Colorado, but several hours apart. A huge coincidence!

So now we're home after a great weekend away and the week is in a full-blown frenzy. Next week I'll actually get to work a 5-day day week. I've forgotten what that's like.

In the Good 'Ol Summertime

I fear that once again, summertime is going to cause me to be somewhat of an absentee blogger.

I'm really trying to be "present" in the summer this summer. Does that make sense? It's hard because I want to the boys to love summer like I did, but I'm also struggling with getting work done. I got a new assignment from a client, which is very, very good financial news, but it also means yet even more to try to squeeze in since I do most of my work at night. I'm also trying to maintain my morning workout schedule. Eamonn is also working out in the mornings now, so we're vying for space! But that's a good thing. I've settled on a schedule where I get up and start work while he's working out. As soon as he's finished, I go downstairs and do my workout.

It seems to be working--all of this working out.

This morning I did Day One of Couch to 5k. I did it. And it wasn't very hard at all. Considering I despise running. It's just one of those things I wondered if I could do. The answer: I can.

With that said, I'm not formally starting the program right now, so all of you C25K nuts who just got all excited: calm down. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I'm thinking when we're back from Ohio in August is going to be more feasible in terms of time.

So, everything that's going on here is WORK, tennis lessons for the boys, WORK, hockey for Declan, WORK, swimming lessons for the boys, WORK, playdates, summer reading program at the library, the occasional doctor or dentist appointment, etc., etc.

AND, one of my favorite activities: CAMPING! Last weekend we camped down in a place called the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It's a national park and we had a blast. I ate many (MANY) s'mores and I have determined that I am the champion marshmallow roaster.

So I'll be here and there this summer, but when I'm more there than here, here are a few pictures from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.



Setting up camp. We camped on the South Rim for the bargain rate of $12 a night. This was a very sparse camp. We had a great spot--shady!--but it was vault toilets and only a small drinking fountain and spigot on the camping loops. Truly, pack it in, pack it out. It was fun. I was happy to get home and get shower though. I think 3 days without a shower in the summer is about my limit. There was also some excitement because there was a bear roaming the campground. On the final morning it was just a few sites down from ours. He's not malicious--just hungry for camper food. We had to keep a very clean camp!


The Taj Mahal of tents is up!


Checking out the view.


This was actually taken on the way out of the park, but I was trying to make it look like we were just getting there. And now I've outed myself.


Views from a hike on our first afternoon/evening.


Another canyon view.


This is us.


We came home via Gunnison and Crested Butte. CB is a very remote town. In the winter, there's only one way out because the mountain pass closes. I like remote. I want to live there. Inside the ski/mountain bike museum in Crested Butte. Cool history about the sport and town.


Anyone see the irony here? Anyone? Bueller?


Coming home via Kebler Pass outside of Crested Butte. Stunning views.

Are You Holipausal?

So yesterday, Tara and I coined (at least I think we're the first to come up with it--I should Google it) a new phrase for how women feel at the holidays: holipausal.

I felt holipausal last year: rushed, stessed, not able to slow down and enjoy the season. This year, I'm holding steady, which I attribute to getting the shopping and wrapping finished last week, leaving this week open to lying around and complaining about the rain (more about that later).

The term holipausal came about when Tara was telling me about a meltdown she had over the Christmas tree, which they did not have, could not find, and her husband was talking about waiting until the day before Christmas Eve to get. I'll spare you the gory details, but, as anyone would assume when a woman has a meltdown, I asked Tara if she had PMS. She said, "No, unfortunately, because that would be the best way to explain away everything!"

So if you're not premenstrual, menstrual or postmenstrual, and you're still having a holiday meltdown, you must be holipausal.

Or we're just psycho. Take your pick.

Like I said, everything here is ready for Santa, but two things are causing me angst:

1. The weather. It is raining. RAINING, people. For days. This is why I left Ohio--38 degrees and RAINING. Ironically, Ohio is having a white Christmas, while here, for the first time in decades, it is Christmas week and there is not a lick of snow on the ground at our elevation and none is forecast to be. The resorts have plenty, which is important, but here? Nothing. All of our traditional outdoor Christmas activities have gone awry. No snowshoeing. No sledding. It hasn't even been cold enough to freeze the ice for the town park rink. We could go skiing, of course, but we'd wait in the rain in the parking lot for the shuttle. I do not feel compelled to make "waiting in the rain to ski" one of our new Christmas traditions. For the first few weeks of December, Declan complained and complained that we didn't have snow. "Just wait," I assured him. "Our snow will come." Apparently, I am a huge liar.

2. My Dad called to say that he had shipped the boys' presents and they would likely arrive at the post office late this week. We have no mail delivery in our town, which means everyone has to pick up their mail and packages at the post office. Hence, even at the best of times, the post office is a nightmare. The very thought of having to go to the post office is making me feel faint.

Or maybe I'm just going through holipause.

Looking for Bear Grylls

We didn't find him, in case you were wondering, which is too bad because he's kind of cute and rugged and all that and I fully expected him to be wondering around in the wild.

But, we did find a pretty darn good Christmas tree out in the wild.

We're pretty sure this is one of the trees we eyeballed last year and determined it wasn't big enough. This year, it passed muster. I'm sure it was thrilled.


Come on, boys! Put your back into it! This is why we had kids. Child labor.


Giving new meaning to the word TIMBER!

There was a lot of snow out there. A Lot. Which was kind of surprising because there was barely any snow at our house. In fact, we tried to drive to where we got our tree last year, to no avail. Too much snow.



We hiked through snow that ranged from barely ground cover to thigh deep. It was a pretty good workout. Especially the part where I watched Eamonn drag the tree about a mile and a half back to the car. It was exhausting to watch.


For some reason, the snow never looks as deep in photos. I swear, it was really deep. Like, I couldn't walk very well deep.


This is where we parked last year. We couldn't even get close to driving in this far this year.



Eamonn, forever our Sherpa, was hauling the tree back to the car, and more than once I saw him suddenly drop several feet into some sort of deep snow situation. That was kind of exciting. He's kind of cute and rugged when he's hauling a tree.


Again, it doesn't translate well to pictures. Half his body vanished, people, I'm telling you.





Enjoying some hot chocolate back at the car.

The Flaming Shrew

Is anyone else's PMS getting worse with age? Just wondering. Because this afternoon I literally thought the top of my head was going to fly off for no apparent reason. Well, of course there was a reson--I'm not THAT irrational. Or so I think.

But then again, "Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn't possibly all have good taste." Name that movie.

My point here is that I don't seem irrational to myself, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, there was a reason for my irrationality, but I can no longer remember what it is. Was.

So if my PMS is getting worse with age, at least I can't remember it in any great detail. Silver linings.

On a completely different subject, here are a few pictures of a fall hike I took with friends last Friday. It looks mysteriously like the fall hike I took a few weeks ago, even though it's a completely different part of the valley. Crazy.


The view from the bottom of the trail. We were at a state park near our house.



Views on the way up.


Probably because I didn't grow up around Aspen trees, I'm so enthralled by them. Those long, long trunks and yellow leaves against the bright blue sky. I still miss the reds of the maple trees though...



Twila and Gillian following me and Vicky back down the trail.


View of the lake on the way back down.

Ahhh, I feel serene just looking at these pictures...until I realize how freaking long it takes to upload them and how cumbersome the process is. So Blogger, you're on notice: You upload function sucks.

We now interrupt this crazed post and return you to your regularly scheduled evening.....

First Dusting of Snow

Hey, how about me and all of my Colorado scenery pictures lately? Sick of it yet?

Anyway, I wait for this day anxiously every fall--the day that snow is back on New York Mountain which I can see from the street that runs right through the middle of our neighborhood.

Last night, it got pretty cold at our elevation--6,600 feet. And it was raining (have I ever mentioned how much I miss a good, solid rain here in the high desert?). I suspected, and I was right, that the nearby peaks might be getting their first dusting of snow. It's always right around this week every year so far.

The clouds were still heavy when we woke up this morning, so I couldn't tell until they lifted early this afternoon, but then I could definitely see: SNOW!

I have always loved fall: leaves, visiting the pumpkin farm, I even liked Ohio's damp, cold fall weather. It's a little different out here--fall comes fast. The past two summers when we've returned home from Ohio, it's still summer here, but the heat is gone from the air. It's still warm, but not hot, if that makes sense. Nights cool down, leaves are starting to turn by the last week of August. The Aspens are lovely and yellow, but I still miss the reds and oranges of Ohio. We have one street in our neighborhood with maples that are turning red. I'm watching carefully so that when they get a little further along, I'll walk up and down that street all day and take a few pictures.

If you click to enlarge the picture above, you can see patches of yellow on the elevations below the snow capped peaks. Very pretty. I would have been even prettier with the sun out, but we had an unusual lack of sunshine today--very rare out here, trust me (a Midwestern girl at heart, I pine for some really cloudy days. Even Declan comments, "I wish it would rain.").

Here's a picture of the first snow dusting last year, which happened on the night of September 19, 2009 (versus the night of September 22, 2010, this year). Aren't I such a riveting scientist with all of this analysis.



I had thought it was a much sunnier day after that first snow last year, but clearly, it really wasn't. Thank goodness for photographic evidence.

I know some people lament the end of summer and coming of fall, but I look forward to each season here. Each one brings something new and very different so I'm ready for each one when it comes.

However, this little sprinkling of snow makes me want to dash right past fall and and run without passing go to have my skis tuned. But wait, that would mean I'd miss the Halloween candy. I'll dash right after Halloween.

An Afternoon in the Aspens

The leaves are nearly at their peak on Vail Mountain. On Sunday, we went on a hike with friends. This is what it looked like...























I miss Ohio's red leaves, but it's very beautiful here in the fall...warm sunny days, cold nights. I've grown used to this.