Out West Spring Break

 Hello Interwebs, Blogosphere, Family and Friends. Long time no connect. Apologies, but we had a great spring break and we’ve great  pictures to post.

MIMI and GRANDPA visited COLORADO!!! YAY!!! We had a fabulous time! So they arrived on a Thursday evening in the middle of March Madness, therefore of course we had to watch lots of B-Ball! It was touch and go for a short while, because most of the games were televised according to region and DUKE was not showing in the Western Regions. Near catastrophe, Mimi and Grandpa almost got back on the plane. But we were albe to watch Duke on the computer. And it snowed, just what they were looking forward to, more snow! But we had fun hanging out at the hotel, the kids swam in the pool and what would a visit from Mimi be without a little shopping. Ailish went all out with new Converse All-Stars. Liam got all skatertastic (phrase coined by Young, Melody, FB 4/18/10) with new Vans and a flat bill hat. He still hasn’t taken them off.

So Sunday we rented a car and headed even further west. First we stopped in at the Dillon Dam Brewery for a Dam Beer; it was Dam good! Then we drove on to Glenwood Springs for a good soak in the hot springs pool. Vera nice, vera nice.

The next day we kept on trucking to Moab, Utah. Many sights were seen. Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park…it was just unbelieveable. Knocked Grandpa’s socks off!! I think everyone’s favorite was Dead Horse Point (despite the story behind the name, which I will not repeat, just know it is not a pretty story). We found the sun in Moab, Monday was a tank top day even! Tuesday was kind of windy. We headed back on Wednesday driving along the Colorado River.

We were exhausted after all the site seeing but that didn’t stop us from getting back in the car on Thursday with the compass turned north to Estes Park. We stopped to see if any ghosties were tip toeing around at the Stanley Hotel and none were to be found. And then we did a drive through Rocky Mtn National Park. We did find the Elk, loads of them!

Friday morning was a bit sad as it was time for Mom and Dad to head home. We drove them to the airport and shed as few tears as possible. But I think we had such a great time, it won’t be long till they come back.

For the McAndrews can sit still very long as you all know to well, we turned that car around on Saturday morning and headed straight back up the mountain to visit Friend Marissa! We just relaxed Saturday night by the fire, watching a movie accompanied by beer and sushi. Sunday morning, Marissa being the adventurous soul that she is, took the kids skiing at Keystone!! Sean and I did not go, as to preserve the knee for all out pow pow skiing next winter. We did head out on a nice snow hike, it must have be 45 – 50 degrees out and the sun shining brilliantly.

We couldn’t have asked for a better spring break!!

Skiing at Eldora

So I’m pretty far behind on posting on this blog, but I guess that means we’ve been busy. The kids are doing well, having sleep overs with friends practically every weekend!  And we found out that they have both been accepted through open enrollment to the schools our choice…YAY!! Ailish will be going to Southern Hills Middle School and Liam will go to High Peaks Elementary. They both went on field trips last week…Liam to the Denver Science and Nature Museum and Ailish went ice skating. She loved it!

As for the McAndrew Family Field Trips, we went skiing to Eldora about 3 weeks ago. Eldora is about 20 to 30 minutes from Boulder (which BTW, was just voted happiest place to live in America!). We had a blast! What a great little family ski area. And yes, Sean skiied too, knee and all, the little bugger! But he did very well, we just focused on teaching the kids, so it was perfect. The weather was fabulous – 40 degrees and gorgeous bright sun and blue sky all day. Ailish and Liam picked it up so fast, they improved with every run and Ailish even skiied through the fun park.

Next time, we’re gonna “all out” tail gate in the parking lot, too! Not just PBandJ for us. Next time, we’re bringing beer and brats!

In other news on the home front, Sean got a new helmet.

Mt. Sanitas kicks butt…

my butt, that is, and Sean’s and Sophia’s but not the kids’.

We went on a fabulous hike that our new friend Sophia took us on. It is a mountain right in town that just heads straight up. It’s only about 1 1/2 to the top but you gain about 900 ft in elevation. But we felt awesome having climbed it! The kids actually liked it too. Liam and Isaac practically ran to the top. Sean followed them as close as he could and the rest of the girls kept a respectable pace. I thought that I was able to make it without being too sore but just this evening I’m starting to feel it — you know how the second day is always worse than the first. However, I do not feel guilty watching basketball and drinking beer now. Thank you, Mt. Sanitas!

The views were just astounding stretching all the way to Denver…yes, I said Denver!

These pictures aren’t great because I did not take the protective cover off the camera lense on my new Eris Droid. Anyway, better than nothing….

Dan, Audra, and a Snuggie Wuggie

Dan and Audra Lewis came to visit us a couple of weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting about what a great time we had. I’m a slacker, but better late than never right??

It was Audra’s birthday and we got a hot little number as a surprise for her….little did we know she would take to it like a baby to it’s blanket!

Happy as a bug in snug

2As

Audra and Sean

As you can see, we haven’t missed a beat. We all just picked up right where we left off — jokes, a few beers, laughing, hiking, the whole shabang. It was practically like living at Club 8 again with our 1970s style living arrangement. But all kidding aside, it was great to be with old friends again.

Audra and I shopped our little hearts out, matching outfits and all!! Lucky we don’t live in the same town or we’d be the perfect twinsies. We ate sushi on Pearl Street, Yum!!, then headed over to the Draft House.

The next day brought some sight seeing in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. First stop, the Stanley Hotel …

Redrum

A couple of quick photos before we jumped in the getaway car.

Dan and Audra

Sean and Amanda

We wondered in the Stanley Hotel pays these girls to hang out on the corner.

Neighborhood Elk

Don’t look now, but I think I see …

Hey, Psst....

Ole Big Horn

Photos by Audra.

And finally we hiked around Chautauqua.

Hiking

View of CU and Boulder

I miss them already!! I hope it’s not another 5 years till we meet again : )

Twenty-Ten

Well, it’s here, twenty ten!! I can’t believe it. Time is flying by and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to slow it down. But I am looking forward to great things in this new year. Here are a couple of my resolutions.

• Run
• Complete at least a half marathon
• Blog More
• Sell a property
• And just enjoy life!!

We did get the new year started off right, if I do say so myself. We just stayed home with the kids and played Wii. We had beers and the kids had sparling juice in wine glasses. We kept JJ and Mofro going on a live stream of their Jacksonville concert. We watched the ball drop and went to bed. Low key and relaxing, let’s keep it that way for the rest of the year.

Here are a few pix of New’s Year Day. Crepes for breakfast and then Ailish and I had a nice mom and daughter day together. Yoga, spa treatments — nails, facials, foot soak, then we primped and got bootiful. We headed to Pearl St for lunch and shopping. It was vera nice!

Happy New Year, Ya”ll!!

Ailish and I made crepes.

crepes

The Partaker

Mom and daughter day

AJ and me

Snowshoeing at Brainard Lake

Last weekend, Ailish and Liam stayed with Gamma and Bumpa at the hotel for an evening and went swimming in the indoor pool and shopping. So, Sean and I took advantage of the kid free time and went out for an an awesome sushi dinner. It was so much cheaper when we didn’t have to buy for the kids!!

Then Sunday morning we drove up to Indian Peaks Wilderness Area to a little recreation area called Brainard Lake. We got snowshoes for Christmas (well, a little before) and hadn’t gotten to really try them out. We loved it! We hiked around in the snow for about 2 hours, and probably 5 or 6 miles. It started to snow lightly while we were out. So beautiful.

Here are a few pictures. I’m looking forward to getting out here again in the snow and this summer.

Christmas in Colorado

Aside from me getting the flu a week before Christmas and getting stressed about getting all the shopping done, we had a very nice Christmas celebration. Not too big, not too little, but just right. We started getting snow on Dec. 22nd and it snowed off and on for the next day. We had about 10 inches overall and it made for a very nice festive setting here in Boulder. The McAndrews came into to town and we gathered for appetizers on Christmas Eve and for presents Christmas afternoon. We headed over to Chez Thuy for a non-traditional Vietnamese holiday meal. The place was packed! But their food was exceptional. However, no one sang Deck the Harrs with boughs of haarhy, Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra.

These are the usual Christmas pictures of opening presents – you know, holding up a new shirt. Please notice how cool my son is now, with his skateboard and matching attire. I didn’t quite get capture Ailish’s equally new coolness with her curling iron and spa kit. We enjoyed the Wii and Skyped with the Seal family back in NC, which I think made us all a little sad. But we are already to planning the next opportunity to gather.

Gifts from Aunt Hannah

Cool Hand Liam

Traditional hold up the shirt Christmas picture

Skater dude

Christmas Excitement

C'mon, Can you act any cooler?

YES!

Wii time

Wii

There must always be something to put together on Christmas morning!

Seattle

Sean took a break and headed out to Seattle to visit our old dear friends Thomas and Natalie. They had a great time showing Sean all the sites and just eating some great food and drinking some great brews!!

We’ve missed them so much since they left Banner Elk, it was finally time to catch up. I wasn’t able to make the trip this time, but will definitely be visiting for their upcoming wedding festivities. Since I couldn’t go and and Sean did not take the camera, I looked up some oldie but goodie pictures to post of the good old days with Natalie and Thomas.

Colder Boulder

I ran the Colder Boulder on Dec. 6 and it was the 2nd coldest Colder Boulder in history!! But let’s just say I didn’t break any records nor did I disappoint. Fair enough? Much fun and got a cool beanie to wear on more cold runs. Now to run the Bolder Boulder in May … something I’ve always wanted to do : ) Anybody wanna come run with me?

Liam

Liam turned eight years old! I just don’t know what to do with myself, these kids are growing up. We had 4 boys over for a sleepover and we went to the movies, had pizza and ice cream cake. Much fun!! I can’t believe I’ve survived 2 sleepovers in these 880 sq ft. Liam played soccer in the fall too, here a few pics of the “dude.”