A Great Wolf Thanksgiving

We just went to Great Wolf Lodge over Thanksgiving. 

Great Wolf Lodge Website

It's a hotel with an indoor water park, among several other kid-themed attractions (including "MagiQuest," a wand-themed adventure game which will not be discussed here- or ever again hopefully). Overall, the trip was fun for Sam and parents, alike. We splurged on the more expensive "Wolf Den" room, complete with a bunk-bed annex for Sam. That alone would have made him happy I think... He spent the night sleeping on the top bunk (we felt that the rails were high enough to be safe).

 Mom and Dad getting ready from Sam's perspective:

The water park was great: heated to 82 degrees with several fun areas for kids of all ages. Though there were lots of other families there, it never felt over-crowded and mostly everyone was considerate. While in line for our Thanksgiving buffet, Kyle pointed out that the hotel/theme park had the feeling of what a cruise would probably be like (minus the water of course) in that everything was convenient, if larger-than-life. We really appreciated being in such a family-friendly place. Everything was provided with kids (and parents) in mind and that made having fun easier.

 Taking time out for a snack...

 and then some dippin dots

Sam's favorite spot: on top of the water-shooting jetski in the toddler zone. All of the play-areas had plenty of interactive buttons, buckets, and levers to allow the kids to direct water onto other people (adults mostly!)

Watching the giant bucket of water spill down on the tree house. After Sam gained confidence in the toddler zone, we climbed the tree house several times to do down the larger water slides. They weren't the largest slides in the park, but they were super fun even for mom and dad. Luckily, the slides end in a long stretch of water, not a pool so Sam could easily go down without assistance. Needless to say, we go soaked in water every time we went up!

Sam and Kyle on the "jetskis."

Some one sure was tired on the way home!

Sam:

"When I grow up Mommy, I want to be a doctor visitor so I can visit the hospital and see what you do."

Saturday Photography

Elsie rockin' the tummy time. Did I mention she has two teeth?!

Sam asks to take some pictures...

and here are the results:

Ten Years Together

2003

 2013

Looking forward to many more...

The first date - 10 Years

Tonight will be the 10 year anniversary of Sara's and my first date, November 14, 2003.  On Monday of that week, I had called her up to ask her out on the lower stakes Wednesday, but she had a conflict.  She went to a women's group that met regularly and they were talking about wolves and being thankful, as I recall.  So, we made plans for Friday instead.

The date was long and meandering.  It started off at Himalaya's an Indian restaurant off of Pearl St. in Boulder.  And that was all I had really planned.  One of Sara's Rare Air teammates was having a little birthday celebration at Southern Sun in South Boulder so, after dinner, we headed over there for drinks.  In my memory, it was both awkward (it's a little strange for many of the people you know in common to see you on your first date together) but also relaxed (we were in the same social scene so interacting with everyone wasn't really that hard).  My guess is that we both felt a little strange but that it wasn't very apparent to anyone.  After one beer, we decided to head out.

My roommate at the time, Nat Logar, had mentioned a show at the Fox Theater on college hill that might be interesting.  It was a band called the Polyphonic Spree.  They were (and are) a 12+ person, psychedelic band that wears flowing white (now rainbow) colored robes.  Eager to impress Sara as someone who is interesting, I thought, "what could be more interesting than being into some retro-hippy, early 70's music?"  So I suggested we head over.  It was...interesting.  Go ahead and press play and listen to it while you read the rest of this blog entry:
The experience was surreal.  First, we were surrounded by a lot of people who were clearly on some great psychadelic drugs.  And why not?  This was the perfect place for it.  Super happy music, colorful lights everywhere, and a lot of other people also on drugs.  People were dancing and swaying all around us with bright, colorful, flowing clothes and scarves, eyes mostly closed with smiles big and small.  The atmosphere was such that at moments I felt a clear contact high.  Overwhelmed by the sites and sounds, my perception of the world effectively changed.

But, at other moments, I was also clearly aware that (a) I did not fit in with my dark colored sweater pulled off in the overwhelming heat and thrown over my shoulder and (b) what the hell was Sara thinking about this whole experience?  Was I trying too hard?  Was I giving an impression of me that wasn't accurate?   Well, I decided that I'd just enjoy it, because at that point, why the hell not?  If the date didn't go well, at least I would have enjoyed the show.  Funny thing is, we never (that night or in the 10 years since) talked about our own experiences at that show.  This may be the first time Sara knows what I was thinking at that show.  We walked out and someone handed us a free poster.

You may recognize this.  I managed to hold on to it and later frame it for an anniversary gift.  It hangs up in our bedroom.  Interestingly, our actual poster says "The Beginning Stages Of..." on the bottom which I always took as a sign.

The show ended around midnight and we headed back to my house which was only a few blocks away.  We went to my room and....played guitar.  For me, this was the moment where I felt like we really connected.  Both of us played guitar and it was clear that we had a very similar musical and cultural background.  We played each other songs and occasionally there were less popular songs that we both knew how to play or knew the words to.  We hung out until two or 2:30 in the morning and then, without a kiss, we said goodbye and Sara headed home (maybe I drove her?  I don't remember).

And so this was the beginning of the beginning stages of Champ and Nanos.

The Life of Clarence

We've had a house guest the past few weeks.  A spider has taken up residence in the window above the sink in our kitchen.  He spun a beautiful web in a picturesque and out of the way location next to a potted succulent plant and we decided we'd let him stay.  For me, I liked looking at his web, I was excited that he might be the final solution for the fruit flies, and I was hoping he would help Sara get over her fear of spiders.  I named him Clarence.  

Clarence has been quite the trooper.  When he first moved in we were dealing with the last of a fruit fly issue.  Clarence took care of that right quick.  In fact, he even caught himself a large house fly (as big as he was).  He's often dealt with disturbances to his web.  He'll often attach the bottom of the web to our tomatoes on the window sill.  When they get moved they do significant damage to the web.  Interestingly, he never seems to rebuild the web until the next morning.  After a week he disappeared for 3 days but then one morning had spun up a whole new web.  He seems pretty content here and well fed. 

I mentioned the fruit fly problem.  When Clarence first took up residence in the window he did so right above our other attempted solution to the problem, a glass of port covered with plastic wrap with small holes punched in it.  Now, this glass of port did wonders in it's own right.  After it's first 24 hours there were at least 30 fruit flies drowned in port (not a bad way to go out if you ask me).

But once Clarence took up residence I couldn't help but identify with the fruit flies a little bit.  In fact, at one point I went so far as to imagine that the fruit flies had been on some difficult or exotic mission - perhaps a war against other fruit flies and now, on their way home, the fruit flies felt themselves besieged by every manner of danger.  Death was on all sides.  Large two eyed beings my swat them, they could find themselves snacking on some remnants of food in the large metal vat only to find themselves drowned in a deluge of water.  Some might smell the sweet nectar of port and then, drunk on only a tiny droplet they would be unable to find their way out.  And now, this, a sticky web with an 8 legged monster.  The journey of these fruit flies was downright Odysseun.  And, perhaps like Odysseus, only one poor, lone fruit fly survived the journey home while all of his fellow fruit flies perished.  

And then I came to my senses and realized that I sure as hell hope not.  I hope Clarence ate every last one of those hell-borne bugs.  

But now, we are drawing near to the end of Clarence's time with us.  We've had some laughs and shared meals (we ate different things - but we were both in the kitchen eating food so that seems to count, right?) but the fruit fly problem is gone.  Sara has said three times over the past week "I think it's time for Clarence to move."  I agree with her but am not eager to see him go.  And, Sara's still scared of spiders so it seems unlikely that she'll be the one to move Clarence out.  I guess it's on me.  Maybe I'll let him hang out until Halloween - that seems fitting. 

Pumpkin Patch

Went to Bob's Corn today for pumpkins and fall festivities. It was awesome. We saw beautiful fall foliage on the drive. The farm was nestled between hills a-la Vermont. We had hot apple cider, pumpkin donuts, bbq pork, and roasted corn and acorn squash. There was a petting zoo, tractor rides, horse rides, a tricycle track, and oh yeah, pumpkins. So much fun!