My kind of town . . . Chicago

Guest blogger Renee's report from her Chicago trip with Sam, November 1st through the 5th.

My parents, who are now retired, came for 3 months when Sam was born. We had a great time and it was wonderful for them to be able to bond with Sam and see him grow during the first 3 months. Sam has changed a lot and I wanted them to be able to see him again before they visit us in Alaska next April. So, off Sam and I went to Chicago. It was an easy flight and both of us slept on the plane. The airlines have always been so good to let us bring the infant carrier on board if there are open seats. On all our flights to and from Chicago Sam was able to have his own seat.

In 1994 while in college at Illinois State University I studied abroad in Canterbury, England. Another girl, Colleen, also from Illinois State University, went for the semester. We became life long friends, traveled every where together and visited relatives she had in Dublin, Ireland and London, England. Colleen is now married to a great guy named Gordon and has a 1 year old daughter, Nellie. Colleen and I hadn't seen each other since my wedding shower in 1997. Mom, Dad and I drove to her house in Spring Grove about 1 1/2 hours to have dinner. It was as if no time had passed. It was great to see her again and meet her husband and daughter.

Sam checks out the scare crow on my parents front porch. Mom told me on the phone before the trip that the weather in Illinois was going to be cool, so we should bring warm clothes. It was mid to high 60's the whole time I was there! Not cold compared to Alaska. We were lucky for the wonderful weather, it finally got cold the following weekend.

Grandpa sure does love little Sam. The feeling is mutual, Sam's favorite place to take a nap is on his grandpa-pedic mattress.

It is hard to believe that 30 years from now, this will be the difference in size! My brother, Dave, got the height in the family. I think Zach and Sam will be around 6 feet tall....Dave has a few more inches than that on him. It was great to see Dave, he is doing very well, studying at the local Community College. At the end of December, Dave will be returning to Munich to see friends and enjoy the new year before flying to Ireland. There he will meet up with the study abroad group from the college. Dave is hoping to live with students from Ireland and not the 18/19 year old students from Illinois studying abroad on the trip. Dave has had the opportunity to traveled a lot and has a more "worldly" view of things than the kids from Illinois right out of high school.

Here we are outside of Mom and Dad's house. The orange and yellow flowers in the planter box in the background are still in full bloom and are beautiful. Left there all winter, they would still be in full bloom - they are fake. Mom and Dad travel a lot in the summer, so no time to take care of flowers. The fake ones look great from the road and require less water. So, now you know our secret.

Cousin Jean lives in Glenview, IL. We hadn't seen her in quite a while. It was so nice that she took the time to drive out and have lunch with us. Jean always has some good stories about her neighborhood and the increases in property tax in the communities near Chicago!

Uncle Ben and Aunt Susan (not pictured, she had left early) came from Rockford to join us for lunch. Ben rode over to Mom and Dad's house on his Gold Wing motorcycle. It is nicer than my Jeep and has all the bells and whistles of a luxury car! Dave and Ben both enjoyed riding around the backroads of Illinois on their motorcycles this past summer. The two of them headed out on a road trip to Minnesota in August. Dave extended the trip and continued on to Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and finally back up to Illinois. Quite a few miles on a motorcycle!

Doug's Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Roger and Aunt Jeannette live in Aurora and Wheaton respectively. It was wonderful for them to take the time to drive out to see us. Jeannette married Doug and I in 1997 at the Starved Rock State Park. Marilyn has 5 kids and Roger/Jeannette have 3. There are LOTS of grandkids. It was a lot of fun getting caught up on where all the grandkids are these days. Time has flown and it is hard to believe that several of them are already out of college, have jobs, etc.

Time flies when you're having fun. We had a wonderful trip with my parents and the rest of the family. We flew back to Anchorage without a hitch. Thanks to everyone who made the journey so memorable!

Z-man to the Dentist

November 6th, Zach makes his first official trip to the dentist. He was so excited to go to the dentist, just like the character in one of his books got to do. Doug and I wish that we were as excited to go, we just hope for good news NOT to have to go back for additional work (ie cavity's). Zach discussed his brushing habits with the technician and then they got to work cleaning his teeth.

Zach opened up wide and was cooperative the whole time we were there. 20 teeth in all! They are coming in well, but he has quite an under bite that we will probably need to address in the future. I guess we had better start a braces fund in addition to a college fund.

I had picked Zach up at daycare to take him to the appointment, all the kids knew where he was going. They were all so excited for him! One little boy told Zach "and you get a toy when you are done." I was hoping that they had "toys", otherwise he would have to be happy with a tooth brush and a packet of dental floss. When Zach was done, the first question was "do I get a toy?" Never fear, the dentist was prepared - it was a great selection of toys. The cabinet was opened wide and Zach was able to ponder his choice. It was determined that a little one inch plastic camera would do the trick. Back in 6 months for another visit - and probably another toy.

Portraits at Sears

Click . . . Click . . . Click. It is family picture day at Sears for the Huntman family. We got dressed in our best clothes combed our hair and headed to town. We even practiced our smiles on the way to Sears in the car.

The last family pictures we had done was when we lived in Houston, TX and Sam wasn't around yet. It was time to get an updated picture of all of us! When Zach was younger, we took him in for professional pictures every few months. It was Sam's first time at the portrait studio and he was already 9 mos. old! I guess it's true what they say about the second child. He/she doesn't get the attention the first one did. Sam sure was a happy baby though and smiled big for the camera! Sam has some crazy hair, it reminds me of Kramer form Seinfeld. He only has hair on the top of his head and sticks straight up!

Say Cheese! Who is this cute looking little boy? How could our little Zach be 4 1/2 years old already? Mr DeVille, I',m ready for my close-up.

He we are, the four of us. Mommy is out numbered with 3 boys. There will be lots of motorized vehicles of all sorts in our future. We got one picture with all of us smiling, eyes open and hair in order. Looks like our picture preparation paid off. We'll have to start practicing now for the next time we go to Sears for our portrait. Hopefully it won't take us another year to get there.

Goin' on a Deer Hunt . . .

I have never been hunting before, so when I was presented with the opportunity to partake in a deer hunt in Prince William Sound, I said "count me in"!
We all assembled early on a Friday morning, had a couple of doughnuts from Carrs grocery and headed down the Seward Highway towards Whittier. Karl, Todd, Tom and myself comprised the hunting party expedition. The day started off well enough. Of course the weather was great on the Anchorage side of the tunnel, but as soon as we got to Whittier the wind was blowing 30+ mph. We checked in with the Harbor Master in Whittier and then filed a float plan. We delayed our trip by about an hour, hoping the wind would die down. It didn't. We decided to launch anyway. We got the boat in the water and underway without a hitch. The wind was really not all that bad once we got out of the harbor. The further we got away from Whittier, the better the conditions were. Go figure.

Perfect skies and relatively calm seas for October. We even had a pod of Dall porpoise join us for a while. We could see them off in the distance, then next thing you know, they were playing on the bow wake. We all took that as a good omen of things to come.

I took the opportunity to enjoy a tasty beverage while underway. I was not captaining the ship, and hey, we're on a huntin' trip. We also had the worlds largest bag o pretzels thanks to Costco. I ate a lot of pretzels on that trip, and may never be able to look at one the same way again.

We decided our destination would be Perry Island. It was approximately 45 miles from our put-in point in Whittier. The first harbor we stopped at to look for an anchorage was a no go. The bay had a fish hatchery at the end of it, so we decided to find another bay with a little bit more elbow room. We went around the island until we found a bay that suited our needs. We anchored and got the dingy off of the top of Karl's boat and into the water. It was still light so we decided to go ashore and see if we could spot any deer. We split into two groups and headed in different directions in search of the black tailed deer. We were not lucky on this first night, but we had a great hike and got to explore somewhere I had never been before. The air definitely had a chill to it, but the sky was clear and the cool temperatures actually made walking on the otherwise mushy tundra, very easy.

Here is my hunting picture. My Father-In-Law Duane, gave me one of his hunting rifles and it worked out perfect for the trip. Duane told me that he got his first deer with this rifle, I was hoping to do the same.

Well, after and hour or so of sitting and waiting for a deer to come into range of our rifles, it started to get dark. I wasn't ready to go to the boat just yet, I knew we would be spending plenty of time there as it was, so I convinced the guys to have a campfire. There was an old campfire ring already there so all we had to do was find some wood. We got a fire going eventually, but it was a lot harder than it looks on TV to get a fire going with only wood that we found lying around. It took us about an hour to get the thing hot enough to get some warmth out of it. By then the guys were getting hungry, so we pretty much headed back to the boat.

We had a good and spicy dinner of Thai food. Todd agreed to be the cook for the trip, which is good, because I would have probably only been able to provide Raman or Mac and Cheese. I had a good helping of dinner plus a bunch of pretzels. The next morning we were going to get up early and head to shore for day two of our hunt.

Well, I woke up around 2 to use the facilities, when I get up and see everyone up and sitting at the table in the cabin of the boat. Todd was sick. Two bucket flu kind of thing. A small boat in the middle of PWS is not a good place to be feeling sick. We discussed our options and decided we would check Todd's progress in the morning and then head back to Whittier. There was no way we could navigate back in the dark. Too dangerous. After the impromptu meeting, I went outside to use the facilities (off the side) and was treated to the best display of stars I have seen in a very long time. It was just awesome. I forgot how the sky looked away from the bright lights of the city. But I didn't get to enjoy them for too long, it was around 20 degrees and my sleeping bag was still warm, so I headed in after a couple of minutes. But I'll always have the image of that awesome display of stars in my head.

We got up the next morning and checked in with Todd. He could have been better, but the worst part seemed to have passed. We made the decision that we would have a quick breakfast and then go to shore to hike around for a couple of hours, then we would head back to Whittier around noon. It was another beautiful day, and even Todd didn't want to waste it. So we piled into the dingy and headed for shore.

We didn't find anything, but we had a blast anyway. We got a nice hour hike in, and then not spotting any deer, decided to use up a little ammo. We did some long range target shooting, let's leave it at that. My rifle did great. I had more ammo than the rest of the party, so everyone got a turn shooting my rifle. Todd was feeling better, so we didn't leave the island until about noon. We decided we had better skedaddle so we just ate lunch in the boat as we were underway. As we were leaving, Karl mentioned that we may not have enough fuel to make it back. This statement was to shape our lives for the next 9 hours. Little did we know that we were in for quite a ride.



This video sequence gives the basic outline of how the next 9 hours went down. I thought that I lost my still camera at this point (it was in my backpack all along) so I shot some video instead. The first part of the video shows us about to leave the safety of the harbor and head back to Whittier. The weather is still good where we are at, but it is forecast to deteriorate rapidly. Notice Karl filling up the tank with the last of our fuel. We motored back to Whittier for a while, we even were treated to the Dall porpoise again. We all joked about the fuel issue, but no one really thought that we would have a problem. Plus, the weather was not too bad yet and after all we still had a ton of pretzels to eat. However, the closer we got to Whittier, the windier it got, and the steeper the waves. About 10 miles out, we had our first bit of trouble. The port engine started to sputter, then the starboard, then . . . nothing. Oh s**t! We're in trouble. It was bad enough that we were no longer making any headway, but we quickly found out that when the boat stops, it immediately turns sideways to the wind/waves. This was bad! As the waves grew in height, the more violently the boat swayed back and fourth. I wasn't too scarred of a capsize, but it certainly wasn't easy on the stomach. Whatever progress Todd had made on getting better, was lost in the instant we stopped. We decided to pour the remaining fuel from the dingy into the boat. We hadn't done this earlier because the dingy outboard fuel was already mixed with oil. Karl's motors needed just straight gas. But dire situations call for drastic measures. In went the gas/oil mixture. We were also able to radio a passing boat and convince them to loan us some fuel. They were awesome. Their boat is the aluminum one in the video. It was a bit sketchy as they pulled along side to give us some fuel in the 5-6 foot waves. But the captain steered the boat like a pro, and just like that, we had 5 more gallons. This fuel was also mixed for an outboard, but at this point we had few options left. We transferred the fuel and fired up the engines, a little more smoke than usual, but we were underway, again. The decision was made to only run one engine for now. We calculated that some fuel savings should be noticed and that we should be able to make it in to Whittier with the fuel we had just put in the tank. Well, we didn't. We got another two miles closer to Whittier when the engines again started to sputter. Again, we called for help and this time a charter boat heading in stopped gave us another 5 gallons of fuel. We transfered this fuel (waves are getting bigger at this point and the wind is 40+) and again fired up the engine . . . lots of grey smoke . . . no power. Dang, we are going to need a tow. We called the charter on the VHF again, and he agreed (for a fee) to pull us in after he dropped off his passengers in Whittier. So we bobbed, dead in the water for a half and hour in the wind and the waves. During this time we attempted to change the fuel filters. So on top of the wind, cold and building seas, everything smelled like gas. Todd at this point looked like he would rather be at the dentist getting a root canal than on the boat. We managed to change the filter, but it didn't help the motors keep running. We gave it a valiant effort, but we were out of luck and needed a tow. Eventually, the charter came back, and after a few tense moments, we got a tow line hooked up to his boat and were underway again. On the way back, his boat lost a motor. This caused us to go slowly against the building seas and strengthening wind. It took about an hour to go what should have taken us 5-10 minutes, but the end of our adventure was finally in sight, or so we thought. The charter was able to get us as close as the outside pier or seawall leading into the Whittier harbor. It was land (sort of) but still exposed to the brunt of the wind and waves. The boat was getting beat up being on the outside of the seawall so we had no time to waste. Even moving fast, it took almost 45 minutes to come up with a plan for moving the boat. The plan was hatched to use a small skiff from the harbormasters office and a dock line to get the boat off the seawall and to the fuel dock, 100 feet inside the protection of the harbor. The waves were getting worse and threatening to hole Karl's boat, so we had to move now. Karl hopped in the boat and the three of us; Todd, Jim and myself stayed behind to keep Karl's boat off the seawall as it was being pulled to safety. The boat and Karl made it to the fuel dock with a well placed shove and some frantic pulling on the dockline. But, because the seawall was not connected to land in anyway, the three of us got stranded. In all we were probably on the seawall almost two hours. It was completely dark, the wind was blowing 45+, and at this point the pier was icing over pretty bad, making it treachorus to walk, or even stand. The three of us huddled behind a navigation marker for some relief from the wind. We tried jumping jacks to keep warm and told jokes to keep our spirits up. It was windy and cold, but we knew our adventure was almost over, someone was going to rescue us, right? The reason for the delay was that the charter boat that initially pulled us in did not want to risk going to get us with one engine out of commision and the skiff that had helped pull Karl's boat to safety, had the throttle cable break. In the end, our rescuer was a live-aboard who was willing to lend us a hand in getting to the safety of the harbor. It took some time to get the Zodiac off of his big boat, but eventually, he was able to get the inflatable down and motor over to the seawall and rescue us from our icy fate.

Back on dry land, we unloaded what we could from the boat, and got a ride to our trucks. I rode over to my truck in the back of the Whittier police cruiser. We had created quite a stir in the harbor, and proved to be the biggest thing going on in Whittier that Saturday night. Karl's boat with no working motors would have to stay put until we could get back down on Monday and mess with the engines . There was nothing more we could do that night and everyone was tired and ready to head home. The rescue had cost us around $400, but split 4 ways it wasn't bad and it beat the alternative of not being rescued and having to swim for it. Our trip had taken us almost 5 hours longer than it should have. We were all a bit cold, but we were headed for Anchorage, the trucks had heat, fuel . . . and a big bag of pretzels. We were able to make the 8 o'clock tunnel back to Anchorage. The adventure was over!

In hindsight, we should have brought a lot more fuel. We probably could have made it back on what we had, but the wind and seas used more fuel than we had planned. From now on we'll bring 50% more fuel than we think we'll need. Plus, the fuel/oil combo gummed up the engines, causing them not to work even when we added more fuel. Karl filled up the tanks with clean fuel from the dock on Monday when he returned for the boat. The engines fired right up and quit smoking once the bad fuel had been run through. Lesson learned. We all had fun and lived to tell about it. We are all going to prepare a bit better for the next adventure. Yes, there will be a next time . . . and maybe we'll bring an even bigger bag of pretzels!

Halloween . . . Boo

As Zach gets older, he is more in tune with the holidays. This was the first Halloween that he was really excited about. He had tried on the Evil Zorg costume many times since we got it in April. He even took it to school one day for his Friday "show and tell". The Disney Store Evil Zorg costume is great, it is heavy and warm which is perfect for our Halloween weather in Alaska. Evil Zorg is from the Buzz Lightyear movie, which Zach loves. My mom and I found it in April at our Church rummage sale....great price, all clothes were $.50 if they were on tables - yes, the costume was $0.50.

Sam was a pea pod and a cute one at that! The "pea" styrofoam balls stayed on long enough for me to get one or two pictures of him.

I must admit that I was ready to "skip" Halloween this year, even though I love the holiday. Doug was deer hunting, I was dropping Zach off with friend, Laurie, before Sam and I flew to Chicago at 2:30 am. I didn't buy any candy this year and had all the outside lights off. The lights off didn't stop the kids from ringing the door bell. Zach just couldn't understand why they were all out there and why a few were coming to our house. I explained that the kids were looking for candy at the houses. Zach just gave me that look.....I asked "do you want to go to a house to get a piece of candy?" So, we bundled up and braved the cold. After the first house, Zach was hooked. He kept yelling "that house has a light on!" We did 10 or so houses and his hands were cold so he was ready to go home. The neighbors were far to generous. 10 houses 1/2 filled his Elmo bucket. Now that he knows what Halloween is really about we had better be ready to do many houses next year.

ATCEM environmental conference

I had the opportunity to give a presentation at an environmental conference in October. Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management (ATCEM) is a conference for rural managers of environmental programs.

I colaborated with Ted from the EPA. He and I put together a presentation "Turning your dump into a landfill". The presentation covered all of the aspects of managing your rural landfill properly. We talked for an hour and had a short Q&A session.

Everyone enjoyed the presentation. I was just glad to have that behind me. I enjoy putting these things together, but they take a lot of time and they are somewhat stressful. It is all just part of being an Environmental Specialist for the State of Alaska.

Sam's a big boy!

There is something special about the second child. I think it is that we are not as "worried" the second time around. We know that he won't explode when he cries, that he is good to take a quick nap in the car, that he won't starve even if sounds like he might. We are enjoying the mile stones and are so happy to have Sam as part of our family unit. On October 12th he finally got the hang of sitting all by himself. Such a proud little guy. It won't be long and he will be crawling and then walking!

Doug has a picture just like this one of himself. He is sitting on the counter in Normal, Illinois licking a spatula. Sam is checking out the Cherrios - it won't be long and he will be asking for those by name!

Powerline Hike

Ahhh . . . the snow is here, and I am ready to go play. Zach and I met Karl and Nora at their house and we headed up to Powerline Pass (right next to Flat top mtn.). There was not a cloud in the sky, it was 20 degrees and we were ready to go. Well most of us anyway . . .

Karl brought his hunting "sled" for our walk. Neither one of us knew if there would be enough snow for the standard pull behind sleds. There was plenty of snow, but not enough to require skis or snowshoes. So we headed off from the parking lot and into the mountains.

This is the set-up I have to pull Zach behind me. It is a Mountain Smith sled, has a little fold able chair, it's completely covered and it has a windshield. Now, a quick story about the sled. Renee and I had been garage saleing one Saturday about a year ago and came across a sale with a lot of outdoor gear. I started talking to the guy who was having the sale and he told me that he had just sold a mountaineering sled that would fit a small child, a few minutes before we arrived. He told us that he sold the sled and some other outdoor gear to a lady that looked like she had never been on a trail in her life. He was kind of bummed because it seemed like he really would have rather sold the sled to us. Anyway, we left, but I always kept the sled in the back of my mind as a bargain that was just not meant to be. A few weeks later, Renee was out of town, and Zach and I were returning from McDonald's. I just happen to driving by a scummy trailer park that had a big garage sale sign in front. I was thinking to myself, I'll never find anything of interest there, but hey, it's a garage sale, let's see what they have. Well, this place was a gold mine. Apparently, the lady buys stuff from garage sales around town, and re-sells it at her sale. I found a cool Elmo costume for Zach, a pair of brand new snowshoes for me, and low and behold , there was the sled. Well, I took a look at it and that attracted the attention of the lady in charge. I asked her a bit about the sled, showing a little interest, but not too much. I then asked what the price was and she said $50. Now that is a screaming deal, especially considering the sleds new, go for $400. But I wasn't done. I told her that I had something already that I could use to pull Zach, but for $30, I could take it off her hands. She immediately shot back with $45, to which I responded $37. She himmed and hawed, but then insisted that she couldn't take less than $45. So, I thanked her and headed to the car with my other treasures. No sooner had I gotten the trunk on the car closed, when, here comes the lady, dragging the sled behind her. Ok, ok, $37! And as luck would have it, that was exactly the amount of money I had left.

Here is Zach, snug as a bug in a rug. It was a little cold, so next time I am going to wrap him in a sleeping bag before putting him in the sled. Now, we get about a half mile from the parking lot, and Zach says, I have to go potty. Ahhh . . . This is a pain because he is all bundled up. So I get him out, and stripped down and then he tells me, I have to go #2, I don't feel good. So I take him a little further from the busy trail and plant him over a bush. Ok, all good. Get bundled back up, in the sled, get another quarter mile down the trail, same thing. I don't feel good. This time however, it is a little more urgent.

So, get him out of the sled, clothes off, he does his thing, but now he is crying "I want my Mommy"! Time to go home. I double timed it back to the parking lot with Zach, we had to stop briefly in the gross bathroom in the parking lot, warmed up the car, got him out of his heavy winter clothes, Karl and Nora then caught up, and we headed for home. Kind of a bummer for our first hike of the winter season. Oh well, we made it.

Back to Denver

Fall is such a nice time in Colorado. Alaska was already frozen and very dark. Here it is in the 70's and much lighter. We enjoyed this little reprieve from the clutches of winter and took the opportunity to play outside as much as possible.

Zach and Burton really got into jumping into the leaves. We had a few leaves in the yard at home, but right before I was going to rake them up, we got hit with 100 mph winds. Poof, that took care of that. I feel sorry for the person on the other end of town that has to rake up all of the leaves that blew off the hillside.

Our visit also coincided with Halloween. It wasn't the weekend we were there, but close enough. We each got a pumpkin and carved the traditional "scary face". The last time I was here for Halloween I carved a really intricate pumpkin. This year, I took it a little easier an just made a simple scary face. I had more time for visiting with everyone that way. The real treat with the pumpkins is the seeds anyway. And we had a ton of those.

Here is how they turned out. My pumpkin is on the left, Fred's is in the middle and Lisa's in on the right. Renee sat this one out, but she is not getting off so easy next year. Fred's pumpkin looks like the Pringles Potato Chip guy.

Well, the time has gone by quickly. It always does when you are having fun. I got a shot of me and the two boys on the swing. The picture turned out pretty cute, but the shadows kind of got in the way. We took the opportunity to play at an "outside" park one more time before heading back to the great white north. Unfortunately, in my eagerness to have fun with Zach, I decided that it would be a good idea to roll him like a log down a slight hill on the edge of the playground. Now he probably would have been fine had I just rolled him down once, or maybe even twice, but I for whatever reason let him go down 5 times. I think that it was this last time that may have been too much. The result of so much rolling was, well, a bit of a bowel problem. He didn't quite make it to the restroom (not that there was one at the park), and had to ride in the stroller back to Lee and Fred's house commando. This was not the best course of action before getting on a plane and flying for 7 hours back to Alaska. Some lessons are learned the hard way I guess. He ultimately did ok. We didn't have anymore accidents, but there was liberal use of the restrooms along the way to the airport, at the airport and in the plane. I think that I probably earned a "time out" for that little bit of parenting.

All well that ends well. We sure had a good time with Lee and Fred at their new house. It was hard to say our goodbyes. We will be looking forward to seeing them next summer. It is amazing how fast the kids grow in such a short time. We were running late, and still had a scheduled stop (I had to buy two more North Face shirts at the mall) and an unscheduled stop (Z-man and his little problem) to make. We made it to the airport with not too much time to spare.

This is how we roll when traveling. Kids require an elaborate support network of strollers, clothes, bottles, extra clothes and toys. Gone are the days of traveling with nothing but a carry-on. Oh, and of course the mandatory plastic bag is in the foreground of the picture. We just can't seem to travel anywhere with out ending up with at least one plastic bag full of assorted "stuff". Alaska here we come!

Fun in Silverthorne

Renee and I lived in Houston, Texas for four years a few years back. While we were there, we had some great friends that we have managed to keep in touch with over the years. These friends have since moved from Houston as well and now live in Grand Junction, Colorado. Grand Junction is a 5 hour drive from my sisters place, so we arranged to take a side trip and meet our friends Brent and Erin. Lee and Fred were up to seeing something new and they had met Brent and Erin in Houston. Up to the mountains we went, and on to Silverthorne Lodge.

The meeting place was not quit half-way (we only had to drive an hour), but it was decided on due to the fun factor. Silverthorn is up in the mountains not too far from Breckenridge. There are a variety of hotels, an outlet mall and micro-brew pubs a plenty. The only stipulation I had on the hotel was that it had to have an indoor pool. The Z-man likes to swim!

Everyone arrived within minutes of each other. And we loaded into our rooms. There were kids everywhere. 5 boys with Maddie (Brent &Erin's youngest) being the only girl. I think that the adults were only barely in control the whole time. Energy abounded. First stop was lunch. We had quite the crew. I felt sorry for the waitress who had to clean-up after us. We made it through and were actually able to catch up on what everyone had been doing. It was good to catch up with Brent and Erin. We wouldn't have survived Houston without them.

Ahh, the pool. Zach was in full swing with the pool. Sometimes I wonder if he remembers anything about the vacation other than the pool.

Zach and Conner were crazy about the jumping in performing "cannonballs". Burton is a little younger, so it took him some time to "warm up" to the pool. He eventually got into it as well. I don't think there is any better way to have the kids burn off some energy than to go for a dip in the pool.

This pic is from day 2. We headed down to Lake Dillon for some lunch and to get some group photos. We ate at a great brew pub and then headed down for the pictures. The park distracted us for a while, but it was an awesome day and everyone really seemed to be enjoying just hanging out together. The park had some really unique slides and rope things. Even the girls got in on the action of having fun in the park.

Here is the whole gang. It was hard trying to capture everyone before they blink, turn their head or cry. I think that we captured the moment pretty well. After the picture we headed to the outlet mall next to the hotel. We all shopped for a little bit, finding bargains and getting some new "duds". We then said our goodbyes and headed back to home base. It was really great spending time with Brent and Erin. We'll have to plan a trip like this again soon.

Colorado Pt. 1

We had the opportunity for a long weekend in Colorado to visit my Sister and her family.  The plan was, Renee was going to fly to California for business, a few days later I would fly from Anchorage to Denver with the boys, and the four of us would meet at the Denver Airport, our flight literally only an hour apart.  Well, we came close to the perfect schedule.  Renee's plane got delayed in California for three hours, so I got the rental and with the boys headed for Lisa and Fred's house.  I would have waited, but Renee wanted me to get to Lisa's with the boys.  Good thing that Zach is a good navigator.

No problem.  We got to my sister's house just fine.  They just moved into this house, so this was our first visit at the new location.  Plus, it had been a year since seeing them last, so I hadn't even meet the new edition to their family, baby Max.

Lee & Fred's neighborhood is really nice.  It is up a ways in the foothills.  There are trails that criss cross the subdivision.  It was a lot warmer here than in Alaska, so we were up to taking a short hike.  After the walk, Renee joined us in her rental car.  The airport is a little over an hour away, so it was easier for her to get another car and return it in the morning.  It is good to have the gang back together once again.

Next morning we got up early, had some breakfast and headed into Denver.  Renee had to return her rental so we all followed her in.  

After that we drove into the foothills a ways and ended up at Red Rocks.  Red Rocks is an outdoor amphitheatre built around the turn of the century.  Big concert venues from around the world play at this outdoor venue.  I first started going to Red Rocks in the early 90's.  I saw Crosby, Stils, Nash and Young, and at a separate concert I saw the Indigo Girls.  Concerts here are great.  Your outside, the city is glowing in the background, the acoustics are awesome, and hey, it's Colorado, so you pretty much know that you won't get rained out. 

The place is pretty huge.  During the day when they are not setting up for a concert, people come and just sit, or walk the trails, or like the gal in the foreground, exercise on the bleachers.  The air up there is thin, so I decided just to stand at the top and look around.  It's fun being back here though, I can almost here the music in the background.  Oh, that's someones cell phone, never mind.

After our little tour of Red Rocks, we decided to grab some lunch.  The Morrison Inn is a great Mexican place right at the foot of Red Rocks.  I went with the Margarita.

It was a good lunch.  The waitress was afraid of bee's, so there was a tense moment as one buzzed her ear.  My margarita was as good as I remembered and we got to eat outside.  We had a crappy summer in Alaska this year, so it was nice to enjoy summer like temperatures again.  Winter is well on it's way up north, so this was a welcome reprieve from the cold.

That was about it for day one.  We all went back to Lisa's and took naps.  It is nice not having anything to do.  Tomorrow would prove to be busier, and then we head into the mountains to catch up with some friends we knew in Texas.  They live in Colorado now, so it is nice to make the most of our time.  Tune in tomorrow!