A Year of Change

Here we go again, back at it. Today we’re back to work, Jag has two basketball games tonight in Eagle and I have an A/C and furnace guy coming this morning. Aleks Simcic arrives tomorrow and then Lori has Lasik surgery later this week. On top of that, the boys have their Global Entry appointments on Wednesday. Throw in a few more basketball games mid week and 3 or 4 trips to Denver and we’re busy. I think we’re taking Vinny home tomorrow. He’s been having the time of his life according to him and his Mom.

Yesterday we made it home around 2 and then took the boys to the Rec Center so they could go swimming for a few hours. After that we bbq’d up some hot dogs and brats for Ty, Vinny, Jag and Harmon, who is Jag’s friend. I think the younger boys finally went to sleep around 1am. It was fun to watch Cleveland win the NBA Championship, what a great comeback by them in the series and what an epic collapse by Golden State. It makes you think you can do anything when strange things like that happen in sports.

I guess they’ve been having some bad storms down below in the city but up here it’s been 85 and sunny. It’s hot but not 98 degree hot as in Denver ot 115 degree hot as in Phoenix! Mojo is glad to be home but he actually likes it at daycare as he plays with a bunch of  new friends (dogs) at the place.

Politics suck as usual and the lady we can’t stand more than anyone in the World (HC) is running tons of ads on tv saying how much she cares for all of us and blah blah blah. We cringe whenever we even hear her voice. As I said, Trump isn’t much better but with him we just get bad words, with her we had bad things. And oh yea, remember the guy who committed the horrible act in Orlando at that club, turns out his dad had several meetings at the White House with you know who, hmmm. God help us. Time to get ready, uggh, like we have time for that on top of everything else! Have a great day, GB.

Today is Father’s Day, but rather than focusing on myself, I’m thinking of my dad as is Lori of all of hers. Ty did sneak out of dinner last night in Aspen and run across the street to buy me a couple of presents and a card. He was so excited he had to give me the presents last night. I made him wait on the card until this morning.

We woke up (at least Lori and I as the boys are still sleeping) in paradise again meaning our mansion that we have all to ourselves. Yesterday we had some breakfast at one of our favorite spots and then drove up to Aspen where we dropped the truck and took the Rolls as it’s a convertible and the kids like it. Looking at our sunburns this morning we probably should have skipped the convertible. Anyhow we headed over to our friends Arron and Barbara’s home (which is a palatial mountain home unlike anything you’ve ever seen and is for sale for $34 million!) as they have a private lake with a waterfall and a bunch of boats like kayaks, canoe’s and a floating trampoline you jump off of into the lake. We let the boys play for over an hour before heading into town for some ice cream and to walk around. Soon it was time to run back to our home away from home and shower before heading back in for dinner. We went to Ty’s favorite place which is an Asian restaurant with about 12 people. He spoke Mandarin to the owner Frank and the wait staff. Finally at 8:30 we ducked out and headed home for the night.

Friday a Mom up here in Aspen here fought off a mountain lion, or kitty cat as we call them in the mountains, who had pounced on her two year old. Like they say, don’t mess with mama! You do have to watch yourself up here with kitty cats and bears as they are out.

This morning after washing the sheets and cleaning up around here we’ll head back into town for a while and then take off for Vail this afternoon. Wish you were all here, we have plenty of room with all these empty bedrooms. The view out the master bedroom is unbelievable. By the way, here’s out tentipi! It’s from Sweden and is used across the globe from the Arctic to Mongolia to Australia. There’s not too many of them here in the U.S. as most people are not aware of them. It’s pretty darn cool. So have a great day and take a moment to remember your Dad as Dad’s are pretty special! Ha.

GB

Good morning. Our failure to pre book a camping spot worked out well for us. First, we met Peggy in Basalt to drive her 1934 Rolls Royce from Basalt into Aspen. Doug chauffeured the boys the 30 miles from Basalt to Aspen. I followed behind them in the Truck. I must say I almost died of a cuteness overload! The three boys sat in the back of the Rolls and they waved to every oncoming truck, car, or motorcycle. Everyone they passed waved back to the boys and I could feel their grins even though I was driving behind them. Too cute!

We arrived at the ranch and pitched the Tentipi in one of the rolling meadows on the property. It took Jagger, Doug and I about 30 minutes to set it up. We’ll be much faster the next time. I must say we were all really happy we were setting up the Tentipi at the ranch and not at a campsite, as the level of annoyance while short lived..it was definitely palpable.

The boys gave Vinny a tour of the sprawling 12,000 square foot “Mansion”, and Vinny filmed a video tour for his parents. The home is quite impressive…not very practical, but impressive none the less. The home has nine bedrooms, indoor pool, two full sized kitchens, one Butlers kitchen, eleven bathrooms, steam showers with three different types of shower heads, two dinning rooms, a game room, wine cellar, an elevator, a library, five fire places, and of course the movie theater. Life does not suck at the ranch!

After exploring the grounds we took the kiddos to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Basalt where we all over indulged in guacamole, queso, and entrees. The boys wanted to rent a  movie to watch in the home movie theater that is equipped with a sound wall. We all watched, “In The Heart Of The Sea”. The movie is about hoe the Moby Dick novel came about.  It was surprisingly good, and after the movie was over Ty stated that he would really like to read Moby Dick. Fantastic!

The sprinklers hit the Tentipi twice, so the boys slept inside in one of the master suites. The closet is so big that Ty was going to be a closet troll and sleep in the closet until he saw mouse droppings which are to be expected on a ranch. The mice don’t discriminate where they leave their droppings. These country mice are certainly living the life of luxury…although now that Billie knows they are hanging out at the ranch their days are numbered.

Doug and I woke up at 6:30 and we have already been to the nursery to buy flowers for Billie’s house in Aspen and flowers for the ranch. We’ve showered…I may have to shower three or four times today, as the shower is amazing. We’ve washed the truck and now we are heading back to roust the kiddos. By the way, all three boys ended up sleeping sideways on the king bed in the master suite.

More to come tomorrow.

After searching every campground in the State for a spot (they’re all full since it’s Father’s Day weekend) we’re going to our friends ranch near Aspen where we’ll set up our teepee and have their 14,000 square foot house, and ranch, to ourselves. We do have Vinny (Ty’s friend from Denver) with us until next Tuesday. So after a bit of work this morning, we’ll head out for Aspen with the boys in tow. Hopefully we’ll get some fishing and horseback riding in over the next 3 days.

Yesterday Lori and I headed down to Denver for our Global Entry interviews. We passed with flying colors meaning the F B I is not looking for us, or at least that’s what the agent told Lori. A friend of ours had a DUI 35 years ago which disqualified him from passing! Anyhow this means we no longer have to stand in line at customs when entering the Country. The boys have their appointments next Tuesday and then, as a family, we’ll be good to go.

We also made a quick stop at the eye doctor as Lori had an appointment as she’ll probably be getting Lasik in a couple weeks so she can once again see. Then we picked up Ty and Vinny and headed home. It took us 3 hours which is about twice as long as it should take.

I saw my Mom and she’s doing well. Hope you all are doing well too, have a great weekend, GB

Well, we’re trying to go camping for the next 3 days. We’ll see if we can get it together. First up though is basketball. Last night Jag played 2 games on his new team which is comprised of all upper classmen or high schoolers. Now these kids are big, they’re basically grown men, and they can dunk the basketball! Jag wasn’t the shortest but was for sure the smallest. We have a couple of kids who are over 6’6″ with one being 6’8″. The coach took a special interest in Jag and the older kids helped him out as I’m sure they know in the coming years he’ll be one of the big kids to carry the team. We started at 6 and finished at 9pm. We have 2 games on Monday, 2 on Wednesday and it continues like that for the next month. So lots of exercise. Time to run as I need to get moving as Lori and I have appointments with Homeland Security for Global Entry at the Denver Airport in a couple hours. More to come, hope to stop and see my Mom but we’ll see. GB

Ok, a quick question, how come when a muslim shoots a bunch of people we’re not supposed to blame all muslims but when he uses a gun, we’re supposed to blame all gun owners? Doesn’t make much sense does it? So once again we have the democrats exploiting a tragedy to push an agenda. A bunch of them even walked out of Congress yesterday during a moment of silence for the victims in Orlando. That would be like you going to a funeral and standing up and protesting because your didn’t get the inheritance you wanted. I mean come on, there’s a time for politics and a time for respect.

Now since they want to talk guns, let’s talk guns. Hillary says there’s no place on our streets for weapons of war, (the latest dem talking point). Well first off, the guy did not have a “weapon of war” as if our troops used what he had, they’d be outgunned and lose every time. Second the news keeps saying he had an automatic weapon which again is not true and by the way, they’ve been outlawed since prohibition. And last but not least, this guy worked for a govt contractor and had multiple licenses to carry firearms. Again he was vetted three times in the last 18 months yet because he was muslim, they didn’t remove him from his job even though everyone said he was a whack job. How’s that for political correctness. Maybe the dems should be protesting our loser administration’s immigration and hiring policies. I’m so sick of the incompetence in Washington. Oh and now the Russians are going to release top secret emails from Hillary’s hacked account that she has repeatedly said she never had or sent, uh oh. That’ll sink her with most voters except again for the dems with their head in the sand or who turn a blind eye to her lying and manipulating. Oh and there’s the 54 year old immigrant Mohammad, who took hostages in Walmart yesterday in Texas because he didn’t get a promotion. Thankfully the cops shot him dead. If I ever was passed over for a promotion, I’d talk to my boss, ask why I didn’t get it and then work harder to move up. But not Mohammad, he decided to take a handgun and take hostages. Of course our Pres (hard to call him that anymore as a true President is a leader, not a divider) will now blame the handgun. He won’t look at his immigration policies, no that’ll never happen. By the way, 480,000 immigrants overstayed their visa’s in the last 12 months and the govt doesn’t know where they are, great. Get ready people, war is here, you just don’t realize it yet.

Family stuff tomorrow, GB

That’s right, today is Flag Day, Make sure you hang your flag today and do it proudly. With all the upheaval in the World and in particular, our Country, we all need some good old fashioned patriotism.

I’ll let the attacks from yesterday go although I wrote a whole page on them but then came to my senses as we all have our own opinions and nothing I can write will change that. Just be vigilant and aware as I’m afraid this type of terror is soon coming to a neighborhood near you. Avoid big crowds in public places if possible as they are the most likely targets. By the way, these are not my words but our own govt. agency’s words. You have to make up your own mind.

The kiddos and I ran some errands after I finished my work and then I cleaned a bit before Lori came home. I’m off to Big D tody for a 7am meeting and then early lunch. I think I’m also down tomorrow and hope to stop and see my Mom. The past 10 days to 2 weeks have been nonstop. It rained a bit today and was a nice cool Spring like day. Time to run, hope all’s well, be safe, and watch your six. God Bless

Ok, here we go, back to work. Hard to believe it’s mid June already. I have a lot to do this morning and today, as I have a big lunch with a number of accounts in Denver tomorrow. I also need to go down Thursday with Lori for our Global Entry interviews with the govt at the airport. Yesterday we went back into town and bought a slack line for the boys. Later in the day we took it to the park and set it up and the boys practiced and played on it for a good hour. A slack line is a 2 inch wide, 100 foot long piece of nylon like material like a seatbelt. You then suspend that between two trees a couple feet off the ground and tighten it up so you can then walk and bounce on it. It’s pretty fun.

Jag and I are going to the gym pretty quick so time to run. Sad about the terrorism in Florida. Of course some democrats are already trying to spin this as something other than terrorism. But unbelievably some have come out and actually called it that. You see the shooter called a tv station and said he was a ISIS terrorist before it started. Hard to ignore that. Next up will be gun control. Now let’s look at the facts, this guy was on the govt terror watch list for years and brought in 3 times by the F B I  for interviews but yet, they left him off the list that would have prevented him from buying any gun. So, hold on as next up politicians on both sides will spin this to further their own agenda. And by the way, this club was a gun free zone. Anyone with any brains has to notice that all locations where all shootings take place don’t allow guns. Say what you will but if 10 people in that club were carrying, a lot less people would have been killed. Time to go as the news, in their typical sensationalist fashion is starting with “Terror in Orlando”, super.  Have a great day and GB.

The town is packed, mostly with kids in their 20’s and 30’s looking to make their mark. Whether as an athlete or an entrepreneur,  they all are competing to win a competition or sell you their wares. It’s actually pretty fun to be part of and I think we’ll go back into town today.

Yesterday after taking Serena and Matt in to town, Lori and I left them to find Matt’s sister and husband. Ty also took off as soon as we arrived to hook up with some friends. We dropped Jag at home and then headed for the grocery store as we had all four of them for dinner plus our good friends Mike and Sue who are moving to Australia in 2 weeks. We had a fun dinner with Serena and Matt and his sister and husband leaving around 9 for Denver.  Mike and Sue hung out with us for a few more hours. We’re all going camping next weekend before they leave. You might recall Max, their son, went with Jag to Austin.

Ty is sleeping on the couch as he gave up his room for Serena and Matt and we haven’t washed the sheets yet. He had one stipulation for letting them stay in his bed, NO SEX. He was going to put a note on the door but just had us tell them, too funny. The weather is perfect, sunny and 75 or so. Time to go as I have lots of laundry to do, ha. Enjoy your day, it’s a good one, hell, they’re all good, right? God Bless.

After a long day, we finally made it home about 10:30 at night. Lori picked me up at the airport around 7:30pm and then we went to pick up Matt and Serena (Lori’s sister) who stayed with us last night. The Go Pro Games are in Vail all week and they came from Seattle to see them. Tonight they’ll go to Matt’s sister’s house in Denver and then Matt and his sister are going bouldering (climbing) in El Dorado Canyon tomorrow. I think they’re here in Colorado until Wednesday. The Go Pro Games are everything from kayaking to climbing to Yoga to anything millennial you can think of.

Lori’s back went out yesterday and she picked me up wearing a brace Dr C gave her. He’s off to Hawaii for 2 weeks so she’ll get a little break at work. The boys are fine and Lori had house cleaners come in for the first time since we moved here last August. It’s sunny and nice and summer appears to have arrived. Time to run so I can go to the gym as I ate way too much crap all week in Seattle. Have a great day, God Bless.