A Year of Change

Yesterday after washing the car, our windshield cracked from top to bottom right in the middle on Lori’s Suburban. With the week ahead, I need to get this fixed right away. So this morning, in about an hour, I’m off to Alameda and Wadsworth in Denver for a 9 am appointment. Then I need to run to Cherry Creek and then Arvada before heading back up the hill. Wednesday I’m back down picking up Lorenzo and Jen who arrive from New York. Then we’ll have 4 busy days up here before going to get Jag and dropping them at the airport on Sunday for their flight home.

Tonight Lori has a board meeting for Canine Companions and tomorrow I have one for the school gala coming up this November. Jag’s doing well and is on an overnight train up country to a small village where they will all stay with a family. I think they’re close to Tibet. All’s good from his texts. Below are a couple pictures of breakfast. Not sure what all they’re eating but they seem to be enjoying it. Have a great day and week and God Bless.

It’s Sunday, which means tomorrow is Monday. The weekends go so fast. We did a few things around the house but it’s still so cluttered, you don’t really notice. Today I’ll try to get into Jag’s room and see if I can make a dent in the mess. Ty was at his friends most of the day in Glenwood. They went swimming at the hot springs pool earlier in the day before we met theme halfway and picked them up at Costco. We then dropped his friend and younger brother at their dads house in Edwards before heading home.

Ty’s lobbying hard to go to Battle Mountain High School instead of VMS. We’re open to listening to him but still think he’ll get a better education at VMS. It will cost us $5,552 a month though for both boys to go, ugh. That’s a big pill to swallow but we’ll see. I told him if he can show us he can get all A’s and a few B’s this year, we’d consider it. It is understandable though as all his friends from this year, which are more than he had at VMS, are going to BMHS.

Lori was hoping to get her hair colored today but hasn’t heard back from Jeannie. Jag is having fun as far as we know from group posts. They’re about 16 hours ahead of us so it’s almost bed time there right now. Still hard to believe he’s in China and has been there for 3 days. What an experience.

The snow has stopped but it was a good snow. It looks like the foothills in Denver had a good shot too. It’s supposed to warm up a bit this week. That’s it for today, hope everyone is well. GB

Jag and his classmates are on the way to China. Best guess is they’ll land in Beijing about 2 in the afternoon our time. They then have I think a 6 hour layover until they catch another flight to Kunming which is in the southern part of China. Kunming is in the Yunnan Province and has about 8 million people, a small city by China standards. Beijing on the other hand is about 22 million people, wow. So more to come. I figured it out last night that the next time Jag will wake up in his own bed, it’ll be March 1st! Also a week from Monday, or 10 days from today, we’ll all be on a plane for Maui. So you can see we’re busy busy.

Ty was home yesterday as when I was driving him to school he had a bad cough and we diverted to the doctor to make sure he didn’t have the flu. The doctor said keep him home yesterday but thankfully, no flu. The test involved a long Q-tip stuck all the way (about 2 or 3 inches) up his nose! We should keep him home again today but with his concussions, he’s missed too much school so he’ll have to suck it up.

Yesterday we left school around 2:15 for the airport yesterday and I dropped Jag and Matt about 4:15. With Denver traffic, I then made it home around 6:45. We talked to him when he was in Los Angeles around 10 pm. It’s now 7:19 am and time to get moving. Hope they’re asleep on the plane and having a good time. I think they land about 5 am. What an experience for him and his classmates. Have a great day, GB.

Today’s the day, Jag leaves for China, we hope. Two kids out of ten are sick. One we think is not going and another that has been in bed for two days and is on Tamiflu. Jag had a sore throat and came down during the night for some Alka Seltzer. We’re waiting to see how he’s doing this morning. Of course if a kid could get sick, it’d figure it’d be right before they go on a trip! You don’t want your kid to miss the trip of a lifetime but with the flu, you can’t mess around. Lori told me last night one of the surgeons at work is also out with the flu. So far I feel ok from my trip but I wiped down literally everything I came in contact with while gone. One girl who was riding down with the girl who is sick, is now riding with us. I’m getting some masks from the hospital for the kids to wear on the plane, ugh.

I made it home by noon after landing in Denver a little after 8 am. I stopped at the dry cleaner and grocery store on the way up the hill. Today at 2 I’ll grab three kids and drive them to the airport in Denver which should put me home around 6:30 or 7 depending on traffic. This means Lori again will have to get Ty from school.

Time to run, lots to do, have a great day and GB.

Yesterday was a good day. Lots of work and a drive to Portland, then a meeting and a great dinner at a great French restaurant. I left Seattle around noon as I was told it’d take me 4 hours to drive to Portland with traffic. Turns out I made it in 2 1/2 hours. It was a nice drive as years ago when I lived in Seattle I drove it often and driving down, I remembered a lot. Once in Portland I met up with Kristin who has worked for us since the beginning.

We dropped my rental car and headed downtown for a meeting with our Oregon distributor. I had known this guy for years through many many phone calls but had never met him in person. It was finally good for both of us to meet face to face. After a successful two hour meeting, we went to pick up Kristin’s boyfriend Tommy. They’re having a baby in about a month and own a restaurant. We headed downtown to a French restaurant that is owned by the chef who is partners with Tommy in his restaurant. 5 minutes after arriving Antonio met us as he just made it to town earlier in the day.

The food was great. Before our main course, the chef sent over this fresh cod collar which is basically the neck of the fish, (see below). It was great and filling. By the time our main course arrived, we were stuffed. I made it to my hotel by 9:30 and was asleep by 10 which is good, as I woke up at 2:30. I have a 5:15 flight so time to get moving. I should be back in Denver by 8:30 this morning and then head up the hill. Have a great day and GB.

Long day, long flight. I landed about 2:30 in the afternoon and was at the office an hour later. We then worked until about 10 pm before heading to our place to stay. It’s a great place with an unbelievable view of Seattle which I’ll post below.

Lori and the boys did well and are up getting ready. It’s 6 here and I’ll be at the office by 7:30 and then will leave to drive to Portland at noon. I have a meeting with my distributor and then will have dinner with Antonio. Tomorrow at 3 in the morning I’ll get up and head for my 5:15 plane. Time to go, have a great day, GB.

I’m off to Denver to catch a plane to Seattle and the boys have school while Lori will be at work. She’ll have to leave to pick them up early and then go back to work for at least another hour. Tomorrow Jag has to be there at 7:15 so she’ll be up early again. Then on Wednesday Ty has late start and Jag has early release but I should be back in time to pick him up.

Jag’s taking a dose of Typhoid pills which can give you an upset stomach and yesterday didn’t disappoint. He has two more pills, one on Tuesday and one Thursday when he leaves. Better safe than sorry.

Good game last night as far as Super Bowls go. Lots of offense and no defense until the end and thankfully the cheater Patriots lost. The commercials were good too. Now we have about 11 weeks until the draft. This is the true off season but hey, we’re in first place!

I’d better get moving so I can get the boys moving. My flight is at 11:15 or so. Thankfully I’m flying First Class so I should have lots of room. Germs are everywhere, I’ll be wiping down my seat, tray table, arm rests and just about everything else like the seat belt trying to avoid the flu. I even take latex gloves, ha.

Have a great day and week, God Bless.

Today is the big game. It doesn’t really seem as important as ones in the past. In other words, we don’t really care about it. Take all the protests by players this year against the flag plus the fact the the Patriots are in it, again, and it’s like who cares. I’m sure we’ll watch it, sort of. We like the commercials more than anything.

Yesterday Jag headed to Grand Junction for two games while Lori and I headed to Denver. We had a nice lunch with friends after her appointment and stopping at the mall to buy a few things for Jag’s trip. Jag shot 60% from the field and his coach said he’s a great player and a great kid when he dropped him off last night. It seems one of our other guys got a technical foul and was sort of a downer on the whole team. That was Jag’s last game for the season although he might make practice a day or two before he goes to China.

I’m off to Seattle and Portland tomorrow so today we’ll need to get Jags stuff laid out and ready to pack. We’re excited for him, what an experience! Who gets to go to China anyhow, WOW!

Time to run so I can head out to the gym. By the way, have you that get a paycheck noticed your check went up under the new tax plan? Lori’s did about $4000 a year! For me, what I pay in taxes went down about $6000! That’s a big deal for us. We’re pretty happy with it as it’s the first time in our lives that taxes have ever went down! Just saying.

So, go Eagles! (We’re cheering for Philadelphia), have a great day, GB.

Yesterday was a long one. I took Ty to the doctor for his head and picked up Jag at 11:30 and dragged him along. While seeing Dr. Feeny for Ty, I asked him to conduct the travel consult with Jag for his trip. We got him there just in time as Jag needed to start taking Typhoid pills last night and takes one every other day until Thursday as it’s a dose of four pills. He’s also supposed to drink stuff only out of bottles, not pet any dogs or animals and eat stuff only that he can peel or cook.

Basketball started at 4 and we won both games. We played Hayden which is out by Steamboat where I go hunting. They were a bit chippy and Jag of course was mauled and double teamed all night long. In the first game one kid was particularly annoying doing things like knocking the ball out of Jag’s hands on dead balls and even called him a pussy! Their big guy who was a senior, came up to Jag and apologized for his teammate which was nice, saying “sorry about him, just ignore him”. We won the first game by about 10 and the second by about 20. It was chippy though with our crowd cheering like a college gym. At one point on a pick and roll, one of our big guys dunked the ball and the crowd went crazy. We made it home and ate dinner by 10 and today Jag’s off at 9:30 for more games by Grand Junction. His coach is picking him up as Lori and I will be in Denver. I have to run to the store first as I always bring power bars and Gatorade to the games for the boys and I need to send them along. It’ll be his last game as then he’s gone even though our team will go to districts. We though will be in Hawaii.

Ty hung out with some buddies in the auxiliary gym from VMS shooting balls around which was good as he’ll be back in school with them next year. He’s grown a bunch and is so much taller than a lot of the kids.

Lori took some pictures but they’re on her phone. I need to hit the shower so I can get to the store for the teams stuff. Have a great weekend, God Bless.