A Year of Change

Does anyone remember the hit song Monday Monday from the Mama’s and the Papa’s? Remember they had Mama Cass, the really big heavy female singer who choked on a sandwich? If you don’t, they were a great band made up of two women and two men in the 60’s. Anyhow, onto the day……

Yesterday was a fun filled Fathers Day that was relatively uneventful and capped off with a bbq of chicken, ribs, coleslaw, baked beans and cornbread. To finish it off the boys and Mom made a pineapple upside down cake using coconut flour which is gluten (wheat) free. It was Mom’s first try using this flour and although a bit dry, tasted really good. (she now knows what to add to this flour next time to ensure a moist cake) I didn’t even know they made coconut flour but it made the whole cake taste like a giant macaroon, it was really good.

It’s raining hard as it has been all night and we had Mojo sleep inside last night. Sometime during the night or morning he busted out of the crate and had free roam of the house. I think he got out after Mom fed him breakfast I’m now being told. It’s 6am and Mom’s showered and downstairs getting ready to go to work as she’s on from 7:15 until 2 today.

We went grocery shopping yesterday and by the time we were checking out our bill was $300, and that’s with our discount! This only bought us about 5 bags of food, everything has gone way up in price lately. The misses tried all day to get in touch with Grandpa Bob who is somewhere fishing in Oregon, to wish him happy fathers day but couldn’t track down his cell phone anywhere. She did manage to reach Pa Don who is doing well in Sacramento. It’s going to be a hot week with evening storms, but for today, swim team is cancelled. This is good news because I’d have a hard time taking the boys with all the work calls I have that start at 8am. Tomorrow I’m up at 3:30 for a 6am flight to San Francisco so Mom will have to do the blog.

Not much else going on, trying to stay ahead of the bills, keep the kids busy and get my work done. We did manage to commandeer an old used rug from Uncle T and Aunt B that we saw in their garage. It’s worn but is nice colors and looks good in the front room. We’ll use this for a while until we can find something else. The news is saying it’s actually snowing in the mountains, what a cold season it’s been up there.

Time to hit the shower before Mom leaves and the boys get up, hope everyone is well and happy, have a great day and God Bless.

It’s 4:33am and my coffee is made, the dogs are fed but the paper is not yet here. I remember Father’s Day last year vividly. We had a bbq down at Uncle T and Aunt B’s and Grandpa (my dad) came in using a walker. He was still of sound mind but you could tell he was hurting a bit from falling a week or so earlier. It wasn’t too much longer until he passed away, in fact, it was about 2 months later to the day. It’s been a long year for all of us, especially my Mom. I don’t want to dwell too much on this to make my Mom sad but it’s important to remember what a great guy he was. My dad was the most unselfish, caring, humble, honest, hard working man anyone could ever know. The tragedy of the whole thing was that at the time of his life when he should have been able to enjoy the fruits of his life long labors, he was no longer able to. I believe God has a master plan for us all and this was all just part of his plan for my dad, so no reason to be sad. I’m sure he’s looking down on all of us right now from heaven where he’s probably God’s #2 making sure everything up there is running smooth and fair.

So today let’s all celebrate our Dads. You see to me Father’s Day is not really a holiday for me (even though I’m a father),  it’s still about my Dad. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll enjoy the day and all the extra attention from kids, it’s just deep down it’ll still be a day for my Dad. I won’t go into all the great memories I have, but for me, everyday I try to be more and more the type of man he was. Even though he’s gone, he’s still such a big influence on my life, I think about him everyday and often ask myself, what would Dad do. If I end up being half the man he was, I’ll be ok. Anyhow, like I said, he’s looking down on all of us and is happy and at peace, it’s just I (and everyone else) miss him very much.

Now onto the day, yesterday morning the little one had two swim races, the freestyle and the back stoke. He placed 3rd (I think) in the first race and 2nd in the next. He was so cute and we were so proud of him. He was in heats 18 and 54 so we finished around 10am. After this we headed home and then decided to run over to Bed Bath and Beyond. I remember a friend of ours telling me a while ago that she took this air humidifier/purifier back a few years after she bought it and they took it back no questions asked. As it turns out we had the same one so on a lark I called the store, kindly explained I had the same unit and told them how it didn’t really work, and that I didn’t have a receipt and must have bought it 2 to 3 years ago. Much to my surprise they told me to bring it in and they’d look it up and give me store credit! For the next half hour the misses and I frantically searched the house looking for this thing hoping we didn’t throw it out. She finally found it tucked into a corner of the garage so we loaded up the kids and headed off to the store. When we got there I took it up to the counter and found the young man I talked to on the phone. He looked at the thing and said, “oh yeah, the Venta, they went out of business”. He then explained he’d look up the last price but thought it was around $50 and I’d get that much in store credit. We were thrilled and said “great, we’ll start shopping while you look it up”. Now I didn’t remember what I paid but when I came back up to the counter, he told me I had $199.95 in store credit! Wow, what a surprise. So after some more shopping we came home with about $240 worth of new, much needed items for the house for a mere $40!

After we got home my Mom called and asked if we (the misses and I) wanted to go out to a nice adult place for dinner with her and Uncle T (Aunt B is out of town) for Father’s Day. Now we didn’t have a sitter for the boys and I knew they’d want to be included, plus it’d be at least $200 or more to go to dinner, so I suggested to my Mom that we just get some good food and cook it up here for about a third of the cost. She said she’d get back to me. About a half hour later Uncle T called and asked if we wanted to come to a dinner party at his house. So at about 5pm, we all (Grandma, the boys, the misses and I) headed down to Uncle T’s for a great dinner of steak, crab, asparagus and sauteed mushrooms. It was a really good meal and even a better time at at least half the cost of going out. We hung out in the backyard and after dinner Grandma decided to go home. The misses then went to give Bunkie his evening shot while the boys and I hung out with Uncle T. When the misses returned, we were sitting in the backyard enjoying the evening and Grandma called just to talk. Uncle T tried to convince her into coming back but wasn’t having much luck so he handed the phone to the misses who I told to just say, “I’m coming up to get you in the truck” and then quickly hang up the phone. She did this and 10 minutes later, Grandma was back enjoying the evening with us. We joked that as soon as she got back, we would all say, “we’re tired now, ok time to go”! After another hour’s worth of conversation and laughs we took Grandma back home and headed home with the boys. They were pretty amped up from the Orange Cush soda with dinner but finally headed off to bed.

Today I’ll bbq up some chicken for us all around 5. Aunt B should be home from Pueblo by then so it’ll be Grandma, Uncle T, Aunt B, and us for dinner. Hope the weather holds out as were supposed to get some afternoon storms.

The house is still pretty clean and after we go to the gym and probably head up to Red Rocks to go hiking, I think I’ll tackle the garage. I need to do a little bit of work before tomorrow morning but’ll probably just get up at 4 tomorrow to do this. I have a 6am flight Tuesday so I’ll be getting up at 3:30 then so I might as well get in the groove.

I think I’ll go for a run or hit the elliptical machine downstairs for a cardio workout before everyone wakes up. I should run to the store for the misses since I just used all the half and half which I know she likes in her coffee. One more thing I just have to tell you. The misses was telling me a story yesterday about our oldest yesterday that’s too funny. It seems he was riding home from soccer or something with his good friend whose Mom was driving. Suddenly she snapped at the boys for some unknown reason and quickly caught herself and told the boys that she was sorry and out of line for losing her cool and yelling at them. Our oldest then replied, “it’s ok, my Mom gets pheromones too”. Now of course he meant hormones, we think, but how funny is that!

So to close, think of some fond memories of you and your dad, and enjoy the day as tomorrow it’s back to kids day, which is everyday right? Take care and God Bless,

Ok, before I get on to the day, I had to laugh at my little sisters comment on yesterday’s post. Not sure if you saw it but she commented, “I always thought TGIF meant, thank god I’m female”, too funny, you always make me laugh Aunt Robi!

It’s about 5:15 am and we just got up as the littlest one has his first swim meet today at 6am! What kind of swim meet starts at 6am? We had no idea they started this early, thankfully it’s at our pool and not across town as some of them are. The misses will take him while I let the his older brother sleep for another hour or so and then we’ll join them. I have no idea how long it goes, hopefully not all morning.

Mom worked all day yesterday while I was mostly on the phone. I did take the boys out for lunch at the local mexican restaurant where they had a good time with fried ice cream and sopapillia’s for dessert. They somehow also wrangled a root beer float out of me later in the day as well. The house is spotless and so are the dogs, we’ll try to keep it that way at least for another day. You should see Mojo the malamute, he’s so pretty with all his undercoat blown out and his stark black and white color which shows after he has a bath. Lacey too looks all clean but she doesn’t really change color when she gets dirty while Mojo’s fur turns kind of a yellowish color.

Mom and I are both down about 8 pounds since we went on our diet of eggs, chicken, veggies and brown rice. I did cheat with mexican food yesterday but I think the biggest contributor to weight loss is no alcohol. Plus we just feel a whole lot better not drinking, especially when we get up early most mornings. Next week I’m in San Francisco Tuesday and Dallas on Friday, both are just day trips but we need to figure something out for Friday because Mom is scheduled to work that day.

On the news right now there’s a story saying that if you watch a lot of reality TV, it’ll actually make you dumber! Ya think, to me it’s pretty obvious, wonder how much they spent on that study. In fact I think ANY TV can make you dumber. We’re really trying to cut down and it seems to be really helping. We all get more exercise, sleep better, are less cranky and healthier. The misses just told me we have to pay about $300 today for swim team for both boys! I had no idea and probably would have thought about it harder as they’re both already signed up for summer football which too cost $300 but I guess it’s probably some of the best money we can spend. I’ll just need to cut back somewhere else, there goes chicken or steaks for father’s day, looks like we’ll have good old pb&j instead, wonder if I can grill them? Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the swim suits they needed were also another $60! Oh well, it’s only money, lucky we don’t have more kids.

Time to go so I can take a shower, get the older boy up, and head over to the pool. Mom and the little guy are already gone. I have a call at 8:30 this morning (self employed) and Mom needs to leave for 30 minutes at 7:30 to give the little dog his shot. So, have a great day, give us a call to say hi and take care.

Thank God it’s Friday, that’s what TGIF means in case some of you don’t know. (the boys just asked) Mom works early today and the pups go with her to work as she’ll drop them off at the groomers to get ferminated (a special machine that blows out all their loose hair) before heading in for her shift. The little guy has swimming at 8:30 and I’ll need to take him with Mom at work. We spent most of the afternoon cleaning the house and actually accomplished a lot. The boys played in and out and closed the day watching Wipeout in our bed before heading off to their own beds at 9pm. Of course the littlest one was back 2 minutes later and stayed until morning. Actually he’s still in our bed sleeping. We had some wind and rain last night but nothing too bad. Being so close to the foothills we’re kind of isolated as it takes 10 miles or so for the cold swirling winds coming off the mountains to mix with the warmer air of the plains before the bad storms can form. I would not be comfortable living south or east of the city as they always get the bad storms.

It’s Father’s Day this weekend and Mom asked me what I want to do. Knowing that we (she) need a new rug since we decided to throw out our old dirty scummy one in the living room yesterday, I told her I want to go rug shopping for Father’s Day! She doesn’t really believe me but is going with it as she really wants a new rug. Now the challenge will be to find something she likes that’s not too expensive. Maybe Grandma has an extra one she can give us, hint hint!

The oldest just came down with Mom and I need to clean out the back of the car so she can take the dogs to the groomer. I have calls most of the morning so the boys will have to occupy themselves outside. They’re pretty responsible so I’m not really worried about them. Not much else going on, the boys did find and pick the first raspberry off our bush outside the dining room windows last night. The tomato’s are growing well just like the cilantro, basil, strawberries, squash and peppers. We need to do a little grocery shopping this afternoon and will probably get some chicken to bbq tonight. Here comes the little guy to join the party, yea, we’re all up!

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m trying to stay away from politics, BUT I just have to say how happy I am that that holier than thou, sexual pervert, Anthony Weiner has resigned. The misses can never understand why most of the wives of men that do these things (cheat) stay with their husbands. Frankly I don’t either, must be the money, it’s usually always the money, right? Great values huh…oh well, it’s not my life, thankfully.

Both boys are with Mom and I on the couch, and you might not believe it but they both grew last night. You would all be amazed at how tall they are now. Another beautiful day in Colorado, mid 80’s and perhaps an afternoon shower. This is the norm for Colorado in June. Time to jump up and clean the car so dog hair doesn’t get over all our coats. I also will put a sheet in the back where the pups sit to help catch all the hair. You could knit a sweater with all the hair they shed.

Have a great day and stay safe and healthy, and check out the quote below I found yesterday, interesting….. God Bless,

“Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.”

good reason to get out and stay out of debt!

Thank you thank you Grandma! Thank you Uncle T!!! You see last night they generously gave us  4 orchestra seats to the Broadway show called Rock of Ages, and it really was incredible. We took our  friends, M & C who also loved the show! Now I’m not the biggest musical theater fan, like the misses, but this show was like a flashback to a time of my life from just about 30 years ago. It’s a show based on 1980’s music with a live band playing all the big hits from the day. I guess it won awards on Broadway and I can see why. The audience was electric and featured young and old alike. In between the music there was lots of adult humor and the entire story was just fun to watch. The misses joked that I had to have had a good time as I got to listen to all my favorite music AND watch strippers with her at the same time! You see the 80’s was full of lots of sexual innuendo and so the show was full of scantly clad women which were almost, but not quite, as attractive as my wife! At the end the audience gave the cast a much deserved long standing ovation. One of the kids from American Idol a few years ago, who came in 3rd or something (not sure as I don’t watch the show) named Constantine was really a talented kid and fun to watch. We got out of there around 10:50, picked up the boys at Uncle T and Aunt B’s and made it into bed by 11:30. Another big “Thank You” to Uncle T and Aunt B for watching the boys from 6:30-11:15. We’re both a little tired this morning (it’s 6am) and the misses ran to the store for milk while I’m writing todays post. Thanks again Grandma, it was the most fun the misses and I have had in many many years, and we really appreciate you thinking of us. In fact on the way home,  I told her I was really happy for her as I hadn’t seen her laugh that much in a long time, she really enjoyed it!

Yesterday the misses team building day included her making her own candy at the candy factory (that’s like giving an alcoholic a bottle) and then, from what she says, a horrible lunch at a restaurant downtown. The boys and I cleaned up after my work and then I took them to the pool for an hours worth of swimming. They then played with their little friends for the last time until mid August as their entire family heads off to Central America today for a 2 month adventure. Now I’m all for adventure but probably would have picked some place other than Guatemala and Panama for a family vacation, but that’s just me.

The misses works tomorrow but has a big agenda around the house today. The littlest one really liked swim team yesterday so he’s headed out again at 8:30 for another hour of exercise. The oldest was going to go but the realization of just how early 6:00 is and the fact that he’d have to get up at that time every morning made him decide not to do it. We’re ok with that as he has lots going on and we don’t want to force either of them into it. I suppose this morning wasn’t the best day to try to get him to start when he was up until 11:30. Both dogs are rolling around on the rug and then shaking off 5 pounds of hair every few minutes or so. The misses just bribed them to go outside with a little food.

It’s almost 6:45 and I need some more coffee so time to sign off for today. Aunt Robie, you would have really liked the show, it was right up your ally as I’m sure you know as we’re a lot alike when it comes to music. Other than that, same old same old, too many bills, not enough money and yes the microwave is still broken! Hope everyone has a great day! Until tomorrow, God Bless and long live big hair, loud music and short skirts!

Today is Team Building Day for the misses at work. She doesn’t work (but does get paid) as all the front end employees go out together from noon until 6pm together to foster teamwork. First they go to some candy factory to see how candy is made, (that’ll require some restraint on the misses part) and then it’s off to some restaurant for the rest of the day. The store brings in an entire crew from another store to work for all of them as everyone gets to go. Hope it’s fun for her.

Tonight we’re going to a musical show called Rock of Ages. Grandma gave us the tickets and it’s some sort of musical theater type show that’s supposed to be pretty good. Uncle T and Aunt B kindly offered to watch the boys which is great as otherwise we probably wouldn’t have gone because it would have cost us $50 for a babysitter. This is just too much in todays economy.

Yesterday the misses and I did some cardio in the morning and then took the family up to Red Rocks for some leg work (this means climbing the amphitheater steps to work out our leg muscles). We made it through day 2 of just eggs, chicken, veggies and brown rice and are both down a bit over 4 pounds. All we need is a little light at the end of the tunnel, which means seeing a little progress, and we’re committed! Surprisingly even though it’s only been two days, we both feel a whole lot better.

I’ve already had 2 conference calls this morning and have another one in 45 minutes. I’m raising prices again on August 1st and need to announce this nationwide today. I know they say the economy is getting better but I don’t buy it. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the ups and downs each and every day. You need to look at the big picture and see if you can spot the trends. People, we’ve got a long way to go before we’re out of this mess, trust me on this one! The littlest one is headed off to swim team while the oldest is still sleeping in our bed. By 4am everyone was in our bed! Bunkie has had his morning shot and we need to try to get the house cleaned up a bit before Mom heads off to her Team Building Day. There’s tons of Mojo hair around the house as he’s shedding a lot. Both dogs get groomed this Friday and it’s around $90, which we don’t want to spend, but we have to do it.

All the boys can talk about these days is horses. Horses this and horses that, they have the bug and are putting any spare change into the horse jar. In fact the littlest one asked if he could have some money and when I asked what for, he told me it was to put into the horse jar. I had to explain to him that that’s not how it works. At least it’s better to save for horses than some cheap useless soon forgotten toy from China.

Well, time to run with my conference call fast approaching. Mom and the little guy are off to the pool for an hour or so, hope it goes well. Still no microwave, too funny huh? You all should be placing bets on how long it’ll take us to get that together. Could be a while as we got hit with $608 to the dentist yesterday!

Oh well, it’s only money right? Take care and God Bless

Back in the World of technology for 36 hours and I’m desperately trying to stay away, and keep the kids away,  from all the useless technology such as TV, newspapers, internet sites, etc. But everywhere I turn I’m bombarded by some talking head telling you what’s best for you and your family. As I eluded to yesterday, you don’t really realize how useless all the supposedly important stuff on the news is until you’re away from it for a few days and your life is just the same, if not better. I’m personally trying to stay away from politics in particular as it’s so easy to get consumed with the day to day back and forth going on between the two party’s. When you get to a part of the Country where people are too busy working and living life rather than having their life revolve around technology, you get a new perspective on life. It’s kind of like you go back in time and personally I think it’s a better way to live. Both boys, in the car on the way home, commented how they didn’t miss TV or video games at all. This may not sound like much to you, but here in the big city, kids gravitate to TV and video games almost subconsciously. Up in the mountains or in ranch country, they naturally get up and head outside to play. Not once was there any mention of TV, video games or the computer. It was all about rock climbing, exploring, riding horses, riding bikes, and other outdoor activities. Now I ask you, which do you think is better for a kid? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out, right?

So even though we live here in the city with easy access to all the mind numbing distractions, the misses and I are determined to do what we can to keep the boys focused on playing outside with less video games and TV. They’re happier, less cranky and sleep better when they play outside all day. Those of you that are my age or older surely remember your days as a kid and I’m sure they were filled with great times out of the house, not in it!

Ok so time to move on, it was hot yesterday and supposed to be in the 80’s all week. Uncle T and Aunt B took the boys to lunch yesterday and bought them some candy and a new video game each. (not all video games are bad, it’s just the amount of time they play that needs to be regulated) That was nice as it gave the misses a chance to get caught up a bit on the house. We still have some chores to do but she put a big dent in the mess. We visited Grandma for a few minutes on the way home from the gym to drop off the wood for her sign she’s putting up at the pond. We need to get a wood burning tool like I had when I was a kid, to carve or burn the name into the wood. Grandma looked good, healthy and happy but she could stand to gain a few pounds!

The misses and I had our first day of eggs, chicken breasts, brown rice and veggies and it went pretty well. I’m down 3 pounds from one day of no junk or alcohol. We’re sticking to this for a whole week to jump start getting back in shape. We each managed to get in two workouts as well, one cardio and then we lifted weights at the gym. I hear Mom upstairs trying to get the little one up as he said he wants to try swim team. The oldest one says no way, too early, he’d rather sleep in. He’s already developed his teenager sleep habits, stay up late and sleep late. He’s always the last one up these days.

Both boys are downstairs now and so is Mom. They are getting their work books for the daily school work they do to keep them in shape during the summer. You can’t let them forget everything they learned during the year, which they surly will, without some daily work. They both actually like it once you get them started. You also have to make them do it as soon as they wake up or it’ll never get done. The littlest one puts up a bit of a fuss but the older one just gets to work. It’s almost 6:30 now and Mom is taking L.O.L. and Bunkie to the vet at 7am. She sure is a good girl to commit and follow through every single day with taking care of that little biting dog. Personally I don’t know if I’d do it.

The boys are talking about us going to Aunt Myrna’s birthday party in Oklahoma in mid August with Pa Don and Grandma Dixie as I told them they’d get to drive tractors and ride more horses. Around here, horses are all the rage right now. My Dad, before he passed away, always told the boys he’d get them horses when they were older and they haven’t forgot this. We have an old mason jar on top of the refrigerator that’s known as the “horse jar”. For the past year, we put all out spare change in here. Your not supposed to be able to take anything out once it goes in, but every now and then it gets raided for some reason. Anyhow the boys must have a few hundred dollars saved towards their horse. Now they don’t, but I do, know the work required just to feed and clean up after a horse. It’s a daily chore that can’t be missed plus they’re expensive to keep. I don’t think we’ll have one anytime soon but it would be a good life lesson for them to have the responsibility of taking care of a horse of their own. I don’t have to worry about this now but when they get up to $500 dollars or so and have enough money, I’m not sure what we’ll do.

Breakfast is almost done and I need some more coffee before we eat so time to sign off. The littlest one also needs some help with his school work. Hope everyone is well and that you have a great day.

p.s. buy some extra food each time you go to the store so you have a little bit saved for hard times!

Here we are at home, lots of laundry to do and the house needs a good cleaning. We didn’t get much put away last night so while I’m getting back to work, the misses will be busy with the chores. Everyone is still sleeping and I need to get downstairs as I’m sure I have a few hundred emails to get through before my conference call starts in 90 minutes. I’m supposed to go to Aspen for the Food and Wine festival this weekend but will try to get out of it. I was going to meet a guy from my distributor in California but I’m scheduled to meet him a week from tomorrow in San Francisco anyhow. It seems kind of redundant to meet Saturday and then again a few days later. The only reason to go is to get some extra face time which I don’t really think is necessary.

The misses and I are going on a week long healthy makeover. All we’ll eat for the week will be chicken breasts, steamed veggies, brown rice and eggs. We’ll have coffee but use only a little cream (half and half) in the morning. We decided we need to jump start weight loss as we’ve been eating too good, or too bad depending on how you look at it! This also means no alcohol which will also be good as when you’re with friends, like at the ranch, everyone has cocktails! We’re also starting on “two a days”. This means we work out twice a day, usually morning and afternoon, to get lots of exercise. We’ll probably start today around mid morning with a family trip to Red Rocks, the amphitheater we’ve wrote about before.

I need to run now as I have a ton of work to catch up on. Thanks to Aunt B and Uncle T for taking care of our two dogs and two fish, we really appreciate it.

Oh by the way, it was so nice not to listen to any TV or read any newspapers. Turns out not much changed and I didn’t miss anything life changing. Just more useless drab like Anthony Weiner and more pornographic pictures, why can’t this guy just go away! I wish everyone could take a break for a few days from all the junk that we’re exposed to on a daily basis. None of it really matters that much. Try turning off your TV and radio and don’t read any newspapers for a few days and see what you miss, it won’t be much and you’ll feel much better, trust me, it’s true.

take care and God Bless,

What a weekend! Everything was great. Yesterday finished with the littlest one being the last man standing for the Orange team in the Paintball Championships. The trophy was as big as he is and was coveted by the group from California who were playing against each other for the grand prize. The oldest one and his team (Blue) actually won but it was the littlest one who had the entire group cheering. They play in this designated area of ranch land that has rocks, trees, sage brush and must be 3 or 4 football fields big. Each player dons camouflage clothing, gloves, masks that cover the face and most of the head and then have these CO2 charged paint ball guns that shoot 300 feet per second. (which is really powerful and fast) Anyhow at the end of the second round, our youngest is crouching in the sage brush and he’s so small the guy from the other team runs right by him trying to get the flag. After a few minutes when it looks as though all is lost, he pops up and goes running through the sage and shoots the player from the other team preventing them from winning. There’s three players left on the other team, including his brother, who are dumbfounded as from the edge of the field there’s about 20 people screaming with joy cheering our youngest on by name. He only was shot once (twice and you’re out) but ran out of compressed air. He would have won the game by himself but didn’t understand that he was supposed to grab the other teams flag. He said he saw it in the bush but didn’t know he was supposed to grab it! It was quite a team building moment for all the people from this company and our littlest and oldest solidified the entire event. They were both getting hi fives for the rest of the evening and then again this morning. We hit the hay pretty early last night as it was a full day.

This morning we awoke are 6:15 to the sound of the rushing water outside. The misses and I arranged for a bit more difficult trail ride out into the wilderness and took along the photographer who was there from Maryland shooting a brochure for the ranch. The boys will for sure be all over this as she was taking their pictures left and right. Cheryl, the professional photographer is sending us a ton of photos from the weekend. We all had to sign a waiver to let them be used when we arrived. Anyhow Cheryl travels the world (goes to Nicaragua next week for 3 weeks) and she was just working the whole time so the misses and I asked her if she wanted to come along to which she gladly accepted. We rode up through the sage to about 11,000 feet high through the 200 acre parcel where there are about 20 wild buffalo. It was really nice as it was early in the morning and the views were incredible. The boys stayed with head wrangler Jake and one of the intern wranglers named Amanda and they rode Rio and Boogie in the outdoor pen, roped some cows, roped each other and played some games. We knew Jake from last year and the boys had both ridden both of these horses before. Speaking of horses, I was on Shasta yesterday, a spirited horse that you had to keep in line and today on one of my favorites from last year, an incredible cutting horse named JJ. This horse could turn on a dime and I know it sounds strange but I think he remembered me! Horses can sense and smell fear so why wouldn’t they be able to remember a particular rider. The misses was on Bart today who was sure footed (which we needed on the steep switchbacks coming down) and looked like she’d been riding her whole life. Anyhow it was a truly great time and our hosts, who we spent some time with last night when they flew in and again this morning at breakfast, are really nice and generous to us. Both boys went up and thanked Mr. and Mrs. White personally and shook their hands. Everyone all weekend, from the staff, some who knew them and some who were new, to all the guests and the Whites, commented repeatedly what great kids they are. We of course were very proud of their behavior as should all of you be too.

We left about 11am and headed across the Colorado state line and drove up to my Dad’s old homestead cabin to scrounge for a piece of wood for my Mom to use as a sign for the pond in her pasture at the house. After a quick lunch in Walden with some friends who work for Silver Spur Ranches (John Malone’s place, owner of Starz and Cinemax cable channels) we headed out to home. We arrived here about 5pm and everything is just fine. The boys dozed off for the last 20 minutes and are now across the street at the going away party for our neighbors who go to Guatemala this Thursday for 2 months. We need to run over now and say hi and bye and then will be home to rest our backsides which are sore from so much riding. (actually I’m fine but the misses is hurting)

Sorry we’re late today and yesterday, but it was worth it. No TV, phones, newspapers, videos games, nothing, except the old west in all its glory. I wish everyone could experience this!

Until tomorrow, God Bless,

We arrived at a little bit after 12 noon and were greeted by the staff and given a map to our cabin which is named Rainbow. We drove through the ranch and made our way down the road to a two story log cabin perched on a hill with a river running beneath it. When you walk in there’s a small living room attached to a kitchen with a pot belly stove in the corner. Down the hall you find the master bedroom with a king size bed all decorated in red and black mountain colors. There’s a bath with a shower next to it and the entire place was decorated by some design firm out of Chicago. The girls here thought it was a bit too over the top so they tweaked it a bit. After all what do people from Chicago know about the old west. Upstairs is the boys bedroom with two bunk beds meaning both boys get to sleep on the top!They too have their own bathroom upstairs. It’s really just flat out perfect!

The afternoon was filled with activities…especially for the boys.  It started with rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking and ending with a paint ball war the a big group that is staying at the ranch.  The boys were on the same team for the first match, but had to separate when one of the other teams players opted out.  Our oldest rushed the opposing team shooting and yelling “Die Freaks”….turns out both boys were real assets and they are now set to play in the Championship match this afternoon.

We went back to our fabulous cabin to clean up for dinner and sit on the porch to enjoy the views, then headed back to the Saloon for cocktail hour and dinner at the Chuck Wagon.  The Chef cooked up enough New York steaks for thirty or forty people, linguine with jumbo prawns in Alfredo sauce, a vegetable medley of squashes, onions, peppers and spices, homemade rolls and a creme brulee pie to die for…or at least gain 10 pounds for.  The boys were well behaved and adjourned to the fire pit to roast marsh mellowsand make s’mores. They entertained the group staying here until almost 10:p.m. when we headed back to the most comfortable beds ever!!

Of course morning comes early at the ranch. The Mister was up before 5 and the youngest was up shortly after him and woke his brother shortly sfter that….so we showered and headed in for breakfast at the Lodge.  Wow./..pannini breakfast sandwiches eggs, bacon, fruit, oatmeal with all of the toppings you can imagine, pastries from the pastry chef and many more delicious items…hope no one is hungry while they are reading this.

Off to the races…a trail ride for about 2 1/2 hours and the boys rode beautifully…chatting with every one each way.  We got back from the ride in time to enjoy lunch at the Chuck Wagon…more good food. After lunch the youngest jumped on a mountain bike and rode back to our cabin…we followed him in the Suburban.

We rested for about 2 minutes…then the Mister went out to the shooting range and the boys and I walked back to the activities center.  They climbed and climbed the rock wall, played basketball and wore the employees out.  Signining off to go to the Paintball Championship…

God Bless

LLF DBF