Trick-or-Teat!!

I think I may love Halloween more than my kids do, and that is saying a lot! I don't dress up, but I do love to see all the kids in their costumes, the trick or treating and staying out until all hours of night. This year was especially fun since the night was so unseasonably warm. In years past we've taken our kids out while it was snowing, raining, freezing and icy out... and that was just one Halloween night! Luckily our kids are marathon trick or treaters and they don't let the bad weather get them down.

Because of my excitement for Halloween I often go a little overboard with the costumes. We asked the kids what they wanted to be a couple of months ago and then I have an awful tendency to try and figure out how to do whatever they request. Usually its something easy... a ghost, a princess etc. This year, Taylor wanted to be a hatching chick, Olivia a witch, Dee Dee a Butterfly and Lucas wanted to be something scary... until he freaked out in the Halloween aisle at Target, then he decided he wanted to be something safe...a fireman.

Lucas' costume was the only one from the store, the rest we made at home. I thought Dee Dee's would be easy as well, I made the wings and just needed to buy some antenna to be a butterfly. Well, as it turns out, butterflies are OUT and fairy princesses are IN. It was even hard to find a head band to make our own antenna, so we went with a sparkly butterfly princess as her costume. She turned out pretty cute! It doesn't show in the picture, but we made her wings extra sparkly!

Taylor's developed from a fairly easy costume to one that was more complicated. The trouble started when I told DiDi that she was going to be a pink chick and that I needed a pink boa to finish the project. Diane had a hard time imagining a pink chick since chicks are usually yellow. I now realize I should have made the argument that she was a pink chick because for Halloween she was going as an Easter chick that had been dyed pink for that holiday. Unfortunately I didn't think of that argument until yesterday, so Taylor ended up being a hatching flamingo which was waaay more complicated. However, her costume got rave reviews on Halloween. I sewed the neck, the body and the wings, made the mask and sewed a store bought beak onto it, she also got a pink store bought wig for her 'hat'. The girls and I made the hatching egg parts from paper papier-mache. Even if I say so myself...it was a fabulous costume.

For Olivia I sewed her a skirt and shirt from some black fabric that Diane supplied. The girls and I made the hat from paper papier-mache and glued some hair from a wig onto it. Her face was from a makeup kit from the store that included an ugly, warty green nose. By the time Chris got done with her makeup, it looked like she was wearing an expensive and realistic mask. Olivia got tons of compliments for her costume as well, which she thought was kind of embarrassing.

For the first part of the night we went to Olde Town Arvada for their trick or treat street. After getting a ton of candy there, we went to a neighborhood so that we could completely fill up their candy bags. We were out for hours, the night was so warm and the kids were having so much fun. At a certain point, we realized it was just us and the teens still out and decided that it was time for us to go home and enjoy some of candy the kids had collected. I'm pretty sure, we'll have enough candy to last us until Christmas... or at least Thanksgiving!

We saw Senators Obama and McCain throw down in Denver!

Last Sunday, Diane, Taylor, Olivia and I decided to go to the Obama rally at Civic Center Park. It was a a spur of the moment decision, and we figured we wouldn't get in, but thought it would be a fun adventure to have with the girls. The day was a little cold, like sweater weather...or so I thought when we left our jackets at home...wow that was a mistake. By the time we arrived down town the wind started to kick up, making the sweater weather, more like 'thick jacket with sweater weather'! This mistake resulted in lots of whining from the 7 year old set. We decided to push on anyway.

Since parking is a bit of a nightmare on a daily basis in Denver we decided to park on the other side of I25, walk across the pedestrian bridge that spans the highway, across the bridge over the Platte River, across the park and then across the Millennium bridge and take the 16th street mall bus to Civic Center Park. I thought it was a brilliant plan... as did about 1000 other people. The bus was packed with Obama supporters and when I say packed, I mean by the end of the trip, had the bus tipped over, none of us would have been jarred from our positions. The bus trip went on for way too long, at least the girls enjoyed it, both thought it must be what a roller coaster is like.... maybe we need to take them to one of the local amusement parks so they experience what a roller coaster is really like. On the other hand... the mall bus is free....

When we got to the park, the rally area was already filled with 50,000 people with another 50,000 or more standing in the surrounding area. From the stage all the way back to the capital building, the place was filled with people just waiting to hear Obama's voice. There were people all the way around the rally area and even on top of buildings waiting for him to arrive.

Since we couldn't see the stage at all, we decided to hang out near the Greek columns. The fountain there was empty of water, but filled with little kids 'skating' on the smooth concrete. From there it was easy to hear the loudspeakers for the rally... actually, it was easy to hear the rally for a couple of blocks surrounding the park! It was fascinating that so many would hang out just to hear a candidate's voice, there certainly weren't that many that could even see the stage.

While there we saw these 2 little boys, one was dressed as Obama, the other was dressed as McCain. As it turned out they were brothers wearing their Halloween costumes. Pretty clever costumes if you ask me! At one point they started to wrestle and it was pretty funny. It was easy to picture the real Obama and McCain kind of wanting to go at each other like that. I'm not sure who would have won in this physical contest, the Obama kid was faster and had better reach, but McCain weighed a little more and liked to fight dirty. Mom came along and broke them up... Needless to say, both ended up in a timeout for trying to choke each other!

Between the speeches from various politicos and their flunkies the loud speakers would blare some catchy tune to keep the crowd up beat. The girls had a great time dancing together to the music and playing with the other kids. All the running around helped keep them warm and less whiny.

After waiting for awhile (Obama was late) the girls started to get really bored, cold and hungry. To try to keep them busy we walked closer to the capital building. We were hoping to find a vantage point where we could at least see where the stage was located. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but I did get some good snaps of the crowd and this one of the capital.

We stayed a little while longer and listened to the beginning of Obama's speech, but the girls were getting hungry and cold, so we went to McDonald's to stem the tide of whining. The bus trip to McDonald's was much nicer. The girls were amazed that there were so few people on the bus. There was a lot of counting and announcing of how there were only 12 people on the bus rather than 2000 (this number was Olivia's inflated number...I'm fairly sure there weren't 2000 people on that first bus!)

During lunch we sat at a the table next to an older lady that had also gone to the rally. She was so excited about the whole election and shared some of her stories about how Denver had changed during her lifetime. I don't know if the girls were really listening to her, but I hope they got an idea of how historic this election really is.

After lunch, we hit the crowds as they were leaving the rally. It was still less crowded on the bus and the trip was pretty pleasant. On the way back we did a little more of the touristy stuff as far as taking pictures and the girls got to play a little. At the park they rolled down the steep hill right by the sidewalk. One lady walking by and watching the kids roll down the hill commented, 'that is something that only a kid would enjoy!' How true, once you reach a certain age, avoiding falling down a hill becomes more of a priority.

Even though we didn't get to see anyone 'famous', it was a fun adventure and the girls had a good time.

An Autumn Drive part 3

A Surprising Park

After saying goodbye to the Stanley and leaving Estes Park we started the winding journey through the Big Thompson Canyon towards home.  Right at the outskirts of Estes Park and just about the time we started thinking about having lunch little raindrops began hitting the windshield.  Since it looked like a little storm, we decided to drive and when we were out of the storm we would stop and have lunch.  We'd packed a picnic and wanted to enjoy it outside, rather than enduring it inside the car.  We wound our way through the Big Thompson Canyon... I took a couple of pictures, unfortunately none of them turned out...

About 40 miles later... we were in Longmont and it finally stopped raining.  As we were driving down the main drag I spied a large grassy area... it looked a likely spot so we doubled back.  The park we had stumbled across was Roosevelt Park and in all honesty it was THE BEST PARK EVER! 

(Sweetheart?)

As are most parents, I am a play park connoisseur.  I like the parks that have the newer equipment...easy for the kids to play on and much safer.  Most of the parks in my area suck as far as set up.  Usually there is a bunch of blind spots where you can't see all your kids playing, so you have to march around the equipment like a demented sentry to keep all the kids in view and make sure the little ones aren't trying to kill themselves...or each other...or some stranger's kid...  This park however was set up perfectly, there really wasn't a bad vantage point. 

(Climbing 4th of July)

It was kind of shaped like a butterfly, all the climbing stuff was located in the middle with 2 twisty slides, one on either end.  The equipment was flat enough that you could see either side from the ends and from straight on you could see both slides as well as the swings in the background.  As a bonus, a kid would really have to try hard to fall, there weren't many areas where a little one could take a nose dive off the equipment.  It was a great park for one parent to be able to watch several kids... which was good for Chris!  Whoever designed this playground had been to a park with kids they cared about. 

(Peace)

Wha...?  Good for Chris?... you might be asking.  Oh hell yeah, I was off doing my own thing and Chris and the kids were on their own.  Attached to the park was a wonderful Rose Memorial Garden for Veterans.  Normally I think of a Rose garden as being a tragedy of some struggling bushes on the edge of the lawn that  have been forgotten.  I don't know if it's because there is a senior center right there or if they just have well trained park personnel; whatever the reason these roses were well taken care of and very healthy.  The blooms were huge, the leaves glossy and green and many of the roses were taller than me.  It was beautiful and the smell... heavenly. 

(Pink Peace)

(Sterling Silver)

Just for the record, I am not a huge fan of the rose bush, I think they are kind of ugly plants.  Very leggy, tall and then they have large flowers located only at the top ... makes them look kind of unbalanced... bunch of green at the bottom and topped with blossoms only at the top.  Plus, I like a tight planting and roses need room to breath or they end up with all kind of health problems. And then there's the care.... roses need some.  The pruning, fertilizing, pruning, watering, disease control, insect control, winterizing, pruning ritual starts to break me down really fast.

But on Sunday, I was sure excited to see so many rose bushes in one place.  It really brought back some memories. 

For years and years I worked in and managed different greenhouses learning all about plants, their care and how to grow them.  I've missed it, and I think that contributed to my excitement.  I actually wished I had some pruners on me since some of the bushes had flowers that were faded... plus a bouquet would have been a great souvenir of the trip.  I'm pretty sure the parks dept would have frowned on random strangers doing some pruning, but eh... how much jail time would I get for that offense?  In the end, I realized I liked my freedom so instead I snapped a bunch of pictures rather than stealing a big bouquet.  A couple of years ago I probably could have told you the names of all of the roses, but now I only know a few off the top of my head.  The garden had the bushes all labeled and the smart person would have snapped pictures of the name before or after each blossom... but I took the pictures (and not the aforementioned smarty pants.)

At a certain point, I had to give up on the photographs... not because I had enough pictures of roses (strange phrase enough and pictures... individually they make sense, put them together and ???)  but, because the battery in my camera was dying.  I didn't bring any extras batteries so... I sat down and had a lovely lunch with the family.   Soon after it started to get really hot as the clouds cleared off  so we decided to head home.  All in all it was a great adventure, we had a lot of fun and I got a lot of great pictures out of the trip. 

Thanks for coming along!!

An Autumn Drive Part 2...

The Stanley Hotel (part 2)

Once in Estes Park we realized that we had never toured the Stanley Hotel and it was about time that we did that. For those of you who have seen or read Stephen King's 'The Shining', the Stanley was the inspiration for the story. Here's the really disappointing part, the Stanley isn't located high up in the mountains in a desolate area above Estes Park ... its actually behind the Safeway within the city limits of Estes Park. (Sorry to be the one to burst that bubble) Even though the location is kind of disappointing the hotel itself is very large and quite grand. We walked around the entire building and looked around inside just like all the other tourists who were there. It was a lot of fun although, I had always pictured it different... more macabre somehow. (Oh yeah... there isn't a maze either... another bubble popped, oh and no living topiary...pop!) We couldn't go upstairs (guests only) and there weren't any ghosts down in the lobby (that I could see) So, I'm assuming they were all upstairs taking midday naps...thats what I would have been doing!
The Stanley has some amazing mountain views and is worth a visit just for that. Just imagine sitting on the big wrap around veranda with a view like this:

We parked around the back of the Hotel. From there you could access many of the rooms (no view, so probably the 'affordable' rooms are in the back) There were a bunch of cute little flower gardens and these cool gates located every 20 feet or so. The Hotel was really striking because of its attention to detail. Even the fire escapes had little details that made them more like works of art rather than a tedius life saving structure.

I really can't believe that it took us so many years to really look around the Stanley, but I'm glad we finally did. I think the kids even enjoyed themselves a little bit.

An Autumn Drive...Part 1

OK, since I had a lot of pictures and didn't want to overload anyone, I thought I would do this entry in the 3 parts, St. Malo, The Stanley Hotel and the Rose Garden in Longmont. This is part 1:

St. Malo

Its this time every year that I get the itch to go to the mountains and take pictures of the aspens. Its hard not to get excited with all the news reports about the aspens and how pretty they are. This year, we decided to include a visit to St Malo in the itinerary. We started off early on Sunday (not as early as I would have liked, sleeping is always nice). On our way we saw some Balloonists on a morning outing, it was a great way to start a photographic journey.

St. Malo is not far from Estes Park on Colorado Highway 7. The drive is very easy and the cute chapel perched on the out cropping of rock is beautiful any time of year, but it seems to glow in the fall. In the past, Chris and I would drive by the church and maybe stop and snap a couple of pictures from the highway. This year, we decided to stop and take in the peace and beauty of the scenic church. ... OK... mostly we stopped because Chris was going to leave the kids there. But we decided to take pictures first and abandon them later. (kidding!)

On one side of the church is a small creek that drains into a small pond. The water was so still it looked like glass and made for some beautiful Kodak moments. We hiked around the church and I took some pictures of Chris and the kids perched on the backside of the giant rock that St. Malo is built upon.

From the other side we were able to see the stained glass windows reflecting the yellow foliage in front of it. Like I said, in the fall, it almost seems to glow.

There is a new building near the old chapel where they hold retreats and the pope even stayed there when he visited Colorado in 1993. We took some pictures in front of one of the older buildings on the property. There was also a small pond with what looks like a pier below the retreat center. It amused me to think of the pope skinny dipping in the pond. (I don't know if it happened, but I'm trying to start an internet rumor.)

Since I originally said we started the trip to find some autumn gold, aspens, here are some of the pictures I took of the stands they have around St. Malo.

It was a beautiful walk around the old chapel and we all enjoyed the beauty and the exercise. We almost turned around at that point to head home, but decided to head up to Estes Park.

To be continued...