Hazard of the Job

Alex and I were checking out at Target today. He was sitting in the child's seat of the cart. As the light-skinned, black, elderly man was ringing us up Alex says, "I can tell you're from another country."
The man said, "What makes you think that?"
Alex replied, "Because your skin is a different color."
"I was born in Atlantic City, NJ," said the man, not seeing too offended.
I was so embarrassed! I quickly chimed in, "We work with international students," hoping that would explain Alex's comment.
The man finished checking us out and didn't seem very hurt.
Alex does go to school with two Pakistani kids, is best friends with half white, half Chinese kids, and lives in an African American neighborhood. I guess you could say he's very observant for 4 1/2!

A Week with Family

 This is the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo where you can feed giraffes and get close to their faces (and tongues). It's really a cool way to view giraffes!
Dave and I were really impressed with this zoo. The animals, the education about elephants, the layout...it was all really cool.

 Grizzly bear!!!

Tokay Gecko

 One thing we loved was the reptile house. They made it into an art gallery with reptiles on display. Their goal was to help those people who are creeped out by fast crawling, slithering creatures. For the lizards they had colored sand and beautiful ceramic vases. For the snakes they had colored glass beads/gems and beautiful pottery in their cases.

 The children's zoo wasn't anything compared to the new one at Phila Zoo, but it was very fun with lots to climb on and play around. The kids had fun being spiderman while Dave was Dr. Doom.

We had a girls day where Marilyn, Lilia and I did a tour of Glen Eyrie Castle. It is currently the headquarters of The Navigators ministry, but they give out tours. The tour is worth every penny. The story is neat, but General Palmer, who built it, was unbelievable brilliant for his time. He put electricity in his castle the same time much of New York City was getting electricity.
The was followed by a tea. We had a great time sipping tea together and enjoying delicious sandwiches and treats.

We celebrated Dave's birthday also. Lilia iced cupcakes.
Dave, Al and Alex went to a minor league baseball game. They had a great time. Dave caught a foul ball and Alex got to keep it. They sat in the sun all morning, but by late afternoon the snow was falling.
Pete, Julie & Blake joined us for dinner at the Brindley's. As we sat around the dinner table eating the best salmon dinner I ever had, snow was falling outside and sticking to every surface. (pictured below)
Thankfully out there the air is so dry that the snow is melted by the next day. That was a relief with how long, cold and snowy our winter was back home!

Lilia and Alex loved hanging out with Lily the dog. They took her for walk, fed her, snuggled with her on the couch and taught her a jumping trick.

On Friday Pete took me snowboarding at Winter Park. Dave and the kids hung out at Julie's. The kids raked pine needles (their favorite chore) and played with all the dogs.
Winter Park is HUGE! Of course it's way bigger in height, but also in the number of trails. They probably have about 3x as many trails as we do on any given mountain.
The sign to the right said that our elevation was 10,806 ft. It was a little warm that day so the conditions weren't the best, but it was amazing getting to experience the mountain and enjoy boarding with Pete.

Overall we had a really great week! We loved getting to experience Dave's parents new life out in Colorado. They are connected to a really great church and love the lifestyle out there. I'm so thankful we had so much time with them! We also loved spending some good quality time with Julie, Pete and Blake!

Time with Grandparents

While Dave and I were at our Bridges conference, Lilia and Alex were staying with Dave's parents in their Colorado home. Behind their house is a trail that goes on for quite a while. They take Lily the dog for walk and some days they take Blake out too. (Alex is pushing Blake in the stroller.)

 Al and Marilyn took the kids on lots of adventures. One day they went to a wild cat reserve. The rehabilitate big cats that people owned as pets, but couldn't handle them. Then they release them into the wild.

This one to the left is actually a liger. A lion/tiger breed!!! Yes, Napoleon Dynamite wasn't that far off...

 They also visited a church friend of the Brindley's who has llamas. The kids got to feed and hang out with them.

The women who owns the llamas also spins her own yarn. That's pretty cool!

My Niece Blake...

 Meet Blake! She was 6 months old on April 11th. She is SO MUCH FUN!!! I am so crazy about her!
She is full of personality. She screams with excitement, she loves to be around people and she is really a happy baby.

 Lilia was so sweet with Blake. She would play peek-a-boo or go over to her and say hi or even want to hold her. By the end of the week Lilia was getting mad that Blake would get so much attention. It wasn't because she wanted the attention on herself, but she wanted Lily the dog to get all the attention.

I love this girl!!!

 Three generations...Marilyn, Julie and Blake (with the bunny face).

Marilyn & Blake in her home-made easter hat

 One of the cutest things about Blake is that she LOVES, really LOVES her Uncle Dave. Blake is always moving, always squirming, but when Uncle Dave is talking she stops and fixes her eyes on him and just stares. It is the sweetest thing! In this picture (right) Blake is grabbing Dave's face.

Pete, Blake & Dave

Balanced Rock, The Windows, & Double Arch

Balanced rock

 So Arches National Park is only 6.5 hours from where we were in Colorado. A road trip like that sounds perfect for me and my BFF (Dave). We have so much fun together.
Side Note: At the conference they were talking about 3 aspects of a healthy marriage:
1. Low Conflict (not NO conflict)
2. High warmth, which comes from shared common tasks and vulnerability.
3. Fun! Sharing new adventures together.
We are pretty good at these, which is why after 11 years I can still say that Dave is my BFF.

Ok - back to Arches. So we took a road trip here. This place is so unique and other-worldly. I would add it to your bucket list! "Water and ice, extreme temperatures, and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculpted rocks at Arches."

Dave looking out over the landscape

The (North) Window 

We arrived around 4 pm. Earlier that day we had hiked hanging lake...it was literally on the way. We were pretty sore and tired (the day before was 6 mile Deer Mountain), but we meandered our way and these few arches. Luckily there were minimal stairs and no hiking required!

Pictured above is one of The Windows. It looks pretty small, but that's because I took it from a pretty good distance. The picture on the right is us standing under the right side of the window. It's massive!

The North Window (left) & South Window (right)

Pictured here was the last arch we saw before heading to dinner...Double Arch. It was so incredible!!! I had on flip flops. At this point I took them off and walked in the soft, cool red sand. It felt so amazing under my toes.
As we approached the rock formation it was so breath-taking! I loved getting to climb around in my bare feet. The rocks were so smooth and massive. We climbed high toward the right window and peered out over the landscape as the sun was lowering behind the clouds. It was so beautiful!

Flowers of Moab

 One thing that was so surprising in this desert landscape was the vibrant colors that dotted the red sand. We saw red, yellow, purple, and white flowers of different shapes and sizes.
They were all so beautiful! I made Dave pull over or stop a million times on our hike so I could snap pictures.
We were here in April. It can be warm , but cool too. We didn't even spend 24 hours at Arches, but we experienced a lot of climate changes. When we pulled in around 4 it was hot and sunny. When the sun went behind clouds it was a bit cool. I think the temp was about 79.
The next morning we got to the park around 7am and it was drizzling and only 46 degrees. For our hike up to Delicate arch it was dry, but the hike down was a steady rain. I guess that's how so many beautiful plants and flowers can survive!