A Little Colorado Vacation

My cousin got married last week, which seemed like as good an excuse as any to take a trip to Colorado.

Since it was a holiday week, the boys and I only had to miss four days of school/work.

It turns out they don't celebrate Columbus day there, so the zoo on Monday was remarkably un-crowded.

(And while I appreciate the sentiment, I would not want to lose any of my holidays.)

In addition to the zoo,

we said "hello" to the Colorado river.

Spent a day at the hot springs (no photos of that, though, being all wet and all).

The boys found it a novelty to be swimming in almost (but not quite) snowing weather.

We ate lots of Mexican food.

And looked at lots of beautiful scenery.

We had hoped to go to the Great Sand Dunes or Dinosaur National Monument,

but they were both closed due to the shutdown (thanks a heap, congress).

We went on a couple of chilly picnics,

and did some low-key hiking.

Visited a historic site,

And got snowed on just a little.

Enjoyed gorgeous foliage,

And, of course, took the requisite Twin No. 1 

And Twin No 2 Cabin photos.

Two of us did a whole heck of a lot of make-up school work (and a whole heck of a lot of complaining about said work) and even more playing with Dr. Waffles Tragidonius, who didn't scratch anyone this time.

And, of course, the wedding (complete with break-dancing monk––what wedding doesn't have one of those?)

It was fun and exhausting, as all vacations spent visiting family are. Now we're all adjusting back to the Eastern timezone and school and work schedules.

5K to Farm

After last month's run, Z had the idea of doing a 5K every weekend.

Conveniently, our house is located almost exactly a mile-and-a-half from each end of our road, so a trek down to one end of the road and back equals just about a 5K.

And they're both walks I have taken many a time over the years, pushing a stroller, and then a trike with a push bar, and then a double stroller, with a training-wheeled bike following along.

But it's been a while since that walk has been part of my routine. Something about no strollers to push, or the advent of both twins on bikes being way too crazy for me to deal with on the road (I did take them as far as the daycare center many times when they were on training wheels, but not three miles. Nowadays, the boys all ride their bikes all the way to the General Store with their dad).

So Z and I had decided to do a weekly 5K to the end of the road, but with one thing and another, hand't yet gotten around to it. 

Until last week he mentioned he'd like to visit the farm we pass at one end our road. So I suggested we do his 5K and visit the farm all in one trip.

Sunday morning he got up early (but not too early––I had persuaded him to not set his alarm clock), fixed us each a bagel with jam, and got geared up for the run.

He ran ahead, stopping to wait for me at each driveway (yes, I walked the whole thing--still don't believe in running, plus I needed to take pictures along the way).

He stopped now and then to collect maple leaves or observe great blue herons.

We got a tour of the farm––ducks, cows, sheep, goats, two adorable little farm girls, and all––despite having disturbed the farmers' breakfast.

Z failed to catch either a duck or a turkey, but braved petting the cows and goats.

And now he wants to make it a weekly adventure. 

Weekend Things: Autumnish

This weekend I decided to ignore two looming writing deadlines and just live life like a normal person.

Saturday morning, I went to E and Z's soccer game. This year was the first year ever that I didn't attend every single game––in the past C and I divided the labor so that he took the practices and I took the games, but this year he got roped (with my collusion) into assistant coaching, so he's had to go to all the games––and I've taken advantage of a few quiet Saturday mornings at home.

Later, M's friend came over for "band practice" down in the basement and E and Z's friend joined them for Legos, running around, and watching Scooby Doo.

E decided to carve one of the tiny pumpkins we bought at a farm stand a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty amazing that these boys can just think of some project and do it.

In the meantime, I made apple butter out of most of the remaining apples from our 59 pound harvest at the apple orchard a few weeks ago, which was kind of ridiculous, because our wild apple trees have millions of apples on them right now, which would be perfect for apple butter (since they're not very good for eating). Next year I'll do better. I used a vinegar recipe (some recipes call for cider, others vinegar) and at first I wasn't pleased with the result, but the taste has grown on me, and it's perfect with toast and eggs.

Later, when we took E and Z's friend home, I forgot to bring a jar of apple butter to give to his mom, and when I turned around to go back home I saw this sun dog over our driveway.

I happened to have my camera with me because I was hoping to catch some photos of the gorgeous October evening light on the way home.

But we stayed and chatted too long, and I missed the prime light window. 

One More Beach Day

I didn't want to say "One Last Beach Day" because it can't be over yet, can it?

Sunday, I dragged the boys on a little hike.

I found that by giving them time to play Legos (E) and iPad (M) in the morning, they complained less about having to leave the house (Z was raring to go from the beginning).

We went to a place that I've been meaning to get back to for years.

The last time we were here, E and Z rode in the double stroller. 

It had been too long.

Beach essentials: plum cake, a good book, nature journal, colored pencils, pencil sharpener.

The beach seemed to have grown since last we were here, and even though the parking lot was full, it felt almost like we had the whole place to ourselves.

E and Z entertained themselves, and M leaned on me reading his own book long enough that I was able to read a few chapters. Bliss.

We found more sand dollars and sand dollar parts (now known as sand quarters, sand dimes, sand nickels, etc.) than I've ever seen on any beach before.

E collected them, and Z collected huge clam shells to take home to use as dishes.

 At some point, M disappeared, having taken himself back to the car (and the mosquitoes) when he got bored with the beach.

"Bored" and "Beach" are two words I don't understand in the same sentence.

On the drive home, M surfed through the radio stations, looking for music to his liking, and landed on five in a row of Def Leppard, and now I've had "Bringin' on the Hearbreak" stuck in my mind ever since. Ah, the memories.

Weekend Things--Fall Harvest

I keep waking up in the middle of the night and then lying there, all of the things I need to do, want to do, should do, running a marathon around my brain. Friday my massage therapist noted an imbalance in my gall bladder meridians, which are associated with lists and making decisions, and also with the hours between one and four a.m. I'm not sure how much I buy into all that, but when I woke up early (but not nearly as early as usual, thanks, perhaps, to the massage) on Saturday morning, I decided to just get up and get some things crossed off my list.

There is a tension in our weekends, between accomplishing all the things we need to do, and making time for the things we want to do. This time of year heightens that tension, with all of the perishable foods coming out of the garden––ours and others'––and the impending possibility of frost.

Last weekend we accidentally picked 59 pounds of apples, and, when visiting family friends, came home with a great big box of produce. During the week, I managed to turn the basil into pesto, and most of the tomatoes into ketchup and jam, but still our refrigerator resisted closing for all the goodness inside it, and something had to be done.

So early Saturday morning, I started with a quadruple batch of apple chia jam and oatmeal for breakfast, then moved on to a bowl of gazpacho soup for later weekend eating that took care of more tomatoes, a cucumber and a green pepper. The rest of the green peppers I roasted and froze (wish I'd thought of doing this with them). The rest of the tomatoes went into the solar oven for more pasta sauce. I finished off the morning with a plum cake. I left the huge harvest of beans for C to blanch and freeze later in the weekend (the winners in this summer's Garden Roulette were the legumes––peas and beans we had aplenty).



While I was cooking like a madwoman, E asked if we could get out the autumn stuff. I had just been thinking that the boys aren't all that into our little seasonal traditions anymore, so this pleased me greatly. I hung up our fall banner and E decorated our TV table with autumnal things. I still need to get out the autumn books, although we hardly read any of the spring and summer ones, now that the boys like to listen to chapter books (still on Harry Potter Round 3) and are even reading chapter books to themselves.

I was able to get most of one story revised while E and Z were at soccer an M at a friend's house, and then when I picked up M, I came home with another box of fresh produce and two jugs of apple cider right out of the press. After that we all went to another of M's friend's house for a laser tag birthday party, which I have to say while kind of fun, for a bit, definitely not something I'd want to do all the time (and yes, I had reservations about my kids running around the woods with fake guns killing each other...and me).

All of that out of the way, we cleared the decks for doing something off my "want to do" list on Sunday.