Day 36: MOUNTAIN DOG! Coming this fall to NBC.

On Saturday the 28th, we all got up early and drove out to Breckenridge for a day hike.  Patty has a great guide book that lists a bunch of dog-friendly hikes, and she found one that was moderately easy, mostly off-leash, wasn't too long, and had a big ol' lake at the end where the girls could go swimming.

The dogs knew something was up, and all three of them loaded themselves into the car before we did, just to make sure they wouldn't get left behind, including the fourteen-year old Jack Russell, Bonnie.  We had debated taking her at all, but she seemed to be having a puppyish morning, so we figured it was worth a shot.  If she got too tuckered out one of us could stow her in a backpack.

The hike was little tough on those of us not in very good shape, but it was a good challenge and the destination was so very worth it, especially to the dogs, who weren't even fazed by the exertion and dove into the water instantly when we hit the lake.

Gracie swam out to chase balls into the lake and Punk zoomed around on the shore, chasing Gracie and the chocolate Lab we met named Bill, and stealing their tennis balls.  They were, in a word, ecstatic.  Bonnie was pretty pooped, decided she'd had enough and tried to escape and head back down the hill to the car, but deigned to hang around and humor us once the treats came out.

We hung around by the lake and snacked for a bit, basking in the scenery.  On the hike down we explored the falls that come down the mountain out of the lake.

Hee!  Cute.  The dogs also amused themselves tromping though the mud.

A gorgeous day, seriously happy and completely exhausted dogs, and a taste of how much fun its going to be to explore the Cascades with Punkerdoo.  Can't wait!

Onward!

Day 23-34: In which your woefully inadequate blogstress brings you up to date.

So.  HI!  

After we got back from DC we were pretty beat, so we spent a couple of days recuperating and John got caught up on work.  We've been trying to nail down an apartment in Portland, but it turned out to be much tougher than we expected remotely, so on Monday we are flying up to Portland to spend four days nailing down an apartment.  Then we'll come back here, rent another Behemoth, drive back to Portland, and be done with this whole damned thing.  Except we'll just be getting started.

I've also started applying for jobby jobs (about 15 or 16 of them so far), and haven't been getting much response.  I was hoping to have a couple of interviews set up for next week, but nothing yet.  Such is the job market at present.  Ah, well.  I'll keep plugging.

The dogs are keeping us entertained, and we've started taking them to the local 16-odd acre mountain dog park as often as possible to run off their ya ya and get our lazy asses used to hiking again.  

Its been a bit of a saving grace for us, truth be told, because we can't quite shake that 'we live in my mom's basement' feeling, although David and Patty have been exceedingly kind and welcoming and frankly would prefer it if we stayed for another few months, possibly buying the house that's for sale across the way from them and moving in ASAP.  Still.  Its been nice to get ourselves out of the house and into the sunshine and, in Gracie's case at least, the mud.

We've also gotten to chat with really nice people and meet cute pups, including an entire family of seven or eight 9 month old English Mastiff puppies who were meeting up there for a family reunion.  I tried to get photos of that but they were all over the place.  And they were huge.  Really nice pups, though.

The weather has started to turn from summer to fall, and the nights in the mountain house are downright cold.  Patty and David bought a big box of beautiful Colorado peaches and hence there has been cobbler, promises of pie, delicious snacking, and two experiments with jam, one peach and raspberry, one straight peach.  Neither have been entirely successful, but still very delicious.  We'll get it yet.

So that about does it for the time being!  More to come from Portland as events progress.

FINALLY, Day 19-22: More lovely people are married and we help get it done.

The morning of the 13th we were up early again to get on yet another plane to head to Washington DC for John's sister Cathy's wedding.  I took no where near enough photos of this trip.  Because we were just DOING so much.  I hardly ever thought to pull out my camera.  Plus, with my own family I feel comfortable pulling out the camera and poking it at them.  Not so with people I barely know.  Feels a little bit intrusive.  ANYWAY.  We landed and got on the Metro to Rosslyn, and then a shuttle to Georgetown, and then met up with John's sister Cathy and her fiancee Michael.  Wednesday we had a great time hanging out with the nuptial couple, a little dinner and chat.  Cathy was house sitting in Bethesda, so we spent the night with her Wednesday and Thursday.  On a Murphy Bed.  An honest to god, fold into the wall, old school Murphy Bed.  

Awesome.  Thursday we figured out that John and I had become de facto assistant wedding planners, which meant a lot of errand running and so forth.  We did a big run for various ingredients and small kitcheny type items, during which we saw a kid at the grocery store dressed in his astronaut jumpsuit and yellow wellies.  Totally awesome.  I took a photo, but John says I can't post it here.  And then we spent the rest of the day helping the couple set up their apartment for the wedding luncheon.  Michael is a chaplain in residence at Georgetown, so he has a one bedroom apartment in one of the dorms.  Enough space for a married couple, certainly.  Kind of tight for an 18 person dinner party.  But with a lot of stuff taken out and stored in an empty room down the hall, and some ingeniously rearranged tables and chairs, the place looked beautiful and we were pretty proud of the hard work.  It also meant that I got the chance to see some freaking adorable childhood photos of my boy.

In case you can't tell, that's John, as a toddler, holding a chicken.  The man I love is one generation away from a farm, so that's how this photo exists.  He was also apparently quite good at catching chickens.

Holy cow.  John then set to work on the cakes for the luncheon.  He'd settled on the chocolate orange hazelnut option he'd been working on for awhile and then a carrot cake as well.  Cathy and Michael has ended up with 10 pounds of excess carrots through a weird caterer miscommunication, so we tried our best to help alleviate the surplus, not only with cake, but with an enormous vat of carrot raisin slaw for the barbeque on Friday.  Which wasn't a GREAT idea on my part.  Not that many people actually like carrot raisin slaw.  So there was a lot of it.  Leftover.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  We got a lot done on Thursday and then collapsed on our Murphy Bed feeling very accomplished.

Friday was more of the same in the morning, errands and little things.  I got to drive around Georgetown a bit and see some of the beautiful and obviously 200 year old houses and twisty little side streets while I was running errands.  

We parked at one point near one of those tiny little 200 year old houses that was for sale!  For $729,000!  Neat!  I also got to briefly meet John's super awesome sister Steph and her equally awesome boyfriend Shaka.  John and I decided that we should probably have a rental car to get us to and fro for the next day or so, which I succeeded in doing almost at the last minute in Rosslyn before the closest rental place ran out of cars, and I pretty much got the last thing they had.  Which was a big red shiny pickup truck.  Sweet!  It was very tricky navigating that big ass truck through Georgetown's little bitty 200 year old streets, but we managed.  We even parallel parked!  It actually turned out to be very handy.  Finally it was time for the rehearsal at about 2pm, and therefore, it was time for me to meet John's parents.  

We got to the chapel and John's folks had obviously taken it to heart when John mentioned that I was nervous to meet them, because they presented me with flowers and were very sweet and welcoming.  Go John's folks!  After the rehearsal, we pulled the big shiny truck up to Michael's dorm and loaded a whole lot of barbeque supplies into the back, successfully fought a parking ticket we received in the process (thanks entirely to Shaka's intervention) and drove out to the Virginia park where the barbeque was being held.  Lots of kids running around, some burgers, some whiffle ball and soccer.  Good times.  Michael and Cathy are both divinity/theology students and therefore have very cool friends.  Guaranteed a pretty interesting conversation with anyone there.  After the barbeque we loaded the truck back up with leftovers (not carrot raisin slaw since we wisely threw that out) and then took everything back to the apartment.  Once back there and unloaded Steph, Shaka, Cathy and Michael and I sat around and chatted, did a few last minute detail things, while John got the last of his baking and frosting prep done for the next morning.  I passed out on Michael's bed.  We finally headed for our hotel around 1am for a few hours shuteye.

Next morning we were up and out by 8am.  John had to assemble the cakes and was expected at the on-campus chapel by 10am for family photos.  Steph and Shaka joined us at the apartment and we all did last minute get ready and tried to make breakfast happen.  Didn't really.  After 10am I was ready to go, but everyone else had left for photos which I didn't need to attend, so I made myself useful.  By doing dishes and mopping the kitchen.  In pearls and heels.  AWESOME.  The mass started at 11am and was incredibly personal and beautiful.  Since Cathy and Michael are in the Catholic business they did their own homily together, and were both so self-assured and engaging.  It wasn't until Michael started fidgeting with his hands just before the vows that I realized they were at all nervous.  There was a brief cake and punch reception after, which was for everyone attending the ceremony, and John and I ducked out early with Steph and Shaka to meet the caterers back at the apartment for the family luncheon.  Everyone else descended, Michael's brothers and sister, their significant others and kids and both sets of parents a little later on.  It was snug, but lovely and I had a great time getting to know everyone better.  After dinner the families helped set the apartment back to rights and an adorable student who had been hired for the purpose arrived to do all the dishes.  THANK GOD.  John and I sat around with the bride and groom and Steph and Shaka and blabbed for a bit, until everyone started to feel the last few days and we retreated to our hotels and much needed long hot baths and room service and Olympics on the TV and sweet, sweet few hours of oblivion.

We were up at 3:30am to catch our flight and did our only sight-seeing of the trip really from the back of our cab on the way to Reagan Airport.  The monuments were beautiful in the early morning dark, and our cabdriver had been in this line of work since the Truman administration.  He was just hoping to be around to see them open the King Memorial.  We collapsed onto the plane and headed back to Denver.

Days 15-18: One last night of fun and then errands, errands everywhere.

The morning after the wedding everyone dragged their asses out of bed and made lots of hangover jokes while munching on breakfast.  Patty, David, John and I assisted with a little bit of cleanup around the ranch, although there wasn't much to do.  Aurora and Julie have some really nice friends who did a whole lot of hard work, not to mention the brides themselves.  We said some goodbyes, drove back down to Phoenix and spent one more evening with Kat and Steve and the chilluns.  The Scrabble gauntlet was thrown.  My mother is one hell of a Scrabble player and most of the family tries their damndest to beat her whenever possible.  I did say tries.  Usually we can't.  She's good.

She's got the eye of the tiger.

But Fran is a studious competitor....

...and managed to pull out a victory!  In part due to this inspired move, making ODOSCOPE with Patty's game starting SCOPE, using the triple word.

Oooh, Fran!  Nice work.

The other project we were working on that evening was attempting to expose the Petite Fran to as much 80's and 90's music as possible.  He folks have done an excellent job with her musical education, but there are some gaps.  Beastie Boys, 80's dance pop, Howard Jones (I'm looking at you, Kelly).  We amused ourselves dredging up ridiculous videos on You Tube.  Petite Fran humored us very nicely.

The next day we watched Olympic badminton with the family and then put ourselves on a flight back to Denver.  The dogs were ecstatic to see us and there was much trembling and squealing.  From the dogs.  

The net two days are a total blur of errands and miscellaneous small tasks as we got ready to go to DC for John's sister's wedding.  We are working on getting one of my mom's cars into solid working order so John and I can buy it from her, and so on.  Exhausting and non exciting.  Onward!

Days 13 and 14: Some gorgeous ladies get hitched. Fun is had.

On Thursday the 7th Patty and David flew into Phoenix and met us at Kats's house with a rental car.  After a trip to buy cowboy hats and a lunch during which Joaquin and I spent time counting the number of chickens in the artwork of the restaurant, we drove north through the desert to Prescott, AZ the location of my best friend Aurora's wedding to her beautiful lady Julie!  Hi, Aurora!!

So pretty.  Prescott is a smallish college town with a courthouse square and the usual art galleries and touristy shops.  The wedding itself took place on a ranch just outside the city limits in a little valley.  The country we drove through to get there is unbelievable....

High desert and the SKY.  My god, the sky.

We arrived at the ranch just in time to get settled in the house John and I were sharing with a few other lovely folks, including a college friend of mine (Beth) that I hadn't seen in years, and a high school friend (Anna) that I hadn't seen in forever.  Lovely ladies to reconnect with.  The ranch house was no frills, but very comfy with a huge main room and a front porch featuring a kickass porch swing.  John and I were just really, really happy to have a bedroom with a door that closed in the midst of the wedding brou ha ha.  Made all the difference for our sanity.  We got changed and then attended the rehearsal, and the super delightful rehearsal barbeque.  Despite a few sprinkles the weather held and the sunset was a beauty.  Good food, a few beers and Aurora and Julie's incredibly lovely friends and family.

The next day was rain, rain, rain.  A couple of Roar and Jules' friends pitched in and there were delicious omelets for breakfast followed by a trip into town to poke around with Beth and Anna.  We went back to ranch for a little nappage and then getting ready for the main event.  The weather cooperated and the ceremony was deeply personal and very beautiful, under the branches of an enormous tree.  I read at the very beginning and although I had the poem memorized, the emotions got in the way and I was thankful that I took the paper up with me.

The reception was kicked off with a group tequila shot.... 

and then just got better from there, despite some rain issues.  I have seldom had more fun at a wedding, and I was thrilled to see Aurora so ecstatically happy.  Fully half of the attendees were wearing cowboy boots, the photographer was adorable and took several shots of John and I "being cute" (her words).  Tequila bottles were passed around freely and a ridiculous amount of booze-fueled dancing ensued.  The band had to hold on account of rain once or twice so everyone started making their own music stomping up the dance floor with the drummer in the lead.  John and I had a great time and met many extremely lovely folks, but called it a night early on account of pooped.  From our bedroom we could hear the band tearing it up through the rain late into the night.

Day 10-12: Phoenix, Family and honest to god HOTNESS.

Early on August 4th, Monday morning, David hauled John and I down the mountain to catch our flight to Phoenix to spend three days with my wunderbar cousin Kat and her fantabulous family, including Husband Steve, Daughter Bella and Son Joaquin.  Some of you have heard me brag about these kids all the damn time and with no shame whatsoever.  I love these people.  Kat is one of my cousins who is really a sister (in addition to Cousin Kelly) and we all at some point began calling each other Fran.  And there's a ridiculous voice that comes with it.  Then Bella became Petite Fran and the ridiculousness was passed down to another generation.  As Steve and John observed to one another, watching the Frans enjoy one another is a spectator sport, and it is generally best just to avoid us if possible.  Entirely too much giggling over NOTHING.  Love it.  Miss it.  Want more.

Our first day in town was spent participating in the Ongoing Lego Construction Project that is currently installed in the living room....

swimming at Grandma's pool....

and stone cold chillin'.  After swimming we got to stop for Sonic, so I finally got to enjoy a delicious grilled cheese and Cherry Limeade.  Happy!  The heat in Phoenix is mind-boggling and whenever possible we stayed indoors.  

Except for a quick shopping trip on our second day to Last Chance in Phoenix, which is the last stop for items from Nordstroms.  Dansko clogs for $30.  Happy!  This family also has a Nintendo Wii and our second day was mostly spent bowling and playing tennis and golf.  Totally addictive, that thing is.  I want one now.  Like burning.  John says we should probably get a couch first, and I agree.  Grudgingly.  There was also more Lego,  during which Joaquin is fond of humming/singing selections from the Indiana Jones scores.  Always in key.  He wants to be a Lego designer or a train designer, but I'm pretty sure the kid has a future in music.  On our second night, Kat made Chicken Tikka Masala (unreal in its yummitude), John made another cake experiment (also delicious) and we watched some Olympics and some MST3K's Mitchell, which is a tradition.  Whenever Kat and I get together, Mitchell must be viewed.  Hilarity invariably ensues.  This was Bella's first viewing and she seems to certainly be one of us.  For she did giggle mightily.  We were also treated to an incredible desert thunder and lightning storm, which we were certainly not expecting.

Third day featured a delicious lunch and a trip to the Phoenix Art Museum....

where my favorite piece was a installation called "Fireflies", consisting of colored lights strung from the ceiling in a pitch black, mirror walled room.  

John found it completely disorienting because he thought we were in line for the bathroom when I dragged him in there, but I thought it was gorgeous.  Bella then had to go to her new middle school and pick up books and do other admin type stuff, and John got to page through her new science book and Latin workbooks and give them his approval.  Thanks, John.  Can't believe she's starting 7th grade!!  That evening we watched Bella's favorite show, Project Runway and nattered about all manner of things.  Good times.  Great conversations.  Awesome kids.

Promised photos!

John and David working on the hot tub.  Rawr.  Manly.

The beautiful, sweeping meadow that you pass on the way to my mom's place.  Sometimes full of elk.

Punkus smells the smells, Exciting Smells!

Inside Gracie's mind; ilovethecar!ilovethecar!ilovethecar!ilovethecar!ilovethecar!ilovethecar!

Sweet Little Bonnie.  Can't believe she's 14!!

I brought this quilt top with me, and mom's been helping me work out what to do with it next.  She's so good at this, the color and design brainstorming.

Day Four and Beyond- Eastern Colorado is FLAT, too. But a house in the mountains means baking is a challenge.

We got up early in Burlington to beautiful clear skies, and hauled ourselves over the final hump to Denver and then to Evergreen and the storage place.  My stepdad David and a smart aleck neighbor kid named Eric (in addition to a couple of pros) helped us get unloaded, and we marveled that all of our worldly possessions could fit into a 10 x 15 room.  Weird.  Once everything was in, we made one last truck stop and then bid a fond farewell to The Behemoth and my mom (Patty) dragged what was left of us up the hill to her house among the trees.  John and I collapsed on flat surfaces, and Punk began reacquainting herself with Patty and David's two dogs, Bonnie the Jack Russell and Gracie the Labradoodle, and also with running amongst the trees and barking at the wildlife and snacking on elk poop.  

And there we have remained.  There's been some errands run and projects undertaken.  John and David fixed the hot tub and Patty and I began refinishing a dresser that my great-great-grandfather made out of Missouri walnut (with a lot of help from David).  We had a BBQ to celebrate David's birthday, and we got to see loads of wonderful people.  John baked David a birthday cake, experimenting both with baking at altitude and with the recipe he's using to make the cake for his sister's wedding luncheon.  But mostly, there's been lounging and cooking and talking and sleeping and reading and watching Punk and Gracie pal around like two halves of the same goofy dog.  The two of them love to go for car rides, so John and I have been taking them with us if we run to get the Chinese food for dinner, or stop by Home Depot for some whatever, both their fools heads hanging out the back windows, happy dog smiles plastered on their mugs.  Hilarious.

Most importantly, John has been learning to drive a manual transmission.  The car that we're buying from my mom is a manual transmission and it's about time he learned.  I tried to give him a lesson after we went to see The Dark Knight one afternoon and I was not a very helpful instructor and therefore John was a little freaked out.  So I turned him over to Patty and she's been doing a bang up job.  He can now drive stick in traffic with people and everything.  A little nervously, but still.  Once he gets a little more practice under his belt he'll be spectacular and I won't have to do all the driving once we're in Portland and John won't have to rely on me to get anywhere in a car.  Woo hoo!

Some photos coming soon.