This post is full of pretty unrelated stuff. You'll have to pay attention:
We started the month with a little Labor Day weekend trip up to Denver. We haven't been to see the CO cousins in nearly 2 years. Last year, we also had a Labor Day trip planned to see them, but everyone got sick right before we were supposed to leave, so we canceled it. Wouldn't you know it - this year our kids came down with some awful back-to-school virus again! I did everything in my power to get them better in time to go. Of course, that meant I came down with it very close to leaving. Darn the fresh viruses at school and the kids who don't know how to blow their noses and wash their hands. Luckily, I was able to rally (after a miserable ride in the car) and we had a very fun, but very short weekend with our beloved Denver kiddos.
Janie and Evan loathe, hate, detest, to have their pictures taken. So, I tried not to torture them too much. But, we do love spending time with Jane and Richard and their great family. It is so nice to be in their home and go out and do fun things with them. We think they need to move to Albuquerque and live down the road so we can do it more often.
We took the kids bowling and to a movie. We think Evan was so brave to go with us to a movie theater. He has been so scared to go to movies since the Aurora Batman shootings in the summer. I can't blame him. I'm a little scarred from all the crazy random stuff people seem to keep doing.
Next it was our turn to have a visitor. Our BFF, Bret from MA, graced us with his presence for over a week. Really, he came for the mountain biking, but we love hanging out with him and our kids love him. They went on about 5 rides locally around ABQ for the first few days. Then, they gathered a gaggle of other guys and headed to Grand Junction and Moab mid-week for more epic mountain biking (babe, you've got 2 weeks to blog about it before I just post all your pics and attempt to explain them.)
While Bret was here, he took a photo of the sunrise out of our guest bedroom window every single morning. They were actually pretty cool. The day he left for Boston, he was in the security line at the airport during sunrise, so I took this one for him. Sunrises are gorgeous, but I still don't mind sleeping through them. Want to wake up to this every morning? Come visit us!! Chapman B&B is always open.
With the boys gone, it was time for the girls to play. I took the kids to opening day of the NM State Fair. We have never gone to the fair before. Opening day was cloudy, chilly, and in the end, rainy. No one was there! It was kind of nice actually. I have heard of freaky scary things that happen at the fair, so I was glad it was a low-key day. We didn't have to wait in line for anything.
The fair had some cool side-shows. This bird guy had a great little act full of rare and exotic birds.
What?! A picture of my kids feeding farm animals? Does that ever get old? They don't think so.
Ooohh, and then there were the TIGERS! Grace has been obsessed with tigers, and specifically WHITE tigers for years. She could not contain her excitement when she found out they had a white tiger show at the fair! We sat down to watch it early and a crowd of people gathered around us and got in our way and blocked our view. But, then the weather got them. It started DOWNPOURING shortly after the show began. The desert folks upped and left pretty darn quick until we were the only ones watching the show. We got absolutely soaked. Good thing we've lived in New England and know how to handle a little "weathah."
At the very end of the show, they asked if anyone wanted their picture taken with the tigers. Do we?! The only trouble - mom was out of cash. Why is everything at the fair cash only?! We had already blown through the wad we came with. I knew hitting an atm would be ridiculous fees, but Grace already had one scoped out. So, the kind tiger trainer let us take the picture first, run to the atm for the cash, and come back to retrieve our print. All, still, in the pouring rain.
In other news, 4th grade is pretty cool. The whole 4th grade had a big tie-dye party and made shirts one day and then wore them all together on another.
And... the dogs are still alive. Some of them, barely. Shadow is still in pretty good shape. Velvet has developed a lot of cancerous tumors over the summer. Her bodily functions and general ability to get through the day haven't been affected, but she definitely can't do as much as she used to. I had to quit taking them on our 3+ mile walk with the stroller parade. Now the best they can really do is our 1 mile walk on the mesa with Max. Poor Max-puppy isn't doing so well these days either. He has aged a lot this year too. Still the 3 of them make quite a team and very much look forward to Thursdays when they are free to roam and sniff and be doggy together.
Shadow and Velvet can also still make it to the park and back, so that makes things fun if the kids want to walk them over.
And, I have been spending quite a bit of time at the Galloping Grace ranch feeding and riding horses the last few weeks. I took the dogs with me on Monday. They were in 7th heaven sniffing the ducks and chickens, chewing on freshly trimmed hoof pieces left by the farrier, and running loose in the desert. They were totally exhausted by the time I was done feeding and could barely stay awake for the ride home.
Oh, and did we mention the Utes won the BYU/Utah game? It was kind of a hilarious and frustrating ending, but we still came out on top, right at midnight. Go Utes! To celebrate, we made a red velvet cake the next day and invited our fellow Ute fans (the Merrills) over for the sweet taste of victory.
September kind of went out with a bang too, but that deserves its own post. I'll see if I can get it done before September is completely gone in less than 5 hours. But, you might have to wait til October to read about it - especially if you don't keep up with facebook.
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