49th!

Nana and Papa celebrated their 49th Anniversary this weekend with a viewing of the new Betelgeuse movie and the discovery of a restaurant - Carlos Bistro. Where's this place been all our life?! The menu doesn't quit, it all looks great, and what we did have was superb! Just go to their website and check out the menu! Carlos himself greeted us in the parking lot! And it went uphill from there...

Best seat in the house.

Space Foundation's Discovery Center

Jamie recently started volunteering as a docent at the Space Foundation's Discovery Center...

Science on a Sphere.

Mars Rover exhibit. You drive!

MMA = More Miscellaneous Activities

Tracy, Nana, and Matteo get busy packaging Wonka Bars, complete with a golden ticket here and there. David gets going on a new construction project. Lexi's Barbie dolls are active. And all the Littles take Nana and Papa to IHOP.

College Classes Begin Today for Two

College classes begin today for two of our flock. Fina starts her sophomore year at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) and Brahm begins his freshman year at Western Colorado University (WCU). And Papa found a way to make it part of his most recently blossoming hobby: Flags of/in the USA.

I Pledge Allegiance...

Our Family Dinner topic for tonight was two USA flags. One was the Trumbull Flag which Papa flew today, and the other was the Fort McHenry Flag, the "spangled" flag that flew over Fort McHenry when Francis Scott Key wrote the words of our national anthem. The $2 bill that each kid gets at Family Dinners happens to have a John Trumbull painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on its reverse. And for the teaching moment of the dinner, Papa simply played Mike Rowe's video interview of a ranger at Fort McHenry: Bringing the Anthem to Life. At the end, Papa made a big deal out of learning the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. When Jonny decided to give the Pledge a try, he got himself up and stood facing the flag with his hand over his heart. So proud. And he came very close to a perfect recitation.

The Trumbull Flag. (The 15-star
Fort McHenry Flag was on the other side.)

Wicked!

These two got to see Wicked tonight up in Denver. Can you tell they had a great time, meeting some of the actors and everything! Tracy got off to a rough start as the van did not fit in any easy parking buildings (good to remember...).

Fina's Sign "Business"

Looks like others have found another business for Fina to start - Sign Making! The first works are going to be for a production of Newsies...