Off to Alamosa, CO

Matteo, Aunt Vickie, Nana, and Papa headed off today for Alamosa, CO which will be our San Luis Valley base for a couple days while we:

• Visit the town
• Ride the Cumbres and Toltec's Geology Train
• Check out the "beach" at the Great Sand Dunes
• See the Colorado Gators
• Ride the Royal Gorge Route Railroad
• Do some whitewater rafting

(Alamosa, CO was the base for the greater part of the Colorado Fall Color Speeder Excursion Jamie took in the Fall of 2017.)

Here are various photos over this weekend from various cell phones...

We told Tracy and Matt that Matteo was picking
out a shark tattoo in Alamosa...

Nonprofit coffee house in Alamosa. Great cinnamon rolls.
Worked by volunteers. Milagros Coffee House

The Rubi Slipper in Alamosa. Great burger menu.
You've got to try the Tower of Power.

The end of the line for the Geology Train was Chama, NM.

The ROAST - Craft Coffee & Libations. Had breakfast there twice!
Right next to (part of?) San Luis Valley Brewing Co. (Zach recommended).

Matteo got some honey from the mercantile at The Roast.

The Great Sand Dunes was flooded because of heavy snow melt. Unreal.
Vickie and Lynn went here while Matteo and Jamie did the Geology Train.

Aboard the Royal Gorge Route Railroad.

That's a bridge over the Royal Gorge.

The one kissing the goat looks the most normal!?

At Colorado Gators. That's Gus being held.

Pool with Aunt Vickie

OK, so Vickie's not in any of these pics. She and Lynn did Pilates and then a water aerobics class, so they were "missing" much of the time. Trust me, she was there. She just arrived last night and we're off tomorrow for a couple days of train riding and river rafting. But first, dinner at the club tonight!

Oh, forgot, Josh and John's ice cream last night before Vickie's arrival.

Littles at the Pool

Tracy: "The pool is the best. And so much better with friends! David is pretty much water safe, no more puddle jumpers! Jonathan still has a way to go with swimming but the water does make his pains go away for awhile. Lexi does lessons next week!!"

Chiari update

Tracy: This little man has been struggling. To the outside world he looks amazing but by end of day and behind closed doors the pain is back, headaches are back, and sleepless nights are back. We go in next week for another MRI - either way if it is stable or shows something - we have a hill to climb. So we pray for God's grace, and we pray for answers. Because Chiari often doesn’t have answers. #chiariawareness #chiarimalformation #inthisfamilynoonefightsalone #invisibleillness

Day 3 of Trombone lessons

Guess what Matteo is taking up? Trombone! Now there's something to wake up to in the morning. Day 3 and so far so very good. It's part of the band/music program at DCC Middle School (where he'll be in 6th grade this Fall). He hops in the car at pick up already talking about what they did that day. Today they learned four note positions (he rattled them off but I didn't catch it). He said he can't wait to play the national anthem with the band at a game. He also said trombone is like a pump action shotgun that shoots music. OMG. We'll catch up with the other kids soon (twins are at swim lessons, Lexi just did her ballet performance, Fina's doing intensive dance classes all summer, AJ's kicking off summer with an outdoor camp, and Sam's doing some studying up).

Dancing with Wolves

It's summer time, which means summer camp time. And AJ is up first. He's doing an Outdoor Explorers day camp at Catamount Institute, located in Sondermann Park (another delightful public park discovery in town). He's going rock climbing today, and tomorrow is an overnight into Friday!

Among yesterday's activities was a visit from the
Rocky Mountain Wildlife Foundation. They brought a
couple of their hybrid wolves for "show and tell" and a
little personal interaction as well. Pictured above is AJ and Thor.

AJ's Doubleheader

But something of an odd doubleheader. He played the first game of the next "season" (they have multiple rounds of Little League each summer) in the morning with brand new teammates (but for two) and played the last game of the old season with his old team in the afternoon. That's why he's wearing yellow in the morning and gray in the afternoon. He was pretty tired by the end of the day. And pretty sad about the last game with his old team.

The new team had a cool velcro chart to move players around. That's AJ in left.

The littles found something to do.

Foul ball!

Some moments make it all worthwhile.
It was a walk.

Safe! at home.

Nice little snag in left field.

Choke Cherry Trimming

As we were bidding farewell to Trevor and Jenn's family who were off to Kansas City to continue their vacation and birthday celebrations, we got to looking at the choke cherry tree between the driveway and the house. It had been damaged by one of the recent storms, and needed a little trimming. So AJ got it in his head that was his job... And by George, he managed to remove the damaged branch, trim a few others, and cut away all the suckers coming up from the ground. With a little help, of course. Later that week he de-suckered another tree out back.

We found this gift from Trevor and Jenn downstairs a while after they left.
Very cool! Love Daou Wine!

A Rockies Game

This might have been the highlight of the Nipomo Fosters' visit to Colorado. And the Rockies won 13-6! We've been watching weather for quite a while as rain and cold were possible, even likely at some points. But game night was gorgeous, in the 70s when we got there and about 60 when we left. We could see rain in the distant mountains, but no rain on us, and the cloud cover kept the sun out of our eyes. Perfect.

Despite terribly impacted traffic, we got there in time for batting practice. Everyone was doing their best, but alas no snags by any of us. However, at the very end of batting practice, a kid next to William caught a homer and then handed it to William. So cool! Not a bad souvenir for the cousins' first MLB experience. All three cousins got Rockies buttons, too, when one of the hosts realized they were first-timers.

Ever hear of tochos? It's like nachos, except the chips are replaced with tater tots. Oh my.

Thanks to Jenn and Tracy for these photos.

We were in our now-favorite section, 222.

A friendly Rockies host took this picture of the first
carload to arrive at the gate. The second carload showed
up a few minutes later (couldn't park in handicap).

Thick as thieves.

Got on the scoreboard!

Twice!

Lexi checked out about the 5th inning.

OMG, this was the funniest thing ever. As we were
walking out of the stadium, Trevor says a guy told
him the hat was too small for him. Trevor responded,
"not as small as this one" as he lifted the black hat
and revealed the smaller purple one now also
perched ridiculously on his head. Well played.

The Last Week's Miscellany

It was close enough to Trevor's 40th...

We tried to get a shot of all the cousins, taken this morning.
Today is Matteo's 5th Grade Continuation ceremony.

Spent a lot of time at the pool despite the crazy weather.
This day topped out at 45 degrees.

Tracy's new puzzle looked like this just before the
cousins arrived. This morning it was ruined by a
gigantic coffee spill.

Nana and Papa tried Saltgrass, the "original steakhouse," a week ago.

Springs Ensemble Theatre's production of The Moors.

Weird weather lately. This was from the deck before the Nipomo-ites arrived.

Casa Bonita

Casa Bonita was a must for Trevor's birthday celebration. It's been 30-some years since we took Trevor there in the early-to-mid 1980s. There's much more built up around it in the Denver area now, but once you're inside very little has changed in those three decades. It's still a south-of-the-border themed mecca for a family meal, or a school outing as it turns out. More pics are here.

Remember the Cypress Landing tile?

Viewing the cliff divers from behind the waterfall.