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.

Racing with William and Hannah

Hannah and William got there racing debut at Overdrive Raceway today! Man, can both of them put the pedal to the metal. More pics are here.

AJ joined Hannah and William for their 3rd race the next day.

8th Grade Continuation Ceremony

The Discovery Canyon Campus school family celebrated the 8th grade moving on up to High School today. More pics here. Matteo was part of a similar tradition later in the week, moving up from Elementary to Middle School. His lei was made of dollar bills. Matteo and Serafina both won the Presidential Academic Achievement Award!

The Thunder Tones sang the national anthem and "Fly Away Home."

Mrs. Miller is moving on up to HS with Fina!

Walking up the canyon to High School. Quite a procession. The "canyon" is a
constructed feature of the campus that runs up the middle of DCC
all the way from pre-school to 12th.

All the pomp and circumstance is over, it's party time!

Baseball and Cousins

Despite a pretty cool and blustery evening, the whole clan ventured out to watch AJ's baseball game at Lewis-Palmer Middle School. Armed with Chick-Fil-A, of course. More pics here.

Lots of blankets were involved.

AJ at the bat.