Blizzard

It was the closest we've been to a blizzard yet, at least enough to give the kids an idea. A few more pics are here.

Tracy's Birthday Dinner

We had a little dinner gathering for Tracy's birthday tonight. All the photos are here.

AJ helped cook the braised ribs.

Fina put together a cool little Happy Birthday video for Tracy.

Jessie and Fina were in Number the Stars together.

AJ always enjoys little visitors.

National Junior Honors Society

It would be impossible to be any more proud.

New Year's Eve 2018

It was Fina that got plans going... She was having some girl friends over for the night and came up with all manner of food and games. With some help from Mom and Nana, it all came together and we all got to benefit from the efforts. All the photos are here.

Lots of prep work.

Touchdown!

Fireworks went off when the ball dropped.

This saran-wrapped gift ball was amazing. What a hoot!

Homemade pizzas and champagne - a favorite.

Royal Gorge Route Railroad

Definitely among the top Christmas gifts of all time! The fam thought Papa should take a ride, so off we went to the Royal Gorge Route Railroad. Gorgeous scenery, beautiful train, great service. And we caught a 68-degree day to do it. All the photos are here. You may notice I'm playing with a new image editor, Luminar. Pretty happy so far. May have been a little heavy-handed with some of the filters, but I wanted to see where it could go.

AJ's Sleep Study

He was a bit apprehensive going in, but they talked him into an alternate Boba Fett reality (Star Wars) and all was good. Now just waiting to see what it all means...

Christmas 2017

We've been doing all manner of fun stuff leading up to Christmas (see earlier blog posts), but the final fun stuff began in earnest with the arrival of Uncle Craig the morning of Christmas Eve. Once again Christmas included all the best stuff: Christmas movies (all kinds), open-me-firsts on Christmas Eve (with spaghetti carbonara), stockings all hung by the fireplace (well, the dog's was nearby), constant sand tarts and fudge, bubble bread, fruit pizza, Denver omelette (Trevor thought maybe we could drop the Denver now!), gifts from California and Kansas City, puzzles, goofy toys that keep even the adults laughing, a scavenger hunt, fart whistles (that got old after a while), transportation devices, braised ribs, mashed potatoes, garlic-roasted carrots, and cheesecake. All the photos are here.

Stockings...

A Harry Potter script!

Many of the gifts kept the kids busy quite a while.

And parents distracted.

Broncos gear for everyone!

Sandy made a mermaid quilt for Fina.

This turned out to be a scavenger hunt for a bath-bomb making kit.

Cars and trucks are always a big hit for these two.

First bike!

Transportation devices are a huge hit.

Laser Tag with enough guns for all.

Matteo got by far the most complicated package.

Mid-morning we discovered Santa had dropped a few things in the garage.

The puzzle almost got finished. By the time Craig left we
were down to the most difficult (nearly all black) pieces.

The boys thought this was Hamilton chess.
The store thought it was Revolutionary War chess.