TECO Train Show

Papa, Matteo, and AJ went to the mall today for a train show put on by Train Expo Colorado (TECO). Great fun, of course. AJ and Matteo enjoyed the swap meet most. Papa liked the layouts. All three of us went to the talk about the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad from Denver to Kenosha Pass. Yes, that South Park! AJ even bought himself an N-gauge boxcar and some track. He loved chatting with the guys.

Jamie made connections with the Rocky Mountain Railroad Heritage Society and in particular the Calhan Depot project they are working. He may have found his next webmastering project(s). Calhan, CO is about 40 minutes east of us on the way to Limon, CO.

We concluded with lunch at Chick-fil-A and a stop at the fudge shop to take home a family treat.

Found a Big Boy! 4014 no less.

AJ road all the way up Elf-style.

Ponderosa Pine Needle Baskets

A School in the Woods activity. This is Day 3. Be sure to keep your gauge fed!

Pine needles around the school are like
grains of sand at the beach.

Cleaning the needles.

10 Kids at the Pool

We were 10-kids strong at the pool today. I don't know if that headcount is the most amazing thing about this, or that we could even think about going to the pool in January. Sam was not there as he returned to basic training a few days ago, and Jonathan wasn't there either as he was home with Nana taking it easy. On the plus side, we had five add-ons.

Wingspan

Matteo got a new board game for Christmas, Wingspan. It's a pretty cool game Megan's new beau developed. Rob and Vickie were here after Christmas and spent a fair amount of time teaching us how to play. Seems to have paid off as we managed to play a game by ourselves after they went home.

Garden of the Gods with Uncle Craig

Uncle Craig, Nana, Papa, Matteo, AJ, and David headed for some hiking time this morning at Garden of the Gods. A balmy 41 degrees, but didn't slow us down a bit. Except where the path was significantly covered in ice (or very packed snow). All the pics are here.

That's Pikes Peak in the background.

The Kissing Camels are almost dead-center at the top of the formation.
Very small in this picture.

Christmas 2019

Lynn's brother Craig came down to spend the holiday festivities with us. A very traditional day started with the kids charging in, doing stockings, having some breakfast (bubble bread and Denver omelette), diving into projects from gifts, etc. Turns out the puppies we've been babysitting were not being babysat. They were for Matteo and AJ! What a day! All the pics are here.

Even the dog had matching jammies.

Gifts often meld into projects.

20-mile range! Matteo was down at the park.

Wingspan was developed by Megan's new beau!

The puppies were a hit! Coton de Tulears.

The backyard is getting a makeover!

Maxwell X-57

This is very cool! Trevor and Jen sent me a shirt with a patch of NASA's Maxwell X-57 project, the all-electric airplane for which ESAero is the prime contractor! ESAero is the aerospace engineering company that Trevor and his Cal Poly buds started after they graduated.