Day 78

Anticipation is building for the trip tomorrow to see Sam at Fort Riley, and deliver him some stuff of his from home. Matteo made pancakes for everyone for breakfast. You'd think we'd be drinking down the wine cabinet during this lockdown stuff, but ours has managed to grow to the point we had to organize it. Favorites include: Regusci (actually is related), Daou, Wolff, Pear Valley, Granzamy Champagne, Laetitia sparkling, Gambino, Alexander Valley red wines (the area, not just the one winery by that name), and black rooster chiantis,  Nana took a shot at grooming the puppies. They manage to get quite messy over time and getting in to the groomer has proven difficult; everyone wants their dog groomed! Jamie watched The Double tonight (Richard Gere and Topher Grace).

Tomatoes are coming along.

Fina's yearbook. She hasn't seen it yet, she's still in Kansas.

A breakthrough! Jamie and Lynn had dinner at the Club tonight!

All the new cushions are in place.

Day 77

Matteo had his next-to-last Take Flight lesson today. As you can see below, he's working on phobias and manias. #11 is the fear of big words! Quite a bit of yard activity today, mostly planting and re-planting and working on the fountain. It was pickup and dropoff day at school for Lexi, returning school stuff and picking up her portfolio. Of course her "last day of school" was celebrated with a friend and ice cream. Dinner was homemade pastrami by Chef Matt. We watched an episode of Blacklist before Matt and Tracy had an online meeting.

The weeping spruce was replaced today.

Lots of little plants were planted.

Work continues to adjust the fountain tank refilling system.

All-day pastrami.

More cushions for outside.

Teacher gifts.

Lexi loved looking through her school portfolio.

End-of-school-year ice cream with a best bud.

Boondoggling.

Dinner for the littles. They love this stuff.

Day 76

Another odd day. Busy at times, bored up a wall at other times. The yard folks were back hard at it fixing things. AJ had a pickup/dropoff at School in the Woods (SITW) and the twins had one at DCC. Such a bummer AJ only got 75% of his SITW year, but as they say, even that's better than a full year at anything else. AJ couldn't handle visiting his wikiup one last time. Matteo's about 2 lessons from being done with Take Flight for this school year. Matt whipped up some very flavorful carnitas enchiladas for dinner. Tonight's movie: Crypto.

We were all set for the Crew Dragon launch at T-20.
But it was scrubbed for weather at T-17 or so.
They'll try again Saturday, May 30th, 1:22pm MDT.

The first sign we encountered at School in the Woods pickup/dropoff.

This year's tiles are not done yet. Need to be glazed. They're working on a plan.

Thank you notes to the teachers.

Twin's artwork.

More twins' artwork.

AJ's constructing a printing press.

Day 75

They took all the trash! Another fairly industrious day. Another regular work day for Matt. Tracy and Lynn continued on the astro-turf in the courtyard. Lynn, Jamie, and AJ ran up to Golden, CO for a quick visit with Cyndy at the Golden History Park along Clear Creek (a few more photos here). Cyndy's Dad attended the little white school house on display there. Dinner from the Club. I'm not sure what movie (if any) happened tonight. I was outside and got hooked on a Kindle book: Neal Stephenson's Seveneves.

The ants are getting at it.

Day 74

It was a bit like the post-show blues. Had such a great weekend with the Jacobsen visit; today was very quiet. Tracy wrought a small miracle in the garage, rearranging and cleaning up from the stairs project. We put out a record pile of trash this evening for Tuesday morning pickup (delayed a day for Memorial Day). Enjoyed our beautiful new patio for a while after yesterday's rain. Fina had her first meal out at a restaurant since the lockdowns began. She went back to Kansas with the Jacobsens for a few days and then Hailey will be back out here for a week or so. Dinner was brisket, ceasar salad, and watermelon with a splash of mac-n-cheese for the kids. Tonight's movie: Couples Retreat.

The kitchen counter makes a terribly difficult surface to puzzle on.

We put out the little flags for Memorial Day.