Day 283

TimberCreek Church had service in person today! And Tracy (and Nana and Fina) had all kinds of stuff for TimberCreek Kids. AJ and the twins went Christmas shopping today; their gifts to others are now under the tree in red-and-black plaid wrapping paper. Matt whipped up a great steak and smashed potatoes dinner with which we enjoyed (really enjoyed!) a Daou Cabernet Franc that Trevor and Jen sent us. Wow! It's very nice to have Daou members in the family.

Gifts from Matteo/Lexi in blue, from AJ/twins in red/black.

Neighbor gifts

Day 282

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Banik from Nipomo!

Gorp!

Torah time with a 12-year-old Breva!

Packages from Matteo and Lexi are in blue...

Check out that bottom row...

Activities for TimberCreek Kids.

Lego aisle at Target.

Day 281

The Fosters headed out of Beaver Creek fairly early as weather threatened and Jamie needed to be back for "Horse Time" at 4pm (it was a 5-hour drive out to Beaver Creek a couple days earlier). It was a white-knuckler again, snowy, slushy all the way, very busy chain-up areas, but fortunately no 2-hour delay at Idaho Springs. The only stop was for coffee at Bread+Salt, a favorite little place in Frisco (exit for Breckenridge). Oh, we also stopped at the quilter's house in Monument to pick up a quilted Christmas quilt... It was party time at Flying Horse Foundation after bringing in the minis (3 horses, 2 donkeys) for their dinner. And they played Elf on the wall during card-making and cookie-decorating! Matt and Jamie attended Matteo's band concert at ECA right after horses. Interestingly, the concert was held in the same sanctuary where all of Jamie's It's a Wonderful Life rehearsals and filming took place.

Hot chocolate bombs by Fina. They're stuffed with hot
chocolate makings, just drop in hot water.

A little decoration at Flying Horse Foundation.

Matteo's Christmas Concert at ECA

Sand Tart creation continues...

Day 280

Nana and Papa enjoyed the entire day roaming around Beaver Creek. And eating! They had a very unique experience at Hooked, a seafood place right in the midst of the main shops and restaurants area. We shared a whole kinmedai which was prepared in about 4 different raw ways and 3 hot ways. The versions came out one at a time, Really fun. And very good. The fish melted in your mouth, raw or cooked. We also tried their Crimpster creation which was also very tasty, reminiscent of turducken, CRab in shrIMP in lobSTER. All the photos are here.

Inside the Georgia O'Keeffe cookbook

Kinmedai

Day 279

Check out the wrapping paper Tracy got! Nana got the kids going on some e-learning activities before she and Papa headed out to Beaver Creek, CO for a couple days of getaway. The drive took almost 2 hours longer than normal due to construction at Idaho Springs (mostly) and snowy weather (some). We're staying at the Beaver Creek Lodge, a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel since just last year. The hotel opened in the 1980s.  It's also part of the Kessler Collection, founding members of Marriott's Autograph Collection. Don't miss the Alpine-Antlers restaurant in the hotel, not a huge menu, but uniquely tasty items. Be sure to read through all the various menus and plan accordingly. All the photos are here.

 

The indoor theme is rock climbing.

Day 278

More e-learning. And not many photos, sorry. Matt jetted off to Atlanta for work. First business trip since before COVID. Jamie had an interview with Matteo's school (ECA) about teaching earth science and chemistry part time. 

Her Mom was mirroring her off camera to the right.

Day 277

Monday. School. This is the last week of school before Christmas break, and for most of the kids some shortened days at that. Nana, Lexi, and AJ finished the sand tarts (cookies); they'll be neighbor Christmas gifts and some internal sampling as well, I'm sure. Matteo helped make the dough yesterday. Papa started Deuteronomy (Moses' farewell address, as Prager puts it), the last book of the Torah, with Dennis Prager's lectures - only 50-ish hours to go (about 240 hours total plus two books with three more coming, God willing).

 

Meat for a month.

Found at CostCo!