Day 339 Valentines' Day

Valentines' Day! The boys are still in Manhattan, KS and the girls are at home. Frigid cold in both locations. In fact, church was cancelled for TimberCreek today due to the cold. On the other hand, the Manhattan group attended the church Sam usually goes to, Rock Hills Church. They have taken over an ex-AMC movie theater. Lunch was at AJ's New York Pizzeria! Best cheese pizza AJ ever had (and it really was!). The boys spent some time in the Mall in Manhattan, mainly the bookstore and at the Girl Scout Cookie table in the hallway. Dinner at El Patron Restaurant, very good. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Valentines' Day was in full swing...

Parking lot of hotel. -2F when we headed out.

Rock Hills Church - where Sam attends.

El Patron

Ice forming at the base of the door.

Day 338

Big day, here and at home! The Manhattan crew had breakfast at Early Edition, then bowling, then the movies (Lord of the Rings; Return of the King) in IMAX. It was a three-dog night both in Colorado and Kansas. Valentine's gifts around. And Tracy got her first COVID vaccine shot!

 

Day 337

Papa, Matt, Matteo, AJ, and David headed out on a very cold morning to Fort Riley, KS to visit with Sam for the weekend before he deploys in the next week or so to help with the vaccine distribution. The day's temperatures ranged from -1F to 8F. One night this weekend in Kansas is supposed to be -20F. We stopped at a fun place in Colby, KS for lunch: City Limits Bar & Grill. Check out the railroad semaphores! We picked up Sam shortly after 5pm, checked in to the Four Points, and headed for dinner at UMI Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar where all had a great time (despite the very chilly room)! And the news from Colorado... Lynn's MyPillow.com towels arrived!

City Limits Bar & Grill

Umi

Day 336

Almost a normal school day (other than Matteo staying home). Tracy's IV trolley arrived today for one of the babes. She and Nana also whipped up some "plaster" of some sort and took foot impressions of the foster babes. Some Regusci Winery goodness arrived! As did some Valentine's edible decorations.

Day 335

Late start at school today (every Wednesday). Matteo stayed home due to his illness yesterday. Jamie put the ceiling vent in the sewing room to help keep the outside water line just above it from freezing. While dropping off a Valentine's Day package at the Postal Annex going to Nipomo, Jamie and Lynn picked up a little Valentine decoration - an orchid. Lynn also had some Yeti mugs engraved with "Love Ya!" and "Foster"! Matt made spaghetti sauce and we cooked up some spaghetti squash to go with it, yum. We also made regular noodles for the kids, measured perfectly by Jamie's Christmas present, the spaghetti measurer. Lexi put the finishing touches on her classroom Valentines as they had to go in today (so they could be in quarantine until Friday). Tonight's movie: All About the Benjamins.

Day 334

We celebrated two birthdays today! Well, one birth date and two twins, Jonathan and David. And as usual, the day started with a Compound tradition, birthday breakfast. On the way back from taking Matteo to his van stop, Jamie stopped at Lowe's for some handyman equipment, mainly a video inspection kit into dark, tight spaces in order to install a ceiling vent to let a little room heat into an area where outside water pipes have frozen in the past. Panda Express for lunch! It was horse day for David today as well. Nana and Papa gave the twins March 13th tickets to ride the Royal Gorge Railroad and an "advent" chain to count down the days. The twins were adamant about having dinner at Vaqueros, our first time back in person since last March! It was wonderful. Then came Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes, the Happy Birthday song, candle-blowing, dessert, and bedtime.

David at Stable Strides

It's getting serious now...

Day 333

Day 333 - only half demonic. Another morning with an interesting frost, a hoarst frost. All three dogs were groomed today. Lunch from In-n-Out; protein style, thank you! Matt and Nana prepared quite the dinner (pics below). And the kitchen got some new "decorations" thanks to the toddler. We watched some Heartland tonight, and the movie Black Beach.

Hoarst frost, pic from freeimages.com

I think that fog bank had a lot to do with the hoarst frost.

Guess who's got a toddler again?

Chicken wings - three flavors!

And a fabulous salad.

Prep... for the twins' classmates.

Two guesses why this has been added to the pantry door...