Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Day 468

While William was at day camp, Hannah and Abby joined Nana and Papa for a fun-filled day of hiking to Nojoqui Falls, blueberry picking not a mile up the road from Nojoqui, exploring more of the Ballard and Los Olivos area, including ice cream at the Los Olivos Market, and swimming at the hotel pool. We also stopped by the Quicksilver mini-horse ranch, but they were closed. We met up with the rest of Trevor's family for dinner at Kanpai Sushi in Shell Beach (very good!). I had never seen Lego chessmen before.






Quicksilver Ranch

Los Olivos


Pismo Roll at Kanpai

Lynn and Amos

In front of Kronborg Inn


Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Day 467

Off to California! Did you know fuel tanks are underground at the airport now (look carefully in the first pic). After a quite issue-free travel day we made it to Solvang, CA - a little Danish-themed oasis about 40 minutes south of where we lived while in CA. We stayed at the Kronborg Inn. The effects of the movie Sideways are still felt around here. Quite by accident, we were escorted to a table at an Aebelskiver restaurant with a plaque that read "Academy and Golden Globe Award Winning Fox Searchlight Feature Film SIDEWAYS, Scene #5, Breakfast. Filmed in this booth October 2003, Solvang Restaurant, Solvang, California." We made it to the Nipomo Fosters' house for a great dinner of homemade fajitas, the big hit of which were the strips of corn sliced off the grilled cob. The fun evening conversation was punctuated with some wonderful Daou wine and included some details of their upcoming remodel. All the photos of this trip are (or will be) here.

Every chance she gets.








Monday, June 21, 2021

Day 466

Nana and Lexi have made a habit of early morning plant checks with watering as needed. The twins were beside themselves when they heard we were going to Buttermilk for breakfast. And Matteo and AJ were quite jazzed that they get to sleep under the stars tonight in the courtyard.



The best at Padrino's







Sunday, June 20, 2021

Day 465

It was a rather odd Sunday in that Matt and Tracy put the littles in Sunday School and took the olders to the service. The first time that's happened since Tracy took over Kids. Lunch at Vaqueros. Their new place, by the way, down where CB Potts was, is coming along; should open this summer. Pretty cool Fathers' Day, including a new phone for Papa! This post is somewhat short as Papa spent a lot of time getting the new phone all set up, info transferred, etc. (and didn't quite finish, more tomorrow). Fina took the opportunity of the "blob" having been filled with water (toy like a water bed mattress) by sleeping under the stars. Well, under the easy-up cause it was gonna rain (Jamie's first iPhone pic). Sandy always gets depressed when the suitcases come out.

Lexi's pumpkin plant...

New dish at Vaqueros. Seafood soup without liquid.

The new "blob" water mattress toy.

Happy Father's Day!





Saturday, June 19, 2021

Day 464

About the same time we were dropping Fina and AJ at rehearsal, Matt was setting the rest of the kids up at the pool. Lunch at the pool, too. After a little reshuffling due to confusion with the rehearsal schedule, things got straightened out. And Nana and Papa were on their way to Cripple Creek for a live show at the Butte Theater. But first, a dinner stop at Paravicini's, a favorite Italian place in Old Colorado City. Jamie tried their Chicken Corsoni (pictured below), an in-house recipe; excellent! It took us about 90 minutes from home to Cripple Creek where we stepped back in time in at least two ways. First, and obviously, when you see the place, it's an old Colorado mountain town - saloons, gamblin' houses, and all. But tonight it also took us back to live theater, in this case, melodrama. And we were constantly reminded of Jeff Salisbury, a friend from back home in California, who not only worked at the Great American Melodrama in Oceano, CA where we saw his shows many-a-time, but he also worked a few seasons at the Butte here in Cripple Creek! We looked for Jeff's fireman's hat at the Butte, but no luck (lots of 'em and some quite high and hard to read). As luck would have it, the next live show we'll see will be at SLOREP on the 27th with Jeff Salisbury, Suzy Newman, and Billy Breed starring in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged.


Chicken, creamy pesto sauce, broccoli, and mushrooms.

In the men's restroom at Paravicini's...






Friday, June 18, 2021

Day 463

Nana and Papa took Fina out to her driving school session this morning. She's getting ready for the big test. While Fina was driving around, the two old people enjoyed breakfast at Urban Egg. Blokus has become a very favorite game for Lexi, and this morning others joined in as well, including Matt. That is, of course, after Lexi and Nana check all the outdoor plants, including her pumpkin from school, and do any necessary watering or trimming. It was horses day for Papa, during which was an interesting exercise. While one student led a horse around in a designated area, The remaining students captured the path they took from different perspectives on a whiteboard. One was up in a viewing stand (pictured) and one was at ground level some distance from the designated area. Very intriguing results. Another mega rehearsal day for Fina and AJ. Nana and Papa finished up Manifest



At the Ranch.




Thursday, June 17, 2021

Day 462

AJ finally cashed in on his last outstanding birthday present - a trip to OverDrive Raceway! This included a stop at Josh and John's Ice Cream on the way home, too. "Best day ever!" (again). The Club was not doing take-out tonight (too busy?) so we gave Ted's Montana Grill a shot at take-out. Worked great, the food was as good as ever. And did I mention we saw Ted's bison herd in New Mexico? We did! Tracy got an interesting puzzle... When put together there's a QR code. Scan it and see if you win $1 million. Now we're talking! Lynn snapped a picture of the front yard plantings coming along, including Lexi's pumpkin plant, of course.

As a side note, I merged two blogs I had going. Look At It This Way now includes what was Jamie's Book Faves.