Christmas in July ?

Some of my picks


Last week at Story time our theme was "Christmas in July". It was on our flyer and so there was no getting around it...haha. I wasn't thrilled with the theme, we do it every year. Dianne likes it I guess...personally I don't really "get" it. That being said...we ended up having a good time with it. McDuff's Christmas was cute...and who doesn't like Rosemary Wells? Many of the children are familiar with her Max and Ruby books, and McDuff..so that was an easy pick. Miss Spider is another cute character. I like the rhyming verse and the illustrations are always great. The hit of the day however, was "The Pirate's Night Before Christmas". I had more boys than girls that day...and this book was perfect. They loved the way the author used pirate "lingo" to tell the story. It was a lot of fun! (like "Happy New Yarrrrrrr!").
I hadn't used that book before...but I will definitely use it again. They all loved it. Our craft was decorating a "Christmas ornament". Ms. Dianne had our student volunteers glue to CDs together, then she drilled a small hole in the top. We added red and green round stickers and stars...and a smiley face or two.....then added some red,gold,silver, or green glitter. Some used just one color...others used them all! haha They did turn out cute. It was...as I said fun...more fun than I expected. This week...Asia and flying carpets...I will be in NC but I'm sure they will have a good time.

The end of the Trip-finally!

Okay...I decided it was time to wrap up the stories about our trip to Denver. (Since we got home on the 6th...and it's the 19th!!!)On the 4TH of July, Martha and Tony and John and I started the day off with a trip to play golf. It was an early morning...for me...those three always get up early...but I didn't complain. haha
When we arrived...the wind was howling. It must've been blowing about 35 miles an hour down the mountain...as we later found out...it does every morning...then stops around 10:00am. And true to form...it did stop...then it just felt like we were all cooking in a big frying pan or something...it was HOT! It was quite a view...but I still think it's kind of boring...a bunch of rocks. It has it's beauty...but I prefer more green.
A few weeks before our trip John took me out to practice putting...and chipping...I did pretty well, felt pretty confident. (haha)
That morning we were warming up...I took a few shots off the tee...4 or 5 in a row...perfect...nice and straight...good distance...things were looking good for about 5 minutes! haha Well...it was all downhill from there...I played terribly. I don't even know how many times I swung and missed completely....or hit the ball about 20 yards. It was kind of a long day...haha...but I was enjoying the views and the company...and I can only get better. Ha!
Later that day we had plans to go on a train ride....The Georgetown Loop. It's about 40 minutes out of Denver...the train takes you on a loop through the mountains and on the 4TH...they had a special that included a Barbecue and fireworks. Heading out we loaded up our car and Martha and Tony loaded up theirs...David and Paul couldn't go because they had to break down the booth at the end of the art show...but everyone else went. As we drove along we noticed the traffic going in the other direction was backed up for miles and miles and miles...thank goodness we were going the other way...and it had cleared out before we headed home.We arrived 1 hour ahead of time, as we were instructed to...and then...we sat around and waited for an hour......my suggestion would be if you take the trip...1/2 hr ahead is MORE than enough time! We all posed for pictures and then picked out the car we wanted to ride on. Ellen still wasn't feeling 100%...but she she was a good sport and she didn't complain and she made it! The crowd was a little strange...it was a very odd assortment of people no sense of humor...dirty kids, etc...excluding us of course! haha (really...we all kind of agreed the crowd was just weird!..as were some of the townsfolk we passed on the way to the station. At one point we spotted a REALLY strange guy...Bridget said we should start listening for the banjo music )
The dinner was pretty terrible...but what the heck...we had fun. they had beer and wine! The peach cobbler and whipped cream helped...hahah ON the way back to the original station..we stopped on a trestle...to watch the fireworks that come over the mountains. That was pretty cool...literally...haha the temperature dropped considerably We all agreed that we did it and it was nice...but once was probably enough, haha
Notice our red-white and blue clothes...very stylish!
At the end of the trip the line for the bathroom was LOOOOOOOONG...as usual. The Men's room line cleared out and then Tony and John started directing traffic and watched the doors for whoever wanted to use the Men's room.
July 5th things were winding down. We all ate breakfast down in the hotel. Martha and Tony left, Megan and Brenna left. Elizabeth, Ryan and Meredith went out to a Mediterranean restaurant. David, Bridget, Ellen, Anna, John and I went to a place Mark had recommended. It was great! Every place we went was pretty good... we had lots of great food!
While we were taking the train ride...David and Paul were dealing with "car" problems. The van was not starting...they had to unload everything, put it in another rental truck...quite a process. All while they were also breaking down the booth. They were exhausted! In bed before we got back to the hotel.
All in all it was a great 5 days...Denver was a lot of fun. It was great to see everyone again and especially to see Martha who looked great. It was nice to see her looking well...we've been talking to her and hearing good reports...but it was seeing her that convinced me at least...that she really is doing well.





 Here's Tony directing the traffic................ and
Here's David's vehicle getting towed away...it was quite a load! We weren't sure the tow truck was going to make it out of the parking lot of the hotel...
David on his motor bike with Anna




John, Anne , Ellen and Anna out to dinner on the last night in town.

Last Sunday

Sunday morning...Brenna, Megan and Ryan got up at 5:00am to go for a hot air balloon ride. John was going to go...but he had last minute nerves...decided to pass. They headed out. Once again I was awake and unable to sleep...so I got up kind of early. Martha, Elizabeth and I took a long walk down to the Art show...bringing a few items that David forgot and making a stop at Home depot along the way. We took a nice walk through some nearby neighborhoods and along a bike path through a wooded area. Very nice. Dropped off the needed items then walked back to the hotel to get ready for breakfast. We met up with the gang down in the lobby.
we decided to head to the Cherry Cricket restaurant again. Ellen wasn't feeling so great...but she managed to get a few crackers down. The rest of us had no trouble at all! haha
It was a little hot on Sunday...hotter than normal. We spent a lot of time looking for shade. At one point it looked like a storm was brewing...clouds were building and the wind was picking up.
The wind got really gusty (is that a word???) and Bridget was a wreck because David's whole booth shifted. She was afraid the whole thing was going to blow down. Some of the art work is pretty heavy...so THAT would not have been good! People kept wandering in not concerned at all...meanwhile all the sudden the whole gang went to work. we were all taking things off the walls and packing them up. (think fire brigade.) We took them down, Martha and Bridget were bagging them up, etc...it was a job! At one point it started to sprinkle a bit...then we went into high gear! We got everything down...and realigned the booth (Tony & Paul that is) and then the clouds parted and we put everything back up. Whew! I don't know what David would've done without the group of us.
Right around that time a good friend of ours, Lisa, who lives in Colorado, came by t see us all. Lisa lived across the street from us on Oak Ridge Drive back in the 70's.
We heard later that one artist lost $6000.00 worth of glass work during that wind storm...or whatever it was.

Sunday night Elizabeth had made reservations for an Italian place. Most of the group went there...Megan, Brenna and I opted out. We went to Corridor 44...a place Megan and Marcus found when they were in Denver just a couple of weeks before our trip. It was a fun place in LODO...downtown. The whole street was strung with lights and flags...fun! We had some tasty food (lots of organic stuff) and a good glass of champagne for me! After dinner we went back to the hotel and everyone else was just returning from their dinner...so we all went to the bar. More drinks, laughter and plenty of stories! We were down there until they closed the place....it was fun.

Paul, John, David, Lisa, Anne & Martha



We all finally went to bed and rested up for the 4Th of July.

Dinner with the crew

Saturday (7/2/11) after a refreshing walk in the cool morning air, we all got organized and headed to the Art Festival.Martha, Tony and John were golfing at "Bear Dance"...a really nice course about 45minutes-1 hour away. I thought I might have a hard time getting up that early (5:00am)since I always have a hard time getting up that early!haha the first day there...so I opted to join them on Monday instead. We hung out at the booth and then looked at some of the other artwork. There were lots of great artists and some fun artwork. Some strange stuff too..haha
Had fun watching the people too....and trying to stay cool once the clouds cleared out and things started to heat up. Elizabeth had arranged for the whole group of us to go to dinner. David had requested she make the reservation at Elway's Steakhouse. At one point it looked like it might be as many 24 of us...but in the end it was 12. (Ellen and Anna had not arrived yet...they were in flight as we were at dinner.)It was a little later than John and I normally eat...and factoring in the time difference...made it even later...but I felt fine. We all enjoyed our dinners...the steaks lived up to the hype and the side dishes were pretty tasty as well. We even sampled a couple of the desserts. Someone at our table (at the other end...I missed out on who put in the request) asked them to bring out a birthday "cake" for Elizabeth.By the time we were ready for dessert it was going on 10:30pm. We had all enjoyed our dinner and a few cocktails/glasses of wine/champagne, etc).Well...there were three other tables of people in the place. One group of 8,then one group of 4, us and then another group of 4 men. The group of 4 to our left (2 men,2 women) sang Happy Birthday to one woman at their table. Shortly after that, the group of 8(straight out from us in the next room) sang Happy Birthday to someone at their table... it was a little louder, then it was our turn. By the time Liz got her "cake" we had all three other tables singing along with our whole group. When table 4 to our right sang to one of the guys in their group...it was even louder. At this point table one decided to go again...getting the whole group in on it...haha we thought it was going to turn into a "sing off!" Everyone was laughing...not sure about the waiters...haha they might've been hoping we'd all just get the heck out of there...haha actually they seemed to be enjoying the fun too. We finished up...posed for several pictures and then headed back to wait for Ellen and Anna. They had landed at 9:30pm. They got their luggage and then caught the "Super Shuttle" which then took them on a 2 hour( here's where you can start humming the theme song to "Gilligan's Island") trip around Denver.... we were sending text messages to them "Where are you?",they kept texting us...saying "Be there soon". One by one the group left the bar and headed up to bed...it was getting a little ridiculous...I'm sure Ellen and Anna thought they'd never get to the hotel. The Super Shuttle took almost as long as their last flight! Naturally when we finally gave up...they arrived about 5 minutes later. Elizabeth and Martha(?) went back down to say Hi and goodnight. We were glad they made it.

Ryan,David,Martha,Paul,Elizabeth,Anne,John,Brenna,Bridget,Meredith & Tony

Meredith, John, Brenna, Bridget & Martha




Anna and Ellen weren't the only ones who didn't make it...Megan decided to pass on the dinner...she wasn't interested in steak and she was tired...she fell asleep about five minutes after we left...and enjoyed having the whole room/whole bed to herself for some good deep sleep...until we returned.