The (Not So) Secret Fort

One of Cayenne's favorite places is The Secret Fort, a hidden space in the thick scrub oak across from Petra's. There's a well trodden path leading to it, and usually peals of laughter emanating from it, but the neighborhood kids feel safe and secret there.

It was the most natural spot for her 12th birthday, but she didn't know I knew that. While she and her buddy Paola painted tiles and quietly hung out, her Fort Friends were busy decorating with streamers and balloons. 

When it was all ready, Maddie and Quinn came to call on her as they often do, and Cayenne had her first true surprise party. Taking after her Papa, she's not a hugely social person, but this is exactly what she wanted - only had no idea how to go about making it happen so didn't ask. Yay Mom for mind-reading!

Happy Birthday, Beautiful!

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(Acacia made the banner) 

And then.................

... Dominoes delivered pizza directly to the fort. ha! 

I know, I know, I'm brilliant. 

Good Times!

I'm back! Are you still here??

Guess where we were? For a full week, Nicolas and I got to slip away to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and Santa Barbara, CA. And by slip away I mean the trip was free because Nick flew a client down there; he got paid to be there; and friends and family took care of the girls. WooHoo!

This would be a lovely photo if you chopped off my head. The background is purdy! Not sure what I was running my mouth about, but I'm certain it was important.

We climbed around the rocks and found this little beach...

Then we climbed more rocks and found this BIG beach. 

Alone in Cabo - almost an oxymoron! 

 We spent an evening with Sean & Susie and Don & Kellie (with whom we flew down), who were staying at the home of some of their Durango friends. We could easily have camped in the wine cellar...

But the rest of the house didn't suck either.

 It was pleasant having our drinks served by the wait staff and all...

... but a simple beach bar with my hubby is definitely more my speed.

Cheers to Ilona and Michel, Erika and Bill, and Katie and Carl for helping to make this happen by taking such good care of our girls. Love you all. ♥

Growing Up and Old

"Mama?! One of the baby birds is on the ground and he can't fly back up!!" Acacia was almost in tears as she called me at work just now. I'm on floor, which means I am the agent "on call" in case anyone needs one. The office doors are propped wide open and cyclists are flying down the hill and around the corner onto Main Avenue. It's the Iron Horse weekend and this town is chock full of bikes.

Yesterday was the big race to Silverton and today are all kinds of smaller races downtown. The speed the bikes are coming around this corner is shocking. Only one crash so far...

The first bird tried to fly today and did a pretty good job getting to the ornamental cherry right next door. But he didn't move from there for three hours until he tried and ended up on the ground. Acacia is worried he'll get eaten by something.

In the ornamental cherry tree, just below their nest.

She's called me back twice, and this time said the parents are there now trying to encourage others to fly. Another one made it to the cherry tree. I wonder how they get them back to the nest.

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I got home and discovered there was no plan for getting back to the nest. The parents yelled, "Chop chop! Fly Already!!" to the other two until they, too, jumped. And that was it. Done. Off they went to learn to fly, find food, and fend for themselves. Pretty awesome and scary. 

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And while these little ones were growing up in a hurry, I tried to pretend I wasn't by riding the Iron Horse.

Rolling into Silverton... Glorious weather, piles of friends in town,
and feeling my age in my knees, neck and butt!

              

We're Almost Empty-Nesters

May 11th

May 21st

May 23rd...

Thinking about flying the coop.

   

Stellar Parenting

I saw a cartoon recently of a woman in an employment office being told about a great job. It was kind of thankless, she'd receive no pay, would be on call 24 hours a day, and would get one day off a year, but actually would have to work that day.

And so, so many of us thought that sounded like such a deal. :)

Exactly one week late: Happy Mother's Day! 
(Especially to my Mother and my Mother-in-Law.)

The girls and I rode our bikes to Ilona and Michel's place, to bring in the mail; they'll be back from France in a couple of weeks. It was a glorious day and I only had to show houses once in the morning and once later in the afternoon. (Guess the employment office did warn that we'd have to work on our day off!) Oh well. Nicolas returned from California by cocktail hour. Perfect timing.

Between our home and the in-laws', we pass a garden with an ever-changing set-up of chairs. During the Olympics, the owners had colored hula-hoops on the chairs; on July 4th, stars and stripes; when the World Cup was being battled, soccer balls, etc. On this day, there were Mama chairs and Baby chairs. Pretty cute.

Not as cute as these guys though! The five little eggs right by our front door have hatched into bald little balls of grey. Their beaks open searchingly and both parents spend all day scavenging for food. They've grown exponentially, their eyes are opening and they're starting to spread their wings already.

So glad it takes a little longer than that for humans. Even if, sometimes, just occasionally, I might envy the lightspeed timeline of those Stellar Jay parents.

Not often though.


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Hey, check it out. This cartoon was in the paper this morning (May 20th):

   

The Things We Do

I was excited for Acacia, I swear. A new challenge and adventure in her life. But as we drove the six and a half hours each way to Denver for her gymnastics meet, I did at one point calculate how long her total performance was going to be in comparison. I think the grand sum was four minutes. Maybe six.

(I've never added a video before. Hopefully this works.)

She ended up placing 4th on beam, 3rd on floor, 1st on vault, 1st on bars, and 2nd all 'round. Admittedly, the competition wasn't too steep, but it was perfect for a first competition.

I can tell you exactly how long we drove, and how much we paid for gas and accommodations, etc. But what she gained in confidence was, as they say, priceless.

Pretty cool stuff.

   

Disaster Area

"Hi Satcho!" Sometimes I still call it out when I come home and I know no one's home, because it just feels wrong not to.

It's empty around here, even with all the wood and dust and tiles and appliance parts all over the house. We're in the middle of a small remodel that's created a big mess.

Who knew replacing an oven was so involved?

First... we took out the 25 year old electric oven, shattering the glass that once covered the front (I cooked a meal on it when it was out like this). It's being replaced by a gas cook top and electric wall oven, so this meant Nick first had to build a new counter edge to make a rectangle (previously it was a "U" that the oven slipped into) to drop the stove into, and to frame the future new cabinets under it.

Then, to put the new oven in the wall, we needed some more space, so we knocked out the brick wall behind the wood stove to move it toward the living room (and open up the kitchen space), and then, because you wouldn't have a wood stove next to a fireplace, we ripped out the fireplace that Nick has always hated. That took some Kim-convincing because we could've made that fireplace nicer, but I love the wood stove, so it won.

 Cook top in and running, but still need cabinets underneath; oven in the wall but still working on the microwave space and a new door; and of course, now we need a new platform for the wood stove.

Nick got the dry wall up today, the pendant was yesterday's challenge and we're working on the new counter and cabinetry.

All to get rid of a stinky old stove.

After 15 years, I've learned that when my husband says, "You know, I've been thinking..." to tell him to hold on a sec - while I pour myself a drink.