Delayed Visit to Denver
Friday, December 15-Monday, December 18
Mountain Hike, Holiday Cookies, and Christmas Lights
I was originally planning to visit A, R, F, & baby C in the Denver area during the last weekend of October to help celebrate Halloween, but when C's surgery date got moved up, we managed to reschedule to mid-December instead. A wee bit colder!!!
A & C picked me up at the airport on Friday evening, and we stopped at a Thai restaurant for a late-ish dinner on the way home. This was my first time meeting Mr. C, who is now four months old and doing much better after his surgery. Yay!
On Saturday morning, I took advantage of the relatively warm morning weather (40s) to go for a run around the nearby reservoir before joining up with everyone else for coffee and breakfast. We eventually all got enough layers of clothing on to head off for our winter woods hike near Echo Lake Park, a bit more than halfway up Mt. Evans. The temperature at that 10,000 foot elevation was more than 10 degrees colder than at the base of the mountain, and I definitely felt the effect of the altitude during the hike -- a bit breathless and light-headed -- such an odd feeling! We stopped at Tommyknockers Brewery for lunch as we headed back to Lakewood, and then A, F, and I made sugar cookie dough so that it could chill prior to the next day, when we wanted to bake and decorate the cookies. We had planned to have chicken chili that evening for dinner, but the adults were all still pretty full from our late lunch, so instead F had his meal and the rest of us just snacked a bit as we played a game after F and C went to bed.
Sunday morning was quite a bit colder, so I used the large basement area for my workout. A, C, and I went to the Denver Art Museum to see the special exhibition, Her Paris: Women Artists in the Age of Impressionism, while R & F went to church. A & I both really enjoyed the exhibit, and C snoozed throughout the entire visit. We also walked around a few other galleries, and I recognized a sculptural piece by Nick Cave in one of the exhibits featuring animals in art. We finished up our Museum time with some hands-on attempts to create wire sculptures and then had lunch at the Mad Greens located nearby. Once we got back home, A & F & I worked on rolling out and baking the sugar cookies, which then had to cool before they could be frosted.
A's friend, J, who has a son F the same age as F and a 1-year old daughter G, texted to see if she and the kids could come over since her husband R was going out with friends. So we ended up with two 3 1/2 year old boys running around and playing and expending lots of energy for several hours! They did a great job of decorating the cookies (despite the green sugar incident), and we all managed to have some dinner of chicken chili, avocado, chips, and bread, with the two boys sitting at their own separate Paw Patrol table. We then bundled up, put G and C in their strollers and the two Fs in a wagon, and headed out to walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the holiday lights.
Side note -- I was pushing C's stroller for most of the stroll, and my FitBit interpreted that as "Outdoor Bike."(!!!)
On Monday morning, I made use again of the basement area and then spent some final moments with A & F before they headed off to work and daycare. R was on tap to take me to the airport for my flight home, and I actually arrived back in Sac early. Mr. E picked me up at SMF, I changed into my work clothes in the car, and he dropped me at the office so I could finish out my day at CPCA.
I'm so glad I finally got to meet C! And A & I had quite a bit of quality time to talk and get caught up. I wish we lived closer so that we could see each other more often, and I'm definitely going to prioritize more frequent visits as Mr. E and I plan our annual travel each year.
Mountain Hike, Holiday Cookies, and Christmas Lights
I was originally planning to visit A, R, F, & baby C in the Denver area during the last weekend of October to help celebrate Halloween, but when C's surgery date got moved up, we managed to reschedule to mid-December instead. A wee bit colder!!!
A & C picked me up at the airport on Friday evening, and we stopped at a Thai restaurant for a late-ish dinner on the way home. This was my first time meeting Mr. C, who is now four months old and doing much better after his surgery. Yay!
On Saturday morning, I took advantage of the relatively warm morning weather (40s) to go for a run around the nearby reservoir before joining up with everyone else for coffee and breakfast. We eventually all got enough layers of clothing on to head off for our winter woods hike near Echo Lake Park, a bit more than halfway up Mt. Evans. The temperature at that 10,000 foot elevation was more than 10 degrees colder than at the base of the mountain, and I definitely felt the effect of the altitude during the hike -- a bit breathless and light-headed -- such an odd feeling! We stopped at Tommyknockers Brewery for lunch as we headed back to Lakewood, and then A, F, and I made sugar cookie dough so that it could chill prior to the next day, when we wanted to bake and decorate the cookies. We had planned to have chicken chili that evening for dinner, but the adults were all still pretty full from our late lunch, so instead F had his meal and the rest of us just snacked a bit as we played a game after F and C went to bed.
Sunday morning was quite a bit colder, so I used the large basement area for my workout. A, C, and I went to the Denver Art Museum to see the special exhibition, Her Paris: Women Artists in the Age of Impressionism, while R & F went to church. A & I both really enjoyed the exhibit, and C snoozed throughout the entire visit. We also walked around a few other galleries, and I recognized a sculptural piece by Nick Cave in one of the exhibits featuring animals in art. We finished up our Museum time with some hands-on attempts to create wire sculptures and then had lunch at the Mad Greens located nearby. Once we got back home, A & F & I worked on rolling out and baking the sugar cookies, which then had to cool before they could be frosted.
A's friend, J, who has a son F the same age as F and a 1-year old daughter G, texted to see if she and the kids could come over since her husband R was going out with friends. So we ended up with two 3 1/2 year old boys running around and playing and expending lots of energy for several hours! They did a great job of decorating the cookies (despite the green sugar incident), and we all managed to have some dinner of chicken chili, avocado, chips, and bread, with the two boys sitting at their own separate Paw Patrol table. We then bundled up, put G and C in their strollers and the two Fs in a wagon, and headed out to walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the holiday lights.
Side note -- I was pushing C's stroller for most of the stroll, and my FitBit interpreted that as "Outdoor Bike."(!!!)
On Monday morning, I made use again of the basement area and then spent some final moments with A & F before they headed off to work and daycare. R was on tap to take me to the airport for my flight home, and I actually arrived back in Sac early. Mr. E picked me up at SMF, I changed into my work clothes in the car, and he dropped me at the office so I could finish out my day at CPCA.
I'm so glad I finally got to meet C! And A & I had quite a bit of quality time to talk and get caught up. I wish we lived closer so that we could see each other more often, and I'm definitely going to prioritize more frequent visits as Mr. E and I plan our annual travel each year.
posted by jms | 6:29 PM
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