Easter

This weekend we spent Easter with the USAFA women's tennis team. It was a "mini-holiday" with the travel and hotel, meals out and laughing with the team. We spent Friday night in Ft. Collins, where we awoke to snow Sat. morning. The tennis match was re-scheduled to be inside at 6 pm. So, we had ALL DAY to kill. The kids swam in the pool for a couple of hours and the girls hid some filled eggs, so the kids had an Easter egg hunt in the courtyard, which they loved. Off to the match, home late to bed, and up early on Easter to get to Laramie, WY. Remind me never to go back. Nothing to do, even though it's a college town. NOTHING. TO. DO.

It had snowed there as well, and Chris took the kids outside to play as it was melting. Michael found a piece of ground that had "rivers" running along 3 sides as the melt run-off was flowing. He looked at Chris and said "Hey, Dad. I'm on a penna-swayla!". Chris said "What?" Mikey held firm - "A penna-swayla!" It took Chris a minute to figure out Michael was on a PENINSULA. That's called too much reading and not enough talking.

All was well, we got home last night, and Chris had to teach today. Thank goodness the kids had the day off for a teacher workday. We needed to rest and catch up with laundry.

I'd post pictures, but I don't know how to get them off my phone yet. I'll work on that.

Blogging.

It's been so long I had to reset my password because I'd forgotten it. Mostly I came by just to look at my blog. I haven't seen it in a long time, and missed the pictures of the kids I had posted.

I don't even have anything to tell...what a boring life I have come to live.

Things the kids have said lately:

Michael - "I want to move my money to a retirement account. That way it will earn more interest and I won't be tempted to spend it." That boy is OBSESSED with money. He writes about it at school, he knows how much every receipt is in my purse. He scrounges in the house for money to be put into his account. He offers to combine birthdays parties with Molly "if it'll be cheaper". I assured him we could afford his own party if that's what he wants.

Molly, on the other hand, takes after her mama. If she wants something, then she wants it enough to warrant buying it. She doesn't care how much she has in her account. She doesn't bother to put her book down to scrounge for money in the house. She's content to just BE.

Oh, I DO have a story to remember for later. The kids and I and a friend of mine went to TJ Maxx. There were carpets on sale. I wanted one for the basement. Chris said fine, go ahead and buy it. Well, another lady wanted the same carpet. I pushed around for 15 mins or so, and found a salesman. He took the tag off, I went and waited in line. It turns out, it was the LAST carpet like that available in that store. But, I had waited, and that other lady didn't take the tag or buy it. So, I bought it. Well...she followed the guy carrying the carpet out to my car and stood there and SCREAMED at me in the parking lot. And screamed some more. Finally, I quietly said "Please, not in front of the children." However, she was not to be stopped until she was finished.

We finally got the carpet loaded, the salesman apologized for her behavior as she was walking away (it wasn't HIS fault!) and we left. Molly said "Mommy, what was that name that lady was calling you?" I replied "Don't worry about it honey. It was rude, and you won't hear it again."

After we got home and put the carpet in the basement and admired it, we came back upstairs. Molly said "Mama?" I said "Yes?" She said "You know that name that lady called you? " I answered "Uh huh." Molly replied "Well, I think SHE'S one..."

I had to turn around so she didn't see me laughing!

Something Blog-Worthy??

So. We went to a cookout last week. One of our friends was on his way to a high school reunion. After having a few drinks, we decided he could tell multiple stories to multiple friends, and see how long it took them to compare notes. Some suggestions:

1. He is recovering from colon cancer. He's still needing help changing his bag. Any offers?

2. He's discovered that he is in love with a man. The best part? His wife likes the same dude!

Our favorite?

3. He has invented reusable toilet paper. You simply wipe, store it in a trash receptacle, then wash and re-use! What?? You haven't HEARD of them?? They are called E-Z Wipes - you've surely seen the informercial on at 3 am, right?? No? Well, here, check it out on my phone, I'll pull it up for you. Oops, I can't get it up. Sorry...

So, we laughed, drank some more, came up with more stories (which I can't remember sober a week and a half later), and wished him luck at the reunion.

I came home, googled, and found this.

http://www.wallypop.net

Dang, we thought we were ON TO SOMETHING!!

I guess we'll never be rich now.

And for the record, I'll be buying my Charmin, just like usual.

Molly-isms

Every now and then, things come out of Molly's mouth and we want to say "Did you REALLY just say that?"

The other night Chris took the kids up to USAFA for an ice hockey game. They arrived, got their tickets, and went to find their seats. As they approached the top of the aisle and looked down on the rink Molly asks "Are we at the OLYMPICS??!" Chris answered "No, honey, we're at the Academy..." to which she replied "Oh yeah...otherwise we'd have to drive to Canada."

And tonight I was driving them between piano and Boy Scouts. For their birthdays they want to take a trip back to State College. They asked how much it would cost and I told them "Oh, about $2000 for everything..." I hear them whispering in the back seat and Molly says "Well, mom and I can go, and you and Dad can stay here for some BOY time." Michael replied "But then you'd get to see Miss Rebecca and Mr. Jim and the Creamery and everyone and that's not fair."
Molly's response? "Well, Michael, sometimes Life just isn't fair..."

I didn't know whether to crack up or scold, so I did a bit of both.

Thought for the Day

Molly has a friend in school who she considers her "best friend". Well, said best friend is moving to Hawaii this summer. I almost wanted to encourage Molly to choose a different best friend now, so she isn't hurt this summer. Then, I thought.

WE are the "best friends" who move, too. Would I want someone to NOT be my friend simply because I move? What a lonely world that would be.

So, to those of you that made me your friend, even knowing I'm moving - thanks. I can't imagine my life without you. I'd live in a very lonely world.

The View From The Top

Chris and I went skiing for the weekend with no kids. Hot Kimmy (HK) came over and watched the kids, dogs, and cat for the weekend and we were off to Keystone! We went partially to celebrate his promotion, and partially just to have some much wanted time to ourselves.

I have a confession to make. I never skiied in State College. They had a place called Tussey Mountain, but I refused to go. Everyone always said "oh, if you can ski with the conditions at Tussey, you can ski ANYWHERE", but I didn't want to PAY to ski a hill like Tussey. It would have been a disappointment. I'm not a great skiier, or even good, but I just couldn't do it. I knew we were moving back to Colorado and I wanted to wait for the Rockies again.

This is WHY I waited. This is the view from the top. It is about a 20 minute gondola ride up to the top, and at the speed I ski about a 30 minute run back down to the bottom. On a good day.

So, we went skiing. Chris is a much better skiier than I am so he'd go down a little bit, wait for me to catch up, go down a little bit more, and wait for me. After a few times of doing this I spotted a flat area right behind where he had stopped. I crouched down, held my poles back, and shouted "See ya later, Duuude!" I skiied by him down to the flat place, where I promptly crashed. Not just fell down, but crashed. So badly that I hurt my knee and couldn't get up for several minutes. He offered to go get someone to take me down on one of those stretchers, but I'd rather die than do that. I figured the snow was cold, like an ice pack, and I was fine. Sure enough, in a few minutes I was not only able to stand, but continued skiing the rest of the day.

The next day my knee was indeed pretty sore, so I opted to just take pictures while Chris skiied. I took a few and then rode the gondola back down. Coincidentally, Chris was skiing down as I was riding down, and I got some pictures of him in action.

Here is the view from the bottom. I was pretty proud of myself for getting down the mountain!

The bottom part that you can see here really isn't that long, it's just pretty steep for a beginner like me.

We've settled into a comfortable winter routine here in the Solo household. Brownies, Boy Scouts, piano lessons, waiting for soccer to begin again...life is calm. We go to the gym and work out or swim, we play with friends, we invite people over to hang out, we just carry on.

I like our View From the Top.

2009 - recap

I did not fall of the face of the earth, or forget about my little blog. I simply had some adjusting to do. The changes this move brought did not go nearly as easily as I had hoped, but I've come through it all successfully.

I turned 40. Chris flew me out to PSU for a long weekend and I got to see a lot of close friends. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Teresa (my college roommate), Mark (my college BFF), Claudia (one of my bridesmaids), my mom, and my Aunt Helaire (who I named Molly after) all came up to visit and stayed at Rebecca and Jim's with me. It was a VERY good weekend. Fun, busy, and exciting with a PSU football game all rolled into 4 days. At the end of the week, I realized that "Hey, I'm 40. But I don't feel any older."

We moved. I think all of the changes that incurred had a lot to do with all of the adjustments. Now that it's been a semester, we've not only survived, but done quite well! I have a part-time job that I enjoy, the kids are in school that we all absolutely LOVE, Chris is having fun teaching cadets Probability and Statistics, Michael is doing soccer and Scouts, Molly is doing piano and Scouts, and I have started taking piano lessons, too. Our gym is absolutely incredible, and I admit, when we do move, I'll miss it.

Now that it's the end of 2009 and tomorrow starts 2010, it's not so bad looking back. It seemed horrible during it, but now that it's over, 2009 wasn't that bad. Well, besides when I actually got the dreaded Swine Flu. But, now I have some great antibodies in my body!!

Beginning tomorrow we will have a Lt. Colonel living in the house. Now, that's making me feel older than turning 40 did. After all, Lt. Colonels are OLD. Like, OLD PEOPLE old. Perhaps it will be like my birthday, where after the fact it wasn't so bad...

Here are some long awaited pictures. :-)

Michael and Molly on the first day of school in their uniforms.

Rebecca and Jim came out for Christmas and we all went to Garden of the Gods. I think their trip out here was the highlight of the last 6 months for me. Life returned to normal, and for that, I am forever grateful.

Michael and Molly decorating their Gingerbread House. And being sweet!
Michael got glasses this fall. He thought he wouldn't like them, but once he figured out he could see better, he loved them!

We all went to a corn maze in Denver for the day. It was QUITE the maze. Notice the warm clothes we had on - it was 82 that day (yes, in October) and there was snow on the mountains!!

Molly and Michael on Halloween. Molly was Scooby for the third year in a row, and Michael dressed up as "Daddy". They were in a contest on base, and Mikey got first for his catagory, while Molly got second. She isn't a very happy second place winner, is she? ha ha

I'll try to do better next year.