Got accepted to both Regis and CU medical schools. While that was quite amusing and astonishing for a few weeks, I waited too long to post and now it's just a fact.
Facilities are brand new and sweet! ( Anshutz Medical Campus ) For example, would you rather spend 30 hours a week dissecting a cadaver on the 5th floor of a bldg, one table per room, with glass walls facing the mountains - or in a basement with no natural light and 20 tables in a row? (think smell factor after about 10 weeks) Would you rather have several chain restaurants and hospital and school cafeterias to choose from or one single crapeteria for lunch?) Would you rather pay $82,000 or $54,000 for this school (private vs. public)? CU places higher emphasis on clinical experience, less on research. Good, cause if I wanted a PhD, that's what I'd be signing up for...but I'm not...Also, the faculty and current students at CU were completely professional but very inviting at the same time...I can't quite say the same for Regis. One of my interviewers was actually trying to bait me into bad answers, and the dean got up and said "At Regis, we're interested in building leaders. If you want to be a Leader, come to Regis....If you're not, go somewhere else." I kind of couldn't believe she said that. SOLD to CU! It's just a better fit for me.
SO, I am going to medical school at Univesity of Colorado Health Sciences Center! Although I will have to drive a ridiculous 60 miles a day to CU for three years...I feel like it's worth it. Everyone's like..."I thought you were going to school to be a physical therapist...not a doctor?" Uh....yeah. I'll be a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)...as opposed to MEDICAL doctor (as in MD). No, it's not similar to massage therapy school. No, you can't get this degree at a community college. Yes, I'll be taking classes with your future MDs (and probably smoking them at it)...I will do clinical work integrated into my 9 semesters instead of a residency like an MD would do...so...this is the bigtime...and I'm very excited and up for it. BRING IT! I start in June.
OK...so since we're saving $28K in school tuition and I see that I have no summer - scratch Europe and we bought a Honda Civic for a commuter car and we're going back to Siesta Key in May. We named our 2011 Honda Civic EX, Frank. Got a great deal on Frank: $2,000 under dealer invoice. They had an overstock problem and needed to fix it. We were happy to help. Frank is dark silvery/gray (with a sun roof) and got lonely today, as I left him here in the garage for the first time by himself, but he didn't have insurance yet. Also, we only have a three week window in May between my physics class ending and my start of med school...so we booked a trip back to the same lovely resort in a condo right on the beachfront that we stayed at last summer for a week at Siesta Key, FL. It's really just the best beach for kids I've ever seen. Clear water, small waves, no undertow, sugary white sand, and the water is like 85 degrees...so mommie likie.
It'll be our fun little family time before I enter the gauntlet. THEN immediately upon return from the vacay, I get to test for my black belt. WELL, at least I'll have a tan for that. THEN I start school.
Right now I'm taking physics II back at good ole Red Rocks Community College to finish up my prereqs. I was wary of this class since it's basically what flunked me out of engineering school back in the day...but this is ritard algebra physics...not Diff-EQ physics. I got 110 out of 100 on the first exam and I swear I could have gotten that same score on that test in 9th grade. So, it's a great class so far...
Chad's getting this big bonus and my latest idea is trying to talk him into going heli-skiing in British Columbia over spring break. Cause that's a truly responsible way to spend a bonus...we'll see.
We had a trip to CT planned for Chad's sister Kelly's wedding this past week. This would have been just fine except for the fact that the wedding was on 8/21 which is CJ's birthday, and then school started on 8/23. Hmmm. Well, gotta go, so make the best of it. Chad and I planned to head out a day early and take a day down in NYC for a Broadway show and some light sight seeing. Neither of us had been to NYC for a long time. Sounded fun.
I had a hard time motivating for packing, as evidenced by my last post, done on the day I was supposed to be packing...I had just taken the GRE the day before and I was completely mentally and emotionally wiped out. What I was also supposed to be doing was sewing a snap on my hooker outfit, or I really was going to look like a hooker. This got delayed until we were at our destination due to the above, but I did manage to round up the supplies and pack them. This will become pertinent later in the story.
We got up at 5am on Weds. Our flight was at 10-something. We still had some packing to do and wanted to beat rush hour traffic out the door. Mission accomplished. Had a layover in Minneapolis, everything went well. Only snafu was that I left the wheels for the car seat about 2 miles back in the terminal we offloaded into in the hallway next to the women's bathroom. Sleep deprivation, whattya expect? So Chad had to run back there to get it shortly before we were boarding for Hartford. I would have, but wan't feelin' so crackalackin'.
Got to Hartford without incident. Then made our way on the van over to Alamo rent a car. So far they had been great. We like the self-check-in kiosks so you can bypass all the 'tards waiting in line and then you get to go out and pick your vehicle, instead of being at the mercy of the set of keys you would get form the desk person...a la Avis. Well this time, Alamo struck out all in one swing. We got there, extremely tired, not excited at the prospect of a 1.5 hour drive to Milford...and...there...are...NO...cars in the lot! ALL of the cars were in the line to be checked back in. So we had to wait for them to unsnarl the pile and dig out a minivan, then wait for it to be cleaned, fueled, washed, etc. That took about 45 minutes. Ok...so now it's rush hour going through Hartford. Tack on an hour to the drive.
We finally get to the hotel (SpringHill Suites) and it's a dump. It is NOT what I would call a Suite, more like a hallway with furniture shoved into it. They lied about the beds and we got two full beds instead of two queens, there is peeling wallpaper, it smells, and black mold in the grout of the sink basin. Can't change rooms because it's full. At this point we were defeated and tired so we didn't even consider leaving...plus everyone else from the wedding was staying there (in better rooms) so we just took that one for the team. For some reason we needed to meet up with Kelly and Tobi and go out to dinner. We needed someplace quick. The kids were really a mess. We ended up at this totally weird Italian place. I didn't bring my phone so I couldn't take a picture, but the inside of it was like a mint sponge cave. It looked like someone took a drywall canon and blasted mint colored plaster all over the walls...AND we were the ONLY ones in there. WTF??? Whatever. We ate it. It apparently was terrible but I was so hungry I thought it was fine. We went back to the hotel. Except that as we were getting ready for bed we realized we forgot most of our toiletries...contact saline, shampoo, toothpaste, woolite clothes de-wrinkle stuff, etc...One last task...go to Walgreens.
The next day was our NYC day. Perhaps things will turn around? Well, not yet. I was trying to sew the snap on my blouse and ended up butchering it. Not only could I not line the snaps up right, but I actually cut a hole in it! Outfit plan B. It is at this time that I realize I forgot at least half of what I intended to pack. Well, at least I have a back up hooker outfit so I guess I'll go with it. Gram Kay and Gramps Charlie had been in NYC Wednesday night for the premier of Camp Rock 2, because Charlie's daughter, Alyson Stoner (google her, she's this whole phenomenon), is famous and is in the movie and is touring around with the Jonas Brothers. So they got home REAL late and weren't hippity hoppin' early to take the kids. Finally around 11am we got a hold of them and finished getting everything ready to go. We had to pack all of our stuff for the evening into a backpack to carry around since we had no home base in NYC. We were going to change at the restaurant into the hooker/pimp clothes...
We walked out the door at about 11:50 and Kay handed us a train schedule for Stratford train station. OH, the train leaves at 12:12...we'd better bust some ass to get there. We hit a Walmart on the way there and decided we needed some water and SPF for the day. I thought this would be a 3-5 minute affair...nope. You know all those people on the "people of walmart" website? Well, they were all there and all happened to be at the checkout at the same time as me. It took about 10-12 minutes and when I got out we had about 5 minutes to get over there and get tickets and get on the train. Fat chance. Not like it was a huge deal, another train comes in an hour. But it wasn't an express...you have to stop at every dumb station along the way on the regular train. So we get to the station and see no train, so we're stoked. Park, run all the way back to the street to cross sides of the tracks, hurry up buy tickets for $50...ready. Whew! Well, it was just then that we started hearing grumbles from teh waiting crowd. Word was that the train was down and wasn't coming anytime soon. Aw hell. So I get on the iPhone and start trying to figure out what our options are. This really loud classic NYC black dude comes over and wants info STAT. He doesn't believe what I'm reading and wants to read it himself. Warnings are going off in my brain over this, but I just let him anyway...seems fine enough. I let him mess around for info on my phone for a few minutes. He's yelling about this and that, thrashing around the station interrogating everyone for information. Then we notice this tiny little lady next to us interjecting, as if we need an interpreter...The whole scene is highly humorous...Finally after about 15 minutes, some tall businessy looking dude says buses are coming to get us and take us to Stamford train station, which is 30+ miles away, south of the trouble. We say screw that...we're driving. Who wants to go? About 8 people raise their hands...loud guy and tiny lady have been sorta our crew on this so we say we're taking them. Here we go. Meet Darren and Maureen our new posse.
We have no idea where we are going, so Chad is driving and we get the same thing...Darren yelling out stuff with Maureen quietly interjecting in between rants. We're on the road for a few miles and we get this: NYC accent:"YO DUDE! I don't know how you roll, but I gotta tell ya that needle is on E!" We look down, and sure enough...no gas. It's Kay & Charlie's rental...not ours, we didn't even look at the gage. So we need to drop Darren off at a different exit (which he failed to mention when we were picking people for the ride) so we'll get gas there. It's like 5 miles away. Well this all seems really easy, but the gas station is about half mile in off the highway. If you have not experienced this area in a car, I'll tell you that there is more traffic than you could ever imagine - e.g. you don't want to get off the highway - and the gas process/dropping off Darren takes at least 30 minutes. We say our goodbyes to Darren (I sorta liked him and was sorry to see him go, really, who wants to get rid of the entertainment?) So we settled in for our last 20 miles with Maureen. We had a typical convo up to Stamford. She was acting all along like she really knew where she was going, but when we got off the Stamford exit...nada. We were sorta drifting around trying to find signs to the train. Got it. One last left...turn...SHIT! CHAD! Missed getting smoked by a car coming around the bend the other way by about 20 feet. Note to self: Green arrows in CT do not mean the same thing as in CO...FYI. Traffic is not stopped on the other side...
We pulled into the first garage and parked and were all a little bit shaken up. Personally, I would just feel better if we could get on the GD train to NYC...So we go in, great, there's an express train in 10 minutes. Exchange our tickets and we're good to go. Oh, maybe I should pee...Maureen? Do we have time? Yeah, lets go quick. So we go in/out in about 2 minutes and come out to find Chad saying we need to run to catch it. We run down the steps and the doors close right as we get there, like in the movies. It was a few minutes EARLY and did not wait any longer than it usually would (which is about 30 seconds). So I just about blew a gasket. I hit this metal thing on the train platform, which made a really loud noise but didn't really hurt since I'm used to punching stuff, but seemed to alarm everyone, heh. I went back up to the station and sat down on the floor. I was sitting there all pissed off and then Maureen decides to tell me that I shouldn't feel bad because she's there to see her mom in the hospital who got in a car accident yesterday. Thanks Maureen. Well that makes me feel much better. Now I feel selfish in addition to everything else - frustrated, homesick, stressed, stupid.
Anyhow, the next train came a half hour later. We finally got on the damn train and it's like 2pm. The train ride was pretty uneventful. I was just happy to be going somewhere and not to a hospital, whether it was for me or my mom or whatever...We got to Grand Central at about 3:00 or so. Maureen hooked us up with the train line schedule and showed us how to read it so we wouldn't eff everything up on the way home. Then she got us out on 42nd st. and on our way pointed toward Times Square. She was extremely nice. We exchanged e-mails but I haven't written to her yet. I will.
Chad and I walked the 4 or so blocks to Times Square and decided we needed brew immediately. We were a mess. First thing we saw was Hard Rock, so we went in there and mellowed out a bit. We were finally there, what's next? We promptly found a nice tee shirt stand and bought everyone in the family your classic cheap white "I <3 NY" tee shirts for $3 each. We decided that we were going to go up to the Top of the Rock (30 Rockefeller plaza, e.g. NBC headquarters) because Maureen said it was pretty cool. We walked over there and, It was cool. Well done, 30 Rock! They sold time-slot tickets and thus closely monitored how many people were up there so there wasn't a huge line to stand in anywhere and there was plenty of space when we got to the top. There is a whole mall underneath 30 Rock, so we went to the bathroom and got some Starbucks while we were waiting. I think our time was 5:05. We had reservations at the Redeye Grill at 5:30 and at this point who cares? We didn't even bother to call and cancel we were so over the "schedule". Chad's friend had recommended this place called Blue Fin in the W Hotel which was on our way back to Times Square, so that was the new plan.
Ok, so this video sorta stinks. I am still getting the hang of the new little baby recorder. I went too fast around...but you will still get the idea of the vastness of NYC, which left me awestruck...
Luckily, nobody eats in NYC as early as 5:45, so we got right in and sat down without a reservation. They were going to have live jazz music later in the evening, and had a really cool bar area, but we had bigger fish to fry and had to get in/out. We ordered and took turns taking the backpack into the restroom to change and get prettied up. I felt good in the plan B outfit. Really good. It was somewhat sparkly (actually the big joke is that it has a sequined strip down the middle vertically in a black/silver alternating chevron pattern which creates the illusion of a runway going from head down to the crotch area) and I had my black skinny jeans and 3.5" heel ankle boots on. Got my makeup on ramped up to level streetwalker. Got my hair out of the bun it had been cooking in all day. I felt like I belonged there...which was cool. Chad had his cute little plaid shirt on and his dark True Religion jeans and he looked great. (I'm his stylist) The atmosphere was exactly what we wanted...non-tourist trappy, trendy, sorta dim and sexy. I wish I had the waitress take a pic of us, or that I took a pic of the place, but the flash would have disturbed people. The sushi was fantastic....we were happy. We got out around 7pm and started making our way back toward times square and the theater. Curtain call was 8pm for The Lion King at the Minskoff Theater.
Admittedly, I did a bad job on the pics. Oh well. I am not as stoked on that as I used to be and it shows.
No pics were allowed inside, so I'll just say that the show blew our minds. It was perfect. Like listening to a soundtrack. It was just unbelievable all the crap that was constantly flying around that stage. The adaptations to take the story from cartoon movie to stage were done in the coolest way imaginable. I want to take the kids when it comes back to Denver. It won't be as good...but it's ok, it's for the kids.
SO we came outta there all happy and sorta wanting something to do. We thought about finding a pool hall. Neh. We decided it would be romantic to go to the top of the Empire State Bldg in the dark to see the lights. We had delusions of our hair blowing in the breeze and sharing a few kisses, like in the movies. We walked the 8-9 blocks down the the building. My feet held up well on the way down. Then we got there and had to wait. And wait...and wait...Lines everywhere. No organization. Totally the opposite from 30 Rock. We finally got to the top and there were so many people up there than we could barely move. Basically it sucked. But we gave it a try. Then we had to walk back and my feet started to hurt a little bit...but it was a nice night and I was a 6' tall sexy sparkly amazon with an arrow pointing to my crotch. So I just ignored it and kept walking around like I owned the place.
This was the best outside pic I got because the exposure on our night setting is really long and it's hard to hold the camera steady enough.
So you might think Oh, that's a happy end to the NYC story...but it's not over. We wasted a little time shopping back in times square and then decided around midnight that we needed to head out. We got to Grand Central and looked up at the board. Oh good, there's an express leaving...now...just as we started walking toward the tunnel...the board flipped to "departed". Shit. So now we have to run over here to this not express one or else wait another hour for the last express train out of the city for the night. We got on with no time to spare. Then some drunk girls sat down in the seat across from us. At first they were good entertainment. But we got sick of them saying the same things over and over for a half hour and decided they were "grenades, man". (anyone watch Jersey Shore? Me neither, but that phrase stuck with me as pretty damn funny the one time I did see it) The one girl was even a double grenade. She would intermittently pass out in mid-sentence. Then we had, guy who storms in and starts yelling at everyone because his door did not open at his stop and he missed it. Then we had drunk lady who decided she wasn't paying and argued a little bit with the ticket guy until she finally just laid down and ignored him.
So 18 stops later...we get back to Stamford. It's like 1:00 in the morning. We walk over to the parking garage to find it locked. There's a number to call if you need your car out. We call it. They guys says he's coming down. Nobody comes. Then Chad goes over to the next parking garage (where we were supposed to park) and talks to that guy. He comes over and says...well this guy is just sitting up there in that building (we parked in an office building garage). So he calls and sends us up there. We pay 28 dollars, sign all these forms, and the guy lets us out. Then on the way home it even took us like 20 minutes to pull off the highway and get McDonalds. There were three REALLY long lights between us and that damn McDonalds and we had to stop at all of them both ways. We got home at like 2am and collapsed. Cameron woke up at about 6am the next day.
Then CJ got sick. This was beach day, but I had to sit in the hotel room all day with him. He had a fever. I was so bored that I visited every single website I could think of to visit short of resorting to porn. We also missed the rehearsal dinner which was on the beach and a lovely dinner of various New England style seafood. The scoop was that the food was really good, but the no-see-ums and flies were out and everyone was complaining about that. I was sorta glad I missed that. I mighta had a hissy about it. I am not high maintenance, but one thing I ask is low numbers of insects while I am eating. AND I missed all the fun, everyone got shitfaced and was singing. I was very lucky to eat the leftover poo poo italian food from weds night. I still didn't think it was THAT bad. Maybe because nobody fed me the whole day again.
Then it was Saturday. CJ's birthday! Kelly's wedding! The things we've been waiting for! We didn't have anything planned for CJ's birthday, so in the morning I took him to Walmart and let him pick out a toy. Then we came back and loaded up the crew (Travis, Josh, Jaime, me, Chad, Cam, CJ) and went to...God help us...Chuck E Cheese. I have managed to avoid Chuck E Cheese up to this point in my life...but we didn't have anything else on deck...so we went. We bought $50 of tokens and made it our mission to get as many tickets as we could. We ended up with about 1400 between all of us and we thought that was good, but then CJ got about $12 of crap for it. Oh well, he had fun and the pizza actually wasn't bad. Having actual coke tasted good since I don't drink that much anymore.
Travis had been in Alaska all summer so he looked especially special...this is the trimmed beard. He had a full Jeremiah Johnson going when he first arrived.
Josh...don't ask me why I found it amusing to take pics when they were in this bubble thing.
Jamie seemed to be having more fun than all of us. And might I add, that she got the high score on the basketball game...*applause*
CJ was drawn to this like a moth to a flame...and was then promptly disappointed when all it did was go up and down a little bit. LAME.
Now this thing was pretty wicked cool.
I personally think that CJ had the most fun shoving the tickets into the ticket eater/counter thing:
All I have to say is, thank the Lord they didn't have the little robot band at this Chuck E Cheese. That might have sent me over the edge *again*
So we had to go home and clean up for the wedding. It was at 4:30 at a beach about 20 minutes away from the "suites" in Guilford, CT. I was glad it was casual. A thin layer of clouds came in and there was a comfortable breeze. That made it perfect on the beach.
The wedding was beautiful with Long Island Sound as the backdrop. Tobi and his friends had constructed this cool little area earlier in the day. It was farfegnugen...German engineering. (Tobi is German)
Here's all the siblings. I thought this was a great pic:
At the end of the ceremony Tobi serenaded Kelly with a song on his guitar. It was so sweet. I was trying to think of what the equivalent was on my wedding day...uh...maybe some quotes from Billy Madison such as "want to touch the hiney" and an ass grab. Let's just say these are different types of men we're talking about here...
Oh, and this is when Cameron started to come down with a fever.
We picked up the beach and moved to dinner. It was at this cute restaurant at the marina called The Stone House. This place was fantastic. Atmosphere, setting, service, food...all wonderful. Highly recommended. It was packed, but we had a private room in the back. Cam started feeling bad, so I ran to the nearest Walgreens to get some Tylenol. We brought in his car seat and he curled up in it in the corner of the room. He pretty much skipped dinner, but then the sorbet came out and he ate two of those and perked up a bit.
Josh and Melissa: "You're next...aren't you excited?" (Their wedding is in a few weeks in Toledo)
This was funny...Tobi has never heard of the shoving the cake in the face thing and was confused by all the cheering when he got ready to feed Kelly the cake.
The next day we had to leave around 8am to get up to Hartford airport. Everything was going ok until we got to the infamous Alamo station. We pulled in and it was raining. The girl comes up after we sit there ten minutes and says..."sorry, my gun is dead so you have to check out in the office...sorry for the inconvenience". So after we unload all our crap and the kids and drag it over to the office we are behind like 8 people to do this. Wait 20 minutes. Alamo is officially fired. We finally get to the airport...which I might add...Hartford airport is my favorite airport that I've ever been through...it is set up really well, it's not crowded, and they play classical music over the speakers to chill you out. I didn't mind hanging out there for 1.5 hours before our flight.
We ended up being delayed about 45 minutes from the rain. Great. We have a 55 minute layover in Atlanta to catch our Denver flight. We get to ATL and literally have to run to the next gate - of course we had to change terminals which involved a stupid train/whatnot. ATL airport might be my least favorite airport. The place was so packed that I had to hold CJ's hand the entire time so he wouldn't get swept away in the crowd. Chad was carrying a laptop bag AND the carseat with Cameron sitting in it. I couldn't believe he held up through that...but he always amazes me with his strength/lbs. ratio. We walked up to the gate just as they were announcing final boarding call. whew. Now would our bags make it? Unlikely.
We got to Denver and were delighted to get our bags. We then had to deal with Wallypark. We used to love Wallypark but now they must have cut vans so they now suck. They are fired. We decided that for short trips we're parking in the garage from now on. For long trips we're just going to hire a Towncar to drive us in and pick us up. We're done with this parking BS.
Finally we got home around 7:30pm...no food in the house. Here's a juice box and an apple. School starts the next day...damn. That was some trip...and no, I do not want to do it again...
I've started several posts, but not finished them. Somehow, they just end up seeming dumb and I abandon ship in the middle of the composition. Sorta weird, this has happened a lot this year. It's pretty bad when I don't even care what I have to say...
Whatever...I've been busy playing Mafia Wars (DOH)...BUT NOW We have some excitement.
Thursday - Revenge on Apache Peak will be MINE! I
think to kick off climbing season 2010, I will take a bottle of
champagne and break it on the summit like as if it were a boat on her
maiden voyage...(Hell no I won't do that...aside from the mess, and probably preferring to drink the alcohol vs. splat it, I'm not
carrying that extra weight up to the top!) It's perfect...two years ago, it was start the season on Otis with fibular head subluxation, last year
it was the Y couloir on Pikes with torn gastrocnemius, this year it will be Apache with a shredded elbow. I decided to start the season with a tale of redemption. As Gerry
Roach would say: *CLASSIC*
The plan is to do this, then go get fat and lose all altitude superpowers in Florida for a week, then come back and do dragon's tail couloir on Meeker the week after we get back. Hopefully it will still have snow in it or that will make for a long boring hike...I've had my sights set on both of these routes for some time. Hopefully it will be a good start to the climbing season.
Next week we're going to Siesta Key Florida. Phat condo right on the shore. I'm excited to just hang out on the beach with the kids. Cam has never seen the ocean, and the last time CJ did...well...it wasn't pretty. You may recall the retarded Mexican vacation we had in 12/06. Chad and I have been to the Bahamas and Hawaii in the meantime. But Mexico is fired forever. I don't care if it's cheap.
Tae Kwon do...today "we" had a little hissy fit in class. I'm embarrassed to talk about it since it tarnishes my bad-assery in general. I got kicked in my elbow, yes the wrecked one, pain - no biggie - I'm good - but then I got tentative about getting it hit again, and then basically got my ass handed to me in sparring practice, and then proceeded to cry about it like a little biyatch. I got everyone all upset over me just being a baby. I guess all of a sudden I am putting all this pressure on myself to be awesome, since I will be testing for black belt in November...God and body willing...I must reconstruct my expectations of myself going forward. Nobody is putting this pressure on me but me. Well, I do feel like they have high expectations for me because of my athleticism. But that doesn't change the fact that I am very strong but not that quick...or that I just don't like sparring unless I'm genuinely pissed of and in a position to not feel bad about hurting the other person. Because...I...will...if I go all-out, and that is basically never going to happen unless I'm in a street fight (could happen at any minute in Golden, CO, I am just sayin'). SO. Let's try not to cry in tae kwon do, shall we? Deal.
I gotta go fit my crampons to my new kickass mountaineering boots y'all. I leave you with an image of their awesomeness...Behold...that which makes me lighter and faster and less bitchier...Also got a new GPS (glacier on Crestone ate it) and Spot (dropped it 100 ft down N. Maroon). All geared up. Peace-out.
First we flew home, dropped off kiddies at Gramma Kay's house and went off to Chapel Hill for Chad's MBA graduation. That was fun. I do not know how he made it through 23 of those trips without getting fat and/or killing his liver. These people know how to get down, man. I could barely hang. Every night it's eat out then party. We even played beer pong one night for cripe's sake. They were all great people and it was fun to meet them. At first I wasn't even going to go. I thought it would be a bunch of stuffy boring accountant/want-to-conquer-the-business-world types, and I was like, whatever, it's a dumb graduation ceremony, let's get this over with and go home...but I had a great time and when the ceremony actually came around it sunk in what a great accomplishment it is and I was very proud of Chad. I was very glad I was there. He deserved someone to be there.
On my free day I had the big plan to drive out to Mt. Mitchell, near Asheville, 14er-style, but given that I was still at the bar at 2am and slightly tanked and would've had to leave at 3am...uh, yeah. I did a little 5-6 mile hike in Eno River State Park which was nice. Saturday after the ceremony I made Chad go to Jordan Lake and get a little sun for a few hours. I liked North Carolina. Chapel Hill is a cool little town, the whole area is pretty cool. A lot less developed than you'd think. Rolling hills, pretty old- growth forests.
Meanwhile, Gram Kay and Charlie took my offspring to visit Gramps Wing and Sally to chase some chickens and listen to nifty impromptu harmonica jam sessions. Word has it Grampa Wing plays a mean "Wheels on the Bus". Also, they went to pick at the
strawberry patch and were stuffing my kids full of all sorts of
berry-based food the entire four days. We got back just in time for the
digestive consequences. Thanks Gram Kay...Thanks.
Then we headed back to the T-dump metro area for some family time. 5 days in Fremont and then 5 days up at Posey Lake. Got to visit with my good ole buddies Libby and Jill from Kingston Healthcare - Shout out! Last I saw them, CJ was a 4-month-old. Went to my long lost cousin Tamra's baby shower, and did the Godmother gig for my niece Rosalynn. I don't know just how god-motherly I am, but I was honored to be picked. (I'll do my best not to fuck it up). We were also lucky to visit for a little while with Chad's grandpa Wing and his lovely lady Sally. We took the kids to the Toledo Zoo, which is better than the Denver zoo. I think we liked it better than them.
Got 5 nines of golf and one 18 round in! YEAH. Best score was 46 on 9, SO not HOT, and I suffered a devistating 6 penalty strokes on the round of 18 to shoot a 95 (hittin a little crooked off the mens tee with my dad that day)...but oh well, it was fun and I finally got Chad out on my old stomping grounds - Fremont Country Club. The course was in fantastic shape and I did feel a few little heartstrings tug as I played 3 rounds of 9 holes there over the vacay. After all, I WAS the ladies club champion there in 1993...
We had a great time up at Posey Lake. Josh (Chad's bro) had remodeled a lot of the cottage and it was really nice. The lake was warm, the sun was hot. We got our tan on - (Just call me sexual chocolate from here out - ok, so it's admittedly more like caramel). And almost died from the humidity. And I got an ear infection from lake water getting stuck in my ear while tubing...but it was good times at the lake! We got to hang with Kay & Charlie, Travis (chad's other bro), Josh, Melissa (Josh's girlfriend), Jaime (Charlie's daughter) and her friend Audrey, we even had an appearance from Chad's dad Skip and his two half-sisters Courtney and Paige (he had never seen Cam and had only seen CJ a few times so they had no idea he was their grandpa), our friends Jason Kaz, and Lee and Shari came up too. CJ and Cam had fun playing with Lee/Shari's girls Adrian and Avery. We grilled, drank, swam, fished, boated, tubed, got a few games of volleyball in, and one 9-holes of golf in the form of a 6-some which took 187 hours to complete in the 95 degree heat with 95% humidity...but STILL fun.
Then we had the big party back in Fremont. WHAT party are you refering to, exactly, you might ask? WELL I couldn't talk about it in case parentals logged in. It was their 40th anniversary and my sis and I decided we needed to throw a surprise party for them with all their friends in their own backyard. We told them we wanted to take them out for a nice round of golf and lunch for their anniversary present...thus the 18 hole round...as a family. While we were gone, Chad and Tim (brother in-law) were back at the house supervising all the setting up by the tent/table people and the caterer. It turned out perfectly and it was so great and totally worth the crap we went through to get it done. They had absolutely no idea, which is a small miracle, since the whole town of Fremont knew about it for two months. The weather was great. The food was great. I made a complete fool of myself trying to do a toast and crying. Almost ALL of my parents good friends and family made it. Some came from Toledo, Buffalo, Erie-PA, Cleveland, Wisconsin, even Atlanta-GA. We had about 75 people. It was SO good to see my family from Buffalo, and especially my cousin Adam from Wisconsin - we used to be like PEAS and CARROTS growing up - and to meet his girlfriend Jen.
I made a cookie-cutter website for the event: www.rodandkathy40th.myevent.com There's plenty of tard pics in there if you want to have a laugh...I'll get some pics of the trip up soon. I have to collect/consolidate from everyone who was snapping pics. I was running the video mostly, not the camera.
Twas a great trip, however, we're GLAD to be home. Missed our doggie. Missed our bed. Missed hangers. Missed Rocky Mountain High. Plus my liver needed a vacation from the vacation. TRU-DAT!
I am still debating whether to bring the gear for Mt. Mitchell, NC on Friday.
I am still debating whether to bring golf clubs.
I don't have a new dress. I think I'll just bring a couple from last year when I had all the weddings. Oh well. I'd rather spend the money on gear instead anyway and I can't bear going to a mall for one more minute. Cause I spent like two hours shopping and that's enough.
I am excited that Chad and I are planning our next big overnight climb to the Crestones when we get back. Ever since I visited Humboldt last year I've been stoked to get Chad up on the Crestones traverse. It's a class 4 very exposed route that links Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle, both 14ers on the list. I do believe carrying the 8mm rope with a light rack will be justified. We did our practice the other day on Freeway. That's enought practice...I'm ready. This climb will be more serious, so I'll bring my real rock shoes. Chad says they help a lot, and I believe him since when he put his on the other day, he could just about run up and down the rock, while I fumbled to keep my relatively clunky approach shoes clinging on to the small toe holds. Might try to get a group together for the trip.
I know...need to tag 6 years of blog so it's easier to look this stuff up...maybe I can work on that over the vacation. That's what I get for being lazy up front. After all this time I can admit I still am and forevermore will be - a blog tard.
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