A Marathon of a Post

Last Saturday, my family from Wisconsin/Illinois all came out for the week. My sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew were all able to come out for 4 days and see us for the first time since we've moved out here. It was great watching the cousins play together (my niece is 2 months older than MED and my nephew is nine months younger than MAD). They got along fantastically and I don't think there was a single argument amongst them the entire time. My parents also came out last Saturday and have been able to stay through this Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn't make life very fun for them this last part of the week. I had two interviews scheduled - one for Thursday and one for Friday - which ended up turning into three interviews. My parents were stuck at home with my kids while K was working and I was driving all over town interviewing for a teaching position. Fortunately, yesterday I was offered a fifth grade position at a school on the north side of town! I'm extremely excited and I think I will be uber-happy at this school.

Back to our activities for this past week...

We did a lot of hanging around at our house with everyone over the holiday weekend. Sunday night, all of the 'boys' and CED went up to Denver to watch the Colorado Rapids (MLS) play. My family had a great time, my dad enjoyed the experience, and my brother-in-law kept up a running monologue yelling at the other team's keeper (which JAD thought was just awesome). The kids played on the slip-n-slide and ran through the sprinkler for a good portion of time on the Fourth. We went to watch fireworks that night and the kids ran around like crazy people waiting for the show to begin - all the while getting along and having a great time.

On Tuesday, we headed out to Manitou Springs - a great little town about 20 minutes east of Colorado Springs close to the base of Pike's Peak. Manitou has a great main street full of little shops ranging from handmade soap to jewelry to clothing to kitchen wares. It's a great eclectic mix of shops and restaurants and a place we like to go several times a year. To the kids' delight, there's an area in the middle of one side that is full of arcade games and kiddie rides. I think K, my dad, my brother-in-law, and I spent at least $30 in quarters just pumping them in for the 5 youngest to go from ride to ride.

My nephew, C

JED

My niece, M

MAD

MED

MED and M

MAD again (just loved this 'victorious' picture!)

My sister's family had to leave Wednesday morning and we spent the afternoon walking around downtown Colorado Springs and visiting some of the quaint shops there. Unfortunately, we are in our 'monsoon' season and we've had rain every afternoon which kind of dampens (literally) any plans outside. Thursday morning, I had to leave for interview number one and my parents stayed home with the kids. My mom ended up cleaning up and reorganizing JED's room which kept us occupied the rest of the afternoon once I got home. Friday morning started out much the same - I went off to two interviews (a first interview and a second interview following up on Thursday's interview) and my parents stayed home, continuing to do various projects around my house (for which I am very thankful, but feel horrible that they felt they had to work!) My dad fixed most of the screens in my house (a previous dog had put holes in all of them trying to escape) and he fixed the girls' bunk bed which was broken on day one of everyone being here (the three girl cousins decided to jump on the bed - bad idea). My mom reorganized the little girls' room - there's a theme going on. When I got home, we headed off to Cheyenne Canon park to do a little hiking. It was beautiful out (very sunny and warm) and we hiked around a couple of reservoirs, switching from trail to trail.

Last night we went to the Sky Sox game. For those that don't know, the Sky Sox are the Colorado Rockies AAA affiliate here in Colorado Springs and going to games is always fun. MAD and MED have been looking forward to this game for well over a week because they get to see Sox the Fox, the team mascot. Last night, they actually had the opportunity to take a picture with Sox and it was the highlight of their day and night. My dad is a huge baseball fan, so I think he enjoyed the experience. We like going because 1) We like baseball (well, almost all of us do - JAD thinks it moves too slow so, therefore, it's boring - mainly, it's not soccer) and 2) it's very family friendly.

My mom and dad

K and the girls

JED - all hopped up on Pepsi

And the coup de grace - MED and MAD with Sox the Fox

By the middle of the seventh inning, MAD had had enough. She curled up on the bench, put her head on CED's lap and went to sleep.

We've had a fantastic time with all of my family and we are very sad to see my parents leave today. We love having people come visit us and we've been very happy to have family around - even for the short time they've been here. It gives us something to look forward to as we have no family close to us. Thanks, mom, dad, L, M, M, and C for coming out to see us. It was a GREAT week!