Sushi Boat!!!

Sushi tonight with Andy and Trevor, fresh out from the flat lands of IL. This is our boat! We thought 12 rolls was going to be too many.... we had room to spare.... enough to stop for frozen yogurt on the way home! Delicious!

Wal-Mart

I had to pick up some odds and ends today at Wal-Mart.  When I walked in, I thought I was in heaven.  Not the typical response you expect someone to give when they walk in to Wal-Mart.  So why the reaction from me?  It's back-to-school time.  I love, love, love to walk through the aisles of back-to-school supplies.  I love to consider all the neat ways to organize your school supplies, no matter the grade level.  Although I must admit, the college dorm supplies are my absolute favorite.  You can organize and coordinate every single item you would need for your dorm.  I love considering all the possible combinations.  I get some kind of sick enjoyment in new school supplies, arranging them and making them nice and neat.   

I also find it incredibly hilarious that no matter how neat and pretty things looks at the beginning of the year, give it two weeks (tops) and the backpack/folder/pencil case/dorm room are a complete and utter mess. 

So fast!

 Amazing how quickly things happen! I still am struggling to understand what happened with my crash... I was in the best shape of my life, and w/in a matter of seconds was no longer even able to ride a bike for a month and a half (for the risk of falling and hitting my face,) and when I am able may be a little scared... It still scares me quite a bit to look at my helmet!

 I went from fit and fast to bedridden and inactive for more than a month. Definitely learned to not take anything for granted! So appreciative of my wife for nursing me back to health!

I started running this weekend, and it feels good to be doing something again! Got to get ready for the Devil's Dash 5k in just over a month. Goal is to break 20 minutes!

Summer food

Today after church we ran some errands then came home to settle in and watch the Olympics. Lunch consisted of some awesome summer food to go along with summer Olympics :)

First picture: marinated, grilled tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil from our garden

Second picture: grilled peaches with a balsamic reduction and topped with bleu cheese

2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies Party

I have always enjoyed the Olympics, but I enjoy the summer Olympics more than the winter Olympics because I feel I can actually participate in most of the summer events.  Nick and I enjoy diving (pun intended) in to the Olympics and the interesting stories behind the athletes.  This year we've been hearing a lot about Missy Franklin (a 17-year-old swimmer from Aurora, CO) and have been following Kelci Bryant (one of my former students who is competing as a synchronized diver) as well as Sam Schultz (a professional mountain biker that Nick's dad and brother traveled to London to see compete).  Nick and I were both pretty excited as the start of the Olympics approached and decided it would be fun to host a party to watch the opening ceremonies.  Although the ceremony lasted 4 hours or so (?), we enjoyed the different story lines that were part of the ceremony - from the intensity of the Industrial Revolution to the fun music through the times.  Here are some shots from the night:

USA treats - red raspberry cheesecake and white chocolate-dipped strawberries

chris helping carter play with sadie

dinner shot #1

dinner shot #2

cayle and kennedie playing

jesslyn and little miss lindy leighn

     

4 years

Note:  This is a re-do...somehow the original post was lost :(

Four long years ago, Nick and I moved to Eagle County.  Some new colleagues heard we were in town and invited us over to watch the Opening Ceremonies to the 2008 Olympics because the host's step-son was participating in the steeplechase event at the Olympics.  I remember dinner that night was a nacho buffet, and I had brought buffalo chicken dip.  We met lots of new people that night who were so welcoming and fun.  It took a lot of stress off Nick and I to be able to meet our new coworkers before we actually had to report to school. 

Last night Nick and I hosted a party to cheer on the USA as the 2012 Olympics get underway.  I was able to use all of the red, white, and blue items I had purchased for the never-to-be 4th of July party :)  We had a great time with friends - hearing summer activity stories, catching up, and making new memories.  (More on last night's party here!) 

Before the party, both Nick and I had commented on where we were at the start of the last Olympics.  It's amazing the changes that can take place in 4 years!  Since the last Olympics we have settled in to a house, have had 2 amazing and beautiful kids, made many friends who are like family, and have grown together as a couple.  What a great four years it has been!

Where will we be the next time the summer Olympics get started??? 

Some firsts...

I've noticed a few "firsts" that popped up here recently...

cayle's first train ride.  grandma took him on the train at the denver zoo.  cayle cried until the train started, and then held on to grandma for dear life during the ride. 

cayle's first train ride on the steam engine.  3.5 hours long and he loved it.  we had an awesome window seat and he found as many animals as he could and pointed out water about every 2.7 seconds.

lindy's first camping trip.  down by durango, which is where cayle's first camping trip occurred.  she did awesome and seemed to enjoy her time in the tent!  she hung in there and put up with fishing, scenic drives, feeding ducks, cayle's bike rides, and more :)

cayle's first time fishing.  he stuck with it much longer than i expected.  he practiced reeling his line in...many, many times.  we didn't catch any fish, but he had lots of fun!

cayle's first time to eat tacos.  for dinner one night while camping, we had tacos.  nick and i were surprised when cayle didn't know how to hold or eat a taco - is anyone teaching this kid anything important??? how is it he is over two years old and never had a taco??? needless to say, it was a mess and we will have to do more work on taco-eating skills...

He's funny!

There are times when Cayle really pushes the limits - he screams this awful, shrilly scream that makes you just want to flip out, or he throws a fit because something didn't go his way, or he refuses to follow simple directions (let's wear shoes today...) - but most of the time Cayle is really fun to be around.  He says the most hilarious things (see the "Crash. Rock. Mess." post), even though he typically speaks in one- (sometimes two-) word phrases.  He does the funniest things sometimes, and no matter how hard you try, you can't help but laugh :)

chilling on the couch in his undies

cayle in lindy's bed...not sure how he even crawled in this thing?

getting ready to go out for his swim...surprisingly, he picked up zero chicks at the pool that day!

The Big City

So I had a conference in Denver this week.  We had planned to make it a little family vacation - a few nights in a nice hotel with a pool and a chance for Nick to get the kids to the zoo and a few other fun activities while I was at my meetings.  But due to Nick's accident, plans had to change a bit.  He wasn't able to take care of the kids on his own since he couldn't lift Cayle or carry anything with his left arm, or be submerged in water (aka no swimming), etc.  So Cathy flew out to Denver to stay with us for the duration of the conference.  It was a huge help!

Living up in the mountains, we have very few chain stores.  Which is great.  But for some reason, it seems those chain stores satisfy some craving?  So we hit up: Red Lobster, Bass Pro Shops, Panera Bread,  and McDonald's (I think I named them all???). 

cayle not so sure about the lobster...but he loved seeing the tank!

cayle found a new toy!

another toy cayle would like...

spotting a moose!

 

Grandma

Grandma B and her grandkids

Wiped Out!

What a day! Not sure what happened for sure, or why we are so tired, but we are both just wiped out! Mom and I took the kids to the Zoo today. They loved it! Cayle got to see the amazing elephant exibit, got to ride the train for the first time, and see the mountain goats! Along with many other animals. Lindy slept almost the entire time and loved her stroller ride! About noon it started to get pretty hot, and Cayle started to melt down a bit. Luckily he was able to hold it together long enough to make it back to the car to go pick up Natalie from her conference. He fell asleep almost immediately in the car. We dropped Grandma off at the airport and headed home! Luckily Natalie had a $40 meal reimbursement for the night, so we picked up Noodles for dinner!! What a great day, and it feels great to be home in the mountains! Will have pics once we get things settled a bit.

Bass Pro and the Zoo

Heading home for a few days tomorrow! Cayle is ready to be home, but he's also ready to go camping! That is the next adventure that begins on Sunday! Heading to one of our favorite places on earth! Durango, CO and Bread and the Sow your Oats cookie!!! Heading to the Zoo tomorrow with mom and the kids. Cayle loved Bass Pro Shop today! Even though all the animals were stuffed!!! (Except the fish) :-)

Denver

Staying at the Renaissance Hotel in Denver for the next couple of nights while Natalie has a professional development commitment. It's nice! Picked up Grandma B at the airport this afternoon to help with the kids while we are in Denver since daddy is not yet full strength. May many fun adventures ensue... Started off by having dinner at Dead Lobster. Was great as always, and Cayle loved the lobster tank. He even got to take one out and take a picture with it!!! He refused to "pet" it though... :-)

Colorado

This was one of the last pictures I took before my world, or at least my summer, came crumbling down around me. Such a beautiful place that we live in. So many times I am still in awe at the sights and the views everywhere around us!

Looking forward to some fun adventures with the family off the bike. Just got a campsite booked for a few days down in the San Juan's (one of our favorite areas), then have cousins and friends coming out to do some hiking in the high mountains. See if we can't get a couple of 14'ers in before the end of the summer.

Home Sweet Home! (or something a lot like it)

Aunt Michelle offered to take Cayle to her house for a few days while Nick had his surgery and recovered.  So I met her on Monday in Highlands Ranch at Jodi's house (and we got to meet Charlie!) where we had some lunch and all the kids got to play.  Throughout his time in CO Springs, Cayle seemed to have lots of fun doing all the kinds of things he does here.  Michelle made sure to send me lots of pics so that I knew Cayle was getting on ok :)

waking up a happy boy

hiding with his taggie

park time!

making sure lexi gets rinsed...

play time with the neighborhood kids

riding bikes in the cul-de-sac

lunch at culver's after a fun time at the zoo

out cold

giving the poor girl a ride through the neighborhood

being painted by cousin ethan

snack time after bike riding time

We are so grateful to Michelle, Ronnie, Ethan, and Lexi for giving Cayle lots of fun times and a happy place to hang out while we helped get Nick mending.  It was so comforting to know he was being loved and kept happy. 

I picked Cayle up in Littleton on Thursday and was so happy to see his smiling face :) 

Two working sets of hands...

Immediately after Nick had his accident, I started receiving offers of help - to clean, cook, babysit, etc.  All of it was very overwhelming, considering most of the offers came from our "local family" in Eagle County.  Although it's difficult for me to accept help, these offers came in handy.  I was given some wise advice that I should take people up on their offers - and after the entire day being spent in the ER, I knew I would accept help. 

Seeing your husband in that state - blood everywhere, barely walking, barely conscious, bike kit torn off, helmet ripped apart - was a very emotionally draining experience.  Add that to the fact I hadn't slept in a few months due to a newborn, the effect chasing around a 2-year-old can have on you, and just getting back from a 3-week trip to Illinois, I was completely drained.  I allowed Cayle to spend that first night at The Brandt's house.  I gratefully accepted a dinner from Melinda.  I allowed Annette to bring breakfast and dinner.  I asked Mary to watch Cayle and Lindy when I picked Nick up from the hospital.  I asked Rob to help Nick get in the house after he got home from the hospital.  I asked Mark to be on call - to take the car for an oil change, help me fix a toilet, play with Cayle, all of it!  It is so humbling to admit I need help, but the help I received helped me keep my sanity :)    

After a half-day or so of taking care of Lindy, Cayle, and Nick by myself, I agreed to allow Michelle to pack up her life and come help me.  I was spending the nights up pumping and nursing Lindy, comforting Cayle when he woke up crying in the middle of the night, and getting Nick medicine and checking on him.  Not to mention trying to get some clean laundry (Cayle asked me for undies and I offered him a diaper...) and eliminate the dust Cayle was playing in on the tv stand (I hate construction!).  I was exhausted.

So, the title of the blog is "two working sets of hands..."  Nick was unable to stand and walk, let alone do anything useful around the house.  Michelle provided an extra set of hands to help me out - and we were able to keep the kids occupied, get them naps, cook dinners, clean the entire house, do all the dirty laundry, and even fit in a little exercise and chit-chat time.  She was a life-saver.  

ethan giving lindy some attention

cayle participating in his first water balloon fight (courtesy of aunt michelle!)

ethan and lexi saying "hi" to cousin lindy

the three blond amigos

 

Cloth Diapers

We used cloth diapers for Cayle and thought they worked pretty good. We saved tons of money not having to buy disposables and didn't have any issues with laundering them.

So we decided we would use cloth diapers for Lindy too. The plan was to start once we got back from the Illinois trip. But I was slow to get things settled after the trip, and then Nick had his crash.

Lucky Lindy - mommy had some time today to go through her closet and sort through clothes and finally get the cloth diapers out for her. So here she is in her first of many cloth diapers :)

Sushi = Adventure ???

Some of the most memorable times have come while eating Sushi! Not sure why this is really, just is. The reason this is coming up is because I was watching the All Star game tonight, and a commercial for Taco Bell came on showing a stunt in Bethel, Alaska.

Bethel, AK

Quinhagak, AK

This jogged my memory. Several years ago, Dad, Bobby, Michael (my brothers) and I were fly fishing near Quinhagak, AK. Best fishing ever! Anyway, not the topic of this blog... fish yes, fishing no.... :-) We had flown in Anchorage, and from there to Bethel, then to Quinhagak. When we finished a week later, we flew the same route back to Anchorage. When we got into Bethel, we had some time to spare while waiting for our connector to Anchorage. We decided to go out for some lunch with some friends that we were with. We had a couple of hours. We hailed a taxi and asked for a recommendation for a restaurant. The guy recommended this little sushi place... It looked like log cabin but had good sushi. I don't remember everything about it, but long story short... We waited for a while for our sushi to come out, enjoyed our meal, and as we were wrapping things up, our other travel companions back at the airport called us to let us know the plane would be boarding soon. Not an issue really, except the main roads to the airport were closed for construction!!!! We had to take back roads (dirt) (typical Colorado back roads) across the tundra to find a way back to the main road to get back to the airport. The whole time the driver telling us that he THOUGHT he knew where he was going, and he THOUGHT he was going to get us back in time.... So going to eat Sushi that time led us to an adventure of the back roads of the tundra around Bethel, Alaska. (we made it as boarding was taking place...)

The first time I enjoyed sushi was at East by Southwest, in Durango, CO. To this day the nicest place I have ever enjoyed Sushi! A definite stop if ever in Durango and you enjoy Sushi! We were on family vacation with my family and Natalie had come along (we were dating.) The place was amazing! We sat on the floor, Indian style under a low rise table. We had our own private eating area, and everyone picked out 1-2 rolls. So here we are sitting at this table in our own private room telling stories while drinking multiple bottles of wine and we had Sushi rolls coming to us 2 at a time for a good period of time. Not sure exactly how many we had, but I would guess around 20 rolls or more to go along with 8-10 bottles of wine? Good times for sure, and one of my favorite memories! Oh yeah, the Sushi was absolutely amazing and creatively presented!

Caterpillar Roll

Dragon Roll (Pics Taken from Gallery on East by Southwest Website)

The last story that comes to mind took place in Springfield, IL with some of our good friends who live there. I don't remember if we were living there, or just visiting at the time. We went to a little hole in the wall place that we had been to before, and has great sushi, plus ALL YOU CAN EAT SUSHI!!!! This is really why we went, but only 2 of us ended up getting the all you can eat deal.

One Stipulation - You had to eat everything you received and were charged $1 for each uneaten piece left on your plate!

I understood this, no biggie. The reason it's so funny (I am laughing as I sit here and type this...) is because our friend, I'll just call him Paul, had never had Sushi before, or just didn't understand what a Sushi roll was. The other reason it's so funny is because he and his wife had just purchased a new house! A big investment to be sure!
We all had placed our orders, and Paul had filled out his Sushi card for what he wanted. Nobody really thought anything. Paul and I were the ones getting Sushi, everyone else said they may have a piece of ours or something (even though sharing is strictly forbidden....and they watch!!!) I ordered 2 or 3 rolls for myself, and Paul was under the assumption that he had ordered about the same. Only to find out when they brought out our food that Paul had actually ordered 8-10 rolls!!!! He had misunderstood, thinking that he was ordering 8-10 pieces.... LOL!!!! His wife was furious with him at the thought that he may have to pay so much money for uneaten pieces. I was able to help him since we had both ordered the all you can eat. The servers must have known he messed up because they were watching us like hawks to make sure nobody else was helping him... they couldn't see the amount of sushi being passed under the table. I was not much help since I already had my 3 rolls for myself. The others helped a bit. Because his wife was so pissed at him, he was threatening to put pieces in his pockets and take them to the bathroom to flush them! With a bit of creativity and some help, we (as a table) were able to get them all gone so he actually didn't have to pay extra for any of them. I still laugh out loud about this blunder though! One of the funniest things ever, but probably more so if you were there.

And one of our favorite places to eat Sushi in the Valley... is at Nozawa in Vail. We don't always go there because there is another in Avon and it's closer, but the dining room and ambience at Vail is much more interesting and fun when we get the opportunities.

They have these Sushi boats, as many places do I think, but this was the first time I had seen one, and it's really cool to have a community sushi boat to pick off of!

hmm... now I am beginning to crave some Sushi!