Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my 47th birthday! I've had a good day, pretty uneventful, which is fine with me. The next couple of weeks are going to be crazy so it was nice to just have a day to relax and do nothing.

The clouds all around our house this evening were ominous and it looked like it was raining all around me...just not at my house!

The John Denver song, Poems, Prayers and Promises, has been going through my head all day and it pretty much (with gender modifications) sums up how I'm feeling today.

Ive been lately thinking
About my life's time
All the things Ive done
And how its been
And I cant help believing
In my own mind
I know I'm gonna hate to see it end

Ive seen a lot of sunshine
Slept out in the rain
Spent a night or two all on my own
Ive known my (husbands) pleasures
Had myself some friends
And spent a time or two in my own home

And I have to say it now
Its been a good life all in all
Its really fine
To have a chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old (man)
Sit and pass the pipe around

And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long its been since yesterday
And what about tomorrow
And what about our dreams
And all the memories we share

The days they pass so quickly now
Nights are seldom long
And time around me whispers when its cold
The changes somehow frighten me
Still I have to smile
It turns me on to think of growing old
For though my life's been good to me
There's still so much to do
So many things my mind has never known
Id like to raise a family
Id like to sail away
And dance across the mountains on the moon

I have to say it now
Its been a good life all in all
Its really fine
To have the chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old (man)
Sit and pass the pipe around

And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long its been since yesterday
What about tomorrow
What about our dreams
And all the memories we share

And to make a good day even better, it is finally raining here!

Manassa Pioneer Days

July 24 is Mormon Pioneer Day, commemorating the entrance of Brigham Young & his followers to Utah and the subsequent settling of the LDS church in Salt Lake City. We have been in Salt Lake City during their celebration and it is a MAJOR production! The San Luis Valley has a large Mormon population and this day is celebrated here as well with parades, rodeo, carnival, demolition derby & fireworks. We have lived here 21 years and this is the first year that we've decided to drive the 26 miles to see how Manassa celebrates Pioneer Day.

Bill stayed home to man the yard sale while Jamie & I drove down for the morning parade. The parade route was the entire stretch of Main Street through town...probably a couple of miles and there had to be thousands of people lined up along the street. The parade was fun! They put a LOT of work into building floats...something that is unheard of for an Alamosa parade. Seriously, a parade in Alamosa consists of: a few horses, local cub scout troops walking by, firetrucks and cars with all sorts of political advertising. Not even a marching band! The Manassa parade did not have a marching band either and they had a few political advertisements thrown in but, for the most part, it was all about the floats. Plus, Jamie came home with his baseball cap full of candy & popsicles! For a town with a population of only 945, they sure go all out!!

We drove back to Manassa last night to experience the Demolition Derby. Jamie was so excited for this, he could hardly stand it. We stopped first in town for the much raved about "Mormon Burgers", which were OK but fell short of our expectations due to all of the hype. They weren't too overly priced, though, so that was a good thing. We drove out to the fairgrounds and finally found a place to park...parking was being directed by Blue Peaks clients, so that was an interesting adventure! Nothing against Blue Peaks, they are a wonderful organization that provides jobs & services for the developmentally disabled, but probably not the best choice to direct traffic.

The Demolition Derby was entertaining. Jamie loved it as he likes to crash & destroy his toys (must be a boy thing). There were four rounds and then the championship round, consisting of the winners of previous rounds (and also any other car that could still be driven). The crowd was interesting...no, they were actually rude & crude and, because of that, I will probably never go back. There were a bazillion out of control kids! During intermissions, when they had to tow the out of commission vehicles off of the field, people came around and threw candy & popsicles into the stands. At one point, a kid came up and stood right where we were sitting. I asked him nicely to move down a step because WE WERE OBVIOUSLY SITTING THERE and he ignored me. When he started pushing Jamie out of the way to catch candy that Jamie could've caught, I pulled him by his sweatshirt hood and moved him out of the way. Before the night was over, I was drenched when a kid behind me threw his opened, and very full, water bottle down. I jumped up and looked to see what had hit me and, of course, gave a nasty glare to the "adults" in charge of this minion. I thought I might get an apology but, nope...one of the "adults" said something about how that was the way they roll and if anybody didn't like it, they could get their asses out of here. I'm sure my back has bruises on it from the many kicks I endured while this same kid walked back and forth all night. I was SO proud of Jamie, as he sat in his seat all night and even moved out of the way when the one kid started pushing him to get into position to catch candy. I think my expectations must have been too high. When we've gone to Pioneer Day events in Salt Lake City, they are fun and the people are so respectful & nice. This is actually true for any event or venue we've visited in Salt Lake City. I guess I was expecting this, as an LDS event, to be comparable but, nope, it was truly a sad reflection of the LDS. One GOOD thing, however, is that they didn't serve alcohol...I can't imagine what the crowd would've been like if alcohol had been a factor. YIKES!!! If Jamie wants to go to the Demolition Derby in the future, it will be Bill's job to take him.

the winner!

Today's Randomness

yard sale!
(photo taken after selling tent playhouse, Thomas playhut & other large items that were also on driveway)

tonight's sunset

Jamie found these 5 lb. weights in the yard sale stuff and decided he had to have them. He did curls with them all day...I think he did 80!!

ASC Softball/Baseball Camp

I think that this will be the last baseball post of the summer. Jamie attended the ASC Softball/Baseball Camp this week and had a great time. Everyday he came home and showed me something new he'd learned. Today he said, "It didn't even feel like I was at baseball camp for three hours, it only felt like 58 minutes!". Whenever anyone asks me what Jamie's favorite sport is, I always say that it is whatever sport he's playing at the moment. I'm starting to think, however, that his true sport obsession is baseball. :)

I love the look of determination on his face!

This was the first year that ASC offered a softball/baseball camp. ASC has a softball team, not a baseball team, but the basic skills are the same. I am so glad that Coach Taylor did this camp!

Rockies Skills Challenge - Regional Competition

Jamie competed in the Regionals for the Rockies Skills Challenge last Sunday in Pueblo. The competition started at 10:00am and, unlike the local competition in Alamosa, did not seem to be very organized. It goes against every fiber of my being to actually admit that our local rec center was organized, but compared to the event in Pueblo, they were. There are three skills involved: throwing, hitting & base running. In Alamosa, each event was set up at a different field and three groups rotated through, it was very efficient. In Pueblo, they had ALL of the kids do each event at the same time. So, all 40 or so kids had to wait for everyone to take their three throws before they moved on to hitting. Then, ALL of them had to wait out everyone taking their three hits before moving on to base running. All in the heat of the day, close to 100 degrees. The parents were melting in the stands...I can't imagine how the kids felt sitting and waiting in the heat.

Jamie said he had fun, though. He knew the other kids from Alamosa who were competing and I think that helped him feel more comfortable. There were 8 boys in his age division and, although I didn't get his actual measurements, I think he did better than he did in the local competition. He got 4th place in his age division. He really wanted to win so that he could go to a Rockies game so I think he was a little disappointed. He did so well, though, and he seemed to take it all in stride. I'm hoping that we can plan a trip up to Denver to go to a Rockies game anyway.

Bill & Jamie warming up before the competition began

throwing

waiting in the dugout for his turn to hit (almost his turn!)

hitting

base running (they ran from 2nd base to home plate)

crossing home plate

4th place!!

all of the competitors

Mini Stay-cation

We took a mini vacation to Colorado Springs to visit friends and to do some sight-seeing. Seems that we are always driving through Colorado Springs and never spend enough time to go to some of the attractions. We drove to Colorado Springs on Thursday and stayed with the Hamilton's. Jamie & Spencer were thrilled to get to spend a couple of days together.

Friday, we went to the Air Force Academy and Garden of the Gods while Michelle & Richard were at work. The boys managed pretty well, although I think they were getting bored toward the end of the chapel tour.

Protestant Chapel

Catholic Chapel

Jewish Chapel

Buddhist Temple

We ate lunch at Subway inside the AFA visitor's center and, on our way to Garden of the Gods, stopped at the AFA airfield and watched planes and gliders take off & land. I could've stood there and watched the planes for hours!

On our way to Garden of the God's, we saw this herd of Big Horn Sheep.

It was a very hot day, close to 100 degrees, so we knew that our trip to Garden of the Gods would be a drive through. Too hot for any hiking & climbing! Jamie & Spencer both fell asleep before we were half way through the park.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner...the boys had lots of fun playing the games.

Saturday, the boys wanted to go swimming so we headed to the apartment complex's pool. The outdoor pool had been closed earlier in the week to clean out an algae problem but when we got there, it had reopened. But, they were still in the process of filling it with ICE COLD water. Jamie & Spencer jumped in but it was too cold for them to stay in so we went to the indoor pool. Mini golf was next on the agenda...we all had fun playing mini golf.

Spencer already had plans to go to a birthday party, so we dropped him off and we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I LOVE zoo's...I love to take my time and see all of the animals & exhibits and I love taking photos. Bill & I went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on our honeymoon, 24 years ago, and hadn't been back since. It really is a nice zoo and I hope to visit it more often. We kind of rushed through it because it was sporadically sprinkling rain and we didn't have too much time before the zoo closed. We picked the animals we wanted to see and skipped some of the others. Jamie seemed to really enjoy himself, probably the first time that he's been really interested in all of the animals.

Giraffes

Meerkat

Colobus Monkey

Zebras

Tabirs

Jamie, petting the baby Wallaby

adult Wallaby

River Otter

River Otter (under water)

Mountain Lion

sleepy Porcupine

Mexican Gray Wolf

tunnel crawling human

Moose

Mister & fan

Chipmunk

Peacock

Naked Mole Rats

baby Orangutan

Hippos

Beaver

Beaver (under water)

Mountain Goat

We left early on Sunday morning to head to Pueblo for Jamie to participate in the Regional competition for the Rockies Skills Challenge. I'll post a separate blog entry for this event.

We had a great mini vacation, enjoyed visiting friends and the entire trip was not budget breaking. I know that I would like to do a repeat visit to both Garden of the Gods and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo when the weather is cooler so hope that the Hamilton's can put up with us for another visit sometime.