4th of July 2010 - Avery House Fort Collins

Josie in costume! She was running the milk bottle toss game...favorite of all the little kids!

New Orleans June 2010

What a fun trip we're having so far!

We arrive in New Orleans on wednesday evening. After taking the shuttle to our hotel in the French Quarter we immediately headed for the swimming pool which closed at dusk. The water felt wonderful! We swam until dark so that we didn't head out the door to find dinner until 9pm. by then my good friend Ellen and her family were headed to Cafe du Monde for beignets...who needs dinner when you can have beignets!!!

Thurday we headed out to catch the streetcar to go visit Tulane. On our way we ran into Ellen and her family again. We all decided to have breakfast together and ended up at a local diner called FredRicks. Pounds of butter and about $6 later we went our separate ways. Streetcar to Tulane, visit with architecture school, walk through Audobon Park to Magazine street. Lunch at Whole Foods and gelato at the Dixie Bee. Footsore and hot with the threat of a thunderstorm we headed back to the streetcar. Back in swimming pool at our hotel...aaahhhh. Dinner at the Desire Oyster House in our hotel on Bourbon...great oyster po-boy on excellent french bread.

Friday, early rising to get to Airboat Adventures for our swamp tour. Breakfast at the Avenue Cafe...nothing special. Could be very cool, but they were very slow and running out of bagels despite how early we were there. Great swamp tour. Airboats are loud!!! lots of alligators. Lunch at Des Familles. Back to hotel for more swimming. Out to Metairie for a trip down memory lane and dinner at Sid Mars with Stephen and Ellen, et al.

Our hotel phone hasn't worked since we got here despite multiple phone calls to report the problem. So, our wakeup call today was a hotel security officer banging on our door!! :)

Easter April 2010

Easter at Jessica's house in Denver with Aunt Robin and Uncle Gabe

Spring Break 2010 - Skiing!!!

So far...four days of skiing in a row! Fabulous snow. It's been snowing everyday. Sunday skiing in a cloud and catching gargantuan snowflakes on our tongues. Monday was a fantastic powder day. Tuesday cross-country skiing with Josie's friends. And, today...a mellow mother-daughter ski day.

Tonsillectomy

Getting ready for the tonsillectomy...Josie and Sophie-Bear in pre-op...the surgery was stressful but successful! Nasty infected tonsils and adenoids are gone!

Home again?

Saturday morning we sadly left the wonderful Blades Hotel in London. Our room was tiny, but the central location and superb staff make this hotel a fantastic base for London adventuring. Here's Josie as we're leaving our room...Our travels on Saturday took us via London Underground to Paddington Station where we caught the train to Heathrow, then by plane to Reykjavik and on to Boston where we rented a car and drove out to Concord, MA (on the wrong side of the road!!). We had a couple of hours in Iceland...enough time to have some seafood, Icelandic beer and skyr and to buy Dot a pair of socks (angora will be the new possum).

Now, we're back in the US...in Concord, MA. We're staying at my friend Elizabeth's mom's house. Elizabeth and I met in grad school at CU eons ago. She still lives in Boulder, but is here visiting her mom. Today we're going to visit the Lexington-Concord battle sites and see the Orchard House where Louisa May Alcott lived.

Tomorrow we fly to Denver. We're both sad that our trip is nearing its end....sniff.