Day 4:
The day started off in a hurry as my mom and I had many important chores to run. I had to find some new Broncos garb for Pam and the girls since the start season was around the corner, and I didn't want all the Cowboys fans (Rigo) that we have to deal with making fun of the family for having to wear last years stuff they outgrew!
We went to Walmart as our first stop. I hate going to Walmart in Midland, and it turns out that I equally hated it just as much in Lone Tree! I found the girls some great Peyton Manning jerseys only to find out that they already had the exact same ones. So, not only did I get to go to my least all time favorite place to shop once, I got to go a second time to return the jerseys the girls already have for some shirts they don't. The only win in the situation was that the shirts were much cheaper than the jerseys!
With the morning chores complete we headed back to my parents house where my dad was watching Gun Smoke on TV. He loves the old cowboys shows and longs for someone to watch them with him. I sat down with him for a couple of hours as he explained what life was like on the old Ponderosa.
Later in the afternoon I had to go pick up cousin Garrett. We were off to the Beer, Bands and Bacon Festival in downtown Littleton. Earlier in the day I read on Facebook an old buddy Justin, AKA Hamm would be singing lead vocals for the 80's tribute band, Mr. Steak. I have tried to catch them on other trips up north, but have always just missed their shows by a day or two. Having grown up with Jay, I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to see him and the band.
I decided to take Garrett so he could understand what good music really is rather than the crap kids listen to today. Garrett was eager to go and ended up loving all the music that was played.
It was great to see Hamm perform and I was quite impressed with the band. They are an extremely talented group of musicians! Another added bonus was getting to see and visit with Justin's wife and his parents Mel and Nancee. I have not seen his parents since we graduated from high school. It was great to catch up with them as they all looked great!
If you are looking for some good tunes and a good time I suggest you like Mr. Steak on Facebook and find out when their next gig is. Not only will you enjoy the music, but it will take you back to when music was played the way it was supposed to be played: loud, proud and with some attitude!
My only regret was that we had to leave early to meet up the family for dinner. The choice of restaurants was the Mongolian BBQ. This place is an oldie, but it certainly is a fan favorite of our family. You get to pick out your meats and vegetables and load it up. They cook your meal on a big old stone in no time. Garrett likes the fact that it is All-You-Can eat as he put back more than what should be humanly allowed. We enjoyed the food and headed back to my parent's house for left over birthday cakes and last goodbyes as I would be heading back to the family the next day. I considered staying and becoming a roadie for Mr. Steak, but reality kicked in, and I realized how much I would miss Pam and the girls.
Saying good bye to my parents is never an easy task and the older we get the tougher it becomes. I knew I wanted to get an early start to get back home in time to see the girls for a little bit before we headed out to help with the 7th grade swim party that Pam volunteered us to be a part of. It was wonderful to get home and see Pam and the girls. The trip was fun and relaxing, but I was happy to home where I belong!
Day 2:
We got up for an early start as my dad wanted to go up to Blackhawk and do some low limit degenerate gambling. My mom is always up for gambling since she has a "system" that she uses on the one armed bandits. Since I've been known to place a bet or two I was all in to head up to the hills.
Our first stop was one of my parents favorites, The Saratogo. We decided to get some food at their cafe. This place has the best chili I have ever eaten and I always make it a point to get me a bowl when we come up. After some food my dad and I left my mom to her so called "system" and headed off in search of a good blackjack game. My dad likes blackjack and understands basic strategy to a T! He never waivers from it and is quite impressive to watch play.
Unfortunately the Saratoga only had one table open and it was full. I'm not one to want to wait for a seat, so I suggested a little walk down the hill. We went next door to the Gilpen where we found a table with no one on it. My dad sat at third base as he usually does to protect the table as I sattled up next to him at shortstop. The card gods were shining on my dad as he was on a roll with blackjacks and winning every double down his way. I, unfortunately was not nearly feeling the love that the gods were bringing my dad. My buy-in dwindled down to zero with only winning one hand one and I was out of the action.
With my dad still hitting the game hard, I went for a walk. It is amazing how beautiful the mountains are. It was nice just to walk through the town and see all the cool stuff Blackhawk has to offer. I met up with my dad and he cashed out his respectable profit. We headed back to meet up with my mom to see how the "system" was treating her. Evidently the "system" needs some work because she came out with empty pockets just like her favorite son.
We decided that we would eat at home and I would make them some homemade tacos. Not the crappy store brought taco shells, but the kind with the corn tortilla that you have to fry. My dad claims he never has had tacos this way and he loved them. In fact he enjoyed them so declared me the all time greatest taco maker ever!
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and talking about the girls and all the activities they are up to. With the start of school, AK's social calendar is in full swing. She has enjoyed her first two days of junior high and getting to meet new kids. Little D is still happy as a lark because she just happens to agree with AK that Mrs. Walls is one of the greatest teachers ever. However, when asked if Mrs. Walls is the greatest teacher ever, Little D quickly reminded me that it was only the second day and that she would have to wait until the end of the year to compare her to Mrs. Terebessy, who Little D claims to be the all-time greatest kindergarten teacher ever!
Day 2:
It was another early start to the day as my mom needed to run some errands to get ready for my dad's birthday party. We headed out to Sam's Club, King Soppers and Baskin Robbins to get all the supplies to throw a feastive event fit for a person turning 70!
The plan was to get come back and get my dad to take him out for a birthday breakfast. We returned to find him not ready as he decided that it was his birthday and he could move at any speed he wanted. We waited, and waited, and waited some more until he was ready. Breakfast time was more like lunch time as my parents munched on their meal from a place called The Bistro. They are regulars there and the owner is always happy to meet and greet them at the door when the arrive!
After breakfast it was off to Bill's Sports Collectibles to find a present for my dad. I suggested it to my mom that she might be able to find something Cubs or Bears related. I was personally excited to go as I have not been there since Brett, Tony and I took the bus back in the good old junir high days in search of the coveted Billy Ripkin error card. We were at Bill's for a grand total of three minutes when my dad decided he didn't want anything. Since it was his birthday we loaded up in the car and headed back home!
We relaxed and enjoyed the afternoon until it was time to get ready for the evenings feastivitis. Uncle Denny was the first to arrive with Cousin Hildy. It turned out that Cousin Hildy was not very happy to discover that the girls didn't make the adventure north with me. She decided that a protest needed to be put in place and stood outside for 10 minutes with refusing to come in.
The rest of the family showed up and a good time of food, drinks and storyes were shared. Cousin Garrett once again won the award for most food eaten as he stuffed his face with two sauage sandwiches, two heeping helpings of pasta salad, half a bag of chips and washed it down with a tall boy of Peace Tea. It was a spectical to watch the boy eat his dinner only to have a nice large slice of cake a few minute later!
My dad enjoyed the evening, and had a great time watching the kids run around and do their thing. It was a good party. Our only regret was not being able to stream our Cousin Johnny football game in from Chicago. He is a senior this year and his team got the honors of playing at Soldier Field for their first game! Unfortunalty too many people were trying to do the same and it kept kicking us off.
We had to settle for watching our beloved Cubs and had the bonus of getting to listen to Vin Scully call the game for the Dodgers. I love listening to him. He truly is a master at what he does!
Day 1:
The day started out extra early for the girls considering they had to awake from their long summer slumber and get their lazy bodies out of bed and shake the cob webs out of their heads to get ready for another adventurous year of school! Pam was in an exceptional mood and went so far to make the girls homemade chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Pam claimed she did it because it was the first day of school. I know she was just trying to get a step up on the parent of the year award! Either way the girls were happy to be well nourished with a belly full of sugar.
Being the first day of school, the girls were more eager to get a pep in their step and get ready at a quick rate of speed! I was equally quick as I was excited to get the girls dropped off for their first day of school so I could head out to The Great White North, AKA Colorado! I had a few days of vacation that I had to burn and my parents both are turning the young age of 70 this week. It was the perfect time for a solo trip so I jumped on the opportunity!
Once the kids were ready I lined them up for their annual first day of school photo. After a few quick pictures we decided it was time to walk Little D to school. AK had stayed behind since her school started a little later on. Little D is not a fan favorite of having Pam and I around school. It just might be that our extra hugs and kisses just might embarrass a big fourth grader!
Once we got to school Little D made a sprint to her new classroom. Either she was trying to escape the embarrasemtn of having us at school or she wanted to get to class. She was excited to get AK's all time favorite teacher Mrs. Walls as her educator for the upcoming year. In Little D's eyes the fabulous Mrs. Walls could do no wrong and Pam and I concur with that thought! After taking a quick picture and getting one last forced hug and a half attempt at a kiss we found ourselves leaving Little D alone to face the great big world of fourth grade!
As we were walking out of the elementary school we saw AK and a pack of her friends walking in. Their plan was to meet up and cross the street together to the junior high as a herd. Apparently there is safety in numbers and they kept telling each other it would be okay as they crossed the street looking for other kids to join their pack. They were using the herd mentality, the more of them there was the less likely they could get pecked off. Although Pam desperately wanted to follow her sweet AK to her first day of junior high, I convinced her that this was something that she would need to take on all her own, or at least with their newly formed gang!
With the girls delivered to their proper educational institutions it was time time for me to load up and head north. I gave Pam a kiss and wished her luck as she was off to log eleven miles in training for her marathon later in the year. I started up T and put the one man hurry up offense into full motion!
The drive to Colorado is interesting. It can be very boring and flat in some areas while hilly and absolutely beautiful in others. Since I was by myself and actually had the rare control of the music, I plugged in my itunes and put on a concert of 80's music that I could sing as loud as I wanted without any complaints or interference of changing the station. I quickly found that the solo trip was in my favor. I didn't have to stop in every other town. I made it my mission to make one stop in Clayton, New Mexico where I refueled, relieved and bought a bag of my very own Hot Fries that I would not have to share.
I kept T heading north as I stuffed my face with hot fries and sang out loud to Gun N Roses. I soon found myself close and way ahead of schedule. The plan was to surprise my dad at a restaurant called Rib City. Since the hurry up offense was successful I was way early and called my mom to re-plan the surprise.
I pulled up to my parents house at the new world record time of nine hours and thirty minutes crushing all previous records! I snuck around back and knocked on the family room window where my dad was sitting. He looked up and was rather shocked to see his all time favorite son and kid standing outside. We had a great reunion and headed out to get some ribs!
As always Rib City was amazing! The ribs are very tender and its was great to toss back a few 25 cent beers! We chowed down and I filled my parents in on all the news about the girls why they filled me in on all the doctors they see! a good time was had by all as my dad declared that Rib City would receive the coveted score of five ribs licked clean out of five!
After dinner we went back to my parents house to watch our beloved Cubs play. I grew up watching the Cubs with my dad and it is a rare but nice surprise when we have the chance to get to watch them together now. The girls called and all reports of the first day were successfull. I am happy to report that the herd mentality worked as none of the kids were pecked off. I think AK is going to like junior high. Personally junior high was some of the best years in my life making some friends that I still remain close with. I hope AK finds the same true for her! I just hope she dosen't get into the shennanigans that Brett, Tony and Scott got me into!
