Speaking of the beginning of a new school year, Olivia officially started Preschool last month! It’s hard to believe our baby girl has entered a phase of life that won’t end until she’s all grown up. (I can’t dwell on that fact too long, lest I become a tearful, blubbering mess.) When Kelly and I dropped her off at Red Hawk Elementary, we surprisingly kept our cool. Olivia absolutely loves her class and comes home with stories about the “big-girl swings,” and how she got to spread shaving cream “all over the table.” I suppose we’ll have to cherish these times when she’s actually interested in telling us how her day went. Kelly had a relatively quiet month work-wise, which allowed her to enjoy spending more time with the girls, having play dates, and forgetting about the stress of the corporate world. She has also been busy preparing to help lead her MOPS group for the second year in a row. The second weekend in August, she held a MOPS Steering Retreat, where her team of moms get together to brainstorm and plan the schedule for the coming semester. That weekend, we also attended the Harding’s first annual “End of Summer” BBQ, and celebrated Bryan’s 31st.
Gary and Crystal visited the following weekend, and we celebrated Kelly's birthday with Sharon by driving up to Nederland for the afternoon. We took the girls to the Carousel of Happiness, which apparently was the highlight of Olivia’s life because she can’t stop talking about it. After a few go-arounds on the Carousel, we visited a few shops in downtown Nederland, and then stopped for dinner at Wild Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery. We all agreed that, while the beer was sub-par, the food more than made up for it. The only casualty of the day was when we returned home and realized that Olivia had left her most-treasured possession – her stuffed cat, “Kitty” – at the Carousel. Figuring it wasn’t worth another two-hour drive, we abandoned the ratty old thing, and bought Olivia a new, identical Kitty, feigning that she had “taken a bath.” Thankfully, all is well.
Kelly’s birthday occurred during the third week of August (which is now officially termed “birthday week”). Nathan was in town for the fetivities , so we kicked off the week-long celebration with dinner at The Post. The next day, the three of us met up with Ben, Carter, Ashleigh, and Courtney at Coors Field to “watch” the Rockies lose. We also brought Olivia, who did surprisingly well sitting in her seat until about the 6th inning when the playground was unavoidable. I let Kelly go out with the guys afterwards, while I took Olivia home to bed. Kelly arrived home later that evening in one piece, which is all I could’ve asked for. The next day, on Kelly's actual birthday, we ate a late breakfast, and then headed up to Idaho Springs with Nathan for an afternoon of whitewater rafting. Nathan and I convinced Kelly to sign us up for the “Intermediate” trip, which consists of class III and IV rapids...nothing we hadn’t faced in our previous rafting trips. After gearing up in our wetsuits and helmets, we drove down Clear Creek Canyon to a calm spot where we piled into the raft with our guide and two strangers. After a very brief overview of how to paddle the raft, we began the journey downriver. We all (with the exception of Nathan and our guide) fell out of the boat after high-siding on a huge rock in the middle of our first Class IV rapid. We almost flipped the boat after getting jack-knifed on another huge rock. Kelly was terrified, pretty much the whole time, but we all made it safely back on shore. We all had a great time but Kelly has decided to retire from class IV rapids. After a day of birthday respite, the celebration continued when we drove up to Fort Collins to visit Funkwerks Brewery, where we met up with Zack and Amy. Afterwards, we added Beth and Matt to the mix for dinner at the Black Bottle Brewery. Kelly wrapped up birthday week the next day by meeting her girlfriends for brunch at Lola in Denver. Whew, we made it. Nice work, reader.
We concluded our August with the Rocky Mountain Showdown: a battle of good (CU) versus evil (CSU). We originally had tickets to the game, but after a strange and unfortunate series of events, those plans didn’t work out. So we met up with Ashley and Jason at Lodo’s, to watch the madness unfold. Sadly, no amount of beer and buffalo wings could’ve changed the disappointing outcome of the game. The next day, we had Ashley, Jason, Ben and Nicole over for one last day at the pool before it closed for the season. Unfortunately, our HOA rules forbid enjoyment of the pool, and our posse of ruffians was turned away by the disgruntled gatekeeper lady for exceeding the maximum number of guests allowed at the vacant pool. We made the most of it by overtaking the un-guarded splash pad, then ultimately heading back to our house for pizza. So, um...how was your summer?
