First snow of the year!

It's been rainy and cold all weekend, and the paper kept saying 45% chance of snow...well, last night the weatherman was finally right. We woke up to a very light dusting of snow. By the time I thought to take a picture it was melting in the lovely warm sun, but it was legit!

In other news, Jason and I have started ice skating on Friday mornings as a way to get a little exercise and have some time for the two of us. We skate at the Y where Jason plays hockey, and a few weeks back I got my very own pair of ice skates. I'm improving every time we go, but no double-twist-axles any time soon.

Fall is upon us

Seems like this summer just flew by, doesn't it? I have a few retroactive posts to do regarding a few of our fun summer activities, but first some of the latest things we've been doing...(check out additional photos here).

Logan started Kindergarten at Jarrow Montessori school in August, and Zach moved up from the toddler program to the primary program there as well. Logan has the same morning teacher and mixed-ages class (3-6 yrs) that he's had since we moved to Boulder, but after lunch he and the school's other Kindergartners mix up, switch classes, and spend a few hours with their specific age peers. He loves it, but is definitely tired by the end of his long day! Zach has a new teacher, classroom and almost all new classmates, as he is also now in a 3-6 year-old mixed group. But he took to it with no trouble whatsoever and seems to really enjoy himself there.

A big event for Logan was to attend the wedding of our nanny, Mindy. He got to wear a suit (rented!), have cocktails (Shirley Temple) with Dad, cozy up to some ladies (bride's sisters) and dance with the bride herself. He had a great time.

I did a little gardening over the summer, and we actually managed to get edible food from my tiny backyard veggie garden. Here is a picture of part of my harvest - beets and purple and orange carrots. They were very tasty and fun to eat right out of the ground.

At the end of September, we had a nice visit from Herb and Kathryn, who stayed with us for almost a week before heading off to London. We tried to convince them to take several of the kids, or me, with them, to no avail. While they visited we went to the Denver Art Museum, which not only is a great museum but also has hands-on kids' activities all throughout the exhibits. It was surprisingly nice, although the boys were still maybe a little bit too young for it. But we also took the opportunity to walk to the center of Downtown Denver, get a good look at the State Capitol Building and collect oak leaves and acorns from the gardens.

Since Max's first birthday was coming up, we decided to have a very small party for him while Herb and Kathryn were with us (see more pictures here). Kathryn helped me make the cutest little train cake - my mom had given me the pan a few years ago but this was the first time I was brave enough to try it. With Kathryn's great suggestions (and her willingness to go out to Powell's Sweet Shoppe to buy a bunch of goodies) we ended up with what I think was an adorable cake, and two side-plates of cute cupcakes. A fun time was had by all, and Max definitely enjoyed his first bite of cake!

Finally, this past weekend we packed up the boys and headed out to Pachamama Farm, the organic farm where we bought a produce subscription this year, for an end-of-year Pumpkin Festival. The boys had a great time splashing in the puddles, feeding the chickens, finding toads and grasshoppers, and picking out their pumpkins. It was a nice end to the year, and a good chance to meet up with other people participating in Community Supported Agriculture with us.

That's all for today...we've got lots more pictures to post, if I can just figure out a better way to do it. Unfortunately Apple re-vamped their Internet file and photo sharing programs and they aren't as easy to use as the old Mac Gallery program. But I'll work on figuring it out. Cheers!

The OBerks see Obama

Jeanne and I were lucky enough to get tickets (along with 84,000 other people, according to news reports), to see Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for President of the United States of America. I put together a short video of our day - which is below.

In short, we left our house at 10am, caught a 10:20 bus from Boulder to Denver, entered the Stadium about 1:30, Obama went on at about 8pm, and we were home by midnight. It was, in short, amazing. The energy of the crowd, the diversity of people we saw there, and the sheer spectacle of it was something I've never seen. It was like a Pink Floyd concert, with more secret service sharpshooters and less weed.

Unfortunately, the lighting was either intense sunlight or really bright spotlights, so the video is a bit washed out looking, but it's got some good shots in there. Here's the short video of our day:

We got the golden ticket!

Jeanne and I scored the hottest ticket in town right now - two seats to Barack Obama's acceptance speech on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention. Regardless to how you stand politically, you can agree that this will be a historic event. We just found out that Al Gore will be a speaker, so that's exciting as well. So Jeanne, myself, and 70,000 others will pack into Invesco Field next Thursday. We'll post photos and videos afterward.

Jason playing hockey

A video of my newest obsession - HOCKEY!

Cute Photos

Since we've been bad about keeping up with blogging, here are some early summer pictures. Max in the hiking backpack, kids at a fire station open house - including Logan driving the bomb-squad robot, hiking in Chautauqua, and summer reading in the hammock

Alex's Memorials

Last month, my Stepfather, Alex Combs, passed away. I flew to Anchorage for one memorial service and then drove and boated to Homer and Halibut Cove for another.

In addition to my brother and Mom, Alex's three sons - Sam, Jonathan, and David - were there along with Sam's wife Jayna, Daughter Alexa, and David's daughter Analise.

Because Alex was quite a well-known Alaskan artist (called "The Father of Alaskan Abstract Art" in a newspaper obituary) as well as a long-timer art professor, the Anchorage memorial was held in the Anchorage Museum. Alex designed a series of friezes that adorned the outside of the building for years until it was remodeled at which point the friezes were moved inside. Over 100 people attended the Anchorage memorial including former colleagues, students, friends, and neighbors.

Two days later, in the small, island outpost of Halibut Cove the entire community gathered to inter Alex's ashes in a hole dug into bedrock which was later capped with concrete. Overlooking Katchemak bay, the small cemetery has beautiful views in all directions. As a temporary gravestone, a bust of Alex, sculpted by one of his students was set up over the grave. The bust has been sitting outside for 20+ years and was covered in moss and lichens and gorgeously aged.

At the Halibut Cover ceremony, members of the community spoke from the heart about their love for this big bear of a man who was always quick to laugh and to hug, slow to anger, and a generous giver of his time and himself to all who he met.

Also, because Alex wished it, we sprinkled some of his ashes over his garden (the potato patch to be exact).

After the memorial, we made s'mores, and toasted to Alex with a bottle of Absinthe he had in the cupboard. All in all, it was a celebration of the life and art of this great man who rose from abject poverty in rural Kentucky to go on to build ships and act as a salvage diver in WWII, play professional football (WAY before the NFL), study in Europe, move to Alaska, teach high school and college art, and finally to retire to a small island where he created art literally until the day he died.

Alex lived "A Long and Artful Life" and we'll miss him very much. A link to some photos of the memorials and the trip can be found HERE.