Rainy, then not-so-rainy weekend

So Friday night as we ate dinner, we had pouring rain, and thunder and lightning. Saturday morning arrived with gray skies with rain ranging from drizzle to downpour. I had to work on and off throughout the day, but was able to take a break long enough for us to drive 15 miles or so to a local furniture store that carried a bed we wanted to buy (which we had only seen online and we wanted to see in person before buying). The kids were in good spirits, but as soon as we arrived at the furniture store, it became apparent that they would have no part of furniture shopping. As a result, we made the salesperson's day by walking into the store, finding the bed we wanted and literally saying "we'll take that bed, those bedside tables, and that dresser" and then paying and leaving - all in the space of about 10 minutes.

Sunday morning we awoke to sunny skies and 70+ degree weather. A friend of ours who went to college here (Hi Amanda!) once told us that on a good day, Boulder sparkles, and Sunday was one of those days.

After breakfast we loaded the kids into the bike trailer and went for a family bike ride - me with kids in tow, and Jeanne with fetus in tow (in case you haven't heard, we're expecting again - early October - yeah!). We rode from our house down the Boulder Creek bike path which winds through town, past the most gorgeous creek and woods you could imagine. After toodling along for about 30 minutes we came to a park with a giant rocket for the kids to play in, so we pulled over for 45 minutes or so for them to play.

By the way, in case you haven't noticed this, if you click any of the pictures we post on the blog, it will pop up full size so you can see more of the detail. Try it!

After the park it was getting to be lunch time, so we cruised back into town to Pearl Street where we grabbed lunch at the Boulder Cafe. Zach was enjoying the bike ride so much he refused to remove his bike helmet when we got off the bike, so he ended up wearing it throughout lunch, despite Jeanne asking him every five minutes if he wanted to take it off. Zach's new favorite word, by the way, is "Nope". Not "No", but "Nope".



















So the lunch conversation went something like this:

Jeanne - "Zach, do you want to take your helmet off"
Zach - "Nope".
Jeanne - "Ok. Logan how is your hot dog? Good? Zach, do you want to take your helmet off"
Zach - "Nope"
etc.

So after lunch, Jeanne and - I stuffed to the gills with shrimp Quesadilla, pulled pork sandwich, and french fries - proceeded to bike home with the kids. One minor problem. We live right up against the foothills. Hence, everything in Boulder is DOWNHILL from us. Hence, if we start from anywhere in Boulder, we have to go UPHILL to our house. Hence, if we eat a big lunch and try to bike home we are going to be VERY unhappy. Well, long story short, we made it home with a bit of huffing and puffing (especially me, since I was pulling 70 pounds of kid and bike trailer) and spent the rest of the day relaxing at home, and running around the back yard enjoying the sun.

Sunday was one of the days that made us 100% confident we made the right choice moving to Boulder - we were outside as a family, getting exercise, and enjoying beautiful scenery. Truly idyllic.

Jason

And today...

Don't miss the post below recapping our visit with Herb...but I had to do a quick post about today...the big event for today was Logan's first playdate with a classmate. A week or so ago as we were leaving school, a little boy who was leaving with his mom told her "look mom, that boy is new in my class." We stopped to chat and she (Pam) was wonderfully friendly and suggested we get the boys together for after-school play dates. Patrick is just a few months older than Logan so it's a good match, and they seemed to get along well. Today after school we met at a nearby park, and the boys ran off and played together the whole time while Pam and I chatted. She and her family moved here from New Jersey two years ago, and she just seems like a really nice person. The boys were disappointed when it was time to go, which was a great sign. So, Logan has a school friend. yay!!!

I wanted to post this cute picture of the kids playing in the massive pile of packing paper we've accumulated in the living room. With any luck we'll eventually replace the paper with leather club chairs and lovely library furniture. But for now it's Logan's place to pretend he's an ant in an ant farm.
Good night all!

Recap of Herb's visit

Had a few busy days and wasn't able to get to blogging while Herb was here, so here's a quick summary of what we did while he was here:

Monday March 19
Herb didn't get in until fairly late in the evening, so we did the mandatory house tour and fed him some frozen pizza (which we did reheat, of course). Then we caught up for a while before turning in for the night.

Tuesday March 20
Logan slept in later than Herb, so no rude awakening for Grandpa. We decided to keep Logan home one more day out of respect for the other families at his school, so he and Herb got a lot of quality bonding time. Which was especially helpful since we foolishly scheduled a lot of moving related activity for the day - we had a handyman in for most of the day taking care of our punch list, had a guy come by to pick up our moving boxes (gotta love Craigslist) and also had to wait around to receive a delivery of four 100-pound boxes that would eventually morph into basement furniture (see below). In the meantime we spent some time showing Herb around our back yard and then sitting in the side yard to escape the intense sunlight and heat. In an excellent grandparenting moment, Herb redirected Logan's destructive impulses from some desirable garden plants to dandelion weeds, and a marathon weeding session ensued. While scouting the garden, I noticed all sorts of pretty little flowers that I've never seen before all over the garden. Some were definitely wild violets, and then there were a number of other bulb-type flowers that I am not sure about. I'm going to need help figuring out what are weeds and what belongs in this yard!

In the afternoon, a playdate with some friends, and then dinner at the Walnut brewery, where Herb discovered that the altitude affect one's ability to hold his beer. After putting the kids to bed, Jason and Herb set to building one of the pieces of furniture for the basement. Witness the explosion of the box into a million pieces. It took three hours, but the cabinet is done save for one hinge that was missing from the box. Hence no "after" picture yet...




Wednesday March 21
Had a little more freedom today, so Herb accompanied me to drop Logan off, and then he, Zach and I headed down to the Pearl Street Mall to check out the Boulder city center. Had a nice, leisurely walk and a tasty lunch at the Boulder Cafe. Picked Logan up and played around the house and yard, and then we took the whole crew to "Protos Pizza" in North Boulder. Logan and Zach were both very hungry and Logan was demanding pasta, which we knew the place didn't have. He also doesn't like pizza, but for some reason we stubbornly decided we wanted to go to this place and he would just have to find something to eat. Thank GOODNESS we ordered a "white pizza" and he and Zach devoured the whole thing, with Logan happily declaring that he now loved pizza. The evening could have been disastrous but it turned out just fine.

Thursday March 22
Herb's last day in town. Jason played hooky from work for the morning so he could take us on a scenic drive after dropping Logan off at school. It was very scenic! Then back home so Herb could have some R&R while I took Zach shopping for new shoes. While Zach napped, Herb and I picked Logan up and ran a few errands (including new shoes for Logan). Then home to pack and the whole family drove Herb out to the Denver Airport to see him off. Poor Logan fell asleep on the way, and though he did rouse briefly to say goodbye, he didn't remember it later. He loved having his Grandpa visiting and we hope Herb will return (with Kathryn!) very soon!

A rough morning, but we're good now

So what I left out of last night's post is that just before bed Logan was really listless, feverish and I was getting worried, and then suddenly he barfed all over himself and Jason, and then his fever came down and he cheered up considerably. We did get a pretty good night's sleep and his fever was very low-grade in the morning, but he had trouble keeping anything down for the first part of the day. But suddenly he was asking for food, and ate every bit of toast and white rice we would give him. He was back almost at 100% this evening, including running around, wrestling with Zach and jumping from chair to bed in his room. We'll keep him home from school again tomorrow out of respect for the other families, but we expect to be back to normal operations tomorrow.

We were very excited to welcome Herb to our house this evening for a visit. The boys had to go to bed before he arrived, but as I tucked him in Logan was asking me if he could play with Grandpa Herb as soon as he (Logan) woke up in the morning. Sounds good to me...the guest room is in the basement, so I am all for Logan heading straight down the stairs to play with Herb while I get a little extra shuteye.

We'll be sure to get Herb's assessment of the guest accommodations and post any glowing reviews so you all know how great it will be when YOU come visit us! And tomorrow we'll take and post pictures of our adventures. G'night!

It moves through the family...

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Zachy recovered fully from his very uncomfortable fever, and did get what appeared to be a very faint, very brief rash so I think the roseola diagnosis was correct. He's back to his cheery old self now, but poor Logan woke up feverish in the middle of the night and has been miserable all day. He seems to have cheered up this evening so with any luck he'll be done with this by the middle of tomorrow. We're really crossing our fingers that Jason and I got our exposures out of the way when we were young - possibly without our parents' awareness, as sometimes happens with this illness.

Jason got out on his bike to run errands today. He's got a rear rack and panniers, and actually went to the grocery store on his bicycle to pick up a few things for the ailing kids. Also, we are preparing for our first visitor, Jason's dad Herb, who gets in at about 7pm tomorrow night. We're very excited to show him this great place we've discovered.

That's all for tonight. Hoping for a good night's sleep. Love to all.

Rain clouds...literally and figuratively

Had a lazy morning - a little too lazy - and ended up having to rush to get the boys out the door in time to get Logan to school. As we walked out the front door we noticed the walkway was wet, and there was a rainy sound in the air, but it didn't sound just right. Turns out it was sort of a frozen rain - not quite snow, but not really hail either. The temp was 34 so it just wasn't sticking. Logan elected to take lunch to school and stay until 12:30, and had a great time. The teacher says he's doing great and really seems to be comfortable with the peaceful pace of the classroom.

When I got home, I noticed Zach was a little more mellow than usual, yawning a lot and more interested in reading and cuddling than usual. By late morning he was definitely feeling warm so I put him down early for his nap, and an hour or so later he woke up crying and feverish. A shot of ibuprofen and a drink of milk helped him get comfortable and he ended up taking a FIVE HOUR nap. He was OK in the evening until the medicine wore off, so I dosed him again and now I can hear him and Logan chatting happily while they're supposed to be sleeping. Unfortunately I suspect he has roseola, since our friends' daughter had it last weekend and they played together a few days before she showed symptoms. Fortunately, roseola is a pretty minor childhood rash/fever that most people get by the time they're three or four. Boy do I hope that's true for Jason, Logan and myself. I guess one of my phone calls tomorrow will be to the pediatrician we're hoping to use.

In other news, I picked up my bike this evening. Between the weather (the temp dropped low enough for icicles in the afternoon, then rose enough to dry everything up before sundown) and Zach's illness I haven't gotten a chance to really ride it yet. But I am excited to try it out as soon as possible. We're still hopeful for that family ride this weekend.

Another "reasons we're liking Boulder more and more" observation: Drivers here actually take their time, and drive the speed limits on the main streets through town, even when they're wide open. So far no one's been in such a rush that they need to tailgate or be rude. The pace of life here really is slower. It's a little hard to get used to, but very relaxing and soul-lifting.

Real pictures...

Another nice day, although chillier. Logan is still having an easy transition into school, and this morning amazed me by demonstrating that he can thread an actual sewing needle with no assistance, and sew a button onto felt. Love his new school!

The big event for the day was the maiden voyage of the Berkowitz Family Bike Trailer. The boys LOVED it and Jason is going to get into really great shape really quickly. My bike isn't quite ready at the shop yet, but we're hoping that by this weekend we'll be able to do a family expedition. Here are a few shots of Jason and the kids enjoying the ride and the scenery in our neighborhood (right).

Since I had the camera, I also took a quick shot of our street, Hawthorn Ave., looking West from 4th street up toward Mt. Sanitas. You can't see our house or driveway, but they are on the left just beyond the gray building.

Before

We also wanted to show you all some of the minor but great improvements we've made to the house using some paint. Unfortunately in this picture of the front entry, our camera angle, lighting and decorating aren't as good as in the "before" picture, but we hope you can see that by painting the banister and closet doors white we added a little bit of visual interest. It's much brighter in person! We'll have to post photos of the dramatic changes to the master and 3rd bedrooms later, because those two rooms have been seriously neglected in terms of organizing (i.e., they are disaster areas).

After

Other than these things, a fairly uneventful day. Love to all!

Jeanne