Tag Archives: Garden of the Gods

Nothin’ New to See Here, People…

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by in Monday Morning Water Cooler, Out of Doors, The Good Ole Days

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Just more pictures of giraffes.  And Garden of the Gods.

And this lovely lady:

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Last week, we had our first official visitor; Gwen, my dear, dear friend from high school and Alice’s godmother.  Since I posted about feeding giraffes, she made sure we knew THAT is what we should do when she came to visit.

I had no problem indulging myself her.

Despite the fact that I never quite got around to cleaning the house properly, she still loves me.  I am the antithesis of Gwen’s BFF back in Chicago, who really is the perfect mother while keeping her house spotless…  While I’ve never actually met her, she seriously seems amazing, and genuinely put together (and is a total knockout in every photo I’ve ever seen of her on Facebook).  Meanwhile, I haven’t mopped the floor in a week and a half, Finn spent a large chunk of our time at the house from Wednesday to Friday parked in front of some kind of screen or another – and my eyebrows?  Haven’t been landscaped in over a month.  There has to be balance in the world, right?

Gwen asked when I got to the point where I wasn’t constantly wiping the kids’ faces…  Should I feel horrible that I cannot recall a point where I ever DID wipe them clean?

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photo 4 (2)So, after a fantastical journey to the zoo (again), we took a much-needed breather.  This, Gwen, is what you traveled thousands of miles for:

photo 4 (3)G and I went took in The Great Gatsby; and subsequently got in a delightful, yet heated argument about Paul Newman vs. Robert Redford on the way home…  The movie was surprisingly pretty good; and even though I’m not the world’s biggest fangirl of Leonardo DiCaprio, oh…  That look when he finally sees Daisy for the first time in five years?  Ugh, it gets ya right in the feels.

We also took her to Garden of the Gods – which never fails to disappoint.

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On Friday night, when her sister (who lives a few hours from here) came to pick her up, I didn’t even get that feeling that you normally get when house guests leave… You know the feeling; where you simply cannot wait to run around in your underwear again?

I guess we’re past all that, her and I.  And I adore her for it.  Despite the fact that she honestly believes that Paul Newman was better looking than this guy:

 

Love you, G.  Miss you already.  But Redford beats Newman by a mile. XOXO

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The Great American Staycation

21 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by in My Two Cents, The "Joy" of Parenting

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1 finn skipping

When we first moved to Colorado Springs, it was under the guise that it was “the most amazing place, like, ever!”  I would tell people where we were moving, and instead of the reaction that I got when I broke the news that we were moving to Ohio (“Oh.  That’s uh, great, I guess……  WKRP in Cincinnati!!”), everyone would gush about how awesome it was.  I signed on the dotted line, site unseen.  Literally.

“There isn’t ever a cloud in the sky.  I’m wearing shorts right now.  Shit, Lisa, you are gonna LOVE it here,” Nathan would assure me as I was buried under two feet of snow in Iowa.

When the wagon train rolled into town, however, there were no mountains to be seen.  It was eight degrees out.  Everything was dead.  And Panda Express was my first meal in The Springs.  Not whatcha call a stellar first impression.

“I thought you could see Pikes Peak from everywhere…”  I mused to Nathan.

“You can.  It is right… There.”  He would point off into a white, mountainless abyss. I have crappy eyesight, but he was pointing to NOTHING.  “Behind all those clouds.”  Oh.  The non-native clouds I brought here from Iowa.

The first week we were here, we were slumming it in temporary housing – a hotel room with a kitchen table – and it was fah. reeze. ing.  Yes, you could see Pikes Peak from everywhere, but you better not look at it; take your eyes off your path in front of you and you’re bound to slip and fall on your ass.

Fast forward a few days, and we were practically on vacation.  Every weekend.  It was sixty-five degrees…  Sunny…  My neighbors were sunbathing.  In January.

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Verdict?  Ohmygod.  I LUUURVE it here.

Yes. I am sporting an unfortunate combination of socks, sandals and unflattering skinny jeans. Stay-at-home Mom POWER!!

Yes. I am sporting an unfortunate combination of wool socks, sandals and unflattering skinny jeans. Stay-at-home Mom to the RESCUE!!

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We were hella high up... I may look calm and collected, but I have an effing death grip on those two kids.

We were hella high up… I may look calm and collected, but I have an effing death grip on those two kids.

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Finn does, too.  We have spent many an afternoon at Garden of the Gods.  Finny loves to “go piking,” he’s got his own little Camelbak that he totes around action figures, a Hot Wheel and water.  I live fifteen minutes from all this?  I have stopped dead in my tracks half a dozen times and exclaimed to Nathan; “Can you believe we LIVE here?!”

If you ever have the opportunity to live here, its, like, the most amazing place ever!  For real.