Badlands & more

Last night, Nathan and I got home from a quick trip to South Dakota. It was a fun and quick little road trip to add more national parks to our list.

We started out on Wednesday morning and drove to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Devil's Tower was the country's first National Monument and was pretty impressive. We did the short trail around the tower...enjoying the massive boulder field, the prayer flags/fabric strips, and the amazing geologic formations. We saw climbers in the distance and wondered about what must have been a massive wind storm that had snapped many trees recently. (We'd have asked a ranger but couldn't find one while we were there.)

From there, we drove into Rapid City, SD, found our AirBNB, and walked a couple blocks to a great brew pub where we ate way too much. Seriously. It was delicious but just too much.

Thursday morning, we enjoyed the wonderful coffee shop literally on the other side of the building from our AirBNB then set out for the South Dakota Air & Space Museum, which was an unexpected surprise that we discovered on a billboard while driving into Rapid City. We didn't take many photos but enjoyed their extensive collection...

From there, we continued on to Badlands National Park. We were sad to discover that the Notch Trail was closed (for our protection?) but went ahead and hiked a portion of the Castle Trail before continuing on to lunch at the Cedar Pass Lodge Restaurant (we recommend the Famous Indian Tacos on fry bread), some time learning at the visitors center and then some more wandering in the park.

Mid-afternoon, we ventured out of the park to Wall Drug, where Nathan tried their famous 5 cent coffee (it was not to his standards, lol). We browsed a bit before heading back into the park. (We'd actually been to Wall Drug when we moved from Washington to North Carolina back in 1998. It hadn't changed much, lol, but we appreciated all of their many roadside signs for miles and miles.) 

Throughout the day, I joked that I needed to get pictures of all three boys' college mascots...ram (for Noah and CSU), bear (for Asher and UNC) and buffalo (for Micah and CU Boulder). We saw actual buffalo and rams but had to settle for a stuffed bear at Wall Drug. :) We did see plenty of prairie dogs (which we decided to dub the "bears of the rodent kingdom" or "dirt bears"), lol. Does that count? And. On Wednesday, at one of our stops for gas, Nathan found a toy T-Rex that I adopted and brought along on our travels. 

After sunset, we got dinner in Wall, SD (at the Salty Steer) then drove back to our AirBNB in Rapid City.

Friday morning we checked out of our fabulous AirBNB (top three photos below) and hit our favored coffee shop, Harriet & Oak (bottom photo below). 

We took a scenic drive through Custer State Park and stopped in Wind Cave National Park. Unfortunately, the cave tours aren't going right now (which I knew in advance--they're replacing the elevators) so we hit the visitors center exhibits, saw a natural entrance to the caves and did the Cold Brook Canyon hike.

The hike was lovely. We appreciated the utter quiet and having the trail entirely to ourselves...aside from the plentiful prairie dogs and the bison waiting for us at our car when we got back. (The antelope photo was from inside Custer State Park.) We were also quite impressed by the information we read at the visitors center and may have to make a repeat visit to actually do a cave tour in the future.

(Side note to say that we've been to Mt Rushmore years ago with the boys and years before that while we were moving cross-country, so we didn't bother stopping there on this trip. We'd also opted to tour Jewel Cave with the boys on that trip but hadn't been to Wind Cave (my guess is that we chose Jewel Cave due to maybe a shorter tour, more appropriate for the boys' ages at the time).)

We then drove into Hot Springs, SD and had a late lunch at Two Cows Creamery before getting on the road for home. Along the way, we stopped for Nathan's afternoon coffee (at a coffee shop in Chadron, NE that was apparently "out" of coffee, lol) and made an attempt to see Scotts Bluff National Monument. We knew the visitors center would be closed by the time we got there but thought maybe we'd still be able to drive the loop. Nope. We settled for this photo...

From there, we stopped for dinner in Kimball, NE and made it home finally around 9pm. Whew. 

So, that was our quick trip. It was lovely.

My office

Just so it's recorded somewhere...

A little over a week ago, I suddenly decided to rearrange my office. I wanted to switch to a standing desk; that was the impetus of the whole thing. By plan C or so, I'd settled on an arrangement and ordered what I needed. At the core, I switched out the desk by the window for an adjustable standing desk (which was considerably more straight-forward than the earlier plans, lol). Along the way, though, I had to do a good bit of purging and sorting and shuffling of other things. It was a chore. ;P I may still make a few tweaks and have a few spots that I've noted for further sorting, but here's where things stand now... 

The photos on the left are before and the ones on the right are after. Click on the photo/collage to make it larger.

So much more open counter/desk and floor space! I know it still looks full and cluttery but I truly did get rid of a lot of stuff, honest! It feels so much cleaner. I do a good job of purging around the rest of the house; but, apparently, my office had become somewhat of a dumping ground (particularly since it's one of the only rooms on the main floor that has a door, lol). And, yes, that's a standing desk...I'm just short. ;) It's adjustable so I can still sit when I want also. 

A few things I learned through this process:

• A lot of my life has become about function over form. I'm pretty practical to start with but being surrounded by four males and their pragmatism has definitely weighed things more in one direction. I see it all around me now that I'm paying attention. 
• I still have a lot of scrapbooking stuff, lol. (Once upon a time, I scrapbooked...for myself, for a national magazine and their publications, for my monthly column in that magazine, for sponsor companies, etc.) I've gotten rid of loads of supplies over the years but still have plenty somehow.
• Knowing where your outlets are is important, and power strips are your friends. Yeah, neither of the two outlets in my office are on the open walls.
• My old furniture is really sturdy. We actually bought the matching desks and hutch (and another tall bookcase that's in another room) when we lived in North Carolina...so they've been with us longer than Noah. :)
• Reorganizing is a good time to examine what you actually use. It felt kinda liberating to get rid of stuff that I realized I wasn't using. (Yes, yes, I realize I'm not currently *using* the remaining scrapbooking supplies but am still keeping them. It's a process, lol.)

Oh, and I'm really liking my standing desk situation so far. I found this great balance board anti-fatigue mat thing and love being able to move while standing (and this one is way more comfortable on my feet than my actual balance board that I use in the basement after boot camp--which is also fun but just rough on my feet without shoes). 

And that's my office for now. :)

September so far

Oy. Apparently I haven't posted anything at all this month. Sorry! Guess it's time for some catching up...

1. Adjusting. Some of September has been about adjusting back to being a household of three now that Asher and Micah are back at their respective colleges. That's meant things like less laundry and more food being available, lol.

Simultaneously, Asher and Micah have been adjusting to their new schedules. Asher's got 17 credits this semester and is taking on more responsibilities with the UNC PE club. They have some fundraisers in the works and Asher will be going to a big convention in Denver specifically for physical education people next month. He's also still very much enjoying the UNC Taekwondo club. They've added new members this year, doubling their numbers, and have some events coming up, too. He's also working this month on finalizing his full admission to the Professional Teacher Education Program at UNC, which involves a decent amount of paperwork and is a requirement in his journey to becoming a PE teacher. Also, Asher and his three new roommates seem to be getting along just fine, he continues to ride his OneWheel to get around campus, and he comes home on the weekends. (He's not doing Karate West demo team any more but volunteered, along with another former member, to lead a practice earlier this month to help the new members with their combat fighting choreography. They may do more of that.)

Micah's gotten himself two part time jobs (at the Boulder Escape Room on the weekends and on campus at the biotechnology building on weekday mornings), is taking 15 credits, and continues to help lead the CU Taekwondo club. Yup, he's busy. :) He'll finish his BA in May and is now looking at applying to graduate programs. He's been meeting with advisors and seeking input from those in the field. He's doing a great job of juggling everything and is thoroughly enjoying college life. He and his two roommates are doing well so far with home life--cooking for themselves, paying bills, tackling maintenance, and whatnot. He's going to concerts, shopping, climbing, and everything else. He seems pretty happy. :)

2. Chilling. Amid all of that, life for me has been fairly chill. Mostly, I've been helping to make sure everyone else is getting what they need...plenty of paperwork and errands and listening. 

This picture is of my fun little robot tea infuser. I feel like he exemplifies "chilling" pretty well, lol. (Nathan was gifted some delicious oolong loose leaf tea and I've taken it. Given the steeping instructions, I dug out my little robot and it works perfectly.) When he's not in the tea glass, I let him hang out in the little white dish...and I think it looks like he's chilling in a little tub.

3. Medical stuff. I mentioned before that Micah switched treatment plans for his arthritis. Some of what I've been doing has been getting that all sorted. The new plan involves deliveries in these "critical" boxes that require opening "immediately" and refrigerating. (That's why we're having them delivered here rather than to Micah in Boulder...since I can be home to receive them but Micah and his roommates aren't reliably home, given class and work schedules.)

So far the weekly self-injections have been working well, and Micah feels considerably better than he did at the end of the summer. Yay!!

Beyond that, Micah also had a laser eye surgery earlier this week to repair a hole in his left retina. Seems to have gone well, though I suppose we won't really know for sure until his follow up appointment in December? In any case, the procedure went smoothly and he's doing well. Plus, we got to spend some time with him while collecting him from Boulder the night before the procedure and then driving him back down in the afternoon after the surgery. (By the way, Micah was far and away the youngest person at the eye center, lol. I'd not really thought about it before but apparently it's mostly older people who need eye surgery?)

4. Boot camp in Old Town. Last week (Wednesday), one of the guys in boot camp was the speaker for a Ram Talk in Old Town. George is an elephant expert and professor at CSU and spoke about what we can learn from elephant language. It was honestly fascinating! Knowing that he'd be talking, the rest of us at boot camp (aside from the three who were out of town that week) all went to offer our support. (There was discussion about heckling, but we were good, lol.)

We all sat together and enjoyed the event! (George is the one standing with his picture on the screen behind him, lol.) If you're local, there are a number of additional Ram Talks scheduled and the event space is fabulous. I'd highly recommend attending, even though George won't be speaking again.

5. Conference in AZ. While I was doing that, Nathan was at a conference for work. It was pretty swanky...at the Four Seasons in Scottsdale. Nathan enjoyed the scenery...opted for the morning hike as his chosen conference activity...and even managed to get together with a friend and his family while he was there. 

6. Filipino Community Hall National Historic Site. Many decades ago (more than 70 years ago), my mom's dad (who immigrated to the US as a teen) was a leader in his local Filipino-American community in the Yakima Valley in Washington state. He helped found the Filipino Community Hall in Wapato, the first Filipino hall built in the west. This year, the hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places! They're having a big celebration next month and putting together a commemorative book. Given the family significance and the years of memories we have there, my mom wanted to put together a full page ad for the book. I helped with that while Nathan was out of town. Here's how it turned out:

(It's nothing particularly fancy...just featuring family. :) The hardest part was gathering all the photos, lol.)

7. New tree. And while Nathan was still in Arizona, I oversaw the planting of the new tree we purchased last month. You may remember that we planted a new tree a couple years ago (see the top middle photo below). We got a 5 gallon skyline honeylocust through a city program and planted it ourselves. It made it through the first winter but sadly perished last winter due to the extreme cold. 

So. This time we opted for a 20 gallon tree through the Fort Collins Nursery and had them plant it for us. It's an Espresso Kentucky Coffee tree, which is similar to the honeylocust but felt like it had a bit more character to us. Rob & Thomas did a great job of amending the soil and planting the tree and fertilizing and staking it. They also left me with clear instructions for its care and high hopes.

8. Raccoons. Last weekend, while Nathan, Noah, Asher and I were playing a board game in the kitchen, we were visited by FOUR raccoons. They were quite curious about us and can clearly tell that Nathan feeds the squirrels right there. On that particular day, the squirrels hadn't finished off the day's last pile of walnuts and the first raccoon got a nice little treat. (He didn't share with the others.) 

Don't worry. We didn't put out any additional walnuts. :)

9. Date lunch. And, yes, Nathan and I still go out for date lunch every other week or so. Yesterday, we enjoyed lunch and hard ciders at Locust in Old Town, walked over to The Exchange for ice cream, and then wandered across the street to the new Fort Collins mural.

So. I think that's most of what's been going on in September with us. Whew. It's strangely warm and summery here right now. It's a little confusing but okay with me. Also, I'm in the middle of reorganizing my office...which has been quite the project. (More on that later.) 

I'll do better about posting in October. :) Have a wonderful weekend!

Thankful Thursday

Last Thankful Thursday for August. :) Here's my list today...

1. Friends who fly. Last Saturday, Nathan got to go for a flight with my friend Dave (from boot camp). They saw the Flatirons and Red Rocks and a warehouse fire in Denver, lol. Nathan had a fantastic time and took some great photos...

So thankful for Dave and that we were able to make this happen!

2. Time together. Also last weekend, Asher was home from UNC and we enjoyed some family game time (sans Micah). Since we had even numbers, we tried the team play option for 7Wonders...

It was actually really educational for me...working in teams gave me better insight into how others were making their decisions for play. I appreciate that our years of playing games with boys (through homeschooling and otherwise) has led us to moments like this.

3. Opportunities for adventure. While we were playing games and such, Micah went outdoor bouldering with friends...

I'm glad that Colorado has so many opportunities for adventures and that Micah enjoys taking advantage of them.

(By the way, I finally worked out the insurance and specialty pharmacy hoops and have his new medication for him, but he hasn't started it yet. Thankful that the emergency meds were working well enough that he was able to go hiking and climbing last weekend.)

4. Quick trip to Boulder. Last Sunday, Noah and I made a quick trip down to Boulder to bring Micah his passport for some employment paperwork. Yup, Micah got himself a part time job! So...Noah and I drove down, Noah got a quick tour of Micah's new place (he was the only one who hadn't been there yet), we took Micah to lunch downtown, and then he walked the block or so to his new job to fill out paperwork. (His first official day will be tomorrow.) Along the way, Noah and I saw this quote on a building...

Not only do I appreciate the quote, but I found it awesome that Dylan was quoted right alongside Aristotle and others. ;) Proud of Micah for working hard to get this new job and also thankful that Boulder isn't too far away...for when we forget to send things like passports. 

5. Arborists. Earlier this month, we had an arborist out to look at our Aspens in the front yard. He confirmed that the south tree (they're three separate trees, though they look like they're part of a single tree) was dead and needed removing before falling into the pine tree and fence. (It was actually starting to rot at the base. Bleh.) We'll admit that we hadn't really been paying attention. ;) Apparently, the lean of that tree has been getting worse and worse over the years...

Since we're getting ready to have a new tree planted in the front yard next month (to replace the one we planted a couple years ago that died, sadly), we figured it made sense to check if the Aspen needed removing and, if so, if that was better done before we have the new tree installed. Turns out, yes, it did definitely need removing and doing so would be easier before planting the new tree. (We also talked to the arborist about the remaining two Aspens. All of the other Aspens in our neighborhood planted around the same time have been removed already so we weren't sure if it made sense to just take them all out while getting that leaning one. We're hoping, though, that ours have another few years in them. Fingers crossed!)

So, we had a great chat with the arborist to figure out Aspen removal plans. He also was enthusiastic about our choice of new tree for the front yard and had tips for that. And then he and his team were able to come out earlier this week and carefully remove that south Aspen and clean up some of the dead branches in the remaining Aspens. It looks good...

Thankful for knowledgeable people to talk to!

Okay, that's my list for today. Happy end of August to you all...hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

First Day Pictures

Hooray! My beautiful younger sons both sent me first day of school pictures earlier today on their way to their first classes of the year. 

Here's Asher this morning:

Asher's starting his second year at UNC and will have one more after this. He's still pretty happy with his major (Sport & Exercise Science: Physical Education K-12 Teaching), is the treasurer for the UNC PE Club, and is looking forward to another year with the UNC Taekwondo Club. He's living in the same dorm but with three new roommates. 

And here's Micah around lunch time (his classes are all after noon):

Micah's starting his second year at CU Boulder. He's on track to finish his BA in Philosophy in May thanks to all of his college credits during high school. He's considering pursing his Masters after this, though, so it may not be his last year at CU. He's the vice-president of the CU Taekwondo Club, has already been out climbing with friends (and hopes to do more of that this year), and is enjoying living in his rental house with two taekwondo teammates. 

So far, accounts from both boys are good. They enjoyed their first classes and seem excited about the semester. Here's to a fantastic year!