Thankful Thursday

Hmmm. Somehow it's almost the middle of August already, so I have plenty to catch up on. I'm going to go in reverse...most recent first...

1. Carhenge with Asher. Yesterday, Asher joined me for a last day of summer sort of road trip. Our end destination was Carhenge in Alliance, NE. It was something I'd read about when Asher started looking at colleges in Nebraska but is off the path enough that it never worked out as part of any trip to or from Omaha. But yesterday we made it happen...

Yes, it's a replica of Stonehenge made out of cars. I've also been to the Stonehenge replica in Washington state. I've not yet been to Stonehenge, itself. I'm thinking about starting a list of Stonehenge replicas to visit, lol. 

2. Scotts Bluff National Monument. On the way to Carhenge, we stopped at Scotts Bluff. I'd never been before, I enjoy adding National Parks and Monuments to my visited list, and it was on the way. :) Also, I find the stories of the Oregon Trail so impressive and am always in awe of the perseverance and strength those pioneers had. We drove to the summit (going through some of Nebraska's only tunnels!), did the short overlook hike, and also wandered the exhibits in the Visitor Center. We did not die of dysentery. :)

So that was yesterday. Admittedly our destinations weren't the most exciting, but they were definitely appreciated. And the weather cooperated beautifully (there were storms the day before and now again today). And, most importantly, the time in the car with my boy was priceless. 

3. Nathan was in California. At the start of August, Nathan went to San Francisco for most of a week for a work conference. He also managed some time on his own and sent these photos...

Thankful we're at a point in life that trips like these are doable and go so smoothly.

4. Boot camp ladies night. While Nathan was gone, I enjoyed time with my boot camp ladies...

So grateful for these women and being part of each other's lives for ten years now. 

5. Reunion thing. You may remember that I wasn't able to attend my 30th high school reunion (which happened last weekend actually) so was putting together a digital yearbook of sorts to catch up with as many classmates as possible. While Nathan was in CA, I finished that and was able to send it out. I managed to gather information and photos from about a third of my class and was pretty happy about it.

Thanks to social media and other technology, I've been able to see lots of pictures from the reunion, itself, and hear from classmates that I haven't talked with in ages. I'm still sad I wasn't able to go in person but have really appreciated hearing stories through everything else. 

(Incidentally, there was such a positive response to both the reunion and the reunion yearbook that I've extended it for this month to gather even more responses. I've already been getting replies and photos!)

6. Nathan at Oshkosh. And before all that, back toward the end of July, Nathan went to Oshkosh, WI for the EAA AirVenture air show. It's an annual event that Nathan had been to once as a teen and had always wanted to attend again. We made it happen this year! (It took some doing, as it's very popular and lodging was difficult to figure out.) He flew out, rented a car and camped near other local EAA members who were also there (having snagged one of limited camping spots that the local chapter had secured). 

He got in a lot of steps and had a great time! 

(If you were trying to keep track...July to now had Asher's birthday, my trip to Seattle to see my college friends, Barbenheimer, Nathan's trip to Oshkosh, Micah's birthday (Nathan was home for that and a day before leaving again), Nathan's work trip to CA, and my trip to Carhenge with Asher...along with dinners and lunches with friends numerous times, all the normal working out and climbing, Noah working, my gram turning 102, and life in general. It's been busy.)

And the next couple weeks will be full. We have orientation for Asher at UNC, another infusion appointment for Micah, a black belt promotion and anniversary celebration at Karate West, celebrating Nathan's birthday, moving Asher to UNC, a well check appointment for Micah, Asher starting classes, moving Micah to CU Boulder, a Leeds Launch day at CU, and a few dozen other things. ;) I'll try to keep up to date here but don't be shocked if we wind up with a lot of posts at the end of the month, lol.

Eighteen!

It's official. None of my boys are minors any more. :) Yup, Micah turned 18 yesterday. 

We had a fairly Micah sort of day. It started just after lunch when Asher gave Micah his gift...a bunch of melons and squashes Asher got for Micah to slice and stab and smash. Micah was delighted. We confined him to the driveway and watched him use his sword...with melons set on a box and then also with Asher tossing them to him "Fruit Ninja" style. In the end, we had quite the mess. Nathan used a snow shovel and the hose to clean it up...

...Micah's faces (and sound effects) were quite entertaining...

That was all followed by Micah challenging Nathan and Noah to arm wrestling...

...and, again, the faces and sounds were entertaining. :)

Then all the guys played a Jackbox game for awhile until we headed out to dinner. I managed a few pictures first...

Micah's favorite is the one on the left, but my favorite is the one below...

And then we enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Still Whiskey Steaks in Old Town before walking over to Walrus for some ice cream. 

The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful (some more Jackbox game...picking up a few things...some chores...etc).

I'm realizing now that I didn't do my traditional height comparison photos and feel like that's probably a thing of the past now. Let's just say that Nathan is the tallest, Noah is next, Asher and Micah are exactly the same height and I'm short. 

So. Happy, happy birthday to my baby! He's off to college next month and more than ready for it all. He's got a good head on his shoulders, knows who he is and who he wants to be, enjoys still being a kid, and so much more! Really looking forward to watching what comes next...

Thankful Thursday

Looks like it's been a bit since my last Thankful Thursday. :) Guess I'll do a little catching up...

1. Good friends! Last night we had a moms' night and actually remembered to take a picture this time. Miraculously, we managed to get nine of us together. So thankful for this group of women (and the ones who couldn't make it)! We've raised our kids together (we all met through our homeschool group) and still enjoy each other's company even now that our kids don't hang out together.  

Between the nine of us who made it last night, we've graduated 18 of our 26 kids. Woohoo! It was lovely hearing about what everyone's kids are doing these days and how life is beyond our homeschooling days.

2. Car discussions. Back when we road tripped to Montana altogether, I forgot to mention something. Thankful for car discussions with boys. Now that they all drive, we don't have as many opportunities for car discussions...where the boys are captive and thus actually talk, lol. Our road trip was a nice reminder of that. I additionally loved the randomness of the conversations...with things like debates over the correct orientation for eating Pringles and who each boy's favorite Pokemon was, lol.

3. YMCA. Not only is it a fun song, but it's a great organization, and I'm appreciative that they have such good programs here in northern Colorado. Asher worked at the YMCA after school program for the past school year and learned a lot. He decided to take a break for the summer but was recently approached. They needed more help and reached out to ask him to come help at summer camp on Fridays for the rest of the summer. He started a couple weeks ago...and is glad he didn't sign on for the entire summer but happy to have just some work for the end of the summer. 

4. Happy climbing. Yup, I continue to go climbing...usually a couple times a week. For Christmas, I got this awesome chalk bag. It makes me happy every time. :)

5. Boys who cook. Nathan's out of town right now. Those who know us know that Nathan's the one who does most of the cooking around here. While he's gone, then, I'm particularly thankful that I have boys who also cook. Micah was in charge of dinner tonight and Noah's on for tomorrow. Yay!

And that's some of what I'm thankful for today. :)

102!

My grandma turns 102 today.

Almost nine years ago, she had a health scare and we weren't sure how much longer she'd have. Everyone made it a point to visit with her that year. She liked that just fine and continued being her cat-loving self, and I've managed to see her again at least yearly since then. In January 2020 (just after I was there for my mom's birthday party), she broke her hip and had hip replacement surgery and recovered surprisingly well. Amazingly, she made it through the pandemic without ever testing positive for Covid. We had a fun party for her 100th and she enjoyed all the great-grandkids and eating her cake. I didn't make it to WA in 2022 but was there at the start of 2023 and had a nice visit with her. Less than two weeks ago, she fell and broke her ankle. She's at a skilled nursing facility now and doing pretty well. I'm pretty sure she's invincible. :) 

Here's a picture of the two of us back in January of this year...

And here's one from 1979ish, just because...

Since it's hard to shop for someone who's 102, I just sent her candy. She has quite the sweet tooth (and all her own teeth still!). Hoping she has a fabulous birthday!

Barbenheimer

Yesterday we joined the crowds, enjoyed the AC of the movie theater (and avoided the hot weather outside, lol), and experienced "Barbenheimer."

First we watched Oppenheimer...which was amazingly well done and thought provoking.

After that, we grabbed some lunch and people watched. :)

And then we headed back to the theater to watch Barbie...which was hilarious and highly entertaining (and not a show targeted at children like some might assume).

Micah (the instigator of this event for us) got into the spirit of things. He picked out his outfit ahead of time and painted his nails bright pink, with glitter on some. (Actually, after the first coat of nail polish, he let me finish (and clean up) the job, lol.) I found one of the only pink things in my closet and joined him... 

...and even wore pearls (because how often do I have occasion to wear pearls? lol). Asher actually also wore a pink tee, and Nathan dressed as "Curacao Ken" (wearing the Hawaiian print shirt he got in Curacao, lol)...but we didn't get a full group photo. (Noah wore all black to indicate his strong preference for the Oppenheimer movie, lol.) It was fun seeing so many people wearing pink yesterday. :)

Honestly, we'd seen the previews for both movies and would have watched both...but probably would have waited for them to come out on a streaming service. But the whole "Barbenheimer" thing sounded fun, and we really enjoyed the day and experiencing it all together.