Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday, all! Here's my quick list of things I'm thankful for today...

1. Extended family. Growing up, some of my favorite memories involve extended family gatherings. My dad was the youngest of eight and all eight families got together regularly. I miss that! Last weekend, they gathered again in my hometown to celebrate the passing of my Aunt Cathy. She joined her husband who passed in January and will be missed. Obviously, it wasn't the happiest reason to be gathering, but it sounds like everyone enjoyed seeing each other. I'm thankful that they send me photos and fill me in on what I miss, even when I can't be there in person. Here's a photo of the remaining five siblings:

I'm realizing it's been awhile since I've seen everyone. I need to work on that.

2. Cirque du Soleil ECHO. Last Friday, (as the birthday gift that Asher gave me back in May when we celebrated my birthday and Mother's Day) Asher and I went to Denver to see the Cirque du Soleil show ECHO. It was impressive and fun! The traveling show had set up an actual big top in the parking lot of Ball Arena and the performance was amazing. :) Thankful for time with my Asher before he heads back to college.

3. Celebration Day. On Sunday, we celebrated both Nathan's 50th birthday (which was last Wednesday!) and a belated Father's Day. We went to lunch at an Indian restaurant in Loveland (yum!) and then Asher's gift was taking us to play Glow Golf...continuing our intermittent tradition of playing mini golf of some sort for Father's Day. 

4. Injury updates. Now that we're both 50, it seems appropriate that we need an injury update, lol. I don't think I mentioned it actually, but I sprained my wrist at the start of July (climbing) so took most of the month off from climbing. I'm happily back at it this month and working on building back up. And Nathan's ankle sprain from our reunion (which was a significantly worse sprain than mine) is almost back to normal-ish! He's managed to continue working out at the gym (upper body) and is now adding full body exercises back and being able to go on walks again. He doesn't really need to wear the brace any more and is planning to resume paragliding lessons soon...yay!

5. Throwback Thursday. And just because...here's a collection of mini golf photos from Father's Day celebrations from 2005-2022...

We did miss last year, apparently, but we went to Top Golf in 2023. :) Thankful for the tradition!

So, that's my list today. Hope you're all enjoying your Thursday!

Ten on Tuesday

Looks like I have a number of random photos that haven't been shared. Here are ten:

1. Bowls. Remember when Micah gifted me a joint pottery lesson? Here were our results:

2. Hiking. Nathan's done some hiking this summer. Here's a shot on a hike with Asher back in June:

3. Paragliding. Nathan's also taking paragliding lessons! He started at the end of June, working wing control on the ground before they're allowed to hike up and actually launch. He was making great progress until he sprained his ankle. ;P So, he's on hold a little while he's rehabbing the ankle but will hopefully be able to resume lessons soon.

4. Noah's rental. During much of July, Noah was on Hokkaido island in north Japan. He decided to rent a car and drive around the island, visiting national parks and sleeping in the car. (It was cheaper to rent the car for the month and sleep in it than to pay for hostels. Apparently, it's a common thing in Japan, as he found plenty of areas for parking that included restrooms and showers and even laundry facilities sometimes.) Here's the car he rented...

5. The view. While driving around Hokkaido, Noah checked in every so often. This was his view during one of our calls. I believe this is on the eastern coast. There have been lots of very cool photos. :)

6. Moving. As I've mentioned, we moved Micah out of his lease in Boulder and back home at the end of July. Here's a glimpse of the "stuff" that came home with him. He definitely accumulated plenty while in Boulder but we're finally mostly unpacked...with a load going to Goodwill and most stuff put away in his room and the overflow stored in Noah's room for now, lol. 

7. Good friends. At the start of August, I got together with friends from our homeschooling days. It's always lovely to catch up with them!

8. More good friends. And later that week I got together with some of the boot camp ladies and had another fabulous time. (I've managed at least a couple other gatherings with friends lately also but neglected to take photos.) Love how many awesome friends I'm able to hang out with!

9. Mt Fuji. While I was hanging out with friends, Noah summited Mt Fuji! He got one of the limited reservations...hiked up to one of the mountain huts...spent the "night" there...and got up to finish the hike to the summit at sunrise. Along the way, he got a hiking stick that they'd stamp/brand at each checkpoint/hut along the route. Apparently, it came in very handy bracing himself against the wind and has since been shipped home to us here.

10. Steamboat. And last weekend, Nathan and I enjoyed a couple days in Steamboat Springs. We wanted to see how Stevie (our new EV) handled on mountain drives (he did great!). We made it up there Saturday afternoon and enjoyed time along the river doing some people watching and then meeting up with friends from boot camp (who have a house in Steamboat and were also up for the weekend) to visit and go to the free Saturday concert. On Sunday, we rode the gondolas, did a little hike (easing Nathan's ankle back), enjoyed more yummy food in town, did some shopping, and headed for home, stopping in Laramie for dinner along the way. Fun times!  

So. That's some more of what's been going on around here. :)  

Twenty!

It's official. We no longer have any teenagers! Micah turned twenty yesterday!

Here are the photos I grabbed before we headed to his birthday dinner at the new Hot Pot Spot here in town. He'd spent much of the day down in Denver with a friend, thrifting and wandering. (That jacket was one of his prized finds.) It was our first time doing hot pot (not Micah's first time but his first time at this particular place), and we had a wonderful meal. We grabbed some desserts at Whole Foods on our way home, and spent a very low key evening just chilling. Welcome to your twenties, lol! ;) 

Let's see. This past year was full for Micah. He finished his BA in Philosophy at CU Boulder in May. Before that, he spent the fall semester enjoying life in a rental house with roommates, helping lead the Taekwondo Club, working part time at the Boulder Escape Room and on campus and, well, thoroughly having a college experience. :) He also switched medications for his arthritis, visited the urgent care a time or two and had a small hole in his retina repaired. The spring semester was much the same, without Taekwondo Club, the escape room or the medical stuff, and with more classes, tattoos and experimentation with his look.  

This summer, he stayed in Boulder and worked at the escape room again (part time). He's been adding certifications and skills and networking and looking for a longer term job. With his lease ending, he moved home last weekend to continue looking for that job. He's still finishing the unpacking and settling in but is enjoying the newly painted room.

This kid. With his motivation and tenacity, the coming year is sure to be another exciting one...full of changes and growth. Can't wait to see what happens! Happy birthday, Micah!

Painting Micah's room

So. It's been on our list for awhile now and we finally did it. We repainted Micah's room. Oy. ;P 

Let me back up for a minute. Micah's been down in Boulder still since his college graduation in May, given that his lease ran through the end of July. With that coming up, he's decided to move back home while he continues looking for jobs rather than sign another lease in Boulder and get locked into living there for another year. All good. :) 

Once that was decided, we realized we'd best get on the repainting...as it's definitely easier to paint while the room is mostly empty (before Micah moved back with all his stuff). Why did it need repainting, you ask? Well. It was, um, ugly. If he ends up doing video interviews, we figured a nice neutral background would be better than an ugly green one, lol. So, Nathan and I painted over the Fourth...let things air out and completely dry while we were on our road trip...and recently finished putting thing back in the room. 

Here are some quick before and afters (just of the paint portion of things):

Yup, the walls were that ugly green. The ceiling was a bright yellow (difficult to see in the photos but trust me). And the closet was a poop brown (though if you looked closely you'd see that some of it was also that bright yellow where we gave up on painting last time).

Here are some of the things we learned:

• Don't let your 7 year old pick the paint colors for his bedroom. ;) Back when we painted the green, Micah was going for a jungle theme??
• Remember to NOT paint the wall you'll need to lean on until after you've painted the ridiculous strip in the corner between the woodwork and the corner/door/etc. 
• Even though the paint assures you that it'll cover things in one coat, it will not. Especially if your walls are textured and a dark/deep color to start with. We ended up doing three coats of the one coat paint.
• Replacing your old, old work lamps with new LED ones that don't make the room into an oven is TOTALLY worth it. 
• We need to do a better job of remembering how much work painting is. Seems like we let just enough time pass that we think it'll be fine, lol.

So, the room is mostly all put back together now. (We'll let Micah finish that part when he actually moves back.) We took the opportunity to also change out the drapes for blackout drapes (the room faces west and gets really warm in the afternoons) and replace a few things like the light fixture and outlet covers. In case you can't tell, the ceiling and closet are now white and the walls are "varnished ivory." Would love to redo all the floors also but that'll have to wait for another day. :) 

Whew.

Thankful Thursday: Road trip wrap-up

...as I was saying...we got back on the road on Sunday but broke up our long, long drive by stopping at Nathan's parents' home in Montana to visit for the afternoon and evening and spend the night. We then finished our journey home on Monday, taking a different route than we've taken before with a small detour to see another wooden troll. She's named Mama Mimi and is just outside Jackson, WY.

We got home late on Monday...2240 miles later. Whew.

So, things I'm thankful for:

• Our rock star 2008 minivan. So thankful that Vinnie continues to reliably get us all over the country. While we'd have loved to drive our new EV, it just didn't make sense for this long a trip so we appreciate still having the option to drive Vinnie.
• Vehicle motion cues on the iPhone. I've never been able to really read in a moving vehicle...I get motion sick. But. I recently discovered a feature on my iPhone that uses little dots to somehow magically help with that. Game changer! I'm still not reading books or anything (I almost never read whole books on digital devices anyhow) but being able to read my emails and such while being a passenger was fantastic. (If you don't know about this and want to...go to settings, accessibility, motion and turn on your "show vehicle motion cues" toggle. You're welcome.)
• Gas station hand soap that smells nice. With all our stops for gas or to stretch and switch drivers or to eat or a combination of those, I ended up washing my hands a lot on our road trip. I truly appreciate those places with soap that smells nice and not like disinfectant. It's a little thing but makes a difference.
• Extra drivers. Yup, it's nice having everyone able to drive. We have our road trip process pretty well down by now and the extra people to switch off is good. (In case you care, if I'm not driving, I almost always get shotgun because I get sick in the back. So, for me, it's particularly nice having someone different to talk with every couple hours. On this trip, it was also useful for Nathan to be able to sit in the back and prop his ankle on the cooler to elevate while others drove.)
• Family lodging. Sincerely thankful for being able to stay in Cassy & Charlie's cabin and at John & Nancy's house during this trip! Not having lodging costs makes a world of difference.
• Family food. So grateful for the plentitude of food all different family members provided along this whole trip, too. I ate too many cookies and kifle but also ate pretty well with all the bulgogi and lumpia and grilled chicken and salmon and watermelon salad and burgers and fresh fruit and ceasar salad and egg salad and just everything. Yum!
• Air conditioning. We didn't have any issues with AC during this trip but I'm always appreciative for air conditioning...such a fabulous invention. 
• Adorable niblings. I got to visit with thirteen of my sixteen niblings (nieces & nephews) during this trip and they're awesome. It's lovely chatting with the grown niblings and hearing about their lives and so much fun playing with and talking with the little ones. Thankful to have so many wonderful niblings!
• Watching my boys with their cousins. It's not often enough but I love watching my boys with their cousins, particularly the ten little ones. Micah does a great job of getting them all riled up and letting them climb all over him and Asher does a great job of keeping them all safe. Happy sigh.
• Trying a different route home. Even though it added about an hour to our trip, we tried a different route home from John & Nancy's this time. Much of Wyoming was still pretty uneventful to drive through, but the different route offered some terrific views for a portion of the drive (in the Grand Tetons area). Plus, we got to see Mama Mimi. :) 

And that concludes my tale of our reunion road trip. :)