Five Years Ago

Five years ago, my niece Audrey was baptized. I tagged along with my parents for the trip because it was a relatively quick trip for the occasion compared to their typical two-week stay and added travel days and continuation on to NC for another two week stay with another sister.

Just a few weeks later, I tagged along with my parents again for a road trip to UT for a family reunion. Everyone in my whole family was at that reunion except for Patrice who was unable to attend due to work obligations. That was the last time we had that many people in our family in the same place.

Five years ago, my nephew Hudson was not yet born.

Two years ago we had a BIG family reunion, but Sheila's family couldn't come because they were in the middle of job transition and moving across the fruited plain.

Five years ago was the last time I saw my baby sister.

So, when my over-traveled, mentally and physically exhausted parents asked if we might be willing to come to CO instead of them taking another trip to AZ, I said sure--as long as it's in July or August, otherwise I might freeze. When we looked at their calendar and saw that a visit early in July would coincide with a visit from Sheila, we booked it! Yippee! Yahoo!

We had lots of time with Mom and Dad to play around the mountains before Sheila's family arrived, but seeing them was what we (and when I say we, I mean me) were looking forward to most of all. On the day of their arrival, we paced like caged tigers, obsessively looking out the window hoping to see their car coming around the bend, looking for any little task to occupy hands and minds until they arrived. Nicco and I finally gave up and just sat out on the patio.

Finally their car pulled in. Nicco jumped up and down and squealed, "It's them! It's them! They're here!" He handed them their Arizona treats,

I was surprised they actually sucked these suckers...I said that I expected them to keep them as souvenirs, to which Cam replied very seriously, "Candy is not a souvenir."

Braxton handed him the duct tape Mario wallet he made, hugs all around, then we went inside and played the World Champion Mille-Bornes tournament.

Nicco was on the first losing team, Braxton not far behind. Since they were no longer in the tournament, they hid themselves away in the office and created a championship trophy. They are kind of the same person.

We took the kids on a walk around the property after dinner, and if it hadn't been for the non-existent bear scare, the cousins may have had a cousin sleepover. Instead, some boys slept close to their mommies (psst...it wasn't Nicco who was scared of the non-existent bear. I won't mention any names in order to protect the fraidy-cat. Ahem, I mean the innocent.)

Grandpa leads the way

Ahhh...smells like vanilla!

All the cousins

Some silly faces

More silly faces

The Fabulous Hudson

King of the World!

Good times.

A Brief Interruption

I'm taking a break from the vacay recaps for some Nicco Quotes of the Day on the weather.

When we got to Mom and Dad's house, we inhaled and smelled and sniffed and inhaled some more of the freshy pine with a hint of vanilla scented air. (Someone should bottle that.) When we (finally) got back to Tucson (that's another story) the air was heavy with moisture and a pending rainstorm. Nicco took a deep breath and said, "Smell that rain. I just love monsoons!"

That monsoon did indeed hit us heavily. On the way to French camp yesterday morning we passed some of the damage- power lines snapped in two like toothpicks, trees uprooted, business signs and windows smashed, debris all over the sides of the roads. Nicco said, "Remember what I said about monsoons yesterday? Forget it."

It was friggin' hot yesterday (Arizona, July...) and he said, "I wish we were still in the Colorado Mountains."

The grass is always greener, right?

The Wild Wild West

William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a soldier, buffalo hunter, and showman. He earned his nickname by killing over 4,000 buffalo to feed the Kansas Pacific Railroad workers. He won exclusive rights to the name in a shootout with William Comstock, who had the same nickname. Cody killed 69 buffalo to Comstock's 48, thus keeping the name. He traveled the world, providing a slice of the American West in his wild west shows.

He died in 1917 and was buried on top of Lookout Mountain in Colorado. Residents of Cody, Wyoming thought he should be buried in their town, and until some tons of concrete were poured over his grave, Denver folks had to guard his body from thievin' Cody-ites who wanted to return the body to the town he founded.

Buffalo Bill and his wife's graves

Looking out over Lookout Mountain

Lookout Mountain, again

Not a bad spot for one's eternal rest.

Cody's friend and foster son, Johnny Baker, set up the museum site to memorialize and honor Buffalo Bill for generations to come. The grave, museum, and gift shop are among the top tourist destinations in CO.

 You can dress up like a cowboy (Nicco refused to put on chaps) and ride a horse with no legs,

 you can check out authentic artifacts (Nicco tried to hide from us, but we got him!),

you can feel and identify all the different types of pelts of the animals the trappers hunted. This is a coyote "with a real foot, just no bones."

And you can step into a not so real tepee.

You can follow lots of different patterns to replicate traditional Indian weaving patterns, but the flag pattern was easiest. I favored easy on this visit. Nicco was a little bit of a pill. Not bad, just enough to make me want to minimize potential difficulties with Captain OCD.

I've been to Lookout Mountain many times, but this was the first time I ever went inside the museum. We had a good visit and I learned a lot about Buffalo Bill that I didn't know before. I always thought he was just a showman and I kind of favored the legends of Wild Bill Hickok (I confess, Deadwood may have something to do with that), but William Cody was a much more interesting character than the Wild West shows portray him.

Animals

One of our favorite things to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house is to sit out on the patio, especially in the morning or early evening, and watch the wildlife wander through the yard. Deer are regular visitors, as are chipmunks and squirrels. More rare treats are baby deer, foxes, wild cats of one kind or another, and once in a while, a bear will make an appearance.

One night Mom and I set the table and called the boys up for dinner. Nicco said, "It's such a beautiful evening, don't you think we should eat outside?" We quickly moved all the trappings of the meal to the patio table and not much later, three deer came wandering through. Two does and the first buck sighting of the visit.

They ate their dinner while we ate ours and suddenly, they pricked up their ears and stood at attention. I commented that they saw, smelled, or heard something that put them on alert. About ten seconds later, they turned and ran down the hill followed by little blackish bear. I had the camera outside and tried to snap a picture, but the bear was running too fast for me to capture him.

After dinner, we called Patrice. Nicco told him breathlessly, "I saw foxes, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, hummingbirds, and...A BEAR!" then told his daddy about The Incident.

The next day, we walked down where the bear passed through, looking for tracks. And this is what we found:



It is a bear track, trust me.

There are a couple herds of buffalo up near Evergreen and we stopped by to see them both.

When we had lunch at the hot dog, we saw a little chipmunk stuffing his face with kernels of corn.

The Farmers' Market was like dogs on parade, one of which was a great dane.

We saw a couple of cats wandering the streets of South Park.

One morning there was a pair of squirrels chasing each other up and down and around the trunk of a tree.

There were lots of horses and cows and hummingbirds, and ducks and geese on the lakes and ponds.

Nicco even saw a snake!

(wink)

We kept hearing rumors of fawns, but kept not seeing any. Then one evening when I was in the office on the computer and Mom and Dad were out for a walk, Nicco came running in to tell me he saw a dog and I had to come see it. When he pointed it out, I told him it was a spotted baby deer! He was double excited then. He told me he thought it was a dog because it was so small and because it was "going like this," demonstrating the bounding action with his hands.

Nicco kept track of all the animals we saw on our visit, including those we saw when we were out on adventures.

This is his list:
Deer
Foxes and baby foxes
Buffalo
Elk
Squirrels
Fat-Faced Chipmunk
Hummingbirds
Dogs
Black cat
Great Dane
Fawn
Duckies
Geese
Snake
Horses
Cows

After two weeks, this is the animal he really wanted to see:

He missed his Frankie-Foo.

For Papi

Patrice finished Nicco's playhouse while we were still in Colorado. He doesn't do anything half way and it is no wonder that every time I talked to him he said he was still working on the house. I thought he would be done but he just kept coming up with more ideas and new details.

Here is the progression from opening the box to the welcome home surprise:

The tree house kit laid out and organized

Nicco, surveying Papa's preparations

One wall up, so far so good!

Four walls!

On site, ready for the roof

Service window

Front view. Nicco couldn't wait to play!

Side view

Bay window

The ground is prepped to dig holes for the platform

Digging is hard work!

More digging

Unloading the platform posts

Measuring

Measure twice, cut once!

Safety goggles on, ready to cut

Posts in the ground (this is bigger than I thought...)

First board for the deck frame

Making sure it is level

Looks good!

Mr. OCD picking at a loose sliver

Frame's done (this is WAY bigger than I thought!)

Stained

Added support...this baby ain't goin' nowhere!

The ground is cleaned up and level and framed in

Ground lighting, clean corner

This is where we left off when we went to Colorado. Patrice got home nine days before Nicco and I, so I didn't get to document the rest of the process. But, when we got home last night, this is what we found inside the house:

A message from Daddy (Nicco requested a chalkboard, just like the house that Papi built)

Chalk holder--clever Daddy, incorporating Nicco's Home Depot projects!

A secret box and shelves for toys (just like Papi built)

More shelves, and new cups, bowls, and straws so Nicco can host parties at his house

Empty shelves...Nicco gets to decide what to put there.

Family portrait above the chalkboard, and below the light. (Papi's house doesn't have lights)

Another Home Depot project

The ladder--Patrice came up with the design all by himself. I'm so proud!

Nicco at his service window...room for a guest on the bench

Flowers in the window boxes--we'll see if Nicco's green thumb is better than his mama's

Solar lights on the corner posts

Grass down below (with lights in the corners)

A mailbox

Name and address plate above the door



Full view of the house

Nicco has been in and out all morning long, bringing us drinks and snacks from the bowls and cups in his house. He's so happy. Which makes Patrice so happy. Which makes me so happy.