After a sad departure from Jeff's, we headed south, Pike's Peak looming ahead of us, to visit Jared's Aunt, Uncle and Cousins.
A short jaunt later, which included a stop for gassing up and staring at the snow-capped peaks, simultaneously, we arrived in the hilly, tree-lined 'burbs of Colorado Springs. Chris and Veronica were immediately welcoming despite the fact that Charley was overly interested in their sweetie-pie, not quite dog-socialized black lab, and matching tiny black kitten.
After a couple growls and cat-paws to the face, the pets were best buds, and we were relaxing on a back deck looking over the neighborhood and the mountains. The air was clear and bright, and having been in Colorado long enough to be over our altitude-adjustment phase (JARED), we just basked.
I just have to say that Seanon and Rainie may be the sweetest kids I've ever encountered. As a part of my own sometimes explosive brother-sister pair, I can say from experience that the playful banter and cooperation we witnessed was nothing short of phenomenal. Plus they're adorable.
Highly recommended: Bite the Bag, for which Chris and Veronica get full credit.
If that is nonsensical to you, read on. Bite the Bag is played with any group of people - kids, college kids, those older, less-young kids, y'know, anybody. Fair warning, if you have a friend who is a former ballet dancer or contortionist, for instance, you may want to consider involving substances that compromise balance. Just to even the playing field.
The group of players stands around a paper grocery bag, and everyone has to prove that they can pick it up in their teeth using only their teeth and with only the soles of their feet on the ground. That's it! After each round, a 3ish inch strip is cut off the bag, until it is flat. If you fall, you're out. If you touch the ground with anything but the soles of your feet, you're out. Let the hilarity ensue.
And just to prove that the game is great (you wouldn't be normal if you weren't slightly skeptical beforehand), Christie, Matt, Jared and I took to the new side-yard to play only a few evenings back. Half-way into the game, a group of Portlanders walked by the yard. We exchanged greetings, and in a moment of generosity, Matt invited them to join. Several games and a few pulled hamstrings later, we had officially made our first new friends! So go grab a bag, take off your shoes, and try it out!
With a slightly flexible schedule, we were able to squeeze in a ridiculously amazing stop in Loveland with Lyse and Rich, family friends who I hadn't seen in probably ten years. Because the drive was short, we were at their house by mid-afternoon, and at 12,000 feet by 7pm. Not even kidding. We all crowded into the car (including Charley and Happen, their adorable springer spaniel), and poor Lyse tried to coordinate appointments and work via phone while we whizzed around town for local chips and salsa verde (amazing), and coffees and pupp-a-chinos, before hitting the Rocky Mountain National Park Apline Summit access road.
Wait a minute, I need to step back. Witness pupp-a-chinos:
Apparently available at all Starbucks' with a sense of humor. Clearly, a life-changing event for Charley.
I can't even describe the natural beauty that is the Rocky Mountain National Park, so here are some photos that I hope will suffice:
The four of us bounced around the kitchen on our return while Lyse delegated perogie-making responsibilities, and we feasted as a thunderstorm blew in. During dessert, we realized that the thunder was literally rolling -- banks of thunder cracked so constantly that we couldn't tell them apart. We sat on the porch as the rain poured and the lighting blinked incessantly like some neon display. Lyse said it best: "If the world were going to end, this is how the end would start." All-in-all, an incredible day in Loveland.
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