Colorado 2010 - Day 2 - Greeley

After our first night in the hotel in Loveland, we decided to head to Greeley for day 2. As we drove in, I was thinking that I would remember a little more along the way, but of course, a lot has changed in 20 years. We found the right street, and drove by the old house.
Here is looking up the street we used to live on:
In this picture Saul had to get out to get a good shot through the trees. He groused about how I was making the suspicious looking Mexican do the stalker work and he would probably get deported. But now we get a good picture of the old house!

They had sheds where our garden used to be -- definitely doesn't look as nice as it did.

I did remember the way to Monfort. It looks exactly the same as it did in our day, although the playground equipment had been upgraded.
For lunch we decided to try JBs. They still had their homemade root beer, but I was disappointed to see a new menu that did not have any nachos on it! Their nachos used to be my favorite! The food was mediocre, but the restaurant was just as I had remembered it.

Remember that old player piano? It was broken, but still there:
And the phones to place your order were still there too. Saul couldn't hear the person on the other line very well, so when she asked how many mugs we wanted with our rootbeer, he said "No, thanks." A waitress came over and straightened everything out, but we thought it was pretty funny that Saul wanted us to drink straight out of the jug. FYI: the rootbeer was very good.We then went on an adventure to go to the "goose poop" park that I had remembered. Turns out the real name is Sanborn park (which mom, dad, and myself could not remember for the life of us).
They still had the baby swings in the far corner, but instead of gravel or mulch underneath, they had that fancy rubber springy stuff.



Overall, it was really fun to see Greeley again. Everything was smaller and closer together than I remember it being, but I guess after living in Houston, it changes your perspective. All of those places in town that I thought were so far away were usually less than 5 streets away! Amazing! Also, so much has changed there. A lot of new growth, the Country General is now a string of car dealerships, Carmike Cinemas is now among a bunch of other businesses instead of being by itself, etc.. But the weather when we were there was perfect, there were no crowds or traffic, and Saul and I decided that we wouldn't mind getting a summer home there. We want to join the Texans that Mom and Dad say own half of Colorado!

Colorado 2010 - Day 1

On Day 1 of our trip to Colorado, we took the 6am flight and landed in Denver at 7:30am. Upon landing, we were not really sure exactly what we wanted to do that day. While getting our rental car (a very nice Buick Enclave) the lady at the counter mentioned that her favorite things to see were in Colorado Springs. That sounded good to us, so we unpacked our TomTom and headed in that direction (the sales lady also secretly loaded up our rental car with every insurance coverage known to man, but that is another story).
We weren't really sure what Garden of the Gods was, so when we pulled up we had to go to the visitors center to know for sure. It is just a little area with some massive red rocks that are cool. We also got to try out our new umbrella stroller that we bought for the trip.






Pikes Peak in the distance:
Our next adventure was to drive just a few miles away and go to Cave of the Winds. I remembered the commercials from when I was a kid, and also that it was extremely expensive to go there (not sure how or why I remembered that). It was fun there, but a bit commercialized, and quite expensive. We had to carry Andreas through the cave since they wouldn't allow strollers, but he seemed to like it down there, luckily for us.



Our last stop was to have dinner at Casa Bonita. It was really fun since it was exactly as I had remembered it as a kid. The only problem was that the food was quite nasty. The beans tasted like cigarette butts, and the rest of it was not much better. But the sopaipillas were plentiful and good -- those did not disappoint! We also were seated right next to the diving pool and saw a few of their little shows. Saul even went through Black Bart's cave!
The Dinner:
The Sopaipillas:

Black Bart's Cave:
In front of the puppet theater:

The diving show from our table:

The Calm Before the Storm

The last few weeks Saul and I have just been getting ready for the weeks to come. With vacations, big meetings at work, and lots of other goings on it is going to be an action-packed summer! But we are enjoying every minute of the chances we get to be together and enjoy Andreas' smiles.

One day we were letting Andreas roll around on the floor and weren't paying ultra close attention. When we turned around, he had rolled across the floor and found a bottle that we had fed him previously. We proceeded to grab it, hold it himself, and drink out of it. We were so surprised that we had to take photographic proof!
It was a dark and stormy night...actually the first bad thunderstorm we have had in over a year. Lightning was striking every 3-6 seconds for probably a good hour. The power kept flickering and Saul had to keep running outside to our fuse box to set things straight. Tiffany had just gotten out of the hospital, so on Sam's Birthday (May 14) we had him over and made him a double layer spice cake. I won't tell you how fast he ate it, but I am pretty sure he enjoyed it. He turned 27, which is why there is a 7 in the cake. I even made sure the candles were BYU colors.
I like this picture because he has those cRaaaaaaZY eyes!

I tried to fix Andreas' hair for these pictures of him in the green suit, but you can't really tell. It does its own thing.
Mid-yawn:


Here is Andreas with the end result of a feast of peas and carrots. He is a great little eater and we haven't really found anything that he won't eat (kind of like his parents). Keeping his attention through the whole meal takes quite a bit of effort though -- he gets very interested in everything from his chair, to his bib, to anyone else in the room.

Success!

Tuesday May 4 was the day of Andreas's surgery and it was a great success! We were able to get through it just fine, and the doctor was able to take care of everything in one surgery. After we were allowed into the recovery room, it took Andreas about half an hour to wake up, but after that he was happy and smiling and charming the nurses. Even when we brought him home he did great and did not seem very affected. We know that this was a big blessing and a direct answer to everyone's prayers, so thanks to all for your love and support.

An updated picture of the teeth -- they are about 1/2 way in now:
A picture on Cinco de Mayo (Andreas' shirt says "Mi Papa es el #1"):





The cake Saul made me for Mother's day. It took him a very long time to do and turned out to be a bit of an explosion at the end, but it was much appreciated.

Also, Saul and I were watching America's Test Kitchen on PBS and saw a great recipe. They did thousands of test to find the best chocolate chip cookie recipe and also taste tests to find the best chocolate chips. The results are as follows -- they are a little more work than the normal Tollhouse recipe, but taste really good. Make sure you follow the steps exactly as outlined.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 16 cookies

Avoid using a nonstick skillet to brown the butter; the dark color of the nonstick coating makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is browned. Use fresh, moist brown sugar instead of hardened brown sugar, which will make the cookies dry. This recipe works with light brown sugar, but the cookies will be less full-flavored.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
• 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
  
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks (**Ghiradelli 60% Cacao bittersweet chocolate chips were the winner by a landslide in the taste tests and were not too expensive at Walmart)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
2. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.
3. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
4. Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)
5. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.