and now for my final TRICK: Estes Park

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Estes Park

AAHHHH....how I love Estes Park in the fall.

What a treat to get back up there every year around our anniversary. Last year, Courtney watched Holden while Ian and I (VERY preggo I might add) spent a cozy weekend in a creek side cabin at Glacier Lodge. This year was a little bit different, we rented a 5 bedroom house with 6 adults and five kids (under the age of 3). Lucky for them they are all super cute and charming! We were all so excited for a little get away and we miss our COS friends so much. It was a great chance to relax and get together.

Here are our star players...and my favorite kids in the world!

Holden

Emily

Julia

Everett

John Thomas

I should say five and 3/4 kids...Nichole is ready to pop any day now with baby Troy.

The house was huge and had a great circular pathway and patio for the girls to run lap after lap.

The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. We all went over to the Stanley hotel for a little sightseeing. The highlight was the waterfall and pond. Holden and Emily were convinced if they looked hard enough they would find some fish...didn't happen And luckily no one fell in either!

I scored some lovin from Holden ...

before it all went to hell.

How cute is this shot of the girls walking back to the car after the hotel??!!!

Our house was on the YMCA campus and they had a great little playground for the kids.

Saturday night we fed the kids early and decided we (the adults-we are in charge, right?) needed a peaceful grown up dinner. So we put the boys to bed, turned on Nemo, and parked the girls on the couch with their blankies and juice. We had some wine and delicious lasagna and talked. It was luxurious!

Awww you may say. How sweet to see the little darlings cuddling and being sweet. I would have said the same thing yesterday. However, as a result of the shared blankets, pillows, chewie giraffes, spoons, and cups 2 of our little darlings have hand, foot, and mouth disease! YUCK!

Poor Emily got it and we have been fine for a few days. I thought, by some miracle, we had escaped. And then, Holden woke up from her nap today with a fever. She acted fine all afternoon. This evening she was quietly looking at books while I did school work, when all of a sudden she let out a blood curdling scream...."MY MOUTH HURTS!!!!!" She proceeded to cry for the next 45 minutes as if she was experiencing a slow torturous death. She even refused chocolate milk and cookies...it's bad.

I sure can't wait for tomorrow! Ian is out of town, but lucky him, he gets back tomorrow afternoon. And lucky me, I have tickets to see Wicked and I will be out of here at 5 and he will have to get them fed and to bed. Normally a pretty easy job, but I am scared of what it will look like tomorrow night!

So far Ev is ok, but I can't imagine how he would come through this unscathed.

Nichole did and awesome job taking tons of pics-THANKS! Here are all the rest
http://picasaweb.google.com/KimHanou/EstesPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCNa9j7jWi6H4cg#

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Recent Reads

Honolulu by Alan Brennert- 4 Stars
A lovely tale told by a Korean woman who came to America as a "picture bride." We learn of her challenging and oppressive childhood in Korea, her journey away from all she knew, learning the new culture in Hawaii, escaping an abusive husband, becoming an entrepreneur, finding love, becoming a mother, and living a fulfilling life. I previously read Molokai by the same author and loved it, which is why I snatched this one up as soon as I heard of it. I think I enjoyed this one even more! The writing is smooth and easy, the tales are gripping, and the experiences are harrowing which keep you wanting more of this woman's incredible story.

The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha- 2 1/2 stars
This book is a collection of vignettes celebrating the awesome things in life. The cold side of your pillow on a hot night, finding money in your coat pocket, popping bubble wrap, when cashiers open up a new line at the grocery store, and watching Price is Right when you were home sick from school. This guy also has a blog where people can submit more awesomness. It was fun to read, but not as great as I was hoping. I will probably read his blog though, because he is pretty witty and definitely made me chuckle and remember to appreciate the small things in life.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson- 3 stars
PAGE TURNER! I read this in 1 1/2 days. The story begins with a woman waking up in a bed, next to a man, in a house and she recognizes none of it. Over the next few minutes she learns that she has amnesia and every night when she goes to be she forgets most of her life. She begins working with a psychiatrist who convinces her to write in a journal, so she can reread it each morning and hopefully begin to build memories. The mysteries of how she ended up in this condition and her relationships with friends and loved ones kept me on the edge of my seat.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - 4 1/2 Stars
Another winner here folks. This book was AWESOME (and a bit shorter than Cutting for Stone). This was a new perspective on World War II for me. The story follows a boy growing up in a Chinese household in Seattle during the war. He befriends a Japanese girl, which is STRICTLY forbidden by his domineering and emotionless father. He realizes he is in love with her just as her family is removed to a Japanese Internment camp for the remainder of the war. The stay in touch through letters and his enormous risks to visit her . I don't want to give away any more, but you simply HAVE to read this book. The relationships between the children and their families and even the public during these war years was an interesting perspective for me. The twists and turns kept me up till midnight and the ending was wonderful!

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese- 5 Stars
Oh my! I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. It was long and delicious and I did not want it to end. The premise is a nun working at a clinic in Ethiopia dies while giving birth to twin boys. The story explores the people and relationships in these boys' lives through the eyes of Marion, one of the twins. He grows up in the clinic in Ethiopia with amazing adoptive parents who were friends with his parents and gives us a taste of the culture, food, and everyday life of an Ethiopian. He heads to America to pursue a medical career and his birth father. We read this for book club and had wonderful and rich discussions...I wish there was a part 2!

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton- 3 stars
This was pretty darn good. It took me about 100 pages to really get into it and the ending was a bit too quick, neat, and tidy. But not nearly as terrible as the ending of Handle with Care by Jodi Piccoult (I threw that book across the room and into a wall as I read the last word). I was hooked and couldn't stop myself once I was into it. It was a book club choice and there was more discussion than I remember in 3 years of book club. We were talking over each other and jumping into other conversations. I couldn't even keep up. This story centered around the lives of three sisters who grew up in a castle in England from World War II to the present. They had an eccentric family and extremely odd and famous author father. The mysteries weave through history and the walls of the castle, revealing themselves to the woman chosen to write a piece about the famed play written by the father. It was very good and I would highly recommend it.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Estes Park

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