Wrapping Up Our CO/WY Vacation

Friday we headed out from Lander back to Denver. We took a scenic detour through the Snowy Mountains in southwest Wyoming.

Partly frozen lake in Snowy Mountains

Anida, Daniel and Rachel in the cold

Rachel and Sean in the double stroller

Daniel, Sean and Rachel contemplate all the leaves

Sean and Rachel help clean up leaves

Thursday in Wyoming

Thursday morning we woke up in Thermopolis, ate breakfast and then went to the Dinosaur Museum. It was surprisingly well stocked with fossils and bones, however it still only took 40 minutes to see it. Daniel, Sean and Dave had the most fun.

We then headed south to Dave's Uncle Phil and Aunt Bonnie's ranch. The kids had a blast riding around on Phil and Bonnie's horse drawn wagon on their property, seeing the scenery, cows and horses.

We had dinner there and feasted on homegrown steaks. The kids all fell deep asleep on the ride back to our hotel in Lander.

Sean and Daniel "read" about Anklosauras dinosaurs - Dave's favorite

After getting rather lost, our traveling party arrived at Dave's Uncle Phil and Aunt Bonnie's ranch. Here they are driving their horse drawn wagon to meet us at the gate.

Barb, Sean and Daniel ride to the house with Phil and Bonnie

After we got everybody to the house we all went for a 2 hour ride on the horse drawn carriage. Here is Bonnie holding Daniel at the front of the carriage while Phil drives.

Here Bonnie sits with Barb, Anida, Daniel, Sean and Rachel on the back of the wagon.

Sean takes a turn up front in his snow/mud boots.

Rachel reaches out to pet a horse while Anida, Bonnie and Daniel look on.

Daniel and Sean look like they are doing something they should not be doing...

Sean admires the mounted moose heads in the living room. I think moose is now one of his favorite words.

Pastas and Wheatleys in Wyoming

A people photo focused blog update for Grandparents, etc. Nature photos to be posted later.

We left Denver for Wyoming Tuesday morning.  A brief stop at the Cheyenne public library was great fun for the kids.  They have a great children's section with wonderful interactives for kids.  We then traveled relatively uneventfully through eastern Wyoming.  We  stopped at Ayer's Natural Bridge State Park. The most fun there was the playground with TWO merry-go-rounds (which have been banned from most playgrounds for 15+ years!) No injuries were to be had, except for Sean who fell backwards down the stairs on the MODERN play structure.



We got into Thermopolis late on Tuesday and ordered pizza in. We had a pizza party in the Wheatley motel room and then a bounce party.


Tuesday morning we went to the Hot Springs Park. The kids had a blast in the many pools, inside and out, and the outdoor slide. The indoor slide scared Dave, but Barb and Anida liked it.

After the first visit to the Hot Springs we took a "Driving Nap" for the kids. Ah, bliss.

In the afternoon we made a second visit to the hot springs, again the kids loved it.

Bubble Bath Time

Sunday night the kids got to take a bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub. For Dave it was the most fun of the trip so far. The kids all had a blast.

Daniel shows his diving skills

Beer Festival and Friends

GABF Crew: Oystein, Eric, Barbara, Monica, John, Elizabeth, Tim, David

Friday evening we all went to the Great American Beer Festival featuring 1,800 beers by 400 breweries. We had one first timer, the rest of us have been many times. Eric and Dave have been 11 years straight and Dave attended once before that in 1994. Our crew featured 3 Norwegians, an Italian, an Irishman and folks who live in California, Wyoming, Texas, Michigan and Colorado. (Jan Robert is behind Monica holding a beer above her head.)

Texas did not do so hot this year, getting only three medals:

• Gold Kellerbier/Zwickelbier: Helles Keller, Fredericksburg Brewing Co., Fredericksburg, TX
• Silver Kellerbier/Zwickelbier: Hell In Keller, Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que, Austin, TX
• Silver Munich Style Helles: Saint Arnold Summer Pils, Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX
  

Sean Tickles the Ivories

Saturday was our hosts', the Wheatleys, annual chili cook-off. Dave reportedly won for the 3rd year in a row with a new entry: Potato Chili. Many of the Wheatley's friends attended, including the extra 8 adults and 2 children staying at their house. Thanks Eric and Anida!

Dave's day was also consumed by the Texas-OU game. It started at 10am Colorado time so for the first time in 39 years of life he ate pancakes while watching football. Texas won and Sunday was vaulted to No. 1 in the country in both polls due to losses by Missouri and LSU. Dave may eat pancakes during every game from now on!

Rachel and Sean Nap in the Stroller.

Sunday was a day of rest and walks. Most folks headed home from Denver. We continue to visit with the Wheatleys. Tuesday all of the Pasta's and Wheatley's, minus Eric, are headed to Wyoming to visit Thermopolis and Dave's Uncle Phil and Aunt Bonnie in Lander, where they got 1.5 feet of snow yesterday.

Sean and Rachel at the Playgound at 39F

Colorado 2008 Part 1

We are on our first day of a 1.5 week vacation to Colorado and points north. We flew into Denver at about 3pm and had a nice autumn day at the Wheatley's house.

Daniel, Sean and Rachel taking a bath

Sean eats his first crispy taco

Sean and Daniel play with a wheel barrow

Sean in a Wheatley kid car

Pasta New House

We started the move into our new house last Saturday. The major move by contract movers was Monday. It was only Friday that we had internet and TV hooked up through AT&T.

The move was tough and we do not want to do it again anytime soon.

The new house is awesome. The extra space is great. Sean loves it. Thursday we went back to the old 'Hood to watch the VP debate and afterwords went by the old house to check the mail. As soon as we pulled into the driveway Sean got upset and said: "No! New house. New house!

Unfortunately the contracted buyers of the old house have backed out due to a plumbing inspection that indicated $8,000 in repairs were needed. The real number is probably closer to $2,000 and we will have done next week.

Sean starts at Friendswood Montessori tomorrow. Thursday we fly to Denver for a 11 day vacation. After that the turmoil should be over. Sean is a trooper for what he has put up with for the past 4 weeks.

Sean sleeping after a walk in the breezeway between the house and garage.

The garage with room for a car! Barb is so happy.

Don't Have To Live Like a Refugee

The Swiss Family Pasta at Pasta South

Is it over? Hopefully this is the last day we spend at Dave's gracious parents. We got a text of a rumor of a rumor of power in our (soon to be old) neighborhood. Barb called our next door neighbor and she had power! Our house is dark, but the main breaker is thrown, so we are probably in luck.

The plan? Barb has been packing all week. We plan to spend tomorrow evening at the Carter's watching the debate with our Willowbend neighbors (who will always be our neighbors at heart) if there is a debate. That night should be the first of two last nights at the Briarbend house.

Saturday Barb's parents come to down to help pack and move. Saturday night we take possession of the Friendswood house and then all eat Polish food at Dave's parents. More packing on Sunday and then the big move on Monday.

Sean gives Barb and Barley Piano lessons

Sean move his chemistry experiments from mixing water with water to mixing water with milk.

A New House!

Today we closed on our new house in Friendswood - just 8 days late due to Ike. We had to close at a Panera Bread as between all the parties involved no one had an open office in Harris County due to Ike and the Notary Public with us was only valid in Harris.

We are now renting the house to the sellers until Saturday and take the keys Saturday afternoon. Utility transfers are an issue - all gas and electric folks are too busy with Ike damage. After a day of trying to set it up we all gave up and now have an agreement to read the meters together Saturday night and then figure it out once the transfer is made.

We are still Ike refugees living at Dave's parents' house. The Briarbend house is projected to have power on Friday now.

Most services are open, but traffic is bad on I-45 south. Around 6:30am service folks rush south to Galveston County and then rush north at 6:30pm or so. It usually takes Dave 45-50 minutes to drive the 45 miles to the Briarbend house. It now takes 45-55 minutes to drive 30 miles to his parents' house. The rest of the freeways are also bad since many traffic lights are out at the exit ramps. The intersections become 4 way stops. We never thought we would be happy to have stoplights, but life without them is much worse, trust us.

Damage from Ike

Guest blogger Joanne here. Me, mom, and dad made it home today. Barb and Sean to follow tomorrow. Dave's house is still without power. I stopped by their house to pick up their cat Barley. Here are a couple photos of their backyard. Extensive tree damage throughout their neighborhood.

Dave unfortunately hurt his knee on Monday. He is thinking it is better than first thought. However, it did prevent him from doing this blog entry.

Ike Update

Our house is fine. Lots of tree damage in back yard. Finally pictures from during the storm. Above, Keri relaxes before power went out.

Dave has spent the last two days at his plant working to assess damage and get things running. Barb and Sean are in Kerrville until Tuesday.

Houston is not "hell." For the most part all Interstates are passable. Gasoline is hard to come by. Grocery stores and hardware stores are coming online using generators. Folks on the coast or bay are in bad shape, the rest of us are fine but without power.

Tiffany sleeping/watching TV

Shivs in door at Carters to keep wind and rain out

Morgan tries to ride the Carter's roomba

Ike Aftermath

Ike moved through Houston last night. Dave spent the night at the Carter's house along with the Johnson family. The wind really picked up at about 7pm. We started to hear transformers blow-up all over the neighborhood. By 11pm many block were dark. By 11:30pm all of the south part of Willowbend was dark. We lost power at 2:30am. The wind was impressive and howling.

Saturday morning we woke up to a good amount of storm damage in the neighborhood. Lots of tree debris and trees down - amazingly none hit houses or cars. Fences were down all over.

Later Saturday Dave went to ISP in TxCity to help assess damage. During the trip there and back there was no power or open stores anywhere. Our new house in Friendswood is fine, although you had to walk through knee deep water to get to it.

Amazingly enough Dave's parent's house had power! That is where Dave is now. Since we have not been together since early Tuesday morning Dave, Barbara and Sean are looking forward to seeing each other hopefully on Monday

Hurricane Ike-Hill Country style

Sean, Barbara, Joanne, Dan, and Margie decided they liked electricity, so they fled to Kerrville. Things were tough here, too, obviously noted by the pictures below.

Between webconferences, Joanne, Barbara, and Margie prepared for the storm not by boarding up windows, but helping the Kerrville economy by getting pedicures.

Joanne followed the fashion rage in Kerrville and had hurricanes painted on her big toes.



Sean got in on the fun and sorted canned goods, just in case.




Those still awake at 1:30 toasted the arrival of the eye wall with hurricanes. Apparently the farther away from New Orleans, the bluer the hurricanes become.

p.s. We're not refugees, we're evacuees!

p.s.s. Good luck to all who stayed. We will see you soon!

Hurricane Ike - House is Ready

We are in the process of "hunkering" down for Ike. It looks like a lot of wind, maybe 80mph in the morning and a lot of rain. The storm surge at Galveston is probably the worst since Carla in 1961.

Barbara, Sean, my Parents and Joanne are all at Barbara's parents' house in Kerrville. Barb and Sean were already in Austin Tuesday -Thursday and decided to stay in the Hill Country.

Todd and I boarded up our houses yesterday, hopefully being over cautious. I am in a pocket of 7 other house that are boarded up. Only about 5% of the houses in the neighborhood are boarded up.

Most of the area retail stores are closed or set to close by 1pm. The Post Office did deliver mail, which was kind of odd. The Houston Chronicle delivered the Sunday supplements and comics today. The Chronicle has also opened up it publishing website so that people that cannot get the paper can see the exact printed page: www.eedition.chron.com Username and Password are Ike.

Bad Pastas

It has been quite a while since we updated. We have been involved in playing real estate moguls and are buying a house in Friendswood and selling our house in Willowbend.

We should be closing on the house in Friendswood on Tuesday. It is nearly twice the size of our current house and on a 15,000 sq. ft. lot. It is in the Quaker's Landing neighborhood - small, quiet, on the banks of Clear Creek and all streets are dead ends. We are looking at moving the week of the 22nd.

We put our house up for sale at 3pm last Friday. We had a lot of showings over the weekend and accepted an offer tonight, with closing on 10/7/08.

This has been a little bit of a stressful time, but we are very happy with where we are. We will miss living in Willowbend close to our friends and neighbors, however Dave is looking forward to 40 miles less of driving a day.

Sean continues to grow in every way. He is very talkative and using sentences all the time: "Daddy, sit down please" when he wants Dave to play with him is one example. He is a lot of fun. More info and pics soon.