Baby Shower

Brad and I were in Denver the week before last for a baby shower for Baby Bedik-Harrison. It was great to spend some time with John and Troy before their household size increases by one. 

We gathered together in a party room in Esther's building (with slightly more people than Esther's building allowed but shhh, don't tell anyone) to celebrate Little Pumpkin.

Brad and I regifted two sweaters that our friend Sue knitted for John 32 years ago. This is one of the sweaters on present-day John.

It fit him better 32 years ago. But I'm confident that it will soon fit his son or daughter.

We played a couple of games. One of the games was to guess who's who among these four pictures. Two are John and two are Troy. Those of us in the know thought it was pretty obvious, but it turned out to be a more challenging game than we expected! (Answer key is at the bottom of this post.)

I don't have a lot of pictures from the shower. This is the parent and grandparent group. We enjoyed spending the afternoon with some of John and Troy's friends, with some of Esther's friends, and with my sister Kathy and her entire family. 

In addition to doing baby shower stuff, Brad spent the week building some Ikea furniture. He put together a changing table, a night stand, and a chair. By the time we left, all unconstructed furniture had been constructed!

Everybody is curious to see how Sirius reacts to his home being invaded by a small and cute human. 

When we were there in the summer I discovered Sloan's Lake. It has a nice running path. And as you can see, it offers some sunrise views of downtown. I took a lot of pictures of sunrise on this particular day as it kept changing. (And if you're wondering, this has no filters.) I'll return in December, and I'm looking forward to more sunrises. In December we'll be there for a couple of weeks shortly after the arrival of the baby. Can't wait!

Answer key: top left and bottom right are John; top right and bottom left are Troy.

Denver Dog Stop

Our excuse to fly from Chicago to Denver and stay for six days was to dog sit for Sirius while John and Troy were spending a few days in western Colorado with Troy's mom, her siblings, and their families. 

But let me be honest. As much as I love Sirius, he was just a convenient excuse to get to spend some time with these two before they left on their trip.

And we got a bonus of getting to see the Bediks for a couple of days too, before they left on their trip. This is Troy's brother Aaron next to Brad, and her sister's partner, Brian, in yellow.

On Monday we all drove to Boulder, had lunch, and walked around the pedestrian shopping street in Boulder called Pearl Street.

On Wednesday morning we bid the travelers farewell. This is John squatting, Troy next to her nephew Jack, and her mom Esther.

But wait, there's more upside to coming to Denver. On Wednesday night had dinner with my sister Kathy, her husband Don, and her daughter Lauren. It was a fun evening filled with delicious food and drink.

And when I say delicious food I mean no disrespect to the fantastic Chinese dinner we had but I have to give a shout-out to the rolled ice-cream. Yes, I said rolled. (It's also called stir-fried ice-cream.) I was a skeptic, but then I tried it and it was amazing. If you've never heard of it, look it up and watch a video of how they make it.

I also have to give another shout-out to the sunflowers. They seem to be in just about everybody's front yards and they're gorgeous.

On our last night in Denver we meet up again with our niece Lauren. We went to a place called Breckenridge Brewery for dinner. They had a nice outdoor space to enjoy a beer before dinner, and after that we snagged an outdoor table on a covered patio which made for a perfect spot to enjoy a leisurely meal. But once the mosquitos arrived in force, we decided it was time to go.

Speaking of time to go, it's time for us to head onto our next destination and say so long to this guy. He's been very patient and understanding with us for the past few days. Even though we don't give him table scraps and even though we're not the usual faces he sees around here, he's been a sport about the temporary change. His mom and dad should be here shortly after we head to the airport and I know he'll be happy to see them. And of course they'll be happy to see him too.

Flashback Friday

This week Brad and I are in Denver dog sitting for Sirius. John and Troy were with us earlier in the week but now they're in western Colorado for a family reunion with Esther and the rest of the Bedik family. I was thinking back to our first visit to Colorado, which was in 1997. That was 25 years ago - yikes. We were also here for a family reunion (with the Harrisons), and we stayed in a place called Leadville. We did some side trips that week, and this picture is from one of them. I don't remember exactly where we were when this picture was taken (though from the look on Mary's face it was cold), but I remember we really enjoyed everything we saw in Colorado. And now 25 years later, John and Troy have lived here for over three years and counting.

Our Latest Graduate

I'm so proud of John. On May 6 he graduated from law school.

Brad and I went out to celebrate for the weekend. We stayed in Esther's building in Denver. 

It was the first time since before John started law school that they'd had a live graduation ceremony at the University of Colorado. So it was extremely disappointing for John that he couldn't be there because two days before the ceremony he took a Covid test after he'd had an exposure, and sure enough he tested positive. Thankfully he was completely asymptomatic, but of course he quarantined. So we got our thinking caps on and came up with a solution. Brad and I and Esther all went up to Fort Collins to watch the graduation on Zoom with John and Troy. John brought the TV onto the porch, where we distanced from one another and kept our N95s on, since the ceiling of the porch made it somewhat confined. It was a far cry from what was supposed to be, but in crazy times like these we all know that we have to do what we have to do.

John's the third of our kids to get a graduate degree and he continued an unintended family tradition of not attending a live ceremony. Peter was the first to get his Master's degree, back in pre-Covid times, and he chose not to go to the ceremony. Mary got her Master's last year during Covid so there was no ceremony for her either, unless you count the Zoom ceremony. And as for John, well, sadly he could have broken this tradition but that was not to be. One nice touch was that they called his name, and of course we all cheered for him.

The rest of the weekend was also spent in Fort Collins. The weather cooperated so we set up lawn chairs in their yard and hung out together, but apart. On Mother's Day we took separate moms and kids pictures.

When it got a tiny bit cool in the late afternoon they got out the fire pit.

The dogs did their best to provide entertainment and moral support. Simba showed us how much he loves lying in the dirt.

And Sirius in his own way expressed how proud he was of his dad by being on call to eat any leftovers.

Although the graduation was a disappointment, John and Troy have a lot to look forward to. Today they left Fort Collins and moved into this adorable rental house in Denver. John now starts studying for the bar and they both start a new chapter of their lives in Denver. I can't wait to see what happens next!




 

Colorado: New Belgium Beer

When we were in Colorado last weekend, we got to see where Troy works. After finishing a shift, Troy spent a couple of extra hours at her place of work so we could all get a private backstage tour of New Belgium Brewing. My sister Kathy and her kids Lauren and Brian came up from Denver to spend the day with us. The tour and the time together were ..... great!

There's so much to talk about and I don't know where to begin. Of course, New Belgium is a brewery, and to a certain extent they're all alike. But one of the things that sets it apart was its fun and interesting decorating touches. Like these mosaics that surrounded some of the mash tuns.

Or the chandeliers made out of beer cans.

Or the table made out of bicycle parts. (I could keep going, but you get the idea.)

Ever since I learned that Troy brewed with a computer I've been trying to figure out what that really meant. The above screen gives an idea. At the brewery they say it's like playing a video game. (A very complicated video game, in my opinion!) At her old job at Civil Life, Troy did all this same stuff, only she did it manually by tossing in a bag of ingredients, or turning a dial, or adjusting a hose —on actual equipment. Because New Belgium is so automated, she does most all this by computer.

And this is some of what they make. These taps are inside the brewery, where people like us can pour beer while on tour.

Kathy demonstrating her beer pouring skills.

John is a pro.

Funny how everybody is happy to take a break from the tour to try some of the beer Troy's been busy making.

This is the cellar, where they make and blend barrel-aged beers (sours).

Troy pouring for us in the cellar.

At the end of the tour there's a corkscrew slide—which many of us went down. I promised Lauren I wouldn't take a photo of her on the slide (it wasn't a graceful moment for any of us) but her smile is how we all felt when we got off!

Safety first!

Outside the brewery building, we were all happy after a great couple of hours inside New Belgium.

Finally, as I started to write this post I realized that I never took any pictures of the outside of New Belgium. You can always Google it if you want to see some, but here's one I found online to give you an idea. It's pretty large, built in a lodge style, with an expansive front lawn where people can hang out. And it's a fun place to visit, that's for sure! 

Flashback Friday

Last week I posted a flashback from our first trip to Colorado, which was for a Harrison family reunion. Three years later, in 2000, we went there again for a Poss family reunion. The five of us extended the trip and spent a few days in Aspen, where this picture (which looks like a cuteness competition) was taken. 

Colorado: The Alcohol Free Edition

Brad and I spent last weekend in Fort Collins visiting John and Troy. I'm going to start this post with a key element of our trip: donuts. In my quest for a cup of decaf we happened into Peace, Love, and Little Donuts. And my oh my, was it a find. These small donuts are fresh and delicious and I'm getting hungry just writing about them. Future trips to Fort Collins will for sure need to include a visit to this gem of a donut shop.

But I digress. We had two full days in Colorado and they can best be summed up as: Boulder and beer. I'll save the beer post for later. Today, it's Boulder (and thensome). Next month John's starting law school at the University of Colorado. Seeing as neither Brad nor I had ever been to the campus (nor to Boulder), the three of us (Troy had to work) spent a mostly lovely day in Boulder walking around the beautiful campus and walking through the law school (above). The law school building is relatively new and it's fantastic.

I say it was a mostly lovely day because on the way home we got caught in a strong hail storm. We were pulled over for about 20 minutes while John's car was pelted with hailstones that were almost the size of ping pong balls.

That night we went out for dinner, thinking the storm had passed but it had not. By the end of the evening the temperature had dropped into the low 60s, the wind was whipping, the rain was blowing, and not even moving under a heat lamp made it manageable. Ah, Colorado.

On Sunday morning John and I went for a bike ride and run. He had to do a two hour run so I borrowed one of Troy's bikes and mostly rode alongside him. We had a great time and I got a bike tour of Fort Collins.

Also on the weekend John showed us the Horsetooth Reservoir. It's a beautiful area not very far from their house.

At the reservoir. Not the greatest photo but you get the idea.

Fast-forward to Sunday night. After a big weekend all of us (including Sirius) were exhausted. As it was the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, we watched First Man. A great way to end our weekend. (Though my posting about the weekend isn't over. Stay tuned for a post about our beer day at New Belgium.)