Beware the Ides of March!

 March 1st ( of just about any year in the past 25 or so) used to be one of my favorite days of the year. Working in a library with a two-week checkout, a March 1st check out meant that books would be due on the Ides of March, or March 15th. I would delight in telling people as I slid their books across the desk to them with the receipt, " Beware the Ides of March."  Silly me. Only a few English majors through the years actually understood what I was saying., But it was well worth it to get at least a chuckle, slight smile or two through the years.

Now, however, we have another reason to celebrate The Ides of March. Not that the assination date of Julius Caesar is something to celebrate. Or Shakespeare's rendition of it... But TRULY It is the day that Corbin Rossman was born. He turned 11 yesterday, and Mike and I were in Denver to help celebrate. His family all went to the traveling Jurassic World experience. It was really nice! We enjoyed it, but unfortunately Mike missed the scariest part. He needed to make a bathroom run. That was when we met the Great big ferocious tyrannosaurus rex. Katie and I actually SQUEALED. Or maybe screamed a little. We thought maybe we were screaming because the lamp post right over our head clanked down like it was going to fall on us. It did not. It was a prop, like in a Disney experience. But the T-Rex was really quite ferocious, loud, and the whole room vibrated with its roars, as well as rattled the chain link fence next to us. I thought the people who ran the exhibit, experience did a really nice job...

After we did that, the eight of us (!) went out to eat at a local restaurant. We had Mexican food, and very generous portions of it. Then, Mike and I hit the road and headed home. We were trying to avoid a storm that was set to come on Wednesday. Wednesday was our original travel home day, but it is no fun to drive across the Rocky mountains in the snow. We got home just before midnight. Not too bad. But we did eat a lot of junk food while traveling and enjoyed ourself a little bit too much, diet wise. 

Photos for your enjoyment.

Presents at home first!

Dinosaurs and Legos, cash and computerized game stuff.

It was a warm, mild day in Denver. Quintin and Corbin sitting on their back covered patio.

The twins had bad coughs ( which responded well to medication), but no fevers or anything, so they went masked, the rest of us prepared to be so in case it was wall-to- wall people. (It wasn't too bad).

There's even a mask on the dog. (He stayed home. Wearing a diaper).

There were several rooms, or "experiences". A ferry ride out to the island. That first large apaosaurus...a truck, some babies to pet, a lab to explore, fossils to dig, vehicles to observe. A velociraptor in training, close up looks at snarling ones in metal muzzles, and then the climax with T Rex. Fun times.

After our Dino experience:

In the parking lot. Cute, Katie. Real cute. 😉

After lunch. The counter stools had metal tractor seats on them!

Thanks for having us, kids!!

Monday March 14. Castle Rock, CO

 Morning yoga, a trip to Target, out to Lunch with Gayela, baking a cake, grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, a walk around the neighborhood with Katie at sunset.

Pretty simple days. The kids were all home due to Spring Break. That doesn't mean we saw much of them...non-school days give them screen time, so there was a lot of that going on .

Katie worked on the arrangement for her " Family" wall. But then Casey said, "Let's not hang anything on our walls.'  Katie did hang that huge sea scape painting. Maybe it will stay. They've only been in their new home two and a half months, and getting things just the way you want them takes time.

 The very LARGE seascape painting is in their "Hearth Room." This room is off the dining area, haS a TV, a two-sided fireplace, two lounge chairs. It needs book shelves. They didn't keep any of their old book cases when they moved and need to replace them all.

Katie was offered a security job at Charter! She will most likely accept it and begin in April. It will be challenging, trying to orchestrate getting kids where they need to be, etc, but they've been talking about this for a while now. The twins are in school and this will be their savings tool for retirement. Plus finishing up the rest of the new house stuff Katie needs/wants to do.

Mike and I have been watching the weather and a storm system is coming through here on the day we HAD planned to drive home, so we may need to leave earlier in order to have a safer drive. But Tuesday is Corbin's actual birthday celebration, and that IS what we came for....

Mike and I had a nice visit with Gayela over lunch. March 14 is PI Day, so I had PIE for dessert. (We went to Black Bear Diner.) I thought that was fair since the waitress insisted I should NOT have had avocado slices on my scramble...but that was why I ordered it....grr. I did check the menu on my way out and I was right.  Mike did get free cheesecake, and a double portion. Perhaps that was her way to make up for her avocado blunder? 

Hailey playing on her tablet.

Hayden playing the piano.

I had to go hunting for Corbin. He was playing VR with friends.

Katie working on her wall arrangement, laying it out on the floor. 

She plans on putting it on the wall across from the bottom of the stairs. Centered over a credenza that she doesn't have. Yet. That's Hayden flying up the stairs.

Caillou always seeks body heat. Even my lap, where he is not particularly welcome. :-|

Quintin. Screen time. He still will not get a book for me to read to him.

Fixing grilled cheese sandwiches. In bulk! Haha.

I was sitting on the sofa Tuesday morning while blogging about Monday ( you're welcome, Mom!🙂)

Looking out the back window, there are lots of windows and lots of reflections, sunlight and angles. For a second, I thought there was a floating pyramid in the clouds. Haha.

Driving to Denver in March

 We are going to Castle Rock to celebrate the Ides of March. Which also happens to be Corbin's birthday. He will be 11.

We didn't get out of Cedar until close to 11:30 a.m. on Friday the 10th. But, the very LARGE ocean scape oil painting that belonged to Casey's great grand parents actually fit into the back of our little car. Casey was happy to see it. (Katie, not so much.)

We listened to an audio book. I drove for nearly 300 miles of the drive, highly unusual. Mike nearly always drives for most, if not all, of our trips. I mean, he still did, but I did drive considerably longer than usual for me. He did the hard parts through the mountain passes. I drove from Salina Utah to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. We had dinner there. Lunch was egg salad sandwiches in the car on our way out of town.

I think we got to their home close to 8:30 pm or so.  My comment to Mike as he drove into their street was, "it's the one by the dumpster".  Ha ha.

Lots of dumpsters line the streets in this neighborhood. Lots of construction around them. Very few home are occupied.

We DID forgot our pillows, and I forgot my seat pillow. Ouchie bum after being in the car so long. Or, better known as TB. (Tired butt)

Saturday was a field trip to Costco. Adults only. Pizza for a lunch ( from Costco). And the weather was beautiful, so Mike and Katie and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. We looked at the model homes again, Katie and I.

Costco!

And My Fitness Pal STILL won't sync with the Google Fit app on my phone.  Hmph those steps should show up on my exercise log. It happened only once or twice... very strange.

And sometimes we just watch movies and catch up on emails.

Or read books.

And we played a game. Or two

This one is fun!

Sun puddles

 

Sunshine in the morning. Nothing like it. I love to cuddle up in that same sunspot, too, blocking the sunshine from Mikey. But he doesn't mind. Much.

 We are getting closer to the time when both our old fat bodies can fit more comfortably on the sofa together once again. It was getting pretty crowded there for a while and we didn't fit without me falling off the edge. 20 pounds gone between the two of us, so that's progress. And a tiny bit more comfy. 

Pre Valentine Celebrations

 We went to the movies! Totally spontaneous. I'd never even heard of the movie until that day, but Mike also had just seen an ad for "Marry me". So we went.

Fairly empty theater. I might have felt a little COVID uncomfortable had it been packed, but the lobby was fairly empty, the theater seats were mostly empty, too, so it was cool. I mean , there were about maybe 20 other people watching it with us in the same theater.  

Cute show. They didn't have any sex scenes, but made up for it by having raunchy dance/concert costumes that were Vegas showgirl standards. Eww. 

After that, we picked up Abe from the Library. 

Abe Lincoln's Sherratt Library statue ALWAYS spends his birthday at my house. At least for the past 20-plus years he has!  It's a bit early, but that's okay. Renewals of checked out materials are still allowed, and I know some folks. ;-)

We went to iHop to eat dinner afterwards. I had a steak and cheese sandwich, Mike had breakfast.

Saturday morning, I grocery shopped for a few specials and fresh produce. We had breakfast, I visited my folks, did some laundry, then Mike and I headed to St. George. Part two of Valentine's day. I have been wanting to eat at Red Lobster, but couldn't on Friday after our Temple shift, so we did THAT on Saturday. (Ate lobster) . And we had a nice visit with Pam in her rehab place. I hope we didn't over tire her .

On our drive home, we stopped at the Black Ridge exit to see just what that plaque on the boulder was. I had never seen it until today, but Mike had seen it before. I think it's new. Amazingly, after BOTH noticing it in the way down TO St. George, we did remember on the way back home and pulled off, clambered up the hillside, and found this:

It's a memorial.

Next, we drove on through New Harmony so Mike could show me where Boyd and Carol Fife are building. Plus the view  from New Harmony of the Kolob Terrace or Five  Fingers in late afternoon/evening is spectacular. Sorry, no photos. Mine just don't do the area justice. I have tried.

Then we passed through Kanarraville on our way home to see deer. And we DID! On the north end of town. I tried to take some snapshots of them, but ...meh. it wAs a nice healthy-looking herd, though. Very nice. 

Fun to see new things.