Colorado by Surprise - June 2011

Day Surprise - Friday, June 17, 2011

The adventure began at 6am, when Kris, Wayland, and I all awoke to begin the journey to Colorado. The guys were gearing up for their summer hike, and I was tagging along for the ride to surprise my sister for her birthday. She had no idea...I had worked it out with her husband, Jason.

Sadly, Jenny was at home dealing with a feverish Aubree. I sincerely hope my surprise is a good one and not a stress on her.

We made Wayland break out of his shell and didn't let him get a salad at McDonald's. We went and got salads from Wendy's instead. He had to step outside the arches for dinner too, and he got a salad from Chik-Fil-A instead.

We saw a volcano on the ride:



We stopped for the restroom, and I found a gas pump graveyard behind it.



There was also a helicopter that passed by carrying something I could not identify.



Later on, we saw forested areas that appeared to be heavily affected by fires. Maybe the helicopter was carrying water?





Finally arrived at Jenny's at 7:30pm. Jason and Aubree were waiting for us.

Jenny arrived a bit after 9pm. I hid in the stairwell. I was going to jump out and say boo, but sleep deprivation (or, at least that is what I am blaming my ineptitude on) made me miss my cue. She saw my stuff before she ever saw me.

Day 2 - Saturday, June 18, 2011

Today Aubree was still not feeling well. Jason brought us Rumbi for lunch, then Bonnie and Jim came over with gifts. Jenny opened (or rather Aubree and Lily opened) some birthday gifts from Bonnie and Jim and Jim opened his Father's Day presents.

Later, when the girls were down for a nap, Jenny and I went shopping.

Jason and Jenny made a fabulous breakfast for dinner of french toast, bacon, eggs, and fruit.

We are now watching The Other Woman, which I am not sure if I like. Lily is a bundle of energy. Kayna should be here tomorrow.

Day 3 - Sunday, June 19, 2011

Jenny's birthday was a good day.  We took the girls to the park before Kayna got back.  Jenny opened birthday gifts, and Jason opened Father's Day gifts.  Good day with the family.

Day 4 - Monday, June 20, 2011

Aubree was feeling better, so we went to Pump It Up for a few hours to let the girls jump and slide to their hearts content.  We had lunch at Red Robin and took time to shop today.

Day 5 - Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Another great day with the girls.  Just spending time reading books, playing, enjoying each other, eating good fun, eating good ice cream...great visit!

(I'll update the photos soon!)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Colorado, Oklahoma, New York - July 2007

The Chinese call it the year of the pig, but, for me, it’s been the year of the apple.

Kris and I finished our first year of teaching well, with my winning Teacher of the Year and the Freedom Award and Kris making massive improvements to several key processes within Winfree.  But, having had an exhausting year, we were ready for a good summer of travel.

After a few days off, Kris and I drove up to Denver to visit my sister and her family from June 10 - June 21, 2007. 

While we were there, Jimmy flew up as well. 

We had a lot of fun celebrating Jenny's birthday, going to the park, pool, sprinklers, and to the Colorado Renaissance Fair.  As much as it pained me to leave, we headed back home on the 21st. 

We then had a few days alone before Adam came to stay with us, and Terri joined us on the 4th of July.  After a trip to Oklahoma to visit the WinStar, we all headed down south to Houston to spend a few days in Pasadena with Wayland, Terri, and Adam, then drove back home to give me time to pack for my New York trip with Valerie Albright on July 12 – July 16, 2007.

Thursday, July 12, 2007
We flew from DFW to Newark airport with a connection in Atlanta.  Our first flight left at 5:45 am, and, if you know me, you know that I didn’t sleep any the night before.  I was quite tired by the time we arrived at EWR, but we took the Airtrain to NY Penn Station and pulled our luggage the four or so blocks to the hotel anyway.  (This wouldn’t be such a hard feat if you didn’t have swarms of people running into you and going the opposite direction.  I felt, quite often, that for every two steps I went forward, I went one back due to the pressure exerted on my luggage.)  We checked-in to the Wingate Inn Manhattan Midtown, a really nice hotel with a nice sized room and super comfy bed.  They offered a free hot continental breakfast every morning.  I was quite happy with the hotel.  Then we rest and unpack before Danny comes and picks us up from the hotel to drive us to Astoria to see the entire family.  (Now I’m ready and raring to go.  Miraculously, I don’t feel any of my previous exhaustion.  That hits me on our trip home.)

We make it to Astoria to have dinner with Aunt Alice, Uncle Nick, Danny, Nicky, Caroline, and Juliette.  They delighted us with fantastic pasta, ravioli, pasta salad, potato salad, BBQ, etc.  My aunt even went out before we got to NY and bought my favorite soda.  Then, after a remarkably tasty dinner, Danny gave us a remarkable driving tour around the city. 

We got to see Times Square, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and more all sparkling and dazzling at night.  It was phenomenal.  Walls and walls of light and concrete spanning distances beyond imaginable.

Friday, July 13, 2007
I’m a tripaholic.  I love traveling and planning to travel.  I almost live for exploring new places, taking pictures of new places, testing the boundaries of what’s completely familiar to me…well, as long as I still have a semblance of control over the situation.  That being said, I went a little plan happy over this New York trip.  So much to see, so little time and all.

After eating breakfast, we walked to Planet Hollywood to pick up our New York 3-day passes (highly recommended for those wanting to do a lot of activities).  We walked in Times Square and over to Rockefeller Center where we stopped at La Maison du Chocolat for Iced Chocolates and a platter of amazing chocolates.  We then took our first subway to the Museum of Natural History.  After touring the museum, we walked across Central Park to the Guggenheim, which wound up being my favorite museum.  We walked east to Ray Bari’s pizza parlor where Val and I both had a slice of cheese pizza and I had a lemon Italian ice.  We then walked to my mother’s old high school, St. Jean the Baptiste, and to her old church, which was very pretty in a churchy way.  Then southwest to the MET before hitting a subway back toward our hotel. 

A few showers later, we headed toward the Empire State Building to meet up with Danny, his cousin, Joey, and Joey’s girl, Chrissy.  The five of us got on the NY Skyride…really cool…and then went to the top of the Empire State Building.  This was definitely worth doing…we were up there on a beautiful night with great company and a spectacular view.  Afterwards, we went to Scotty’s where I had an amazing meal…roast chicken stuffed with swiss cheese and broccoli. 

Saturday, July 14, 2007
We got a later start today and had a slight revision in plans.  We hit a few stores in the morning and then took the subway to Rockefeller Center to go to the NBC Experience Store and do the NBC Tour.  The tour was incredibly neat.  We got to see where Conan and SNL are filmed, how makeup is used, and I even got to pretend to be a newscaster while reading a teleprompter.  I’m glad I wasn’t the weatherman…that guy embarrassed himself a bit.  We later ate at Planet Hollywood ($20 off thanks to the NY Pass), visited the Hard Rock Café and a few other shops, and took the subway back near our hotel.

After cleaning up, Val and I took the subway to our chosen off-broadway show, My First Time.  It was so phenomenally funny, and we had front row center seats that couldn’t have been beaten.  It was super enjoyable.  After the show we walked to a subway station that took us over the E. 60th and 3rd where we met up with Dan, ate some pizza at Patsy’s, and had AMAZING Frrrozen Hot Chocolates and desserts at Serendipity 3 (from the movie).  Then Dan gave us a few hour long tour of the city.
 

We drove to the WTC site and walked around, drove uptown, downtown, Chinatown, Little Italy, Wall Street, over the Brooklyn Bridge, and to the South Street Seaport (where we walked around).  He gave us such an amazing tour of the city.  I don’t think you could pay hundreds of dollars and get the caliber of tour that we got.  We didn’t get back to the hotel until 3am.

Sunday, July 15, 2007
We woke up and took the subway to Times Square to grab a hot dog and take the M42 bus to Pier 42.  We were able to grab our tickets onto the “Beast” to see the Statue of Liberty. 

(The Beast is a speedboat run by the Circle Line.)  There was no line and no wait, which was amazing, and the boat ride was fantastic fun.  I strongly recommend this ride as the way to go see the Statue of Liberty.  After our 30 minute boat ride, we rode back to Times Square to get a subway to Little Italy. 

We walked Canal Street, bought some Coach in the back room, ate at a great little restaurant called Vincent’s (I had the stuffed shells and Val had ziti), and we decided to get the heck out of Chinatown.  It smelled really badly.  We headed back to the hotel, stopping in a few shops along the way, and I got into the shower.  When I got out, Val was sleeping, so I went to a little shop near the hotel and bought a really cute top.  I was later picked up at the hotel by my Uncle Nick to go see Dan and Nick play ice hockey.  (Val was plum tuckered out, so she opted out in favor of R&R at the hotel.)  Aunt Alice, Danny, Nicky, and I went to the ice hockey game, and I got a few great hours watching the guys and seeing my Aunt.  After the game (which the guys won 5 to 2), we drove back to drop off my aunt and cousin Nicky and Danny drove me back to the hotel.  Val had already packed all of her stuff, so she was nice enough to help me pack mine.

Monday, July 16, 2007
Val and I hit a few shops right near the hotel, and we picked up black & whites for our respective loved ones back home before Danny came to pick us up at the hotel.  The streets were bustling, so I must add here an astounding observation…I don’t see how anyone can drive safely in New York…let alone in a garbage truck.  Geez, it’s amazing.  Uncle Nick had picked everyone heroes up at this great deli near my aunt’s house, and the lot of us – Aunt Alice, Dan, Nick, Caroline, Juliette, Val, and I – ate a fantastic lunch before getting to
see “Sugarless” (one of D&N’s garbage trucks) and a tour of Caroline and Nicky’s house.  After a few hours of talking, Danny and my aunt drove us to Newark so we could catch our flight.

All in all, my trip was fantastic, and I can’t wait to go back.

And this is why I call this the year of the apple…from teaching to visiting the big apple…back to teaching again.  It’s a theme.

Colorado - March 2002

(Trip write-up by Kris)

During Kristy's spring break 2002, I took a week off work so we could drive up to Colorado. We wanted to see some sights, visit Kristy's sister Jenny, and attend a Dream Theater concert.

Here's the breakdown:

Thursday, March 7 - We headed out when Kristy got off work at 11 pm. After 5 hours of driving, we stopped at a Motel 6 in Amarillo for the night.

Friday, March 8 - We got to Colorado Springs around 4 pm. It then took 2 hours to get to our hotel in the Aurora area (a suburb on the south side of Denver). It should have taken us only half an hour or so, but near blizzard conditions had slowed traffic on the freeway to almost a standstill. Along the way we saw about 3 different accident scenes and actually witness 1 accident. Nobody was hurt. People were just sliding into each other. We decided to stay warm and just hang out at the hotel that night.

Saturday, March 9 - Road conditions were much better. The snow had stopped. Kristy's sister Jenny and her fiance Allan met us at the hotel. It was nice for them to have time to hang out with us. They stay busy. Jenny works, goes to school, is pregnant (due in August), and is planning a wedding. That's a lot to handle. We went to the mall and wasted time... just visiting. That night we went to the movie We Were Soldiers.

Sunday, March 10 - Jenny, Allan, Kristy, and I drove out to Hanging Lake. You may have heard stories about it from my dad. We went there last summer. I found the 2.4 mile round trip hike to be a lot of fun. The girls were less impressed. Icy conditions made parts of it very hard to sustain verticality in tennis shoes.

Monday, March 11 - Kristy and I attended a Dream Theater concert. For this first leg of the tour, promoting the new album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, they were only doing about 10 North American shows. Denver was the closest to Dallas. The timing worked out great, so we went. They played for an amazing 3 hours and 20 minutes. Songs played included The Glass Prison, Through My Words, Fatal Tragedy, Lines in the Sand, The Killing Hand, The Great Debate, Take the Time, 6:00, Lifting Shadows Off a Dream, Beyond this Life, Six Degree of Inner Turbulence (42 minutes long!), Home, The Spirit Carries On, and Pull Me Under, as well as individual solos scattered throughout.

Tuesday, March 12 - We joined back up with Jenny and Allan for lunch at 3 Margaritas/Anthony's and then made our way out to the Butterfly Pavilion. The building had a large greenhouse, simulating a rainforest environment, that housed hundreds of butterflies from around the world. There was also a "Crawl-a-See-Em" room with insects and other creepy crawlers. I got to hold a tarantula. That night we had dinner at Michelle and Rudy's, where Jenny used to live. Michelle made some really good spaghetti.

Wednesday, March 13 - Kristy and I headed up to Boulder. We visited Boulder Falls and took a 3 mile leisurely hike around some trails near Chautauqua Park. We ate dinner at Zio's, Kristy's favorite restaurant. There isn't a Zio's in the Dallas area, so it's quite a treat when we can squeeze it in.

Thursday, March 14 - We came home. The drive was long and boring.