The Vittetoe Times » urban life

Winter 2011… So Far

renmckay — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 02:01:53 +0000

Wow… is it really February? The girls and I went to the art museum today. Truly I believe that one of the best aspects of living the city life is the exposure to culture that we just couldn’t find, in quite the same way, anywhere else. And for free! Every first Saturday the museum is free, and though it is rare that I remember, the thought occurred to me during our “tea party” this morning. We had to park a couple of blocks away and fight the wintry wind, but it was so worth it. We discovered places and exhibits inside that museum that we’d never before seen. The girls love the angular shapes of the walls, the activities they have in every room for children, and the simple excitement of moving from floor to floor via button-pushing elevators. But to really capture the essence of our day, try this one: Silver.

Our winter has been just as busy as any other time in our lives. We enjoyed our Christmas visit with Elizabeth, Zak, and baby Lucy, and will miss her dearly in the coming months… but that is the road we have all chosen. Just as they could never leave Kentucky, we could never leave Colorado. Home is home.

The new semester has begun, and we’ve enjoyed some beautiful outings and adventures. Mythili, Isabella, sixteen other Girl Scouts, and seven other parents joined me in mid-January for Girl Scout troop camping just outside of Estes Park. WE watched movies (that MacBook and LCD projector come in handy!), sewed, made crafts, sang songs, snowshoed and sledded, and had an amazing weekend without a tear in sight!

Snow has been lingering in and out since the first of January, somewhat hindering my bicycle commuting. Fortunately, my dad gave me his trainer so I can ride in the family room. I’ve been trying to ride at least fourteen miles a day and take longer rides on the weekends in preparation for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic that I will participate in on Memorial Day weekend with a co-worker. If you’re too busy to look at the web site, it is a race against the Durango-Silverton train, with an elevation gain of 5600 feet (we’re climbing a mountain!!), that is fifty miles long. Should be a challenge! I’ve been trying to put the trainer on the highest resistance for at least half the time I’m riding. Going from that to the bike is like putting on wings, enabling me to ride the Vittetoe Express all the way to the zoo and back last Saturday with all three girls (thirty miles). More about that here.

Meanwhile, both Isabella and Mythili are taking ballet class after school once a week, and Riona has begun gymnastics (finally). She just learned how to complete a forward roll, and has been endlessly showing us, she is so proud! Now, of course, Isabella and Mythili want to take gymnastics again, so we have reluctantly agreed to sign them up for the spring course.

The last bit of business is selling Girl Scout cookies, which is quite another job within itself. Perhaps I should have been an accountant! Keeping up with all the orders and money is time-consuming, but just thinking about all the fun ways our troop will spend it (we’re already planning a unit camp in July) makes it worthwhile. Both girls sold 75 boxes this year, and they have already written thank-you cards for all their customers. I’m so proud of their commitment to Girl Scouts! It’s such a great organization, and I hope they stick with it all the way through high school.

Another New Year

renmckay — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:01:48 +0000

So…. about that Christmas post I was going to do… hmmm… a little behind, but better late than never! Christmas has come and gone and we are well into the new year. We had a very busy break with Bruce’s family here for the first ten days. One of the highlights was that we took a trip overnight to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. Our cabin was beautiful, with three large bedrooms and a sleeping loft for the kids, a giant living room with a two-story stone fireplace, and an enormous dining room that could seat us all, but most importantly, it SNOWED! The Tennesseeans were so happy about that. We took all the kids and Uncle David sledding and snowshoeing and it snowed all day long. It was a great way to welcome in the Christmas spirit, as the following day was Christmas Eve.

With our special-order Sun Prairie Grass-Fed Beef, we prepared two delicious pot roasts, using two different recipes, and homemade pumpkin pie with the last of our garden pumpkin for our Christmas Eve meal. Everyone ate it up, even picky little Riona! We then opened our presents and watched as the girls squealed over every little item. The best was when Mythili and Isabella opened their iPod with an amazed expression and Isabella said, “I’ve wanted an iPod my whole life!” which is probably, sadly, true.

The next morning, Santa brought Isabella a Barbie scooter, Mythili yet another Barbie set with formal wear for Ken and Barbie, and Riona a new train set to add on to the one we already have that she cherishes so much. The girls just LOVED their Santa presents–he somehow knew exactly what to get them! Truly magical!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner, the best Christmas dinner ever–prime rib that Dad gets for free every year from his job. As usual, it was mouthwatering, and just writing about it now makes me already look forward to next year.

By the weekend, everyone was gone, and I felt like I was running a bed and breakfast, washing a million sheets–again–and cleaning up holiday remnants. After a couple of days of recovery, we celebrated Dad’s birthday with snowshoeing and cross country skiing in the mountains, then came back into town to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the Mentzers. We partied hard to bring in the new year, and the kids, as usual, had a total blast.

And here we are, MLK day, year two of us participating in the Denver Marade. I’ll say it again–I loved it last year and I loved it again. It makes this day so much more meaningful. But if you’d like to read more about what the Marade is like, check out my new writing blog: Step Write Up.

So, that is what I’ve been busy doing, in addition to working full time, running the Girl Scout troop, selling cookies, and spending quality time with three little girls every day… life is good.

Winter Wonderland…

renmckay — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:13:37 +0000

OK, it hasn’t exactly been a winter wonderland the past six weeks or so. This has to be one of the mildest winters I can remember. It seems like every week we hit at least 60 at least once. We’ve even reached into the seventies a couple of times. It’s been grand, though I do like snow. Even though, with the three small girls, it’s much easier to let them slip into their Crocs, put on a light fleece jacket, and head out the door, rather than donning boots, a heavy coat, gloves, and a hat. Phew! Just writing the list of winter wear makes me exhausted.

We’ve been busy with activities almost every weekend since Christmas. Besides the snowshoeing, we finally renewed our membership at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and have already visited three times including today. I have taken the girls twice so that Bruce could work on homework. One of the times, we went to the Planetarium for the first time, seeing some Zulu animated adventure to learn about the planets. Mythili’s career goals at the moment, heavily influenced by her favorite exhibit, Space Odyssey, are to be an astronaut/painter. She wants to paint while she’s in space. Isabella wants to be an artist like Grandma. Needless to say, they all loved the show there and the neverending round screen.

We also participated in the Martin Luther King, Jr. “marade” for the first time this year. Marade is a combination of the words parade and march, and was actually coined by the former mayor’s wife, Wilma Webb. The Denver marade is the largest MLK event in the country. We decided to participate this year because the temperature was 65 degrees. We met at City Park next to the MLK statue and walked downtown along Colfax Avenue to Civic Center Park, 2.1 miles. This time, I just took Mythili and Isabella and the umbrella stroller, so they took turns riding in it. It was a beautiful day, full of friendly faces of all colors and walks of life, and happy onlookers cheered us on. As we walked, I told them all about Martin Luther King and his influence on history, as well as pointing out a bit of Denver’s historical buildings and the importance of Colfax, the longest uninterrupted city street in the nation. The girls didn’t whine a bit, especially when I piled them on top of each other for the 2.1 mile trip UP capitol hill on the way back and bribed them with a stop at Lik’s, the SECOND best homemade ice cream in the city (nothing can beat Bonnie Brae). I have to admit, after the beautiful walk and the subsequent trip to the zoo that was having a free day, it really made me miss living in Denver. I miss all those old neighborhoods and being so close to the huge parks with their gigantic trees, the cultural facilities, and just… the urban atmosphere. Despite my early childhood upbringing in a small town, I have really decided that I am a city girl.

Yesterday and Friday, we celebrated Isabella’s sixth birthday, though the official date is Tuesday. This year, she had her neighbor friend Kiara spend the night. We took everyone out to Cici’s Pizza, not my favorite place, but exorbitantly affordable. The kids love the buffet and the balloon lady. Then we came home, they watched the new Tinkerbell movie, and went to bed SUPER late (10 o’clock). The next morning, they went over to Kiara’s for chocolate chip pancakes and then came back for us to go to Skate City. Isabella, an amateur skater, just liked to dance around in the middle of the rink underneath the spinning mirror ball. We then came home and had a nice crockpot meal of smoked paprika chicken with broccoli and acorn squash on the side. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for lunch and the “red” Waldorf cake. Isabella loved her presents of dresses (especially the “spinny” dress Grandma bought), the colored pencil drawing of the little girl under an umbrella, and some over-the-shoes roller skates which she put on promptly this morning, rolling across the main level floor and waking up Bruce and I.

So, she’s six… soon to be fifteen! She’s already full of sass, independence, and is not afraid to talk back. But she also still likes me to read her stories, cuddle with me on the couch, and is still a bit frightened about going to a friend’s house alone. I just can’t believe how quickly they grow.

Meanwhile, Bruce and I have been super busy. He is taking 11 credits and has class 3 nights a week. I recently started training for a new part-time job at the University of Phoenix Online. My evenings are now fully dedicated to online forums and assignments, while he is either gone or working on homework. We’re both looking forward to the end of the school year when we can just breathe… gotta love the teaching schedule.

Our winter wonderland has hardly felt like winter at all. Can’t wait till spring, especially since in Denver, March is the snowiest month. Gotta love the paradoxical city of my heart.