Garden of the Gods

On Monday, Quinn and I took Jo and Stewart to the airport, to fly home to Australia. They were a bit concerned about the weather in Colorado, as they had been told about how quickly it can change, and you can get snowed in very quickly.  It got quite cold in the morning, and you could see snow clouds moving in over the mountains.  By the time we were driving home from the airport at 3pm, it started to snow, and it snowed all night - so they timed their visit perfectly.  We woke up to a big covering of snow over everything on Tuesday.  Quinn and I had things we had to do, so we tried to de-ice the car, so that we could drop the boys to school, then keep going.  That proved easier said than done, to a novice ice remover, and I was fortunate that my neighbour Mindy saw me struggling, and came to my rescue.  Everything is easy when you have the right equipment, and I have since been to Wal-mart to purchase a de-icer which has a scraper on one end, and a brush on the other.  It snowed again Wednesday night, and we were much better organised.  We walked the boys to school through the snow, which was much easier (except for the boys, who thought they were too cool to wear their snow boots, and got their skateshoes full of snow), then we came home and did a few things around the house before we went out, and the snow had softened from the sunlight, and it was a whole lot easier to remove!  The things you learn, that I may never have to use again :)

During the week I went along to a bookclub.  It was my first meeting, and I obviously had not read the book that they were discussing, but it was interesting to hear about it, and I met some new people.  We are reading a book this month, called "Easy in the Islands", which is a collection of short stories by an author from the Caribbean. Of course, I couldn't get it on my e-reader, or from the library, so I found it on Amazon for $2 - it cost me more in postage! Hopefully it will be here so I get a chance to read it before we meet up again next month.

It was the 1st Grade Music Performance on Thursday night, and we all went along.  Ryan is in Grade 1, and as Luke is in  a 1/2 composite class, they were a part of the performance too - so we got two in one, which is always a bonus!  The theme was Hats, and they all wore hats, recited poems and sang songs about Hats.  It was on at the school gym, and if you look carefully at the picture above, you can see Luke with his Billabong cap on.  1st graders all had to wear a crown that they had made, while Grade 2 could choose the hat they wore.  One of the songs was 'Uncle Sam is who I am', and one of the lines was 'America, America, I love you through and through', which Luke and Ryan told me in practice they changed to Australia, Australia.  They are very patriotic though, with the boys (and Phil) having to put their hand on their heart, stand, and face the American flag which is in every classroom, and swear allegiance to the flag every morning before school starts. 

Phil shovelled the driveway after the snow, and I shovelled the footpath out the front of the house.  Luke was bored, so he decided to have a go at shovelling the patio area in the back yard.  Quinn had a bit of a go too, and Ryan started but didn't get too far!  I can't be too harsh though, as Ryan did have Friday off school with a bit of a virus, which he then proceeded to give to Luke and I, but that is another story! Luke did a pretty good job, and hopefully will continue with the shovelling, as apparently we get most of the snow here in February and March.  However, as there are mostly clear, warm days, it melts pretty quickly.  If you don't get out and shovel straight away though, you end up with a lot of ice as the snow melts, which can cause chaos when you go sliding on it!  But if you shovel most of the snow, the little bit that is left behind, melts pretty quickly and clears away.  Common sense, but something else I have learnt!

February 2nd is Groundhog Day.  The tale goes that if the groundhog sticks it's head out of it's hole and it is cloudy, Spring will come early.  If it is sunny, and it sees it's shadow, it will retreat to it's home, and Winter will continue for another 6 weeks.  Apparently, we can expect an early Spring - here is hoping!  This picture shows some groundhogs we came across on a drive - you can't see them very well, but they are pretty mad, as they do just poke their heads in and out of the holes (all the mounds you see on the ground), and you can just imagine having a hammer, and playing a game, trying to hit them back into the hole, before they retreat.  Or maybe that is just my sick mind!

Saturday was a beautiful day, and we went for a drive to the Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs.  It has amazing rock formations, and heaps of hiking, mountain bike and horse riding trails, as well as heaps of red dirt - nothing we are not used to!  It is the cities most visited park and it is also really popular with rock climbers, which you can see in the pictures below, along with our own little rock climbers.  The track we were walking along here was one of the minor ones, and apparently rattlesnakes are a pest in summer.  The boys went racing off into the bush as soon as we got out of the car, and Quinn soon returned crying - he had touched some bush which had all of these really fine prickles that you could 

hardly see, all up his arm. So I spent the next five minutes trying to get all of them out, but it was pretty easy to convince them to stay on the tracks, after that. The main walk in the park is contained within a certain area, so we drove over there. However, by this time Ryan was feeling sick again, so he and I stayed in the car while Phil, Luke and Quinn went into the main area.  Phil said it was quite spectacular, and that is where they got the photo of the rock climbers, up the wall (see below).  While in there, they ran into Del and Pete, who are involved in the exchange program, and they were there with Jane and Bruce, who are on exchange in Colorado Springs, from Adelaide.  So, we ended up going back to their place for afternoon tea and a catch up, which was really nice.  They live in Manitau Springs, which is a really quaint little town, just outside of Colorado Springs at the base of Pike's Peak.  They have an amazing view of the mountain from their house, and it was a really nice afternoon. 

On Sunday, the boys and I went up to Bison Park, with Avery, to throw around the new footy.  As well as having great swings, it also has tennis courts, and an astro turf football field, which is really good.  Phil stayed home and got some marking done, and then in the evening, was the Superbowl.  Unfortunately, the Denver Broncos were beaten in the play offs, but it is such a big deal, and you always hear about it at home, so we figured we should watch it.  We were invited to a party up at our neighbours house, Luke and Mindy, who have two boys Hunter and Ethan, who are the same age as Ryan and Quinn. It was quite fortunate really, as they could actually explain to us what was going on, rather than us trying to guess! 

The San Fransisco 49ers were playing the Baltimore Ravens (who had beaten the Denver Broncos).  Ryan and Phil were going for the Ravens, and Luke and I were going for the 49ers.  As you might be aware, the Ravens won 34-31, and it seemed like it was going to be pretty one sided at the start, but after a half hour power outage, things went a bit more the 49ers way.  Obviously not enough to secure a win, but it made the game a whole lot more exciting!  Mindy had cooked, and we had pulled pork burgers for dinner, with coleslaw and her 'famous' baked beans.  It was really yummy - the pork was cooked in the slow cooker all day, and then shredded and put onto burgers.  The baked beans were from a tin, but then added ground beef, and a whole lot of sauces and spices - they were good.  Our contribution was lamingtons, which no-one had ever heard of, and pavlova, which was a big hit.  So we combined the American dinner, with the Aussie dessert for the Superbowl - a pretty good combo, I reckon!