Visit

It snowed the first three days Bart and Kate were here, so we hunkered down. Bart and Greg played guitar in front of the fire, the kids enjoyed each other, and Kate and I talked and talked. The only outing that first day was to go out for pizza for dinner. The next day we went to the CU Natural History Museum where we played with the exhibits and I saw my friend Michelle Ellsworth on video. That day was also THE COOKING DAY (see below).

Saturday morning was the neighborhood egg hunt, Kate and I went early to hide eggs in the snow, and then after the hunt we went to a potluck brunch at Lisa's house, the neighbor who organized the egg hunt. We brought another product of the cooking day: baked samosas stuffed with potato curry from the recipe in Bittman's How To Cook Everything cookbook. We filled our minds and stomachs. Then the weather cleared a bit and there was a tennis game in the afternoon.

Easter Sunday dawned sunny and very warm. We had another egg hunt in the house, the kids had chocolate and candy for breakfast, Kate went to church, and then we all reassembled for a bike ride. There are great trails around and through Boulder where you can ride for miles and not have to cross any streets. Rees did great and rode without complaining for the 6-7mile loop. Kadin, after a breakfast of candy, was in a bit of a mood, and we thought the trip was doomed, but he ended up having a great time on “papa’s bike.” Cuillin was not thrilled with the idea of biking either. He was upset at first by his seat, but then got distracted by the prairie dogs on the first part of the trail, “They’re cuooote!” Just as things were settling down, he was dropped while he was on the bike and, as Bart put it, was “probably very rationally afraid.” But we weren’t sure if he was more upset by falling or by dropping his airplane in the process, so we reunited him with his airplane and continued on. After a bit, he fell asleep. (A couple days later he informed Kate that he liked the bike ride and wanted to do it again. Who knew?) At the end of our ride we had lunch at a new café at the nearby shopping center.

Came home and gardened, working together to finish the flower bed out front. Roses, strawberries, Oregon grape, and some ground covers were all transplanted from the area where the new entryway will be. Soup for dinner that night (with some whey in the broth, see below!).

Monday was another beautiful day and we went to Red Rocks park and amphitheater just south of Boulder in Morrison, Colorado. I figured for Bart it was a nice combination of geology, dinosaurs, and music. There was a shot of someone we know in the Visitor’s Center video. Lisa Loeb has apparently played Red Rocks. We had a picnic in the park and stopped for ice cream in Morrison. On the drive home we saw a bald eagle. Then late in the afternoon we headed into Boulder where Kate got a quick (and, I’m sure, frustratingly brief) shop, and we all had dinner together at the Dushambe Teahouse. The two youngest boys were asleep by the time we got home. We talked, the Sweet Potato Fly (see below) languishing alone on the 'fridge, then went to bed and I saw Bart and Kate and Cuillin off at 5:30 this morning. Sniff! The boys start back to school tomorrow.