What movies scared you as a child?

October 28, 2013 By

We just returned from an overnight stay at The Curtis-a DoubleTree by Hilton in downtown Denver where each of their 16 floors is dedicated to a different theme. Their 13th floor is “horror” and for Halloween they converted in into a veritable haunted house with a haunted elevator ride, hallways dripping with cobwebs, staffers dressed up in creepy costumes like a clown and Freddie Krueger, and redrum “murder” scrawled across our bathroom mirror with spiders and bugs all over the sink. One of the rooms had a bar with a creepy lady serving up treats and shots…in the head.

Sounds scary? It might have been for young kids but we had so much fun interacting with the playful characters that we spent our entire evening laughing! (More details on it later).

I’m pretty careful about the shows our kids watch and they had never heard of any of the creepers we encountered in those hallways but I must confess we unintentionally traumatized our daughter a few years ago.

Click to read on

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

The Glorious Broadmoor: In Pictures

October 22, 2013 By

Sometimes I’m way too verbose for my own good so here’s a pictorial glimpse at our Labor Day weekend at The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs’ AAA Five-Diamond resort.  I was on-assignment to write about their new Ranch at Emerald Valley through a child’s eyes (read about it here). It was one trip that would’ve made me wish I could be a kid again…if I wasn’t having the time of my life.

Hands down, our favorite activity at The Broadmoor is hanging out at the glorious infinity pool.


Usually we paddleboat around pristine Cheyenne Lake but this time we took the electric boats for a spin.
Apparently it was a very serious matter for the Boy Captains.


Sometimes you just need a break from the water for some Magic Treehouse moments.

We usually spend at least an hour in The Broadmoor Children’s Shop.

Everything is bigger and better there.

We also did some very serious gaming.

And we just had a wonderful time hanging out together.

Did I mention The Broadmoor’s coffee shop Expresso’s has wisely replicated the cronut craze (think: half-donut, half-croissant) that is sweeping New York City? This was their basic cinnamon-sugar Broadmoor Donut, which was melt-in-your-mouth amazing. I may-or-may-not have almost started weeping when, on the drive home, they announced their new flavors for fall: Pumpkin Spice & Apple Broadmoor Donuts.

We first took the kids to The Broadmoor when they were 3 and 1 and one of their favorite things to do is play on the elevators.


I love this shot. Doesn’t it look like it could have been taken out of their archives?

One afternoon while Jamie got a massage and I hiked the Upper Columbine Trail (details on that tomorrow), the kiddos went to the resort’s Bee Bunch kid’s club.


They had a great time. I think. This picture could go either way.

We can’t go to The Broadmoor without partaking in their legendary brunch.

Bonus: no children threw tantrums during this photo shoot (unlike last time in Tearing Families Apart and Bringing Them Back Together).

And why would they freak out when they have a spread like this?

Lest you think our trip to The Broadmoor is all about food, you would be correct. Cases in point: room service.

And we instituted a new family tradition at PLAY, The Broadmoor’s luxury retro six-lane bowling alley, game room and eatery: we started with desserts first, followed by the main course topped off by appetizers.
Upon returning home, I spent hours and hours writing about our experiences and was relieved when their magazine editor loved it. As payment for their writers, they give us a return trip so we can stay and play at our leisure.

Because we didn’t do enough of that during our latest visit.

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, Humor, Jamie, travel Tagged With: , ,

The Hopeful Start of Volleyball’s Glory Days

October 16, 2013 By

I am a firm believer every kid needs a sport as a way to stay active.

We’ve been through a laundry list of them with Hadley and though a few have stuck, most have gone to the wayside. She definitely excels in individual sports and I had almost given up team sports altogether until I recently got called as the volleyball coach of our young women at church.

I was thrilled to connect with my former passion. Once upon a time, I lived and breathed volleyball in high school. In 12th grade, I was our school MVP and even landed in the Calgary Herald’s Hall of Fame with my picture in the newspaper. I went on to TA some classes in college and played in adult leagues in Salt Lake City.

I figured I could relive my glory years, brush up on my skills and impart my great wisdom upon these girls. Until after our first practice where my long-dormant plantar fasciitis flared up so badly after that I could barely walk for two days.

Glory days, over.

But I was most excited about bringing Hadley to volleyball practice with me to see if she took to it. And taken to it she has. In fact, I was pretty shocked just how good she was from the get-go so enrolled her in our some community volleyball classes with a couple of her church friends. I figured they’d just have weekly practices and be done with it.

But noooooooo. I was dismayed when I found out they also had weekly tournaments–not just one game but several back-to-back, taking up most of our Saturday mornings.

Because we’re not busy enough with Bode’s soccer games and my volleyball.

I’m all for getting in as much playing time as you can during the season but if you know volleyball, you know that it takes a good while to build your skill set, hence the reason why most programs don’t start until around fifth grade. And games really shouldn’t be in the formula until you have a firm foundation.

She had her first games a couple of weeks ago. I had a good chuckle when she emerged from her room wearing her sparkly sequined leggings (nothing like making a statement on Day 1).

The games were predictably painful but fun. Someone would get up to serve. Either 1) They’d miss or 2) Get it over and the other team would not be able to bump it back.

Out of the seven games they played, there were only a couple of rallies. Hadley’s team only won once and Bode couldn’t keep his eyes off the game.

On his DS, that is. Can’t blame the kid. It was a long morning.

But I was proud of how well Hadley did. At this age, they let the girls serve a lot closer to the net. You’d think that would help most of them get it over but nooooo. Hadley was the most consistent server in the group and out of probably 20 serves, she only missed one.

I’d say that’s the start of a promising future in volleyball.

I’ll be the one limping behind her.

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor, Uncategorized Tagged With:

How we were big winners and losers at our local pumpkin weigh-off

October 14, 2013 By

Though Jamie has moved onto bigger and better things in the pumpkin world, we feel a sense of obligation to attend our small city’s annual scarecrow festival. After all, this was where Jamie got his first blue ribbon that fueled his obsession.

He hasn’t brought his pumpkin to this particular weigh-off for several years because a forklift and large scale are needed to remove and weigh his pumpkins, neither of which this competition has. Even bringing the kids’ pumpkin caused its own set of problems because this was their biggest ever and took six of us to lift it into the car.

And yes, our neighbors will be avoiding us for quite some time.

As we pulled up to the pumpkin unloading zone, we saw one of the longtime event organizers who has always praised Jamie very highly. But he didn’t initially realize it was us, causing Jamie to haughtily say, “Does he not know a celebrity when he sees one?

Big head much?

But Jamie is a local celebrity in the growing community and usually comes away with several proteges who grow for the first time the following year.

Admittedly a huge pet peeve at this weigh-off is parents who set their kids loose on the pumpkins. In fact, I got in an argument with a woman last year who, even after I asked her very nicely to not let her kid crawl over the pumpkin because it was easily damaged, she released a barrage of obscenities along the lines of “My kid can do whatever the #*$&#*$&# he pleases and I should mind my own #$&*$# business.”

To avoid any such altercations, this year I let the pumpkin do the talking with a few helpful signs.

It also helped that as the kids visited all the fun booths, I was left behind to be the chief pumpkin babysitter a.k.a. bouncer.

When it came time for the competition, the kids’ 429-beast (s)quashed both the adult and children’s division so the organizers weighed it last. They were  awarded a blue ribbon and a $50 garden center gift certificate, which they happily traded with Jamie for a fast-food meal. He was one proud papa.

However, there have been some rather disturbing occurrences at our house lately. Last week, I posted the following Facebook update:

I just found a pumpkin seed on my side of the bed. I suspect this is The Pumpkin Man’s subtle way of replacing me.

It was then confirmed that Jamie is slowing replacing each one of us. Following the weigh-off, we loaded the pumpkin in the car and it wasn’t until after we’d driven away that Bode noticed we’d left Hadley behind.

She’s already turning into a pumpkin

This means Bode is next. Pray for him.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor, pumpkins Tagged With: , ,

Our debut as professional pie contest eaters at Four Mile Historic Park

October 9, 2013 By

Four years ago when Jamie was in Portland visiting his buddy at a pumpkin weigh-off, the kids and I fell in love with Four Mile History Park’s annual Great Pumpkin Harvest Festival. This rustic 12-acre historic oasis and the site of Denver’s oldest house is a charming throwback to yesteryear. Scarecrow making. Caramel apples and apple cider. Pioneer games. Horse-drawn wagon rides. Museum tours. Wood-burning stove cookie baking and Native American fry bread. Mountain man encampment. Gold panning. Historic blacksmithing demonstrations.

I loved it all and have been dying to go back but last weekend was our first opportunity while Jamie was at another weigh-off.

Pumpkin ring toss

Very heated musical chairs cakewalk

New obsession: stilt walking

 

Apple cider doughnuts I’ve dreamed about for four years

Four Mile Historic Park had pumpkins for purchase in a cute little pumpkin patch but we couldn’t be bothered.

“We don’t need to stop there, Hadley. We’re pumpkin snobs.”

“What’s a snob?”

“Someone who thinks they’re better than someone else.”

“Why yes, yes we are pumpkin snobs.”

But there’s nothing better than pie-eating contests and darn it if Hadley and Bode didn’t hit the jackpot by being two of the lucky 15 kids who signed up.

There was some stiff competition: a lot of hungry-looking teenagers. Bode looks like he’s praying in this picture. It worked. At least it did when he figured out it’s better not to lick the berry pie…

and just jump right on it. Little dude never looked back.

Hadley, on the other hand, started strong by smashing her face in her apple pie and ingesting it. About a minute later, she came up for air.
“Mom, I can’t breathe! I have pie up my nose”

“Breathe later, eat now.”

I have a future as a competitive pie-eating coach. My first rule: do not slurp the apples like a straw.

Or look at your competition. Bode lost precious seconds here.

But  he needn’t have worried because he totally beat Hadley who ended up looking like this.

I don’t think she’ll want apple pie anytime soon.

But we had a blast and you’d better believe we’ll be training for next year.

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Foodie, Hadley, Humor, pumpkins Tagged With: ,

Stanley the Pumpkin Does Colorado and the Fun Run!

October 2, 2013 By

Before we move the Great Pumpkin onto our driveway where it stays until Halloween, both the kids beg for us to bring it to school. On Monday, Jamie and I showed it to Bode’s second grade class and it was a hoot.  Bode talked about how much the pumpkins weigh, how he grew them and then announced. “OK, I will take nine questions” and then pointed to various kids with their hands raised. At the end of our Q&A, he brusquely said, “OK, I will take two more comments,” and then wrapped it up.

Little dude has a future as a teacher. Or a dictator.

For the second year in a row, we were able to take the pumpkins to Hadley’s school’s fun run. Last year, I hung out eating bonbons cheering for Hadley while she ran by as I talked to my friend Aime. This year, I volunteered to run it with her, not realizing exactly what I was committing to. I mean, it was a fun run so surely it was just that, right?

Warm-up!

Turns out it wasn’t just a few laps around the park but the challenge was to get in as many laps as you could during the hour-long run. Back in the day, I was Miss Long Distance. My elementary school would have Run for Your Life where we’d race around the fields collecting Popsicle sticks for each lap and every year, Paul MacEachern and I dominated.

Those days are long, long over.

This was the longest I’ve run on my knee since my surgery but I have to tell you how impressed I was with Hadley. The first several laps she didn’t stop at all and as we got deeper and deeper into the hour, we’d do brief walking and water breaks but she kept plugging along while many of her classmates stopped. If I hadn’t been there with her, I would have quit after about a half hour when my knee started bugging me but I kept going and she later said she wouldn’t have done as many laps if I hadn’t been there. Ever since her field trip last week, she’s been much more appreciative of me and commented, “you’re one of the only moms who’s running. That’s really cool!”

And how I know she’s mine: Every time we’d run up to a boy, she’d very sweetly rub it in by saying “good job!” and then blow past him.

In the end, she did 19 laps–the most of any girl in her grade and more than most of the boys. We ran just short of five miles and she blazed ahead of me on our final lap. Though she’s really athletic, she does more solo sports like skiing and hiking so having a measurable success was a huge ego boost for her.

Having a giant pumpkin to show off to all her friends at school didn’t hurt the ego, either.

 

 

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor, pumpkins

(Drumroll) And The Great Pumpkin’s Weight Is….

October 1, 2013 By

After a thoroughly exhausting, fun and wet pumpkin party, the day of the weigh-off was even more chaotic as we juggled Bode’s soccer and my volleyball game (thanks to Aunt Lisa for coming to the rescue with rides!)

Jamie says he loves driving the Great Pumpkin to the weigh-off because of all the stares and cheers he receives.

And who can blame them with this cargo?

The festivities are at Jared’s Nursery in Littleton and have grown from a little podunk weigh-off to a veritable harvest festival with a haunted house, face painting, mazes, bouncy castles, games and food trucks.

But still, the highlight is always checking out the giant gourds.

It feels a bit like you’re wandering around the Land of the Lost with these 100-pound pears. And of course, all those pumpkins.

I felt really happy for Jamie because, for the first time, his pumpkin was among the largest and was the one people singled out for pictures.

Of course, we had to pose for our requisite family photo with the other woman. Though in this case, she’s a man named Stanley in honor of my dad and Jamie’s best friend. My friend Fiona called us the “Mannings of the pumpkin growing world.”

I’m sure that means we must be millionaires.

The kids’ division was first. Early in the season, Hadley lost her pumpkin so they both grew Bode’s pumpkin, which is just a nice way of saying he did most of the work but she wants part of the credit.

Regardless, they blew away the other kids and won with their biggest pumpkin ever: 429.5 pounds! It went 15 percent heavier than its measurements.

Up next was the adult division. Jamie’s pumpkin developed a small crack five weeks prior, which automatically disqualified it from competition but he still wanted to weigh it. It was measuring out to be over 1,400 pounds, which would have beat the 1,308-pound Colorado state record.

But it wasn’t to be so. Though Stanley was a beast, he went “light,” which in pumpkin terms means he wasn’t as thick on the inside so turned out to be about 200 pounds lighter than Jamie had hoped.

A man and his giant pumpkin

But 1,220 pounds is nothing to be sad about. Stanley was a few hundred pounds heavier than Jamie’s personal best and was one of the biggest grown in Colorado this year. His friend Joe ended up growing a 1,478-pound pumpkin and won the competition. Which just means there’s an even bigger goal for next year.

Congrats to my cute family on a job well grown!

 

 

Filed Under: Bode, Family, Hadley, Humor, Jamie, pumpkins Tagged With: ,

Nintendo 2DS: Coming to an Excited Kid Near You

September 19, 2013 By

Every year, our friends at Nintendo swing by Denver to show us the latest and greatest on the market. Last year, it was the WiiU, and this year it’s the 2DS handheld, which will be released on Oct. 19. We got one of the first looks and they had enough security there to make sure we didn’t keep on looking by walking out with if afterward. :-)

The Lobby’s lovely back patio

We congregated at The Lobby, a welcome reprieve after all of our flooding and rain. But forget the charming courtyard with flowers, ivy and delicious food (caramel-bacon ice cream Sammies, anyone?) When we pulled up to the restaurant and saw a huge Nintendo-theme trailer, the kids went wild.Seeing is doing with Nintendo so after a brief overview, the kiddos and adults were set loose to try out all the new games and devices on the back deck and also in the decked-out trailer. Both kiddos fell in love with Pitkin 3 (can you say Christmas present?) and we all really, really liked the new 2DS. In fact, while the kids eventually gravitated back to what they were familiar with (the 3DS), the adults and I universally agreed we preferred the 2DS. Not only is it a more light, affordable ($129.99), family-friendly unit but I prefer its flat, tablet-like design because it’s easier to hold and navigate…the perfect starter device. All the capabilities seem to be the same so I think it will be a winner in the family market.

Nintendo 2DS

There’s nothing quite like a Nintendo event.

The best way to describe it: an anti-social, social bonding experience.

When Bode first entered the Nintendo-themed trailer, he marveled at all the technology and peppered the PR rep with questions.

Q:”Where do you drive this?”
A: “All around the country showing people the games.”
Q: “This is your job?”
A: “Yup.”

Let’s just say Bode has new career aspirations.

Bode is my Nintendo guy and I can get him to do pretty much anything in exchange for some highly-coveted Wii time (how do you think I potty trained him?)

Hadley, on the other hand, can take it or leave it but I think she found her game, Animal Crossing. You essentially design your own world with the perfect house, outfits and animals while learning life skills with in-game currencies but with a lot more depth than in your average Webkinz or  phone app. The interactivity is mind-blogging; when you play it adapts your scene to whether it’s night or day and as the seasons change in real life, so do your scenes. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, of course.


I knew she was having fun when I brought her an extra-gooey brownie (her favorite) and instead of inhaling it like she usually does, she reprimanded me, “No dessert, I’m busy right now.”

The 2DS may be my new diet technique.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley Tagged With:

True love in the form of a hot dog

September 12, 2013 By

Hadley and I aren’t big fans of hot dogs so I never have them at the house unless we’re planning to roast them over a nice campfire.

However, I recently saw some healthy-ish all-natural chicken-pineapple hot dogs made by Aidells Sausage Company (which we love) so I figured I’d take a chance.

They were a hit!

Hadley gobbled hers down in record time and I asked what she thought.

“I love it, Mom. And it’s not one of those things I’m saying so I don’t hurt your feelings. I really love it.”

“You never do that.”

“True.”

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

The day I almost lost a kid at a birthday party

September 3, 2013 By

I’m talking children’s birthday parties in the Denver Post this week!

As a kid, my birthday parties consisted of friends, games and a cake. I’m not sure what happened between my childhood and motherhood, but when my friend hired a party planner to throw an over-the-top fete for her 3-year-old, I was exposed to a whole new world.

I personally don’t think you need a lot of fuss when it comes to birthday parties — that it is possible to have fun and keep things affordable.

We have traditionally hosted at-home birthdays to keep the cost down but when my daughter was five, she begged to hold her party at

Click to keep reading Price Isn’t the Scariest Thing About Kid Parties (and the day I almost lost one of the kids)

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So, you want to plan a special event for your child’s next birthday but don’t want to break the bank. Kara Allen from the popular party idea site KarasPartyIdeas.com and author of the book “Kara’s Party Ideas” has these seven tips for throwing a spectacular bash.

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor Tagged With: ,
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