Fall Weekend in Colorado

On Friday, we loaded up the kids, scooters, picnic blanket, wine and snacks grabbed from the pantry and drove over to a park in Highlands Ranch, where we proceeded to happy hour with our friend Suzy and Christin while Suzy's son Garrett had foot ball practice. The other kids played in the park and we sipped and snacked and caught up on the week. This is a new tradition of which I highly approve. We came home and made popcorn and Michael and Suzy and I continued sipping on the couch while the kids made pallets on the floor and we all watched Hocus Pocus. Bette Midler/Halloween Movies for the win!
Saturday we woke up early and picked up a U-Haul pickup truck. We spent the morning loading up all the junk out of the yard and garage and then took it over to the free large item drop off. Which was full. They tried to turn us away, but Michael wouldn't take no for an answer and so we ended up paying eighty dollars to leave our junk there. We were irritated, but it was still wonderful to finally have a tidy, roomy garage.

I put out the Halloween decorations and then it was time to go pick up Samuel's friend Xander and head to Boulder. We were headed for Arts in the Park's production of the "The Treasure of Toothless Jack" at Chautauqua. Chautauqua is an amazing place. I really want to go visit there again. The hike was fun and the scenery beautiful. The play was okay, but the kids really enjoyed it. I love the idea of supporting this non profit company in it's mission to bring arts into the outdoors. The playwright was visiting to see the production so we tried to cheer and laugh appropriately.
We drove home that evening and enjoyed watching all the homecoming kids standing in their finery at scenic overlooks with their proud parents taking photos.
After we dropped off Xander at home, we took the kids to yet another mexican restaurant in our search for good Mexican food. This time we tried Las Delicious and were disappointed again. Well, Michael and I were disappointed, but the kids loved it. They always love chips and rice and beans.
Sunday morning I had a "featured" part in a song at church. We drove over and I practiced and then I performed on the stage during the service. I was very nervous, but I think I did a good job. The kids went to their RE classes and Michael and I enjoyed the service and continued making new friends in our new UU community.
We rushed home and had a quick sandwich before piling up back in the car and going out to Colorado ski and golf. We had to get out there this week in order to get the kids free ski passes for Colorado resorts. They have a program that allows elementary kids to ski for free and we didn't want to pass that up! Then we ran across the street to Costco, bribing the children by promising them they could pick out Halloween Candy and pumpkins. The chase freedom card is offering 5x the points on clubs this quarter, so I'm trying to do a lot of my shopping there.
We came home and dropped off our purchases and released our children into the neighborhood to play. I walked down the street to my neighbor Shelly's house to meet with the ladies of the neighborhood for an afternoon out. We went and got pedicures (my first since May!) and then drove to Wash Park for dinner at the Wash Park Grill, which was fantastic. We sat outside in the sunshine and talked and laughed and had a wonderful time. I'm so, so lucky that we found this neighborhood. We are even decided to start a new book club called, "Books in the Hood". This makes me very happy.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. We are really starting to settle in here. I miss my mom and my friends so much, but I am happy here. I am enjoying the fall colors and having crisp in the air. My friends here tell me that usually there has been a dusting of snow by this time of year, but so far we have had sunny skies, daytime temps in the 70's and low 80's and nighttime temps int he 50's and 60's. This week it looks like it is finally getting cooler. We expect 30's at night this week and daytime highs in the 50's and 60's. I'm okay with that. Michael is going to run out today and pick up a firewood rack for our porch so that we can start building fires in the evening.