Living in Munchkinland

Last week I was feeling blue so I decided to throw a mardi gras party. I invited my friends and bought beads and requested that everyone to bring a potluck dish. Our friend Tom was visiting (!) and my friend Tate drove across town to join us and all the neighborhood turned out. We had king cake and jambalaya and red beans and rice and french bread and home made ice cream and appetizers and Abita beer. I will tell you that no one really celebrates Mardi Gras here. We are a long way from NOLA. It was snowy outside and cold. I couldn't find Crystal hot sauce or Zapp's chips or crawfish anywhere! Nobody truly understood my need to wear my costume and purple wig. But we made our own little party and rocked out to zydeco and it was fun. I have wonderful friends here who support my need to Mardi Gras and who join the fun. I am lucky.

On Monday, Michael flew out very early and I prepared for a day with the kids in the neighborhood. Samuel had a friend come over all day. He joined the gang of neighborhood kids and they played all day. My lawn was covered in scooters. They played legos, they played hide and seek, they played tag. Suzy and Nathan and I took them out for mexican food lunch and Monster mini golf. We brought them home and they played some more. It was a gorgeous day in the upper sixties. The sun was shining and everybody played outside. That afternoon I took the boys for a haircut and then let them play tennis outside on the courts before their lesson. We soaked up that good weather. It was a fun day.

We went on a 5.2 mile hike in the Rocky Mountain National Park to Mill's Lake. We went through the YMCA so we had a guide. We ended up being the only ones who showed up so we got a private guide! Davis and I wore snowshoes and Michael and Sam wore spikes on their boots. It was an amazing day with copious amounts of sunshine and blue skies. The weather was cool, but never cold and as we hiked we warmed up. The kids did very well and didn't complain much. The lake was frozen when we got to the top and the kids loved sliding all over it. It felt so magical the whole time. I loved crunching through the snow on tree lined trails. I felt like I was in the middle of a storybook. The hike had some beautiful vistas and a few challenging places, but was overall perfect. I can't wait to do more hikes in the mountains.

We drove up for the weekend to Estes Park to stay at the YMCA on Friday. We originally had planned to do Mardi Gras this weekend, but Davis had a science fair and so we cancelled. Then his project had some issues and he changed his mind so we were left with a free weekend. I looked around locally, but most things were booked. I have wanted to visit the YMCA at Rocky Mountain National Park and I have really wanted to try snowshoe hiking so I checked and they had a cabin available! I booked and we made a plan. We drove up Friday morning listening to a new audiobook "Egg and Spoon". The weather was lovely and the drive was very pretty. WE got to the YMCA around 1pm and we checked in and quickly hit the cafeteria for lunch. After lunch we unpacked in the cabin and I took some pictures and we got Holly settled in and then we went to explore. The kids played gaga ball and then we shopped in the general store. We wandered over to the skating rink to check it out and we had it to ...