tempestsans

 it's been an odd (almost) week here in boulder.  Shirley (MIL) may or may not be getting a pacemaker - today or tomorrow - it all depends on how things are seen by the doctors today.   she seemed quite well at home earlier in the week and is animated and eating well at the hospital these last few days.  they do have her on oxygen though so maybe that's part of the difference.

regardless, we've sort of spent the week hanging around boulder from one meal to the next.  not an awful way to spend vacation time but certainly not activity filled like we typically manage.  regardless, thought i'd make a list of the cool stuff we've seen since being here:

  *  several fluffy bunnies make their home right outside the entrance door to the hotel we're staying in and we see them every time we come or go

 *  there's a place called "rock out" on broadway that is what was once called a 'modern' house design - all curves and tubular looking  - very different from the gingerbread victorians around it

 *  Mustard's Last Stand - cute name for a hot dog joint downtown - we didn't eat there, just keep seeing it and think it's cute

 *  dinner last night at the "Sushi Zenmai" in the tea room with Susan, Len, Annie, Bob and Dylan...the hostess was far too old to be wearing the mini-skirt and extremely low cut top she had on and we all joked that she must have shrunk it in the wash.  we might have let it go had she not been so distainful when we walked in and requested a table for 7 and she commented "for SEVEN?  and you're a WALK IN???"  i let it go until she made the comment again and instructed me to make reservations next time...then i smiled and in my best SBT (southern belle in training) voice pointed out  "oh, i'm so sorry.  we're from atlanta so we really had NO idea."

*  fluffy snow that turned to mush, then to icy slick and crunchy spots everywhere

*  the hungry toad - great name for a pub/restaurant where we ate dinner near the hospital

*  Burnt Toast - the breakfast place i wanted to try on Pennsylvania but which was closed until Jan. 4 (rats - and i was so craving a piece of burnt white bread and some bad coffee!  giggle)

*  Toss up for the best breakfast this week:  Marie's Cafe, and accidental find with the hottest fastest food ever at good prices....Turleys where the multi-grain sour dough pancakes and fresh squeezed orange and carrot juice had us coming back for a second morning....The Walnut Cafe where we each had something killer (amaretto almond french toast for me with fresh fruit on the side....blueberry corn bread pancakes for bob....breakfast potatoes loaded with cheese, sour cream and salsa for dylan)

*  massive icicles from the roof snowmelts on the back of businesses on the Pearl St. Mall - these could only be really seen from the upper levels of the parking garage across the street.

Bob's off at the hospital this morning so Dylan and I are killing time in the hotel...off to read for a bit.

well, it seems our vacaction visit to family here in boulder has been detoured.  MIL will now be in the hospital at least through the weekend for observation.  seems her heartrate is very low and so they have taken her off some meds to see if that will help get it back up - unfortunately they weren't the kind of thing you could just 'stop' without concern so she's being closely monitored. 

visited earlier today and she looked quite well and was in fine spirits.  she'd found a lovely little spot in the sunshine in her room and was reading the paper there.  said food was pretty good and she'd enjoyed her breakfast.

all that being said we stayed pretty close by today.  the snow has stopped coming down and the sun out melted what was left on the roads into the browny-gray slush and puddle slop that is the 'no fun' part of this weather (IMO).  massive icicles now hang from many buildings as it remains cold even with the sunshine. 

 so we flew into denver, co on christmas day.  the weather man had said light snow showers in the afternoon and then clear and cold the rest of the week...boy did HE miss the boat!  my flight was delayed about 30 minutes due to blowing snow at the airport so we circled around a bit.  not a big deal as the boys were on a later flight and that meant i'd likely have some help with bags when we finally all arrived.  as it turned out, we all waited on bags at my carousel for nearly an hour after landing.

then out into the still coming down and blowing sideways snow!  it was beautiful but cold and they had already accumulated way more than was expected.  driving the rental car to boulder was slow going but not bad really.

checked into the hotel, vegged for a bit and then headed for the in-laws for christmas night dinner.  had a great time there and headed back exhausted for the night.  

yesterday we were able to get out and enjoy the pretty white stuff in relatively nice weather, but then today again it began falling fast and furious with a prediction of about 6-8 additional inches to accumulate before 11p.m.

glad we came when we did nonetheless as bob's mother was unexpectedly admitted to the hospital just about an hour ago.  we are waiting now to see what is up and make a decision about who will go see her and when.  lucklily my SIL was with her at a doctor's appointment when the decision was made so we should have some good detail shortly.

hope you all had a lovely christmas, even if it wasn't as white as ours!

i think we may just begin a new tradition in our family.  today we celebrated our christmas together.  with the "kids" pretty much grown, it was easy to say to everyone "one gift each" and to decide to celebrate a day early when we could all be together.  made for a relaxed day of breakfast together, gifts being opened, games played, dinner cooked (and the grocery store OPEN to allow for my easy rescue when there wasn't enough gravy) and consumed.  now we're all in food coma in front of the various screens (laptop, tv, etc.) but still together.

both kids were happy to receive their Wii(s) and there has been much bowling done around here today.  funny how both of them took the mercenary stand initially upon opening the packages - wow, how did you get these?" and "you should have sold them online for a profit".  but of course both consoles have been hooked up in different rooms of the house and will be played until kt goes home later in the week (hers will of course then go off to savannah for her own enjoyment