December 28, 2018

One of Jed's favorite gifts this Christmas.  :)

December 25, 2018 - Part 2

The little town of Golden, Colorado goes all out for the Christmas season.

There are parades every Saturday in December, 

there is a candlelight walk the first Friday in December that attracts thousands,

and downtown and Clear Creek are lit up like crazy and will stay lit up 

until the end of the annual National Western Stock Show in Denver, the end of Janaury.

As someone who leaves her Christmas tree up (sans ornaments) till the end of February,

I really appreciate that.  :)

We took a walk downtown this evening to enjoy the lights.

The store fronts were a mix of whimsical...

...and magical.

This is Jed's barber shop...he'll be seeing them soon. :)

An apartment over shops, with the balcony decorated.

I thought that was a lighted tree on the balcony, 

but a few days later I drove by in the daytime and saw that it was a patio umbrella.  LOL

Home!

December 25, 2018 - Part 1

Jed's favorite handmade gift this Christmas is from our sweet friend Debbie.

It's a felt taco ornament, and it's adorable!

December 24, 2018

We let Jed open one gift this evening (mostly because Tracy wanted to open one of his own)

and Jed chose one from his Aunt Kim and Uncle Steve.

Steve is a big outdoorsman, and their gift was a fire starter.

We couldn't get over the irony of the shirt Jed just happened to be wearing -

it says, "Non-Flammable?  Challenge Accepted."

LOL

Merry Christmas!

December 21, 2018

Today is the winter solstice, there's a full moon, and it's a Friday.

It's also our anniversary.

That all worked well for us to celebrate in a special way.

Bear Creek Lake Park had a winter solstice celebration that we co-opted for our own celebration.

It started with a one mile walk through the woods, lit only by the full moon and ice globes like the one above.

I didn't take that picture - it's from the internet (That's So Cool! website) - but it's exactly how our globes looked.

It was magical!

I was so excited to find you can make these pretty easily.

The walk was followed by hot chocolate, hot apple cider, and a marshmallow roast.

Such a fun night!

December 7, 2018

I had never been to IKEA before tonight.

When my next-door neighbor, Bonnie, learned this, she was scandalized.

I told her I had heard rumors of being herded through the store like cattle, 

and not being able to get out until you've made your way through the entire store,

which did not appeal to me at all, since I don't love shopping.

She decided to introduce me to the store in a kinder, gentler, and more fun way...

their annual Julbord - a Swedish Christmas smorgasbord.

Entertaining us while we dined was a Swedish choir and a Swedish folk dance team.
After dinner we walked around the store,
and we left when we wanted to.
The rumors were fake news!  :)

December 2, 2018

My next-door neighbor, Bonnie, and I attended a concert of the Jefferson County Symphony tonight.

It was the first Christmas celebration of the year, and it was wonderful.

November 21, 2018

Tracy had today off from work, so we took another walk on the Apex Trail.

It was a beautiful fall day.

This is an old kiln on the trail.

A tunnel that runs under a major road - they disguised it so well, you'd never know there was traffic overhead.

November 12, 2018

Jed's friend spent the night Friday night, but it snowed all day Saturday, 

and he ended up spending the entire weekend with us.

While they were goofing off, this huge icicle was growing outside Jed's window.

Jed thought it was awesome.  :)

November 9, 2018

Jed had a THIRD birthday celebration tonight when he and a friend walked downtown 

(which is just a block from our house)

 on a Friday night 

to dinner at the best pizza place ever

and then to an escape room a couple blocks away.  

This was a first for Jed (and his friend too) - 

it was a pretty big night.

October 28, 2018

We usually go to lunch on Sunday with folks from our church.

Tracy actually requested to have a picture taken of him today with his first senior discount sandwich.  :)

October 27, 2018

This is part of the path we've been walking on lately.

We drive 3 miles from our house to the Apex Trailhead, park the car, and walk home.

Then we drive the other car to pick up the one we left behind.

It's a little weird, but it's such a nice walk that it's worth the inconvenience.

I haven't been able to talk Tracy into making it a 6-mile round trip walk.  :)