happy Travis Sorenson Day (Observed), y'all

We had an excellent Travis Sorenson Day. Our friends the Luthys had a satellite celebration in South Carolina, and blackberries were involved in the refreshments. Yum. Here at Ground Zero, there was a variety of meats cooked on the grill, fruit aplenty served on trays and in bowls, potato salad, badminton, volleyball, kiddie pool splashing, slippeysliding, lego building, movie watching, kitten petting, goat feeding and general goodwill.

Thank goodness it wasn't any hotter, or we would have cooked, because our outdoor drapes haven't arrived yet, and it got pretty bakey out on the patio. Thankfully there was shade from the garage, and we survived all right. Grandma Ruth cut down the only big tree in the backyard before she died, because she was positive it was going to blow over and hit the house. What is it with old people thinking that? Olene and Damsel Nelson were the same way--they had beautiful old trees and they chopped all of them down. Sillies. We have only one out of all John's brothers and sisters whose house was hit by a falling tree, and one out of eight is incredible odds, you guys.

The pictures:

We did the snowflake table paper as a subliminal message, so people would think they weren't hot.

Meat!

I bet Steven is asking, "If I were a steak on this grill, how rare would I be?"

The kids tanking up for their exhausting day of water fun.

"Hurry! If we don't eat more we won't get stomach cramps in the kiddie pool!"

What a nice weed patch this is to stand in.

mmm . . . burgers . . .

I'm sorry, dear, I just nodded off thinking about that cooler full of pies Travis brought on that hike that one time.

Pinga loves her groceries.

Thanks for a most rocking day, everyone. Such a swell time . . . Travis would want it that way.

commencement of festivities

Let's plan on getting started around 2 or 3, or whenever you feel moved to show up. How do people feel about kiddie pool and/or slip 'n slide? Yea or nay?

blumekuchen and lebensmittel

Behold the cake that Aleece found in her magazine:

That frosting was so good, you guys. It was the sort of cake that you don't want to eat two pieces of right close to each other, because of the diabetic shock and all. Dave disagrees.

Also here are some of the meals I ate in Boulder:

Salmon Benedict from the hotel restaurant with fresh fruit and seared greens. It's my new favorite way to eat greens. The eggs were done perfectly, softy-firmy, not leathery at all, and they didn't even cheat and use a poaching pan. And! And! The roasted tomato? OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS. I would founder on those things.

My firecracker roll from Sushi Zanmai. It has little yummy bits of tempura, crab, salmon, avocado and sprouts in it. Delish. Also I almost forgot to talk about how I got trout sashimi that was some of the best sashimi I'd ever eaten. There is no picture of it because I am a pig and it was long gone by this point.

My boring, but yummy, goat cheese salad from the Boulder Cafe.

I didn't take pictures of our Monday night's dinner because: boring, and: chain food, but it was pretty good. I got a French dip, and it was good and came with sauteed onions, which is never bad.

We spent a bunch of money buying crap for our kids that will just make them more spoiled, but we never will learn! It's because they're so devilish cute.

a reminder . . .

. . . for those who are attending the festivities this Saturday to bring a grillable item of your choice if you wish, and a potluck something-or-other. We care not what it is.

if eatin' boogers is wrong, he doesn't want to be right

An exchange I had this morning:

Superman: "Me and [the Hulk] eat lots of healthy food."

Me: "That's good."

Superman: "Yeah, we eat boogers."

Me: "That's gross."

Superman: "No it isn't! It's good. We want to eat them all the time."

birds, bugs and diplomas

We went to the bird refuge on Sunday, and were eaten alive by gnats while seeing grebes, avocets and other birds.

The Hulk graduated from kindergarten, which is a real load off.

We are preparing our house and yard to host the party next Saturday. We may even mow the lawn. Do any of y'all planned attendees have a volleyball/badminton net? I think I could wrangle one from my parents, but then we would ruin it like we do with everything we borrow from them (see: Tiller Ruination of '06), and it would create a rift like unto the Mariana Trench, and then they would write us out of their will, and there goes our chance to inherit their house and finally have a yard that looks nice!

an important announcement, now with more information

For anyone who may be nervous about attending a party whose guest of honor you don't know from Adam, rest assured that first-hand knowledge of Travis Sorenson is not required for admittance. Really it's just a party celebrating a made-up holiday, because that's how we roll at this house. Travis is a friend of The Dad, and has never failed to remember The Dad's birthday (I remember clearly the email he got wishing him a happy "turdy-turd"). We are so tired of feeling in his debt that we're going to declare a holiday in his honor, in order to obtain absolution. The Dad wanted to name Pinga 'Travis,' but I was not jazzed about that idea. I figure he'd rather have an eponymous party, anyway.

So come one, come all, to a sweet party at our house, and bring food and games. We'll provide the drinks and a grill, and y'all just let your imaginations run wild. We may end up with only desserts, or only potato salad, but we'll make do.

boulgging

I'm blogging from Boulder today, because my husband is awesome and my sister is awesome. The Dad is at a training conference for his job, and he brought me along (and Pinga is here, too) to see the sights while he's stuck in a room learning all day. HA! Captain America, the Hulk and Superman are all being tended by my sister, who is a better parent than we are, anyway. We're staying at the Boulderado, and Pearl Street is just a block away. I will update later with all the fun stuff Pinga and I got to do.

This morning I had a spectacular breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I took a picture, but didn't bring my little cord to upload the photos, so that will come later.

I hope my kids are being nice for their aunt Tweena. I sure would hate for them to not get their souvenirs (hint, hint).

hank scorpio would be proud

I did it! My first 5k, and now I have a souvenir t-shirt of legitimate provenance. I've had 2 other 5k shirts that were given to me free, so it's nice to tip the scale a little. We did the Fly with the Flock at the Ogden Nature Center, and it was a perfect day for it. Not too cold, not too hot, an awesome trail with beautiful scenery--I loved it. My whole family was there, except The Dad and the kids, because Captain America and the Hulk had soccer games today. So I got to run with my mom and all my sisters, which was great. I, of course, was hideously slow, and was passed by old dudes, enormous computer programmers, moms with strollers and walking children. But that's aight with me.

Also--our family CLEANED UP at the awards ceremony. Raffle prizes won, medals collected, we were lousy with accolades. And by "we" I mean "they." But if I keep going until I'm my mom's age, then maybe I can win my age group because all the people my age will be in bad shape by then. Then I'll hand them all their rear ends in paper sacks!

They are the winningest winners of all.

Also--check it out! They had all kinds of birds there, I think to provide inspiration and motivation (all the proceeds from the race go to benefit the center), like owls and a peregrine falcon, and there was even a bald eagle, sitting on a guy's hand, like, "What's everybody looking at? I'm just the national bird, a raptor big enough to carry off a lamb, closer than you've ever seen one before. No big."

It's times like this that make me proud to be an American.

Next year I'm bringing the kids, because it's such a fun course to run on. They have a 2.5k for kids, and I think they can probably focus that long. Also they have a pancake breakfast with yummy pancakes and perfectly done bacon, and you can't beat that with a stick.

our clever second child

Working in the lucrative Chore Mines.

The Hulk

• talks more than anyone else I've ever met except maybe an auctioneer
  
• although he's our least adventurous eater, he's also our healthiest--he loves most fruits and vegetables
  
• often stops eating dessert and says he's full
  
• forgets that he's doing extra chores as punishment, and takes a great deal of enjoyment in doing his best
  
• has high standards for himself, and hates to leave a school project unfinished or imperfect
  
• earned his nickname because you won't like him when he's angry
  
• is melodramatic
  
• makes a top-notch Wilker Face and doesn't realize it
  
• is a terrific student
  
• is like his uncle Steven, often found huddling over vents, doing puzzles, taking endless baths . .
  
• is teaching himself to play the piano in order to get the prizes for practicing