{ a swoop and a dart }

Camp Dillow-Karahalis, Easter Now + Halloween Then Version

We had an hour to stop on our way back from Albuquerque on Sunday to hold a super-short session of Camp Dillow-Karahalis; time to hang out together is growing short for these Air Force cousins, since the Karahalises are headed south for a new assignment in June and Thea is graduating from high school and headed to college on top of it. They have spent time together in so many places, doing so many fun things over the years—it is almost more than I can bear that it will be harder and harder to get them all together after June.

While there are plenty of photos before all six of them were born, I dug up the earliest known photo of the whole group for comparison. Sniff. Time really does fly. Also: Bridget in her baby witch costume will never not be funny.

: )

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2017 Spring Break Report

Oh, how I love break weeks—Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring... we are usually so ready for them that we can't see straight and this time was no different. Our spring break this year was (mostly) delightful and the theme ended up being ticketed events and "how many times can we drive to Colorado in one week?" Matt took an entire week of leave (rare!!) and when we weren't doing something that required tickets, we were sleeping or reading or eating or lollygagging...skills we like to hone on breaks whenever possible. A summary of events:

The Cavs Game

We kicked off spring break a few days early by heading to Denver on a school night to see the Cavs play the Nuggets, our long-awaited Christmas gift. We were all VERY EXCITED. I attended my first Cavs game in 1974* when they moved from Cleveland Arena to the now torn-down Richfield Coliseum; somewhere in this house is my charter member of Richfield Coliseum card to prove it, but I have torn things apart more than once looking for it and the universe still hasn't coughed it up. It's a little bit of a parent fail that the girls are 14, 12, and 9 attending their first game, but whatever.

A few answers: yes, Maddie was on crutches. She had a fairly catastrophic ankle sprain (again) the night before, and had not transitioned to a walking boot yet. Yes, this jeopardizes her chance to compete at Regionals on April 15. Yes, we are crossing our fingers she'll be healed up enough to compete. No, the Cavs didn't win. in fact, they kind of played like crap—but it was still worth it to be that close to them all. The Nuggets rudely made fun of Cleveland fans for not knowing anyone on the roster besides LeBron and the girls were seriously offended because of course we know each and every one of them. Well, except for Deron Williams and Derrick Williams—we're still getting to know them.

Anyway. Super fun.

Maddie's Orlando Trip

Less fun: getting back late and setting an alarm for 3:45 a.m. to get Maddie to school for the music department's Festival Disney trip. On crutches (I had her walking boot shipped to the hotel in FL). She had a good time overall—the boot saved the day. They had two travel days, one big festival day, and the rest of the time to be set loose in Disney and Universal. Not too shabby a way to spend spring break.

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats Concert

On Friday we headed to Laramie with some friends to see Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats; while their Red Rocks show in August has long been sold out, it pays to pay attention to University of Wyoming events because we easily got tickets with 1400 other people for the Arts & Sciences Auditorium show. I spent a little time worrying that we would be the oldest people in the room but it was a very diverse crowd of all ages. The last time we saw something in A&S was a live show of Prairie Home Companion back in 2000 or 2001. Garrison Keilor is fine, but this was 100x more fun!

Bonus: dinner OUTSIDE IN MARCH IN LARAMIE, WY at the Alibi. It is among my most favorite things in the world to eat outside with friends.

The Power of Costume Star Wars Exhibit

Deb arranged an impromptu session of Camp Dillow-Karahalis (sadly with only 50% of the campers because of other activities) so Gracie, Bridget and I headed back to Colorado to see some Star Wars costumes on Sunday. I'm so glad we did—it was awfully fun. Even though I'm not really the biggest fan of the Star Wars movie empire, I always love seeing behind-the-scenes concept art, costumes, and details of anything. There were some truly fantastic costumes but my favorites were the classics:

I do love that C3PO.

The Karahalises PCS in June to Alabama and I'm trying not to burst into tears every time I think about it.

Spring is much farther along in Colorado than in Wyoming (understatement) and it was just lovely to stand and gawk at some blossoms after we left the Denver Art Musuem.

We also had to stop and gawk at the beautiful mural that just was completed in Denver.

By this point in the week Ellie was starting to get very concerned about the fact we lost a sheep, and spent a lot of time on Maddie's bed willing her to appear.

Rustic River Cabins, Drake, CO

Next up: our two day adventure to Estes Park and Drake, CO! This was the crown jewel event of our sleeping/eating/reading/lollygagging plans. Matt was suffering through some terrible cold by this point, which was NOT part of the plan, but we still managed to sleep/eat/read/lollygag to our hearts' content.

There was some skipping rocks instruction.

It snowed a ton on Monday night, which was exciting in every way. The gnome directed us to take our snowy heads into the cabin and read our books, which we did.

my book club book for April

There was a hike up a snowy mountainside (Ellie had the time of her life) and a good nap after (same).

We left the sickie at the cabin for a few hours and checked out downtown Estes Park, finding most of our favorite things: books, paper products, sweets. There was also some sanctioned vandalism in the name of the rodeo; it wasn't like we were the first to decorate the lamp post : )

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast was our official spring break movie this year (we waited for Maddie to get home to see it) and all of us + Megan gave it two thumbs up. Even Matt giggled at a few parts. I will say that the live action Cinderella was ever-so-slightly better, but this was still very, very good. Gaston was kind of a nonsense character in the animated version but he stole the show in this movie. I seriously would go see a movie every weekend if only I could figure it out.

 A few other things we did over spring break: 

+ attended a CFD event
+ attended the retirement ceremony and dinner for a dear friend who has served the Air Force for 43 years (it was seriously beautiful and touching and I was weepy a good 75% of the time)
+ moped over a weather April Fool's joke which caused our long-awaited full session of Camp Dillow-Karahalis to be cancelled (wah-waaaaaah)
+ finished the First Floor Curtain Project which has dragged out waaaaaaaay too long but is DONE DONE DONE
+ cleaned the house up, hosted book club, which resulted in my favorite kind of clean: book club clean

It was a good spring break.

 

*The internet tells me the game was October 29, 1974 vs. the Boston Celtics, which they lost 92-107.

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Greg's Going to Greenland Party

Here is a map of a part of the world most people aren't all that familiar with:

Our friend Greg is going there soon, after some training to prepare. To Greenland, specifically. For a year. (That makes him something of a rock star at REI!) Greenland looks like a super cool place when you visit the official tourist site, but what they aren't showing you is this:

When Santa Claus is one of your nearest neighbors, you know it's going to be cold. But the Air Force is calling, so Greg will be going. And when your friend is going to Greenland for a year, you have to throw him a special party.

You have to order some pretty amazing weekend weather...

And solve all the world's problems while sitting in the sunshine on the porch with some excellent music....

You have to eat good old-fashioned summer barbecue food (cheeseburgers and hot dogs and potato salad and baked beans and corn salad)(we were too busy eating to take pictures of that part).

We did take pictures of the special dessert courtesy of our sweet friend Deanna—flaming oranges! Because goodness knows there isn't a whole lot of heat or citrus in the Arctic Circle.

We finished up our going away party with a photo shoot, because we wouldn't want the Karahalis kids to forget how goofy their dad can be...

...or how much he'll be missing them...

...or how excited they'll all be when he returns to the balmy plains of Colorado.

Safe travels and warm thoughts—we'll be missing you, too!

Ten on Wednesday

1. It is ridiculously windy this week. I was afraid someone's dog might blow past the window yesterday, it was so bad. Last night Bridget and I got back from dropping off Maddie and Gracie at the gym and Hawthorn House was gone—I searched the yard and the 20th AF parking lot for it, but as it turns out Matt was home for a few minutes before he had to go back out and pushed it into the garage (because it had already blown away from its spot underneath the trees). Today Bridget suggested we just hang out in the car until it stopped, until I told her that would probably be tomorrow. If we're lucky.

2. We had a fine, fine, time for our second annual Presidents' Day Weekend in Colorado Springs trip for Georgie's eleventh birthday. We've celebrated her 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and now 11th birthday with her. That's pretty impressive for a bunch of Air Force transients. It's hard to believe that Maddie, Georgie, and Thea were 1, 2, and 3 when they met!

We did a lot of hanging out, and a lot of eating. And drinking milk. Oh, how we miss our Royal Crest milk.

3. There was also a brief opportunity for some playgroup mamas to meet up. I miss them way more than Royal Crest milk. We hit the movies and Mimi's, and it was just like old times. Nicole and I noted that we have known each other a very, very long time—since August 1996.

4. We didn't get to see everyone we know and love in Colorado Springs, but we did get to hang out with our old, dear neighbors for a bit—and briefly see some more playgroup friends, too. Gracie and Spencer are both 7! And I'm convinced that Bridget and Lauren are going to grow up believing that they were neighbors too, and be totally confused to discover someday that they weren't even born before we'd already moved away.

5. We got home five minutes ahead of my planned arrival time on Monday. And then I promptly chained Maddie to her science fair board so she could finish it up. We are both glad her first experience with science fair is behind her. : )

6. My camera battery was extra-extra charged upon our return, because I left it in the charger at home on accident. Awesome.

7. My trusty Cusinart blender officially gave up the ghost tonight. It was ten years old, which I think probably translates to 50 in blender years. I put the Ebay King on it—he already has a list of new trusty blender candidates for me.

8. It pays to be married to the Ebay King in so many ways.

9. Bridget made this amazing Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly today at preschool:

The only problem? [whispering: It is totally going to give me nightmares of Insane Clown Posse-esque proportions if I hang it up. I just can't do it. And this makes me a very bad mama.] But look at that lovely painting job she did on the dress and shoes!

10. I was searching for a picture of Hawthorn House to link to (I know it's in here somewhere) and found this funny thing I said about competitive gymnastics. Thanks, blog, for the healthy serving of crow. Ha.

photos by ImagingB Photography