I Feel More Like I Do Now Than When I First Got Here

BREAKING NEWS (at least in our world it is…I’m not sure exactly when this happened – sometime over the spring or summer – but this is new news to us): Joe Bye has sold the Bucksnort. To his ex-wife (or separated wife). Many of you that don’t live in the area probably have had one exposure to the Bucksnort during our wedding weekend…we all went there the night before the wedding and had a blast. The rest of you don’t know that you missed the coolest bar/restaurant (mostly bar) ever. 

The Bucksnort lives in the legends and stories from both Ahna and I (and Ezra while he was making himself) as well as all of our friends and family. It’s a crappy, broke down, slow serving bar in the middle of nowhere – just outside of Pine, Colorado, which is just outside of Pine Junction, Colorado, which is just outside of Conifer, Colorado, which is just outside of Morrison, Colorado, which is just outside of Lakewood, Colorado, which is just outside of Denver, Colorado, which is just north of Castle Rock, Colorado. It sits in the trees along a dirt road, next to a stream and miles from anything else. It is frequented by bikers during the day, campers on the weekend, and partyers in the know on Friday and Saturday nights. 

Joe used to take up the guitar and play songs that everyone knew and would sing along to….forcing people to dance and drink lots and lots of Antler Ale (a brew made especially for this tiny place by Boulder Brewery). We spent many, many nights up there over the course of the last 9 years including staying too long in a snowstorm, a bachelor party, and lots of perfect gatherings of friends. 

The story that we heard the other day is that Joe sold it off and is no longer playing music at the ‘Snort. The new owner has attempted to fill the music with other acts, but none of them even come close to the energy that Joe brought….so it’s just not the same. Rumor has it that Joe opened a coffee shop in Evergreen or Conifer, but there is no word if he plays there. 

It’s really sad that we don’t have that place to immediately think of as a place to go. Don’t get us wrong, we will return – it’s too good not to. But it won’t be the same. 

PS – there are pictures from there, but some of them are rather embarrassing (Dan), so we will keep them for future blackmail purposes.

Denver Post article about the Bucksnort

By the way, the title for this post is a saying from the Bucksnort. It’s an odd saying that is written on the wall of the men’s restroom…something that took us almost two years of attending weekend nights there to remember. Hmmmm, wonder why.

One Year Ago

Roughly one year ago (we don’t have the exact date, but it was during the last week of Sept) we found out that we were pregnant. Wow, that’s weird to think about. Sometime in our previous lives we used to judge years by when school let out for summer, or when the Super Bowl was, or when the choir season began, or when a new lease was to be signed, or when our work performance evaluations were due, or when ski season started…now life itself is the determining factor of time. 

Don’t worry, this won’t be a ‘year in review’ post, but we will revisit last Sept quickly. For several reasons we were extremely excited and very nervous about the news last September. We decided to tell just our parents and immediate family that we were expecting…Ahna reminded me yesterday that we told our parents on my birthday. We waited to tell our friends until after the first trimester was complete just to make sure that everything was on the up and up. Boy was it ever. We remember one ultrasound where Ezra was jumping up and down and doing head-over-heel flips…full of anticipation,  we wondered what it would be like to see it in person. 

We talked a lot about the expected changes in life, during the next 10 months as well as afterwards….but one thing that we discussed a lot was how much we enjoyed and celebrated it being the two of us. We intenionally spent a lot of time together doing things that we didn’t think that we would be able to do once Ezra was born. But one thing that we couldn’t have anticipated was how much joy we would get from involving Ezra in our adventures. We thought it would be cool, but had no idea about the fulfillment that we feel. 

It seems like 10 years and 4 lives have passed since last September. It’s hard to remember life without Ezra (either expecting or after birth). It’s strange to think that our home hasn’t changed, our friends haven’t changed, our work hasn’t changed, our families haven’t changes…yet everything changed. 

Here’s the first and the latest pictures of Ezra:

Fall Colors In Colorado

The three of us trekked up to the mountains yesterday to introduce Ezra to the fall season here in Colorado. Every year the Aspen trees change their colors from green to yellow to orange before falling off for the winter. The peak time to see these leaves lasts only about a week at any given place (and that week changes from the northern parts of the state to the southern). 

We drove to one of our favorite places to catch the changes: Kenosha Pass. It’s located right off of 285 about 1.5 hours from our house….and it never fails to impress. I have been to Kenosha almost every year since I moved out here, and Ahna and I have been 4 or 5 times together…but we have never been there exactly at the peak of the change – like yesterday. It was stunning. 

We arrived in the parking lot and fed Ezra before heading off to our secret location. One of the early visits to Kenosha reviled a trail that takes us to an amazing view, but it’s an unofficial trail that isn’t marked at all…so needless to say (but I will anyway), it was us and only us once we hit the trail. We enjoyed the scene and the hike for a couple of hours before heading back home – there was much to do in the evening.

Okay, not much ‘to do’, more like: a show to watch on TV. Yup, The Office started up again last night after a long time away; and we missed it. The hour long premier didn’t disappoint and was one of the funniest episodes that we can remember. It’s good to have it back.

A Quick Photo Dump…pt 2

Here’s the rest of the photos…I think they were worth waiting for.

A Quick Photo Dump…pt 1

Part two will probably come tomorrow, all from the same photo sequence. 

The toe grabbing is in full force, as is the refusal to sleep…it’s been a little frustrating recently. Of course as I say that, he is sleeping.

Continuing The Theme

70% less energy use. 65% less water use. 

The new washer and dryer are in and have already been put to work. Ahna spent a large portion of her free time yesterday cleaning up and organizing into baskets the laundry area…and it looks great. See, in order to get the new appliances, we had to remove the bi-fold closet doors that used to enclose the older washer and dryer set. Due to the size of the front-loaders, we decided to remove the doors…thus ensuring the need to organize and keep clean the appearance of the closet. It sits right off of our kitchen and next to the primary restroom for guests, so people will see it. No big deal, that’s why we got black. Ahna and I moved out the old washer and dryer and placed them on Craigslist for sale. We then installed a new gas line, new burst-proof washer lines, and cleaned out the area underneath the units (somewhat surprising how much stuff gets back/under there. I suppose that you should move the appliances every once in a while to clean: like more often than a few years). The delivery guys showed up and installed the new stuff. We were expecting better cleaning, drying, less detergent, less gas, etc…but what surprised us was the difference in sound: a ton less; which is nice when you don’t have doors. 

IAFF Memorial

The third Saturday in September brings the annual IAFF Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Colorado Springs (yea, CO Springs. Way back in the late 80’s, the local in CO Springs put a bid in for the international memorial and received it). I have attended every year except for one since moving out here, and Ahna and I have attended every year since meeting each other. This year we took Ezra for his first taste of the memorial…

The service recognizes all of the IAFF members that died in the line of duty during the previous year. This past year, Ontario, Canada passed a presumptive cancer legislation – which opened up the doors to dozens of firefighters over the past several decades. The IAFF decided to include all of these firefighters on the memorial; but they have decided to add a few each year. This year they added about 20 of those names to the memorial along with the other firefighters that died this past year…bringing the total number of people added to the wall at 137 – the largest single year addition ever (outside of the 490+ in 2002, which included the 343 FDNY firefighters killed on 9/11). 

About 5,000 people attended this year’s memorial from all over the world (including my Mom and Dad for the second consecutive time; and Cyrilla went down with us for the 5th or 6th time). The service was meaningful, as each family is presented with a flag after the name of their loved one was read. Fire department honor guards from all over the nation also assemble to participate in the ceremony, and CRFD’s had three representatives in this year. It’s an amazing site to see all of the flags and to hear the enormous pipe and drum corps. 

As humbling and emotional as the service is every year, the after-ceremony-bonding is equally relieving and satisfying. Each year we head to an Irish bar in downtown Colorado Springs – Jack Quinn’s – that essentially shuts down to the public and is the place to be if you are a firefighter. While the addition of Ezra means the subtraction of some time at Quinn’s, we still had an opportunity to share a beer and food with a lot of good friends. Ezra did great at the ceremony and at Quinn’s and slept all of the way home…

Can I Change Your Socks?

Okay, it’s a favorite line from a movie (not very good one) to quote and for some reason came to mind with thinking about this post. 

Two days ago Ezra found his feet with his hands for the first time. He started to reach out and grab ahold of his toes while laying on his back…most frequently during diaper changes, which doesn’t make that job any easier. I was at work when it happened, which was the first time that Ezra has done something for the first time while I have been at work. I know that every parent has to experience that at some point, but not being able to go home and seen it until the following morning was a little reminder of the downside to the schedule that I have.

Swimming, Take 2

Yesterday morning the three of us headed to the pool for a second attempt at the pool. This time we were able to go to the recreation center (so we were indoors and not fighting with the sun) and we timed it a little better around his naps in order to give him the best shot at a positive outcome. It worked. We hung out in the shallow end of the zero-entrance pool where it was 1 foot deep and after a minute or two of him figuring out what the water was, he started to enjoy himself: standing in the water, sitting in the water, watching other kids, bouncing, etc. We stayed for almost 30 minutes (including the mandatory under-18 timeout of 10 minutes) and to the best of our understanding, he enjoyed all of it. 

Last evening we started the interview process for a day care placement. We are looking for in-home day care, and have had a little tougher time finding options than we anticipated. The place that we visited with yesterday came recommended from a few of Ahna’s co-workers at school. It’s located up in Parker and really close to school which has some positives and negatives….but since we are aiming to only put Ezra in day care on the days that both of us work, it is mostly positive in relation to location. We were pretty satisfied with the visit and are comfortable if we chose to go with her; but we are going to continue to look around so we have a good idea of what is out there (including a commercial center for the reference). 

Oh, remember that post about Ezra starting to sleep through the night? Remember how I referenced the hesitation in broadcasting the news around for fear of jinxing the trend? Well, apparently that is exactly what happened. The last week or so Ezra has been hitting that 3am wake-up again…and we can’t figure out why. He has started ‘marching’ in the night – which equates to him bucking with both legs and smacking the co-sleeper. It wakes us up, and soon after wakes him up….I suppose that the answer lies somewhere between growing, exploring his body, and gas. Keep you fingers crossed that it doesn’t last too long….

VH1 Presents: Behind The Announcement

It seems as though the announcements have reached their destination coast-to-coast, so it’s time to post it here for all of you who we would love to share it with, but don’t have addresses. 

The quick story: the photos were taken on Dave and Mary Jo’s couch while we were back in Wisconsin for Ezra’s baptism and Bestemore’s birthday. A little of finishing done in Photoshop and they were ready for their big debut. We searched the web for announcements that we liked and chose a couple of designs and colors, eventually settling on a combination of a few of those. I created it in Photoshop using a 4×6 format so we could print it off at a local photo printing shop and so that it would fit into a normal envelope. We are pretty happy with the result…one more thing: the toughest part of the design wasn’t the pictures, or the colors, or the layout…it was the font choice. I went through a bunch of options not being satisfied with any of them – but then I remembered a movie and a design story…so the font on the announcement is Helvetica.