Snowmass in July

Every summer there is a climate and energy conference in Snowmass that a group my friends and colleagues attend, but for one reason or another I've never managed to make it.  We've of course done plenty of skiing at Snowmass in the winter, but I've always wanted to make it out for the summer Snowmass conference.  Well this year the stars finally aligned, and while I couldn't manage to bring the rest of the family, I managed to make it out there for a great conference and a few lovely days in the mountains.  I didn't have much free time, but each morning I woke up early and took some lovely hikes up the slopes to some familiar spots that seemed so strangely different on the opposite side of our orbit around the sun.

The Rockets Red Glare

We didn't have big plans for the 4th this year, but things seemed to come together none the less.  Mom & Don invited us over for a delicious international flared cookout with Dad, Nancy & Danny, and Katherine & Lee.  The food was wonderful as always of course, but the real treat were Mom's tasty margaritas and the amazing blueberry strawberry mojitos that Katherine made.  The big excitement for the kids though was going over to Judy's house back on our old block to watch the fireworks from her rooftop deck.  We could see the downtown fireworks off in the distance, but the real show were the fireworks going off all around us in the neighborhood.

Women's Camp

Our college roommate Tracey sent out a notice a few months ago, alerting her fellow former J1 residents (Audra, Cecily, and myself or as Audra refers to us collectively, "the most awesome group on earth") that she was headed to the states (from Thailand) in June in case we wanted to plan a reunion. Since our last one was back in 2010, a flurry of facebook activity soon followed and "Women's Camp" -- derived from a typo in one of our messages that stuck -- was born.

There were complications. Tracey suffered a couple of bouts of strep throat which ultimately resulted in her being hospitalized and having to delay her flight for a few days. Then the first night of camp, Tracey's six year old daughter Satya fell off a slide and broke her arm which meant an overnight hospital stay and a lot of drugs (more so than the doctor intended as Cecily and I decided not to wake Tracey when Satya was complaining of intense pain shortly after I arrived and double dosed her).

Morale was low and exhaustion was high, but it was nothing that some kale & strawberry smoothies and one bedazzled sling (plus a lot of alcohol) couldn't cure. As the sun came out, camp got underway with arts & crafts, a nature hike, cooking, gymnastics, Meijer, and some good-old reminiscing.

We only had a few days together and it's always a little sad when these reunions end, but given we've been doing them fairly regularly for the past 18 years, we shouldn't have to wait too long for the next one...

(I'd like to add a special shout-out to the men that made Women's Camp such a success -- Mike, Colin, Keegan and Kailash. To see all the pics from our reunion, click here.)

While Mommy's Away

While Mommy was away in Michigan with her college friends (a.k.a. Women's Camp), the kids and I had our own little adventure sleeping over at Aunt Katherine & Uncle L's new house.  We had all sorts of adventures, exploring the trails, playing bocce ball around the neighborhood, watching deer, and of course pulling up plenty of pachysandra.  Brad & Marlo came over for a little lunchtime BBQ on Saturday, and the kids all had a blast exploring.  On Saturday night we brought some chairs and a fire-pit out to a little patio area we had cleared of pachysandra that morning and roasted marshmallows for some delicious s'mores.  Sunday morning we braved the threatening rain, and went swimming at Brad & Marlo's pool.  It was a fun weekend, but Mommy was certainly missed, and by Monday everyone was excited to have her back home.