I Keep Trying to Post

31 July 2007, Updated to add links to the elaborations & photos

Each day I try to finish a post about all the neat blessings of our summer vacation, but we are having too much fun to ever actually publish! So I'll start with a summary and see if I can at least get this out there so my mom will know I'm still breathing. Then maybe I'll be able to add a few photos and details in subsequent posts as down time allows:

- Ratatouille at the movie theatre (made me laugh and cry, recommended)

- Pool Party for a cousin-once-removed's birthday

- Swinging in the hammock at my aunt's farm

- Feeding the fish in my mom's little pond with waterfall

- Four-hour drive from Denver to Aspen, Colorado, over Independence Pass at 12,095 feet.

- Hiking near our house in Snowmass

- Taking the chairlift up the mountain to the start of a Frisbee Golf course which led us on a hike all the way back down the mountain to the base village

- A two-hour horseback ride (first time for my five-year-old nephew)

- Playing bridge with my husband, brother and daughter until I was so sleepy I laid my head on the table

- Attending the dress rehearsal of the Aspen Chamber Symphony's all-Beethoven performance (including the 5th Symphony). The dress rehearsals are at 9:30am for a 6pm performance, and cost only $10 for adults, $5 for kids, vs. $66 per person for the real performance! Plus you get to see all the fantastic musicians in their "real" clothing instead of tuxes, and you hear all the comments of the conductor, with some sections repeated as they fine-tune things. The musicians silently yawn, giggle, and read books between their active portions. It's a lot of added value, from my point of view. Not to mention that we can leave anytime between movements, without offending the performers, since they're just rehearsing. Which is important with a five-year-old and nine-year-old in tow. We didn't last the whole time.

- Hiking at the Grottos with a picnic lunch in light rain, sheltering under pine trees, then scrambling on the massive rocks overlooking the rushing river

- A visit to Independence, CO, an abandoned gold mining town from the 1800's

- Teaching my nephew how to play Crazy Eights

You can see why I never got far in writing...I'd love to elaborate and provide visual support, but my shower is calling after our hike today...