Stax and Stax and Stax

What happens when Steve goes out of town for work, there's a big sale on Lay's Stax at King Soopers, and Missy and Charline get a six pack of Hornsby's Cider? Well, a whole lotta Stax eatin' gets done! Charline introduced us to the beauty that is Sweet Thai Chili, Salt and Vinegar, Cheddar Cheese, Sour Cream and Onion, and Tomato Basil Stax. It was stax-tastic, I must say! Riley loved the spicy Thai Chili, but was not a fan of "the red ones." (ie. Tomato Basil)
We lined those bad boys up like shots and had at it.
My artistic representation of gluttony at its finest...

Snow crazies!

What could be more fun that making snow angels in the yard! We've gotten a bit of snow over the past couple of weeks, and it's been so cold that a lot of it is still around. Steve took the opportunity to teach Riley how to make snow angels a few days ago. Then it was tackle time!

My too cute man!

I haven't had much time to blog lately, although lots has been going on! The site's been slow for uploading, and I haven't got the patience! However, I LOVE this picture! It completely captures Riley's personality. What a ham!!! More to come soon, I hope to get some done over winter break!

Trading Orientally

So, when the grocery store checker at the Safeway store where I've shopped for the past NINE YEARS asked me what my "language" was (English), no, my "native language," (English, you ignorant hosebag), I had to laugh. And I began to think about stereotypes. Since there aren't a whole lot of Asians in these parts, and of course there's that dead horse thing again, my friends and I have obviously taken this joke to the extreme. I have no real explanation that would make sense, it just makes sense to us. It's always amusing to see the reaction of strangers (or parents at the Skate Party), when Charline or Jenn pipes up, "Would you speak English, you know I don't understand your NATIVE LANGUAGE!" To which I inevitably respond, "I'm Filipino, man!" I know, you really have to be there...

At my school, there are always catalogs in the lounge with teachery-type things, knick knacks, etc. So, when I'm not doing kung-fu, eating rice, or driving poorly to do someone's nails, I like to look at the Oriental Trading catalog because they have a lot of really high-quality bric-a-brac that probably don't have lead in them, right?:

But wait, shouldn't it really be this?:
Now that's offensive.

Kinda like that Asian-themed birthday party some of my cousins might remember the night after Keith and Holli's wedding! The girl in the hat is someone we don't know, but the other Asian folk are Peachie and Brian, my cuz'z! HA! Some guy decided he wanted an "Asian" birthday party, so they all dressed up. Felicia was beside herself!

Hee hee! By the way, that would be DRUNK Brian. ;)

Living the Good Life

Brad and Nicole treated a big group of us to a weekend getaway in Vail. The ladies spa'd and the guys played in the gym all day with the kids. The weather was gorgeous, and we found a great park nearby for the kiddos. It was a great break from the "same ol', same ol'!"

Swings!
Walking the rocks with Aunt Nic.
The park had really neat wrought iron fences
Going home through the Eisenhower tunnel!

Go Broncos?

The Rockies gave it a valiant run, but in the end, the Sawx were too much. We attempted to turn our attention to the Broncos, but alas, they...suck. Guess it's time to say GO NUGGETS!
Riley hopes that the Bronco Robe Magic will help out the donkeys, but it doesn't seem to be working very well.

Our Own...Personal...Poet

Charline, our ever creative BFF decorated the lounge bulletin board for the month of October as only a Massachusetts girl can. Poetry that effectively kills off the 80's. Read on:

Colorado has more than just mountains

This was the sunrise the other morning after dropping Riley off at school. The sun was HOT PINK, it was absolutely amazing!
What a beautiful place we live in.

Pain

Maybe if I had some cool skates with pink flames on them, I wouldn't have fallen on my arse and injured my back at the Skate Party tonight. Or perhaps I shouldn't have tried spinning with some of my students...after all, it's been a good 18 years since my "hanging out at the Skate Rink" days. Ahh...skating to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Vanilla Ice, M.C. Hammer. Those were the days.

Guess I undid my fabulous hot stone massage I got last weekend. Hoping to get pics uploaded and the blog updated this weekend, got lots of pictures from Vail, Riley's Halloween party, and some other fun randomness!

It's time

So, when it comes to life at Glacier Peak, whenever something ridiculous happens, Charline and I, among others, have a tendency to "beat a dead horse." Actually, it's more like we beat the dead horse, skin it, boil it, make it into glue, then glue all the parts back together, revive it, only to beat it again. There is no joke too old or too ridiculous. It's not to be mean, it's just that we need to laugh, a lot, in our line of work! This is what happens when all the jokes come together and are inflicted upon the new fifth grade teacher, Cory, on his birthday during Happy Hour at the Lonestar.
Just a few key phrases:
Trick or Trunk
Kitty Flicker
Asian Silk
Basted Meat
Book Fair
Wish List
Big Dog
Rubber Band
READ
Hot Glue.
All that's missing is a cupcake with a large dollop of half-licked day-glo orange frosting at the next Skate City Party.

If you like this, you'll like...

Charline's my inspiration. You should check hers out too...but don't be surprised to see a lot of the same stuff!!
http://crazypants-charline.blogspot.com

Jump around, jump around!

On Saturday we picked up Owen for a cousin day, and met up with Julie, Troy, Ty and Tanner at Jump Street. How do I even describe Jump Street? It's only the coolest place ever! They have a kiddie area with inflatable jumpy castles for the little ones, but then there's the trampoline madness! A bunch of trampolines all hooked together, and other trampolines mounted at a 45 degree angle around the edges. Then people just jump around. It's crazy! People flipping off the walls, flying across the room. It's so awesome! They also have a trampoline dodge ball court. We had a blast!
Here's the boys in the inflatable basketball court.
Riley driving the Mac truck with sirens. We didn't get it either.
Down they go! The best thing to do is to watch the video below. You'll see someone flipping, Julie double bouncing Tanner, Ty doing some preschooler acrobatics, Owen bouncing as high as he can without losing his pants, and a triple toddler knockdown!

After a good trampoline adventure, the boys were ready for dinner. Naturally, we took them to Hooters!!
Hmmm...what looks good?
Yay for Hooters!
What a great day with our buddies!
Hey, if you're reading this, let me know! Click on the comments link just below and leave a note!

Happy Birthday Mary!

After Trick or Trunk it was off to Mary's 70's-themed 30th Birthday party!
Hot Lips and Hawkeye redux. I do NOT look good as a blond.
Mary as Roller Girl. Love the shorts!
Ron Burgundy and Roller Girl take a spin.
Phil as..Phil, Susan and Mark

Some Trickin' and Trunkin'

Ever since Glacier Peak opened, we've had a great event called Trick or Trunk. Parents volunteer to decorate their cars, kids donate candy, and then they all come in costume and trick or treat at the cars. It's a great community event, AND we have the added bonus of not having to deal with costumes at school. I know, I know, we all loved wearing our costumes to school. But in this day and age of needing to take advantage of every day we have with the students, increased safety awareness in schools, and diverse populations, not to mention the fact that kids in costumes are completely insane, we really prefer Trick or Trunk! I've had the privelege of helping plan the event for the past several years, and it's always a great evening!
Here's Mary as Cookie Monster (It's Doug's costume, and I have NO IDEA how he wore it!), Cindy as a tourist, and Jenn as a spider. Dozer was there as the chubbiest spider I've ever seen!
Riley was Tiger Woods, and I was an old school golfer. I gotta admit, we're pretty cute!
Lindsay with her little punkin, Lilly
The eye of the Tiger.
My CK buddy, me and Ri!

Frustration!

Much like the website kicking everyone trying to buy Rockies World Series tickets, Blogger is giving me problems uploading my pics. I have some WICKED good ones from this past weekend, so check back soon! And if you're from Charline's side of the fam, don't be shy, leave a comment!!

A boy and his dog

I just love this picture of Ethan and his dog, Logan. During the Meyer's Bronco party, we all looked out the window and Ethan and Logan were just sitting outside in the lawn, just the two of them. How cute is that!?

Pumpkin time!

Last weekend we went to the Harvest Festival at Karl's Dairy Farm. They had little booths, a petting zoo, jumping castles, and a pumpkin patch to pick your own pumpkin.
Riley, Gran and I rode a miniature donkey cart. Wait. The cart wasn't miniature, the donkeys were. What? Right.
Jumping is always fun! Riley's become more of a dardevil after jumping on Owen's trampoline at his house.
Auntie Holli took Riley in to the petting zoo where they had goats, rabbits, pigs and piglets, a donkey and her baby, cows, and horses. And then an outdoor sink to wash up!
This pumpkin is just right!

Rocktober Sweeps!

After going to the Wild Card game, we decided that we brought the Rockies a little luck. So we went to the last game of the Rockies-Phillies Division Series, which the Rockies won, sweeping the Phillies and moving on to the Conference Series. Steve surprised me by asking Charline to babysit Riley and treated me to a date night. It was great!
The clock tower.
I think this is Kazuo Matsui up at bat

Victory!
And since that went so well, we decided we HAD to go to the fourth game of the Rockies-Diamondbacks game to make sure they swept them too and headed for the WORLD SERIES! Mary and Doug joined us in section 347, which is the edge of the world inside Coors Field. It was awesome! The playoff atmosphere was supercharged, and after the win it was over the top! I haven't seen partying like that since the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup.
Rally Towels!
Doug is a CRAZY baseball fan!
Mary and Me!
Me and the Hubster
Awww...
Getting ready to present the National League Championship Trophy
Here we are! Smoke from the fireworks in the distance.
World Series, here we come!