I'm saying back to reality because staying at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs was most definitely not my reality!
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you need to read my blog updates more often! :P Quick background - because of Facebook, I found an old friend who couldn't brush me off so easily like she has in the past. (Love you, Katie!) She hasn't been very good about keeping in touch, but she was getting better at it and we both started talking about my flying out there to see her (it's been 10 years). We planned on my coming out there before Bryce turned two in mid May, leaving on a weekend and being gone a couple week days, which meant Devin would have to be taken to day care until I returned. Then my husband found out that the conference he would be going to over the week of his birthday would be in Colorado Springs. My sweet hubby suggested I come along with him, that is, of course, if I could find someone to take care of the boys while we were gone.
I was short on time because the tickets needed to be bought fairly quickly. I called my parents who said they'd have to check their calenders and while I waited I called my sister Amanda who said she would do it if my parents were unavailable. Thankfully my parents came through for me, so a ticket to Colorado was mine!
My parents arrived late last Saturday afternoon. On Sunday morning we took them to their first NE Ohio pancake breakfast which is a big deal around here. They tasted the sweet nectar of our local trees atop pancakes that soaked up the thin syrup like a sponge. By the end of the day they said they felt they had a handle on the boys' routine, so Tim and I packed up and headed to the airport to catch an 8:00 A.M. flight Monday morning.
It got very windy that night but the rain stopped and we were airborne without a problem and headed for Houston. Every seat on that plane was taken. Anything left open was filled by passengers waiting on stand by. Like my hubby, the man in the window seat must be a frequent traveler because his eyes were closed when we buckled ourselves in and didn't open once during the two hour and forty minute flight south. He shifted a bit, but he never looked upon the wonder outside that window. I hadn't flown since our flight to Florida back in 2004 when we boarded a cruise ship, so my eyes were glued to that small portal for some time.
We had about an hour layover in Texas and then we boarded a much smaller plane, two seats on one side of an aisle, one seat on the other. Tim told me that most of his travel time was spent on these smaller and much louder planes. I had the window seat this flight and even though I've seen it before, I was just in awe at the marvel that is air travel. Until we were embraced by the clouds, I looked down at the landscape like it was all a model, a child's play land or an adults hobby town. But then, ugh, I remembered I hadn't taken out a piece of chewing gum. It not only helps the ears but it calms my stomach and head.
We landed in the second largest state without incident and walked to our rental car. Seeing what they assigned us I had to wonder if Enterprise felt we deserved something nicer than the typical four door vehicle. Did they know I was a mini van mom, soon to be driving to practices and games (more of that later), or see Tim as the truck guy that is and will forever be? They gave us a silver Dodge Charger. It didn't take long for my hubby to roll down the windows and crank up that base! He sure did look good behind the wheel! :P
We cruised to the hotel where we were greeted by a gentleman in a suit. He welcomed us to The Broadmoor, gave us a colored map and verbal directions to where our room was inside the West Tower. He also put a cream colored placard with a computer print out of our last name. We drove up what I'm sure in warmer months is a well groomed drive and pulled in under a two columned overhang and were greeted by two handsome valets. One opened the door for me and then took our bags out of the trunk while the other opened the door for Tim and then drove the Dodge away. Both took notice of our name behind the windshield and greeted us formally. That was the first sign of the little details that makes The Broadmoor stand out among other hotels (but not like I've been to a lot!).
If I remember right, the hotel was built in 1918 and it still had probably the same look as when those gold colored trim glass doors first opened! I like flowers and all, but there was way too many of those prints for my liking. I don't think there was a single stretch of carpet that wasn't all flowers or bordered in flowers. All the chairs were high backed and comfortable, most a thick dark wood with tasteful designs carved along the majority of the exposed wood. To save time for all of us, let's just say we were treated like celebrities.
We asked the valet to keep the car close as we were just dropping off our bags. One thing I wasn't prepared for was how often I interacted with a hotel employee and felt I needed to tip. Tim didn't have anything to give the man who wheeled our bags up to our room. I had a five dollar bill but thought that was too much to give him. However, during the walk to the elevator he told us some of the history of the hotel, where we could find what we needed while there and some local attractions we might want to visit. He was very well spoken and a wonderful representative of the hotel. He deserved that five dollar bill of mine.
Once back out in the car, I set up Richard (my TomTom GPS unit) and looked up the Air Force Academy and saw it was about 15 miles away. We took the exit to the visitor's center and were surprised that the building was inside the main gate. We pulled up to a female soldier who asked Tim for his ID, his reason for being there, where the rental car was from and looked in both the back seat and the trunk. I lived four years on a base in Utah and never had my car searched, but I can understand her precautions. Along the two mile stretch to the visitor's center we passed a couple of scenic pull overs which we enjoyed on that windy day. I don't remember for sure, but I think the only picture I saved from that trip is the one of the chapel. The day was grey with brown grass and naked trees. It just didn't make for a pretty picture.
There was a small museum in the visitor's center. It consisted mostly cadet pictures and what they have to do to be accepted and what they do while there. It also had a dedication to the first academy graduate to get the purple heart. Tim wanted to get himself a shirt, but they were very pricey. I had my eyes on a pair of earrings but changed my mind. I did pick up a toy jet for Devin.
Afterwards we headed back out and stopped at a liquor store and picked up a bottle of wine. We were going to see Brandon, a high school classmate of Tim's, and his wife for dinner and weren't sure what to bring. We picked a bottle that goes with everything and found we need not have worried as they love all wine and had two wine racks plus a bar full of other yummy adult beverages. While the men took the biggest hunks of meat I have ever seen outside to the grill, I stayed in the kitchen and drank a Corona with a fresh lime and chatted with the lady of the house and the cutest one year old blondie I have ever met. The children's names are alluding me, but they have a four year old boy and their daughter just turned one. Even though her mama says she was sick, the little thing was an adorable ray of sunshine on that chilly evening. Her laugh was the softest I had heard in a toddler and it was contagious.
Tim doesn't know this but I saved him from a serving of peas! Along with fresh steak we were being served salad with veggies, mashed potatoes and it would have been peas if I hadn't shared the fact that Tim has banned the small green balls from touching any of his dinner plates. So instead we got sweet corn kernels and they had chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies for dessert. Oh, yes. I also had a few too many glasses of wine.... If you've read my geocaching blog then you already know that I missed breakfast with my hubby and couldn't get out of bed until almost noon! If not, click here after you've spent all your time reading this one! :P It was an enjoyable evening and I'm glad we got to see Brandon after all these years and meet his wonderful family.
To find out what I did with a hangover echoing through my head, read the blog I mentioned above. Afterwards, I headed over to see an old classmate of mine. One I hadn't seen in just about ten years! Katie has lived in Colorado a few years now. Before then she was in Virginia, but has now found a good place in the high altitudes of the Centennial State.
I hadn't traveled all that way to do anything special. Just seeing her and reminiscing was my primary objective. I actually arrived at her house about a minute before Katie did, so it was her "Mini Me" who answered the door. Rae-Ann looks so much like her mom, I thought I had gone back in time. That moment was one of many I would have of Katie in her younger years. Some of those looks...whoa!
Katie and I decided to go out for a couple hours by ourselves. There was a Mexican restaurant down the street where we could talk about the good 'ole days. Besides Rae, there was the oldest Martin, or Marty, and then the middle child, Taylor, whom Katie referred to as Stump. I hadn't heard her younger brother Kris's nickname in a very long time! I could see Kris there in Taylor and I think the trophies on the wall reflect some of his uncle's great sportsmanship.
However, the kids weren't all that keen on letting us go. I asked them if I could have their mom for an hour or two because I hadn't seen her for many years. They said OK, but we would soon find out that they didn't mean it. They acted out as kids tend to do. It started not long after we sat down with a phone call from one of the boys saying that he got into a fight with his brother and Marty's glasses were broken. The eatery was slow and dinner arrived not long after, but Katie had only just begun enjoying her Spanish rice when her cell phone rang again. Her other son was calling to tell her that they had now broken the leg off the small table by the front door. Katie predicted that Rae would soon call because the other two did, and she was right! We finished up and headed back to the house where Katie asked me to stay behind in her Jeep. What was said between her and the children is for her and them alone, I'll just tell you that while eating some ice cream at the local Dairy Queen, Katie experienced another blast from the past. We couldn't text on cell phones back when we were young, but Rae-Ann used this technology to fulfill the wish Katie's mom once hoped for years ago; that her daughter would have a daughter of her own that would do unto her all that Katie had done to her mom. In Rae-Ann was all the drama young Katie had layered on her mom over the years. Hmmm. Maybe I should stop complaining about having all boys? :)
I was out late that night, but there was still a shivering valet waiting to take my car. I saw no one in the hallways or the elevator and my hubby was snoring when I let myself into the room. The next morning I headed over to Katie's again. I didn't have to share her with the kids as they are all in school. We had plans to meet another old school mate, Tom, but when Katie called and said we were on our way into Denver, he said he wasn't feeling well and to have lunch without him. So instead Katie showed me the good and the not so good side of the city. We eventually slid into a Wendy's and had a simple lunch with a lot of talk. Right as we were about to order Tom called and said he was ready for lunch. He was on the other side of town and we were hungry, so we said we'd come over when we finished. What I remember most about the city is the new football stadium. It's not a closed circle but is open on two of the sides and the tops of those sides make a wave instead of being circular. Also, when no one is in the seats you can see the color is blue, but in the middle of one side you can see a horse made up of white colored seats with two red ones for the eyes.
With the delay before seeing Tom we could only stay a couple hours. It was great seeing him after all these years and apparently he has a much better memory than I do! Some things I remembered, like him being the first boy to give me a pair of earrings, but other things, like my telling him to get off the back of my tandem bike and leaving him behind, I don't remember. He says it's because he was shaking the bike and made us fall, and if that's true then it serves him right! LOL
We headed back to Katie's to discover along the route that my dinner plans had been cancelled. I came into the house with Katie and we discussed with the kids what we should do. A few ideas were tossed back and forth but none of them panned out because of time, money or lack of desire. Katie suggested I tell them what geocaching was all about. At the time I didn't think she was truly interested, but we had nothing else to do and the kids perked up at such a strange word.
I told them briefly what it was and showed them on their computer where to go. They said they wanted to try it so we all climbed into Katie's Jeep and I put my GPS in her window and told them what it was and what it would do for us. (I'm not going into a full description about it. If you'd like one, please see my other blog.) I had found two caches hidden not far from each other less than two miles from the house. When I shared the name with them Taylor knew right away where it probably was. The names are usually a clue of some sort, either in location or a hint of some sort of the actual hiding spot. Once there I showed them my handheld GPS and how my hubby gave me this one because it was more rugged and made for being carried by hand, unlike my TomTom on their mom's windshield which can break if dropped and the antenna would be covered if I were to carry it outside the car.
Skipping over the details here, I'll say all three kids and their mom were hooked! Katie has since, with the kids and with adults, found five caches and she's only been doing it a week!
On Thursday Katie was supposed to work but she decided to play hookey and came up (or was it down?) to the hotel to have lunch with Tim and I. After that she wanted to find one more cache with me. It was great seeing her and now she won't be able to get rid of me! :P
Later that evening my GPS led me to an old stone church that had been refurbished and turned into a restaurant and bar. There I met one more childhood friend. Erika left the school we both went to back in the 3rd grade. It was my good luck that my hubby had a biz trip in that state and even better luck that three people from my past were able to meet up with me. She didn't have a lot of time, but in that short span we shared memories of people, places and things. It was great seeing all of them again. We've exchanged phone numbers and emails and I'm hoping we'll stick to our promise of keeping in touch.
On Friday morning we returned our flashy rental car and boarded the same flight we took to get there and backtracked. Our layover in TX went by so fast that when we arrived at our gate they had already been boarding the plane for twenty minutes. Like our flights to Colorado, the flights back to Cleveland were booked full. I had a window seat again in one, and like before, the man with the best view in that tin can closed the blind half way and went to sleep in the other.
Our last flight was full of bumpy turbulence, but that wind helped us along and we landed 30 minutes early. We caught a shuttle to the truck and I called the house to let them know we were on our way. My parents had a couple problems with some things inside the house, but it sounded like the boys were wonderful and it was overall a great time. My parents were quick out the door the next morning, skipping breakfast and on the road before 9:00. It wasn't because we were back and they wanted out as fast as possible, (at least that's what they led me to believe! LOL) but because my grandma back in Michigan was in need of their assistance and they wanted to get back for her.
OK. That took forever. A couple things I'd like to say about my boys. Number one is a question to myself. Why, oh, please tell me why, did I go through the effort of scrubbing the walls of pen, marker, crayon and pencil when there is still a toddler who doesn't know any better in the house?!? Hunter prefers a pencil because it's easier to erase and they don't use pens all that much in school, but he was writing a letter to his cousin and I wanted him to use a pen so it wouldn't smear. I think some blame should fall on Hunter. Why he pushes his chair in every other time but not this one is beyond me, but he left the chair out and the pen in the open position. Bryce almost always sits next to his brother at the table. Many a picture I have taken with Hunter doing his homework and Bryce scribbling on paper next to him. Hunter left, Bryce switched chairs. First Bryce turned the page of the notebook, leaving Hunter's letter clean of ink scribbles but covering his homework on the next page. Then he made circles and lines all over my Amish made table, which bothered me the most, then he climbed down and left his mark all over both sides of the dining room half of the kitchen island. He was decorating the second side when I found him. I won't be cleaning that again any time soon.
Dev is doing great. The weather is warmer so he's been going in and out about twenty times a day. He loves his big Santa gift. He drives that Jeep all over the back yard and we've been out to the pond to feed the fish. He doesn't mind Bryce as a passenger and neither of them want to come inside, even when the light is fading and the cold air comes back to remind us that summer isn't here quite yet! He can't seem to hush up and has even corrected me when he thinks I say something wrong. Like 55 minutes on the timer isn't 55, it's 5-5 minutes. He also reminds me to turn off the light when leaving a room and, listen to this! If I'm dumping poo in the toilet and don't close the lid, he tells me to put both seats down! Hooray! LOL
Hunter Bud has gotten himself in trouble three times this week. Devin had been hitting him and instead of telling me, Hunter kicked him in the crotch. They were downstairs when I heard Devin start screaming and crying. He was able to tell me what happened and Hunter hung his head because he knew it was wrong...or he was mad he got caught. We had to have a talk about that and then a few days ago he lied about what homework he had (it was a writing assignment), saying he was only supposed to read from his Ohio History book when he was supposed to write a letter to a pretend friend saying why he signed his name to the Declaration of Independence. I didn't realize this until I was helping him gather his things back together to put in his book bag and glanced at his planner. It was bed time already so instead of getting up and watching cartoons in the morning, a fresh piece of paper and sharpened pencil were waiting for him.
The third incident happened just today (Thursday). I asked him what homework he had and he pulled out a two sided math work sheet and said he had to write a comparison between what he eats today and what the settlers ate back in the late 1700's. Wow, I said, that's the most homework you've had at one time. I asked if he had OT or ST because he leaves the room to work elsewhere and sometimes misses out on classwork, but then I read the following in the communication notebook:
Hunter has a ton of work. I asked him to stop reading. He did not stop and most of what he is bringing home is "in-class" work. Check planner.
His love for books has finally gotten him in trouble. He always stopped before but it sounds like this time whatever story he was reading just wouldn't let him go. I understand that completely, but I only get in trouble with myself, or my hubby if he runs out of undies, when I choose a book over my chores. Hunter got in trouble with his teacher. I told him that what he did was disrespectful to her and that he can only read books during his free time or if he asks his teacher and she says yes. I also told him he can read a book on the bus instead of playing his Nintendo DS, but I don't think he's going to trade the video games for a book yet!
All right. I'll end this novel here. I still have quite a few new pictures to post. If you read this entire thing, I thank you! Hope you are all well. I don't have my new email up and running yet, so you can still continue to use yolandag@bpafreekids.com or hunterandyo@yahoo.com. Everyone be safe and I hope this weekend feels like spring wherever you are!
Yo
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