Colorado Trip

 My youngest child and I left for Colorado last Friday to stay with my dad while my mom went to a family reunion in Canada.  Her family is from Poland and they escaped during WWII to Canada via Germany.  The rest of her family stayed in Canada, but she met my dad on a trip to Europe and moved to California when they got married.

 My little guy has been keeping himself entertained by playing on my dad's treadmill and playing video games.  It's nice that he can find things to do all day while my dad and I share stories.

 My mom and dad have a really nice deck that is raised up about 4 feet and sitting on it makes you feel like you are in a tree house.  They both love to grow flowers and plants and the plants keep my dad busy with watering several times a day during the summer when the temperatures get high.

 The first day there we found a shed skin of a snake.  Last night when my dad and I went for our walk around the bike path, I saw a very small black snake, but couldn't catch it.  They have a family of bunnies living under their driveway and my son tries to catch them when we come home from lunch or dinner.  He got within 4 feet the first time, but the bunny just looked at him, laughed and hopped away.

 He's such a low maintenance guy who is easily entertained.

 I'm making him write about his experience on his blog mikestalesoffifthgrade.blogspot.com if you want to check out what he has to say about the trip.

 We've gone swimming twice at the community pool.  My parents live in a really nice neighborhood that has a rec center and pool.  The pool has lifeguards and once an hour, they blow the whistle and the kids all have to get out for 15 minutes of adult only swim time.

 I got a new suit for our trip and after two days in the sun finally have a little color on me.  I think I blinded a few people on the first day :)

 We took a ball and threw it around both days.  My arms were really sore after the first day.  I didn't realize just how out of shape I was.  But, throwing the ball for 45 minutes is a good workout.

 I forgot how much fun swimming can be.  I know that I will need to keep going back to our pool when I get home.  Normally when my son does swim lessons, I just sit on the side and wait for him.  I keep meaning to get in and swim, but then there's the hair washing and the drying off and what a pain to change clothes.  But I do sleep better when I spend a little time exercising.

 And it is so much more fun when you have a friend to play with.  The second day we went, there were two kids who asked to join in our ball throwing game.  A girl about 8 and a boy about 13.  The pool was a bit more crowded and we kept hitting other people in the head, but nobody complained, I guess they expected to get hit since they kept swimming in the middle of our game.

 My son liked jumping in off the side and catching the ball as he was going into the water.  He's getting a lot more brave with his water skills.  The year of swim lessons has really helped.  It's good to know I haven't been wasting my money.

 Yesterday and today I've noticed an invasion of ladybugs around my dad's place.

 There are hundreds of them on the deck railing, pots of plants, leaves of the trees and all the bushes.  There are no aphids (at least not any more) and if they land on me, they bite really hard.  I've always known they can bite, but they usually don't.  Maybe these guys are especially hungry since there are no more aphids anymore.

 There are some with spots, some without, some are orange, some bright red, some little some big and it's really interesting to watch them come flying in and land on a leaf or branch and then wander all around.

 I'm not sure what brought them in, maybe the wind.  I'm also not sure how long they plan to stick around.  One of the local nurseries was advertising ladybugs for sale.  When I was a kid we used to buy ladybugs and praying mantis and they would stick around for about 2 days and then all disappear once the aphids were gone.  So, unless they are eating the tree sap (or me!) I don't think they will be here for too long.

 I've been noticing beautiful clematis vines and flowers all over the neighborhood.  These are ones growing in my dad's backyard.  I tried growing them in Vacaville, Ca (northern Ca, where the temps are 108 this week) and the don't do very well.  Probably too hot and not enough water, but they sure are pretty flowers.

 Maybe the ladybugs are on vacation too.  Colorado is a nice place to visit.  If it wasn't for the snow in the winter, I'd like to live here.

 The beautiful green grass sure beats California's brown, dead everything.  We are under strict no watering rules right now and I'm afraid of what I will be coming home to.

 We went to my dad's doctor appointment yesterday and got his pacemaker appointment scheduled for next Thursday.  He has a 2 wire and needs a 3 wire instead.  When I called a couple weeks ago, they said he would be able to get the procedure done while I was here.  Yesterday when we went in to get it scheduled, they said the doctor didn't have any appointments available.  I explained how I was only going to be here through the 13th and the doctor cleared a time for my dad on the 9th.  I thought that was pretty nice of him to make room for my dad to get the procedure done and for them to make arrangements to work around my schedule.

 My daughter is coming out on the 9th as well and will take a taxi to the hospital to meet us.  She will stay for a few days and the doctor said my dad will be up and moving around the next day so we should be able to get out and go to dinner and he should be back to telling stories (which is what my daughter loves the best) by the next day.

 He will probably heal faster with more people to listen to his stories so having my daughter come out for a visit will be good for all of us.

 My mom is having a great time on her family reunion trip in Canada.  They send pictures every night and although there is no story to go along with them. my dad and I try to figure out what they are doing.  My sister's family took her along with them.  They drove from Colorado to Vancouver for the reunion which is this weekend and then will drive back next week.  They will be home the day before I leave for home so I do get to see my mom, but just for a little bit.