A couple of days after Christmas, Brandon and I went on his Christmas present- a winter ride down in the Royal Gorge in Canon City (west of Colorado Springs). No snow but there was some cool ice sheets to look at. What looks like water froth on the edges of the river in the pic of Brandon to the right, is actually ice. In some areas the ice sheets were stuck to plants and the water had dropped a full foot below it. Which was cool.
Here was the narrowest part of the gorge- only 30 feet wide at the bottom where there was no ledge for tracks. Consequently this 'hanging bridge' was installed to suspend the tracks. This was the only time that we ventured out to the open car. It was freezing!
Above you can see the suspension bridge that crosses the canyon at the top. The is some sort of small amusement park on one side of it and you have to pay even to walk on the bridge. We thought this was a better view, so we didn't shell out the cash.
We woke up to a few surprises on Sunday morning. Those pictured along with some warped wooden flooring in our main floor bath.
Luckily the drywall was dryish so we knew it probably wasn't an active leak of a copper pipe full of water, but rather from a drain pipe. I was much calmer after getting out the hammer and opening up the wall a bit. Ahhh. So therapeutic. I really need to knock some walls down...
Anyhow, after some detective work we determined it was probably from the girls bathtub, but we couldn't get anything to leak again for us. Stupid plumbing. ;)
Christmas eve morning, though, we had some very nice professionals out, for the low price of $179, that determined it was from the bath overflow- not the main drain- the seal of which came loose after being jarred a bit by the girls repeatedly turning the overflow cover upside down to enable them to get a deeper bath. We've all done it, right? You know you have. ;)
We let the boys go at it cutting out the basement damage.
You are wondering why they didn't put down a tarp on the pool table before starting demo. We all are.
Good clean family fun. Well, not so clean, I guess. But thankfully not as big a deal as it could have been.
Who has spent a total of 1 hour updating her blog in the past 5 months?
Me! Me!
Well, in my defense, I just didn't feel like it. :)
But now I do, and that's how I roll these days.
So following, in no particular order, are pics of the few times I remembered to pull out my camera (or asked for pics from others that did). A little of what has been happening here in beautiful Aurora.
Thomas: scout camp. he doesn't actually do scouts, but went to camp for some good old bonding time with friends and the outdoors. The rifle shooting ended up being his fav thing this year. Fun note: Thomas has grown 5 INCHES in the past year, quickly surpassing Rin to reach his current 5'6". Poor Sean got stretch marks in middle school from skyrocketing to 6'3" by the end of 8th grade. Thomas may not get there, but I fully expect to spend a good fortune on new pants in the coming months.
Next are an assortment of famous people that we've come across
on our journeys:
The well decorated Olympians Carrie and Brandon Eyre. Forget what event they medaled in, but they're good!
Robinhood, of course. Hopefully Brandon is holding onto his wallet...
Yes, Brandon DID get to go to Disney World this year. Again. 😛
Tom Welling. Need I say more?
No sure what this guy is from, but I'm pretty sure he's famous. We spotted him strolling through the Denver Botanic Gardens during the 'Glow at the Gardens' event this Halloween.
Birthdays!! Yes!!
Honoring Grandma Milligan on Snickers Day (ok, not a birthday, but a 'celebrate someone special day')
Rin taking great 'joy' in my Barbie robinhood cake. She picked the theme... Happy 14, sweetheart!
Milla's theme was mystery/scary. So here we have a foreboding looking cake that is all sunshine and lemon and raspberry inside.
Continuing the theme with a balloon spider. Milla can be pretty brave until it comes to spiders...
I did manage one getaway this summer.To exotic Idaho!!!
Really though, I was thrilled to get to see my good friends from La Grande and spend 3 days just talking, hiking, and eating ice cream. Doesn't get much better than that.
Danielle, Karen and I catching up on the porch of our AirBNB
The three of us surprised another friend (Rachel- bottom left), who is now living in Kuna, Idaho, by showing up at her ward on Sunday. Cambria (in red) is Milla's age and spent a lot of time with my kids when they were young. Relationships really are what makes life happy!
So what happens when you mix nursing school and family home evening?
Blood typing night!
Ah, what fun. Gotta love Amazon. Sean refuses to get his finger poked and Milla took her card away to file before I could get it in the picture. But we ended up with:
Dad: B-
Mom: O+
Milla: B-
Rin: B+
Thomas: O+
So I think from those results we can presume Sean must round the kids out with an O- ?
We got a slow start to the job hunt this summer for the 3 of us that were looking, but all is well that ends well, eh?
Milla- things just work out for Milla. Sean has been interviewing for months at various positions with no luck. Milla submitted a single application to JoAnn's fabrics, went into to the store 3 days later to follow-up with the manager and walked out with a job offer. She just has a way about her that imbues trust. The wait was that it took a month to get paperwork and schedules up and running. But she is loving it. (this is supplementing her other part time job with the Aurora Schools Foundation) Cutting fabric more than dealing with upset customers when coupons don't work, but loving it none the less. Her current claim to fame? The only employee (at least on her shifts) that can reach the alarm to turn on at closing without using a stool.
Sean- as I mentioned, it's been a frustrating search. Who knew their were so many places that only hire people 18+ yo? Along with local stores, Sean applied to 10 apprenticeships with a program (non-profit?) in the area called CareerWise that is in only it's 2nd year. They recruit companies (healthcare, tech, financial) to give 3-yr apprenticeships to Jr and Sr's in high school that not only pay, but also encourage exploration of various positions w/in the company and often have college tuition reimbursement programs to encourage attendance once the kids get to that point. He got great experience just learning business etiquette in his interviews. A few weeks ago he landed a position with Pinnacol Assurance in Aurora (a worker's comp insurance business). He attended the 3 day long CareerWise bootcamp downtown (that he got to all on his own via car/train) and really felt proud to be part of the experience. He even got to shake the governor's hand after he addressed the students. This whole idea of apprenticeships in right in line with changes Sean would like to see in education- as he feels the school system are not keeping up with changes in society, so it's a good fit for him. I am just so proud that he pretty much headed this up and followed through on his own to make it happen! Still hard for me to accept he'll be 18 in just a couple months.
He begins Aug 13, when he'll spend 2 days a week at work alternating with 2-3 days a week at school. He also got recommended for a few things for the coming yr that he is going to try to fit in as well: TA in chemistry, general tutor for students needing help a couple periods a week, and web leader (the kids that go to various events throughout the yr to answer parents/students questions, direct them, etc). Really stepping it up and finding some strengths that he has this year. He's also being my 'house manager' this summer, spending hours a day cleaning, doing yard work, home repair projects and grocery shopping for me, with a little (a lot of) gaming on the side. What am I going to do when these kids leave home?
CarrieAnn- School is calming a little, or maybe I'm just getting comfortable with the routine, so I decided I needed to add a little more to my schedule. So I applied for a job. I've pretty much narrowed my nursing focus to 1. ICU or 2. School nursing. This may not seem to be a narrowing to you as these are at 2 ends of a spectrum of nursing, but to me they both fill needs for me. Just in a little different ways.
I need connection. ICU is very team focused where you work with just 1-2 patients and depend on the other nurses, Drs and aides for support. You also get to interact with the family more intently than on the regular floors. It's very cohesive which I love. In schools you get connection with the students and have multi-year relationships with them.
I need challenge. ICU is obviously very acute and always a challenge to stay on top of any little change in the patient. School nursing is very autonomous and a lot to coordinate and so challenging in a different way.
I enjoy addressing Mental Health. Schools- well that's obvious- mental health teaching is essential. ICU- I read an article recently that said something like 50-80% of those leaving the ICU (and their families) experience PTSD to some degree. That's insane! It's always going to be a stressful sitution for patients and families, but obviously there is a lot of improvement to be made in addressing mental health in the ICU setting.
Anyhow, long story a little shorter, I just got an offer to work in the STICU (surgical trauma ICU) at our University Hospital as an ACP (glorified nurses aide). It's a position just for nursing students, so it's flexible; just work one 12 hr shift/wk. I hope it will build my skills and give me a better idea if this is really a place I'd like to be!
Last but not least I will leave you with a little movie clip of Sean performing in his theatre final last Spring. I don't know how to edit, so there are 2 shorts on the same clip. He is in the 2nd one. I thought he was pretty awesome.
Here was the narrowest part of the gorge- only 30 feet wide at the bottom where there was no ledge for tracks. Consequently this 'hanging bridge' was installed to suspend the tracks. This was the only time that we ventured out to the open car. It was freezing!
