St. Elmo's Fire

Colorado never sounded sweeter to a little boy named Dawson. Let me tell ya, he made out like a bandit. You should have seen his face when he saw his room for the very first time when we arrived at Gramma G & Grandpa's house. His very own McQueen bed. A picnic table AND his own TV with a DVD player. This included about 5 new Veggie Tale movies that Gramma G purchased brand new just for him. Jason and I considered kicking Dawson out of his room and taking over, until we decided to put our 42" Plasma flat screen tv on the dresser in our room. Then we felt better about Dawson's posh set-up. Needless to say, he never seems to grow bored here. Though he has created a nasty habit of asking for a new toy every time we got to Wal-Mart. I could have started that, but I won't admit to it. I just want him to be quiet while I shop! Is that so much to ask?

Our first weekend in Colorado Springs we decided to take a one day trip to see the Aspen Trees, because this is the time of year that they change color.

The trip took us to a ghost town by the name of (insert scary music) ST. ELMO.

Of course this led to numerous question asked by Dawson about when he would get to see Elmo which led me to cover my ears and ignore because he wasn't accepting my explanation of the name of the town, which led to him yelling.

On the way, however, we met an interesting sight:

Yes those are wild donkeys meandering along the road.

We pulled over because Greg said they were tame and Dawson and I wanted to be friends with them. Jason on the other hand, was afraid of them and jumped in the back of the truck to pet them:

This little diva here, was quite needy:

I call this picture "The Big Eye"

The highlight of St. Elmo, although it's considered a ghost town, is feeding the chipmunks. I took two good pictures of the Aspen trees:

Then I was on a mission to take Dawson to feed the chipmunks.

I was determined to feed the chipmunks Dawson's leftover goldfish crackers. Some lady sitting on the log behind us got annoyed by that and handed us her bag of sunflower seeds and said she was done feeding them anyway and then left. I am still positive to this day that goldfish crackers are a rare chipmunk delicacy and they would have loved to sink their little teeth into the morsels of goodness.

This final chipmunk picture is one that Jason took because he thinks he's clever:

For the record, I did NOT sit on this chipmunk! I didn't even know one had snuck up behind me. I like to believe it was hiding in the shadow of my wings..

Ending with a few cute shots of Dawson playing by a creek that Jason took him too after the feeding of the 5,000.

The Big Move

Labor Day weekend was a perfect time for a move. Because... you can sucker your family into helping! No excuses.

Friday was the last day for Dawson at daycare. So we sent snacks with him for a great sugar rush. This way all his favorite classmates would remember him.

Say Cheese!

I was really pretty bummed about this because Dawson had made several "best friends" as he called them in his class. Lucas, Xander, Graceson (who was the only one who had been in his class since they were both 3 months old) Glenn, Hailey. No girlfriends though, I didn't allow those kinds of shenanigans.

Dawson had no problem telling perfect strangers that we were "moving to Codorado". (he's still working on his "L's".

Sunda morning it was time to pick up the U-Haul. Jason's dad offered to fly in and help us drive the U-Haul to CO which helped tremendously. (Secretly I wanted to drive it, so that I could show off like that one girl on the truck driving show on cable.)

Anyway,

Look how tiny my cute-butt car is next to that monster. Actually, in this picture it looks like we could fit our whole house in the back of that U-Haul. Why didn't we think to bring our landscaping plants?

Before:

Around noon, my family started showing up so that I could crack the whip.

My dad got this notion that since he's in his 70's he could take frequent breaks and I had to set him straight.

Don't let my sisters fool you with their talk about menopuase. They're spry little whippersnappers.

When the work was finished we all went to celebrate by taking in a movie. The girls made the guys go see a chick flick. But we got to ride in style.

We stuck the guys in a minivan.

With a little therapy and a few counseling sessions they'll get over it.

Mom offered to watch all the grandkids so that we could stay focused, so after the movie we headed to her house to claim our own. Then it was time to say good-byes.

The next morning it was time to hit the road. I don't have pictures of them, bu the Lurkers came to say good-bye and Mr. Lurker helped get the Jeep securely fastened to the trailer so that it wouldn't roll off on the interstate and cause trauma to any unsuspecting travelers. Mrs. Lurker made sure Dawson kept on track with his supervision of the entire ordeal.

After:

Look how green and fashionable our lawn is.

Time to hit the road Jack.

Dawson is such a great little traveler. Especially when he has a portable DVD player.

When he napped, I snagged it so that I could watch National Treasure and then Jason got bored because he was driving and I wasn't talking. And then he got over it.

Nice huh?

I personally believe that there should be a special lane on the highway, set aside specifically for Uhauls. This would make the world a much happier place. And road rage would be down by at least 62%.

We arrived in Colorado Springs on Tuesday and set up shop with Jason's parents who were gracious enough to open up their home to us until we found jobs.

More on that subject in the next installment.

Back To My Regularly Scheduled Program

The weekend before we left for Colorado we decided to have a garage sale. This was to serve a two-fold purpose.

#1. Have less stuff to move

#2. Get rid of my crappy furniture

Among the random list of items to be sold was a strapless girdle which was handed down to me by a sister. In case you are wondering, it was actually JASON who put it in the garage sale. I was going to leave it for the girl who bought our house... as a housewarming gift.

There were times during the course of the day when business was slow. And when business is slow... Jason gets bored. When Jason gets bored, Dawson suffers:

Jason took two balloons from the pack we had bought to put on our signs from the garage sale, blew them up only slightly, and shoved them down Dawson's shirt.

I'm not sure where he picked up on the hands on the hips move, cuz he surely didn't get it from me! Once Dawson realizes he's getting laughs (which Jason and I were crying, from laughing so hard-but then again business was slow) he tends to ham it up. Not sure where he gets that from either.

If we had stuck him in the front yard with the rest of the goods, we could've come out with a couple hundred for entertainment value.

That is why I no longer think we need to do job searching in Colorado. We'll let Dawson bring home the bacon.

09/09/09

I am now a GREAT Aunt.

No, I actually don't mean that in the arrogant sense of the word... this time.

My niece Felicia gave birth to:

Nevaeh Soul Wicker

She looks a bit grumpy in that picture. Felicia is so skinny she was probably squished.

09/09/09

How cool is that date?!

Can one of my sister's who happens to have gotten more information than I did, please leave a comment on this post and tell me how much she weighed?

For the life of me, I still can't figure out why Felicia didn't drive here to Colorado while she was in labor to have the baby. I mean I am the GREAT aunt...

The First of Many...

HERE I AM!

It's 10:15 p.m. "Mountain Time" as I'll be saying now to annoy everyone. And, in Indiana time, that makes it 12:15. Past midnight! What am I doing blogging???

We got into Colorado Springs around 4:p.m. today. I survived my first "all by myself" drive here in a thunderstorm on a crowded road called Academy that was flooded.

Yeah. I don't recommend that if you're a first timer.

I'm used to Indiana roads for heaven's sake.

We got the Uhaul unloaded in about 3 hours and believe it or not, we won't have to pay for a storage unit. Thank you good Lord.

And now because it took me 3 hours all by myself to unload the Uhaul it's time for me to go to bed. Just kidding honey! It was me, Jason, Greg and Steve who unloaded the Uhaul. But I'm still tired.

*I'm leaving you with the funniest story of the day*

I had to bring Dawson with me to the bathroom at a truck stop. So Dawson is squeezed into the bathroom stall with me and as I go about my business Dawson says

"Mommy, did you put your wiener down?"

No Words Needed.

Moving 101

Just a few things to remember if you ever sell your house and move out of state.

1. Keep your dresser for as long as possible even if you have to sell it. Keeping your underwear in a cardboard box is annoying.
2. Keep your kitchen table and chairs. Eating steak on a wobbly card table while sitting on your knees is slightly uncomfortable.
3. Be sure your realtor knows your about to be jobless. This will help push the closing forward.
4. Don't tell your 3 year old that your moving until the last minute. This will keep you from questions such as, can we take our house? Can we take my toybox? Are we going to Colorado today?
5. Label your boxes. When you need the mixer to mix the dessert you are currently making, you need to know which box you packed it in. Better yet, don't pack it yet! You'll be making dessert before you move!
6. Last but not least, Try to have a job before you go.