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| Erin & Bryn |
June in Denver was a family centered time.
Erin, on home leave before she heads to
Pakistan in August, decided to spend it in Denver, which prompted us to change
our plans, come back to the States early, and be in Denver with her and Bryn’s
family.
We are so glad that we did.
First, Denver is a wonderful town in the summer. Although this June was hotter than normal,
with the thermometer often topping 90, the dry heat is nothing like the
steaming heat of the east coast.
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| Grant & Bryn's Garden |
Bryn and Grant have been working really hard on their yard
and garden. The perennials that they
have planted over the last three years are beginning to mature and put on a
good show. This year, they have been concentrating on transforming the side
yard into a wonderful showcase. One
Saturday, we all—Grant, Bryn, Charlie, Sue and Larry—ventured out to Santa Fe
Rock and Gravel to select some rocks and boulders to place in the garden. It was a lot of fun selecting the rocks we
all liked, and Charlie loved watching the big machinery and equipment in
operation. When we got the rocks home, it was a lot of work getting them off of
the truck and placed in the garden.
Grant did most of the lifting, with a little help from the rest of us.
We all really like the dramatic effect that the rocks provide!
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| Charlie brushing his teeth |
We have, of course, loved the time we have been able to
spend with Charlie. We couldn’t believe
how big he was when we first arrived,
but he also seems to change and grow with each passing day.
A week after we arrived, he decided that he
was done with his crib and proceeded to climb out of it one morning. We believe that it signaled the end of
babyhood. He is a bundle of energy;
always on the go; bouncing up from every fall like a rubber ball, acting like a
true toddler. He seldom cries when he is
hurt; usually only when there is blood.
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| With his favorite digger |
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| Reading all about trucks |
Each day seems to bring a new bruise, black eye, scrape or cut—but he
just keeps on trucking.
And speaking of
trucking; he is mad for trucks and cars.
His favorite toy is a large digger we got for him, and his favorite book
is a board book about trucks that Erin found for him; he will sit for minutes
at a time poring over the book, and he has to read it three or four times
before he settles down at night.
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| At the Children's Museum |
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| Sharing? |
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| At the playground |
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| With Oma |
Charlie doesn’t say many words yet; but he is always
jabbering, singing/humming, and pointing to things.
If he wants your attention, he takes one of
your fingers in his chubby little hands and drags you to where he wants you to
be. Bryn is using sign language with him, and it is fun watching him sign
“more, all done, milk, and smile” among other things. Being able to sign things
seems to help a lot with the frustration that he sometimes feels about not
being able to communicate.
And although
he doesn’t talk much, he seems to understand absolutely everything!
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| Grant's Family |
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| Bryn |
Grant and Bryn have been welcoming and inclusive as
usual.
They seem to find some excuse (welcome
home, birthday, first day of summer, etc.) to have a party at least once a
week, which means inviting friends and family over for a cookout and beer with
lots of music and good conversation in the their backyard—the more the
merrier.
In addition to us, that often
includes Grant’s extended family, and now his parents. Greg and Shirley have
sold their house in California and retired (at least temporarily), and like us,
they are thinking of making Denver their base of operations if not their
year-round residence.
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| Erin at Botanical Garden |
It was fun being with Erin so much, after her two-year stint
in Mexico City.
She has invited us to
stay with her in DC in July, while she is in training for her next assignment.
She especially wanted to be in Denver to see more of her sister and of course
have time with Charlie. We were surprised at the number of her friends who
managed to come to Denver to visit her during her stay.
All we met were delightful and we enjoyed
being with them.
Even though our initial Denver AIRBNB experience was not the
best, we have not lost faith, and in fact have had our trust restored. After taking advantage of Greg and Shirley’s
kind offer to stay in their apartment while they were traveling, we finished
our last week in Denver renting a room in a house in the Curtis Park
neighborhood. Brian, our host, is a
young man who has been renting out his second bedroom through AIRBNB for more
than a year—he tells us that he has hosted more than a hundred visitors in that
time. Since he spends a lot of time with
his girlfriend who lives nearby, we often had the apartment to ourselves, but
we enjoyed the time when he was their getting to know him. An Upstate New York transplant, Brian is a
great Denver booster; we really enjoyed learning about the Bike Sharing Program
(B-Bikes) for which he volunteers and his community gardening adventures. We
would recommend staying with him to anyone visiting Denver.
It came time to day goodbye, briefly, as we are
spending July on the east coast. We flew
to Dulles on July 4th and will return to Colorado on August 4th
for a three month stay to see if we like spending a longer time there. Our travels will continue in November when we
plan to go back to Mexico. Meanwhile,
we’re in the U.S. and glad to be here.
