Is it Spring Yet?

Here are a couple more pictures of Bridger that the church took.

 

Tomorrow is the first day of May and we are predicted to get 3- 6 inches of snow.  I am not sure when spring is going to get to Wyoming.  We had a couple of days that made it into the 60's but the wind speed was the same number.

 

Bridger got his cast off today.  Everything is good.  He is now in a soft brace that he needs to wear for a while.  He is not suppose to start baseball for another 10 days.  It is Wyoming so yes we are playing baseball in the snow.  He does not realize that he is lucky to be out for a few more days.  Can you imagine the vibration on the hands with an aluminum bat when the temp is 30 degrees.

 

I hope everyone has a fun May Day, run fast.

 

"God, I always said I would never bother you about baseball, Lord knows you have bigger things to worry about. But if you could make this pain in my shoulder stop for ten minutes, I would really appreciate it."

 



8th Street Steakhouse, marshmallows and wildlife

 Bridger picked the 8th Street Steakhouse for dinner tonight.  He rode the saddle while his bread was grilling.

 

 It is a place that you cook your own steak on the grill.  They supple the seasonings and give advice about how long they think you should cook your steak.  Bridger had 3 slices of bread.  He thinks it is fun to butter the bread and then brown it on the grill.  He got frustrated with Darin telling him when to turn his steak.  Another young man at the grill was laughing at them fussing at each other.  It was all in good humor.

We were stuffed, but looked at the dessert menu anyway.  I showed Bridger the S'mores option and he got all excited about getting to cook your own s'mores at the table.  We decided to try it. Darin was so full he didn't even try marshmallows and graham crackers.

Darin suggested a different way home.  It was not supposed to be a short cut, which it wasn't, but an hour later, we found the road we intended to end up on.  Bridger has been frustrated that he hasn't seen any wildlife.  We were ambling along and noticed something crossing the road ahead of us and realized it was a "porky".  We stopped and let it cross.  It managed to move at quite a good speed.  Bridger isn't really chasing it, compared to how it looks.

 

Then our next fun find, and we knew where we were here, was the herd of elk.  We pulled over and got out the binoculars and watched them for awhile.  Bridger was quite pleased with himself for seeing elk and a porcupine. 

 

We arrived back at the townhouse with enough daylight for Bridger to enjoy a bike ride.  I tagged along on foot.  Darin hung back and downloaded pictures to do the blog.

 

It has been a nice day.  We met 4 other owners, who all are very nice.  We all agreed to reside the townhouses and even managed to pick colors that everyone agreed upon.

 

We are heading back to Casper in the morning.

 

"Tell Porky the boys from Angel beach are here."



Friday

This is what happens when you get stuck in a hotel for 3 days. 

It has been a long week here.  Bridger has had testing this week and did really well.  He scored a 227 on his math test which is higher than most of my algebra students score.  Everything else he scored with appropriate growth.

We are heading to Steamboat tonight.  We have a meeting with the other owners about getting our unit sided.  Ginni has done all of the work to get bids and everything.  I hope the other owners appreciate the work she has done.

It is finally starting to warm back up.  It will be in the 60's today.  Bridger got to wear shorts to school.

"We're not here to worry about one kid, we're trying to get as many through with what we've got."

i scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

Bridger had his friend, Gage R, for a sleepover last night.  After dinner I asked if they would want to go to Ken and Betty's.  Gage responded before Bridger with a resounding, YES!  He obviously knew what Ken and Betty's had--ice cream.  He said he had got to go there once.  Bridger, Gage and I left to go and as I was pulling out of driveway I asked if we should invite Sammy.  Bridger said yes.

Linnea wasn't answering her phone so I pulled into their driveway and sent Bridger to the door.  Who can turn down Bridger?  Sammy was very excited to get asked and came along immediately.  On the way there they discussed their favorite flavors.  I have a co-worker also obsessed about Ken and Betty's and a flavor they have called, "Birthday Cake".  I texted her that we were going.  Pretty soon she texted back that she and her husband were now making a "Birthday Cake Run".

Gage got his first, Birthday Cake, and then sat down at the table in the picture.  Sammy was next and she got White Chocolate Caramel and she joined him.  As Bridger was getting his, Triple Fruit Sherbert, I told them they didn't need to sit at the kids table.  They laughed at me and I said guess I will sit by myself!  I got coconut-pineapple.  They eventually got up and came to sit with me at a grown-up table.  About then Hillary and Cody arrived.  Cody is a middle school teacher, Hillary is my co-worker.  Cody is a lot like Darin and chose the right profession--working with kids.  He had them all talking about themselves, quizzed them on science things--the largest ice cream container is 32 ounces.  He explained the difference between measuring fluid and solids for weight.  Bridger got a little lesson on "tax" as well.  The most fun topic was whether anyone could do the "belly buster".  It is 10 scoops of ice cream,  toppings for each scoop and  a cherry on each scoop.  No time limit, no helping from another, no throwing up.  All that for a t-shirt with a cartoon enlarged belly on it and your picture on the wall.  Oh yeah--costs $15.00 to do.

Sammy was hoping to come hang out at our house, but it was getting late and Linnea said no.  The boys played video games when we got home and were asleep by midnight.  Darin has taken off to the Fire Department.  I am supposed to go to the second job today, but will have to wait until after Gage leaves now.

Have a great weekend!!!  Wonderful to be home.  We are going to townhouse this next weekend.  We are meeting all the other owners and discuss the siding being replaced.  Should be fun!!

WE ARE HOME!!

 Bridger decided to take advantage of the snow when we got home.

 Adding details to his master piece.

 Of course his dog had to help.

The finished product, don't ask.

 

What a trip.  We are back in Casper.  The roads were open but still pretty bad today.  We put it in 4 wheel drive and took our time.  There were several cars and trucks in the ditch.

 

I think we may be relaxing for the weekend.  I hope everyone is enjoying spring.

 

This one is like our trip.

 

"Where's your other hand?

Between two pillows...
Those aren't pillows!"

vacation days became snow days

 

 Dream car for Bridger

Bridger got to experience a sports car for the first time.  We took advantage of a "special" at the rental desk.  We didn't tell him and then had him close his eyes when we got to the parking lot.  The attendant was having fun with us also, laughing right along when he went through his shock, amazement and pure joy.  He says he wants to have an orange and black Mustang to drive back and forth to NC.  He understands the risk and says it would be better to have one that mean people couldn't key.

Fort Collins swimming pool

 We had a horrendous airport morning.  They put our flight on hold because the pilots didn't like the clearance of our plane.  I guess a bird went through an engine and it was cleared by a mechanic.  They didn't care and have the right to refuse to fly it.  That held us up for two hours.  They wouldn't ever cancel the flight, but most people were trying to connect other flights.  We held out for awhile and we finally decided I could go stand in the line that had formed.  I decided to call United while I was in line and got us booked through Houston into Denver later in the day.  I made my way back to Darin who promptly said "what are you going to do if they don't cancel the current flight".  I wanted to throw something at him.  As it was a short while later they came up with another crew and we got back onto the original flight (another phone call).  Darin said it was the same plane.  I didn't really want to know this.  I watched for the people I was near in line and noticed they got up to the front of the line in about 2 hours--the time it took before they got another crew.  We kept hearing blizzard in Denver.  Darin discovered the road were closed from CO border into Wyoming.

tree climbing at wedding

 

I was supposed to have a knee MRI on Monday in Fort Collins.  We decided we would go as far as Ft Collins (45 miles from border) and spend the night.  The MRI place was able to reschedule me for 7:30am.  We are hanging out waiting to see how the travel report shapes up.  We didn't get automatic phone call from school district saying no school.  It does take a bit to get NCSD to cancel school or even delay.  They seem to take the stance of send your kid or not, we are still having school.

 

So our vacation was extended due to snow---in April.  Supposed to be into 40's-50's by Saturday. 

 

Thumb is healing

 This was the beginning of the storm, we ended up with 13".

 This is our alternative to playing catch for baseball season.

 Bridger was happy to get his cast off.

His new one is a lot shorter.  He picked the color.

Bridger had his appointment yesterday.  He got his cast off so they could take xrays.  Everything looked good and he is healing well.  I think he picked the pink cast so names would show better.

We have had the biggest snowstorm of the year this week.  It is snowing again today.  The roads are not looking real good down to Denver.  On Wednesday Denver had 1/3 of its flights cancelled and a lot more delayed.  It is looking OK right now.  We are scheduled to get another big storm on Monday when we fly back.  Spring time in the Rockies.

"That blizzard - thing. That blizzard - thing. Oh, well, here's the report! The National Weather Service is calling for a "big blizzard thing!""

The Stanley Cup

 Bridger with the Cup.

It's ok, the superstition of touching the Cup as a kid means you will never win it has been broken.

Bridger went back into the banquet room and missed this opportunity.

 

We almost did not make it to the hockey dinner last night.  Bridger woke up sick and I stayed home with him.  ( I was going to be on duty)  He had a fever over 100 and was miserable.  His fever finally broke in early afternoon and was up and about.  We had a nice time.

 

We have our annual board meeting today so I will be busy with it.  Bridger has plans of trying to get Ginni to take him to the new GI Joe movie. 

 

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend.

 

"He hit his head on the ice. He hit it so hard that his kids will be born dizzy. "

Shooting

 Shooting the 22.

 Shooting the AR.

 Shooting the .380

His favorite was the AR.

We went out shooting on Saturday with the Melines.  Bridger had a good time.  He used their .22 and AR since they had bipods and he did not have to use his cast arm.  He did enjoy shooting the .380 also.  He shot really well and had a blast.

We actually have a week of free evenings, I do not know the last time this occurred.  I hope everyone is doing well.

"I did a guy in Laos from a thousand yards out. It was a rifle shot in high wind. Maybe eight or even ten guys in the world could have made that shot."

Bridger's Baptism

 

 

Bridger said he was a little nervous before service on Sunday.  He did great when it was time.  There was some humor about him being the first one she baptized with a cast on.  After church we went out to eat with the Melines.  It was a nice Easter.

"The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo."