Dragon Boat...

Th big dragon display by the kids activity tents.

Kids activity tent. There was dragon scratch art, goofy glasses making, dragon masks, dragon coloring sheets, paper lantern making, and Chinese zodiac stamps with your fortune.

Some of the boat races. This was around 3pm when the clouds came in and it started to rain. No Fun!

Yesterday I worked a 5hr shift @ the Dragon Boat Festival for the museum. Thankfully this was the last Community Outreach for the summer. This year has been more than difficult getting people to sign up for shifts and when they don't sign up I have to work more. Community Outreaches can be real fun, but in the past I was only working a few shifts not running the whole deal. It's pretty stressful to be in charge of them. Luckily for me the Dragon Boat Festival is held at Sloan's Lake, the big lake/park right near our house, so I was able to walk right over instead try to find parking. The event seemed much bigger this year than in years passed. There were so many things going on, but of course the biggest attraction every year is the boat race. We brought Dragon Scratch art for the kids, but ran out before the 2nd day. We went back to our good old staple of goofy glasses which were also popular.

The results are in...

This is the only picture I have seen from the show. I haven't talked to Amber yet, hopefully she has more.

The UMS show was the best show the guys have ever played. Jesse was more than thrilled to report the craziness of the night to me by phone immediately following the set. Apparently they started their set and the 1st song was going really bad. Jesse turned around to look at Adam the guitarist and Adam said I'm out. His amp broke and that's why the song wasn't working. Jesse made some lame jokes to try to tame the crowd and a desperate plea to borrow someone else's amp, so they could finish their set. During the UMS the schedule is so tight you get exactly 30mins and that's it. By this point they had almost wasted 10minutes and they thought for sure people would start leaving. To the guys surprise another band lends them an amp and no one leave, in fact more people show up. They re-start their set and to Jesse's amazement the crowd is really in to it. He said he's never played a show like that before where the audience feeds off his energy and he feeds off theirs. He said everyone was dancing, screaming, and clapping along with him. There were a couple hundred people there 90% of whom none of the guys even knew. It quickly went from what would have been the worst show ever to the best show they've ever played and I'm totally kicking myself for not paying the $20 to go. Oh well! maybe next time. Their next big show is in August @ the Hi-Dives back yard Bar-B-Q in mid-August. None of us can wait! :)

*Don't just take our word for it. You be the judge and follow the 2 links in this blog to read about the show and to watch a short video of the show. The video is dark and the sound isn't the most ideal, but you can get a total feeling for the crowds energy that Jesse was talking about. Enjoy!

UMS & Hair cuts...

Jesse was all smiles getting ready for the big show.

Jesse and I showing off our haircuts before his big show. It's a big difference from the amount of hair we had on our heads @ Paddy's wedding on Thursday.

We were supposed to be showing off our haircuts, but the camera was zoomed in.

My new hair cut. She kept cutting and cutting & by the looks of the amount of hair on the floor I thought I should be bald, but miraculously I still have hair to spare.

So it's that time of year again... The Denver Post's Underground Music Showcase. The guys played last year, but had an early-ish time slot and the turn out left something to be desired. They did however play for the first time @ 3kings Tavern which turned out to be a pretty cool place and later in the night we ended up bumping into our neighbors Mary & Chris. It was a pretty fun night really. This year the guys were asked to play on Thursday night, but unfortunately that was Paddy & Fonda's wedding. Luckily the schedule wasn't set in stone, so they were able to switch it for a prime spot Saturday night (tonight) @ 8:45pm @ the Skylark Lounge. Tickets for the UMS are $20 which is a hell of a deal considering, but unfortunately we have been so busy that we had no time to check out other bands and the guys didn't get comp tickets, so Jesse told me not to spend $20 just to go see them. Since I go see them nearly every single time they play and I've been so busy that I haven't had much free time to relax lately I reluctantly agreed. I'm staying home tonight relaxing alone while he's out living his rock star fantasies. Every year @ UMS the bands are ranked by a local poll, last year the guys were number 140-ish this year they are number 80 exactly. Quite the jump in just one year and even more impressive they broke the top 100 in a list of over 300 local bands. I'm sure the guys will do great like they always do and I'm sad to be missing it. I've asked Amber, the guitar players girlfriend, to take some pictures for me. If I get any good ones I promise to post them later. Wish the guys good luck. This is another great venue for them and great way for them to make connections. They're really starting to arrive as a band. If they keep this up next year I will have to volunteer for UMS, so I can get a free pass & VIP access to be able to hang out with them.

Ideal Fathers not just for post punkers...

Our good Friend Matt aka DJ Soup got an awesome write up on Westword backbeat for remixing the Ideal Fathers' songs. He's still in the process of remixing all 4 songs from their EP, but once he's done he hopes to get them and the chiptunes remix Mike King made released on another EP. Soup is currently DJ clubs all around Denver and he occasionally busts out one of his funky dance remixes of the Fathers' songs. Unbeknownst to the local clubbers they're shaking it to a remix of an up and coming post punk band. Recently the guys made friends with a local rap group who said they really dug the Ideal Fathers's beats. I believe they are all in talks about possibly collaborating on some songs. Ideal Fathers not just for post punk fans, they span the music genres. Who knows where you'll hear them next?

Thursday Weddings...

Jesse and I at the Reception.

Jesse channeling Cliff Powell and pretending to chew my ear off.

Jesse, Matt, and the other guy that sat at our table all enjoying a drink and some good conversation.

Adam snapping a picture of me snapping a picture of him and Amber enjoying the salad.

Apparently Thursday Wedding are all the rage or maybe it's just a Denver thing. I've known several couples who in recent months have gotten married on the Thursday evening. I guess it makes sense if it's a local wedding. I'm sure you save a bunch on booking venues for Thursday evenings instead of the prime spots Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays. Last night we attended one such wedding. The wedding of Jesse's former band mate Paddy & his now wife Fonda. It was a lovely wedding held @ Hudson Garden & Event Center in Littleton, Co. They were married in Monet's garden. A lovely little garden in the center of lilly ponds. The only down fall to this was the sun set blazing in Paddy's eyes (I would have worn sun glasses if I were him) and the bugs... Oh the bugs! I kept looking down to find mosquitoes biting me. YUCK! The one think I love about Denver is our lack of bugs (it's normally too dry for them). Anyhow we survived the short ceremony and walked our way through the gardens to the big tent that held the reception. An open bar meant Jesse and the guys were really enjoying themselves and those of you who know Jesse know he gets very talkative when drunk and sappy. Amber and I were watching them cut the cake and have their first dance when the next thing I know Jesse is professing his love for me and telling me he wants to marry me someday if my family & I will have him at least that's what I could make out through the tears. I turned around and gave him a hug and said Boy are you sure drunk. I'm sure we will get around to getting married someday, but neither of us are in a hurry. We're enjoying things just the way they are for now.

Failing @ Nintendo is not an option...

Check out Tuesdays surprise write up on bassist Mike King's Nintendo mix of Failing @ Friendly is not an Option. If you are a lover of old Nintendo games, a fan of Ideal Fathers, or just curious about the song check it out on their myspace page. It's well worth the listen. No vocals so Jesse is left out, but the tune still lends it self to some pretty sweet dance moves. Way to go Mike King! :)

Night out...

The front of Le Central where we had our dinner date.

Le Central is a very ornate building on the corner of Lincoln St in Denver.

Posing for a picture together too bad Jesse is all serious. I demand a redo.

That's better except I don't care for how my vest is all bunched up.

So we finally got our night out. We met up with Adam & Amber @ Le Central "The Affordable French Restaurant" as they call themselves. Neither of us had ever eaten there before, but we were willing to give it a try. Jesse ordered a seafood buffet or sorts, not really a buffet, but his meal included shrimp, scallops, and mussels. I tried mussels for the 1st time ever and I actually liked them although I didn't care for the looks of them. My meal was some sort of beef in red wine sauce with mushrooms on pasta all things I love and it was divine. After dinner we headed down to the Pavilions on 16th street to see the new Harry Potter movie. The showing started @ 10:20pm which means we didn't get out of the theater until just after 1:00am. I enjoyed the movie and I think Jesse did too, because he kept asking me questions through out the showing. By the end of the movie I was exhausted to say the least. It had been a long day for us both. I couldn't stop yawning the whole way home. When we got back to the apartment we were trying to be as quite as possible, so as not to disturb any of our neighbors. It was so quiet and dark everywhere... funny that it took us walking into our apartment and attempting to turn on the light before we realized out that the power was out in the whole neighborhood. We grabbed our 1 flash light lamp and headed to bed. Who knows how long the power had been out? Apparently right after the movie started a big storm rolled in and while we were in the theater and the tornado sirens even went off. We missed all the excitement. The power did come back on 6hrs after we got home. I know this because when it did come back on all the lights that Jesse had attempted to turn on when we got home came on in a blaze and woke me from a dead sleep. Not a pleasant experience at all. Who needs sleep anyway right?

Playhouses on the Plaza...

This one seemed more like a playground then a playhouse. It has ladders inside and a roof Deck, a climbing wall outside, and a trapeze bar... what more could a kid want. This one is my favorite.

I believe they called this on the Chia house. There's grass growing on the roof and it looks like a green house or a shed for your garden more than a playhouse if you ask me, but still very cool.

The Fire house was by fare the best of the tradition playhouse styles. Complete with a Dalmatian painted on the inside of the back door. It was adorable and definitely one of the kids favorites to play on.

The space station has a cool rotating door and is also kind of scary. The solar panels on the top add to the space age look. Calling all astronauts.

Local Produce market. Kids are supposed to grow a hanging tomato garden off the side and then play farmers market with their family. Adorable.

Explore one of a kind playhouses on the museum's plaza!

Each one was thoughtfully created with reusable and sustainable materials by local designers and architects.

The playhouse exhibition is part of the Rocky Mountain Communities' annual fundraiser with the 2009 theme: Work & Play. Their mission is to develop, own and manage, affordable housing and provide support services to help individuals succeed in life.

The playhouses will be displayed on the plaza for kids to play on until the gala fundraiser on July 25th where they will be auctioned off to profit the affordable housing project for Colorado's low income families. It's a pretty cool project and I'm so glad I work for a place that is willing to support it. If I had kids, enough money, and a house I would definitely get one of these for my backyard.

Baby Time...

Proud mama Shana holding the little guy.

Me with my cheesy grin holding baby Everett. He was very relaxed in my arms. He fell asleep as I rocked him and slept peacefully the whole time we were visiting.

Today Peter, the other education supervisor @ the museum, and I spent the day off site at an all day seminar about management. Afterwords we decided to pick up dinner and dessert for Miss Shana, she used to be one of the employees we supervised. Shana left the museum when she gave birth to her beautiful little boy Everett James. If you all remember back to late May the Children's Museum celebrated their 36th birthday bash and that was the last time any of us would see Shana. After leaving her shift she went into early labor and little Everett was born a day or so later which was a whole month early. He had a small heart condition, so they kept him in the NICU and he had to heart surgery when he was 1 week old. He's a tough little guy and he recovered amazingly well. He's been home with them for several weeks now and is starting to fatten right up. He still has his oxygen tubes for when he's feeding or sleeping. The poor guy was born with 3 strikes against him in that area. A premie, with a heart problem, and being born in Denver. The drs say if he were at sea level he probably wouldn't need the oxygen anymore, so things are looking good. Thanks so much for having us over Shana it was great to see you and the little love bug. Congratulations again to you and Scott!

New things & Celebrations...

Our new IKEA magnetic spice wrack. I wish I would have bought more containers. I guess we'll have to wait until our next trip to Utah. What an ingenious way to store your spices, especially when you live in an apartment with a minimal counter and cupboard space. I highly recommend them.

Finally the end table of our dreams, a square, black, simple, inexpensive, table that's at least 20" tall. We knew you were out there and we hunted for you for almost a year. Good things really do come to those who wait. *Note- we actually bought 2 tables in hopes that someday we will move to a bigger place and actually be able to use both of them.

On Monday our new end tables arrived. Hurray! No more tv tray as an end table in our living room. While in Utah we stopped at the IKEA store and bought amazing new spice containers that magnetize to our fridge & 2 black end tables. The exact ones we have been looking for, for a year now. Who knew it was so hard to find an inexpensive simple black night stand that's at least 20" tall. The spice containers fit in our luggage, but the tables not so much. Thankfully Jesse's amazing grandparents shipped them to us. IKEA was an interesting experience to say the least. I have never been to one before, but I would definitely go back again. The only problem is the closest one to us is 8hrs away in Draper, Utah. Bummer! Rumors have been swirling that IKEA is coming to the Denver suburbs, but I've been hearing that for over a year and still no concrete proof. We shall see. My fingers are crossed.

Speaking of new things... The museum just launched our new and improved website today. It's pretty awesome. I highly recommend checking it out. Especially to all your Wilsons & Wilders that are planning a trip out her next month. If you look under the contacts section my name and info are listed under donation request. I feel so important. Seriously though it has lots of great information and adorable pictures. It's a great resource if you're ever planning a trip to Denver with little ones.

Now on to the Celebrations... Jesse and I just celebrated our 2yr anniversary. Who am I kidding celebrated, honestly we both forgot. Last year I remembered, but we didn't really do much. This year we talked about it fast approaching and then we've both been so busy lately that we completey spaced it. We talked about it today and we decided that maybe we should slow down for a minute and go out on a date this weekend. We're thinking dinner and a movie. I'm actually really excited about this, because honestly we haven't been to the movies in about a year or on anything resemebling a date in ages. We got free movie passes for Jesse's birthday last year and we have yet to use them. Ok so I know 2yrs isn't that long, but I still think it's impressive and as far as I know Jesse's never had such a long term relationship before. We have a ways to go before we catch up to my parents, who just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary or my grandparents, who just celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary, but honestly we're in no rush.We're happy the way we are and we'll celebrate each milestone as they come or at least when we remember them.

Westword Music Awards...

Jesse talking with Corey (a writer for Westword & Ideal Father's 1st big time fan).

After the show we headed out to Adam's car to listen to DJ Soup's newest remix of an Ideal Father's song. Check out their myspace to give it a listen. While we were there we saw an amazing display of fireworks off in the distance, so we hung out listeing to music and watching the display for a while. Picture above Jesse, Soup hiding behind Adam, Adam posing with his non-existant trophy, and Amber Adam's girlfriend.

The 2 Mikes enjoying themselves before the awards started.

Adam enjoying a free drink and Soup getting down on the free bbq buffet they served us @ the VIP party.

The big awards show was last night. Unfortunately the guys and our good friend Soup didn't win, but we all had a great night. I picked up Mike P (the drummer) around 5:30pm and we headed down to Red Book to pick up Jesse . We arrived @ the Gothic Theater a little after 6pm for the VIP party. They guys loved it! Free food, free drinks, good music, and lots of networking opportunities. This was pretty much their dream come true. As Jesse said "Wow, I sort of feel like a real rock star" and one of the Mikes said "We have arrived, this is awesome!" We passed out some EPs to other bands to spread the word. Hopefully Ideal Fathers will get some more fans out of last night. Their show on Friday brought in some new fans for sure. I saw several people asking Jesse if they could buy an EP. The guys are getting ever closer to recording a full length album with all new songs. They're hoping to record towards the end of this year and have the EP produced and printed for sales by next Spring/early Summer. Keep your eyes open for that. They weren't too bummed that they didn't win, because the competition was stiff in the Post Punk category... plus this was the 1st year the Post Punk was even considered a category, so they were pretty thrilled to be among the 6 bands nominated. They've come a long way in the last year. Keep your fingers crossed for next year.

Busy week back...

Ryan made a new friend in Denver and his parents are worried he's lonely.

Michon & I @ brunch. If you didn't know already Michon is my friend and former roommate, Monique's identical twin sister. She just moved to town which has been nice since Moe moved away.

Jesse, Ryan, & Michon @ brunch. We were celebrating Ryan's big job and move to Denver. Michon moved here the same week and we figured the more the merrier. We had a great time and afterwords we headed over to Hamburger Mary's for mimosas & bloody marys. The best 3hr brunch I've ever had.

At the mile High Chapter of Red Cross they have walls of old posters and uniforms that are really cool. There's so much history there and I love it. This is one of the old posters they have framed in their hallway.

Jesse and the guys playing a really great show @ the Larimer Lounge on Friday.

Our trip to Ogden was a nice getaway, but getting home was a different story. We were nearly 4hours late getting home because of weather delays and such. Luckily we had 2 more days off to relax at home before heading back to work, except we didn't really relax. We had grocery shopping, cleaning, present shopping, and a whole list of things to do. The 2 days flew by and we were back to work by Wednesday. Wednesday is always a long day for both of us, I work 2 jobs and he works then heads to practice for 2hrs. The week seemed busy but it flew by. Friday night Ideal Father's had a show. Saturday I had to co-teach Red Cross Classes all day and then today we had brunch with friends.

Ogden, Utah...

Uncle Jesse holding his newest niece little Bentlee Mae.

Ally Lou swinging. The last time we saw her she was a tiny preemie baby herself and now she's a very smart, walking, talking, potty trained, two year old big sister. My how time flies.

Nasia & Ally, 2 of Jesse's nieces sliding together.

Uncle Jesse pushing Ally Lou on the swing, higher & faster she would squeal with delight.

My favorite picture of Jesse pushing Ally on the swing.

Nasia and me helping Ally Lou count the change in the piggy bank.

Nasia showing Uncle Jesse how to us the Nintendo DS. They were playing games together. I think Jesse really enjoyed having Kyle & Nasia there to play video games with. He loves them and they really aren't my thing.

Baby Bentlee, Jesse's niece, who was born 9 weeks premature. In this photo she is about 3 months old. She was just released from the hospital almost 2 weeks ago. Had she come on time she would only be 11 days old in this picture. She was 3lbs @ birth and has been growing quite rapidly lately, she now ways almost 8lbs and is doing quite well.

Ally showing off some dance moves for grandma Billie and the rest of us. *Note- we were playing Jesse's band's EP when she decided to start shaking it. I think we might just have the youngest Ideal Father's fan here.

Cousin Kaylee holding baby Bentlee.

Nasia holding her cousin Ally.

Ginger, the adopted dog. 2 days before we got to town Jesse's grandma rescued this puppy from the street. She was obviously lost & all alone. After numerous attempts they have been unsuccessful in finding the owners. The dog does have tags, thus we knew her name was Ginger and she's a pretty good dog just a little chewy since she's still a puppy, but for some reason the owners don't seem to care that she's missing. If the owners don't come to claim her she may be officially adopted by Jesse's grandparents, because I really don't think the kids could stand to give her up, though I am sure grandpa could.

Ally Lou, Jesse's niece & Aunt Kathy, Jesse's mom's sister.

Jesse and his mom posing for a quick picture before she had to leave. We were glad she came up with Lacey & the girls even if it was just for 1 day. It was nice to get to see them.

Lacey, Jesse's sister, Bobbi, his mom, & Jesse.

Jesse & I posing for a picture while the girls used my camera.

Kyle, Jesse's nephew, and Jesse posing together. *Photo by Kaylee, Jesse's 5yr old cousin

Me attempting to hula hoop. I actually kept it going longer than Jesse and he practices more than me.

Jesse showing off his hooping moves that he's been working on for the last month.

Kaylee showing Jesse and I up with her sweet hula hooping moves. She makes it look so easy & she even looks adorable doing it.

Riding bikes with the girls. Jesse made fun of me & said this is the kind of bike I need to get. Mine is too big for me and we're afraid I am going to need a kid bike, because my legs are so short.

Uncle Jesse jumping with the girls. He's a total sucker and would cave every time they came and asked him to jump which was ever 5 minutes. I told him he was a softie and he said he could use the work out. Sure it wasn't their cute faces making you feel guilty for not playing with them. What a sucker.

Uncle Jesse trying to show the girls how to do a back flip on the trampoline.

Marcus in mid-air, showing off what he called his spider man flip.

Marcus showing off his trampoline moves.

The lovely mountain views from the Smith's front yard. Utah is really beautiful.

The elementary school park directly across the street from Jesse's grandparent's house. What a great place to grow up.

Nasia, Uncle Jesse, and I. *Photo by cousin Kaylee

The family, Cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandparents, and us having a 4th of July Bar-B-Q.

Uncle Jesse & Nasia napping together on the couch. Grandma Billie insisted I take a picture of them.

Grandpa Orlin & Nasia rocking together in the rocking chair.

Jesse & I the afternoon we left to come home. A very sleepy Kyle in the background, he was woke up to say good bye to us.

Jesse, Grandpa Orlin, Grandma Billie, Kyle, & Nasia. Thanks guys for coming to pick us up, for dropping us off, for feeding us, for letting us borrow the car, and for giving us a place to crash for our mini-vacation. It was so nice getting to see everyone and getting away from work for a mini-vacation. We both had a great time.