This just in...

From a Spring Blizzard we head into a Record Breaking Heat Wave. Ok, not really a heat wave, but we did break a record from the 1870s today. 82 degrees, Woo Hoo! A big difference from last week.

Today I took Henry to the park to play. I've taken him & Denton (the other boy I babysit) several times over the last couple months, but today the park was packed. Everyone and there mother were out enjoying this gorgeous day. We had to slather on the sunblock today for sure. I think everyone is ready for Spring. To bad that March is the 2nd snowiest month in Colorado (we are already above average on snow fall, thanks Spring Blizzard!). They say April is the 3rd snowiest month. I'm hoping they are wrong.

P.S. Tonight Jesse will be joining me on a babysitting job for 3 brothers under the age of 4. He's never come with me while I babysit. This could be interesting. He's afraid they won't like him for some reason, but I've seen him with kids and I think he'll do fine. Besides these boys love everyone, especially if you play legos with them.

Spring Snow Storm...

A view from our back door last night around 10:30 pm

...and another.

This morning.

The trees and vines were getting very drupe-y under the heavy wet snow.

Out our front window this morning.

These used to be buses in our front yard.

Yesterday the weather was quite lovely for half the day. In the afternoon the sky grew dark, the wind picked up, and the rain came in. It rained a significant amount and the thunder was intense. Then all of the sudden the rain stopped and the clouds lifted slightly. An hour after that the wind picked back up and the snow started to fall. It continued to fall all through the night and then again throughout the morning. I'm not sure yet the official snowfall total, but it's definitely over a foot. Hard to believe it was 70 degrees last Wednesday and I was out enjoying the weather on a mini-golf course and go-cart track. Denver public schools even closed for the day. Jesse wasn't sure he was going to work, but ended up heading in around 10am when the roads seemed to be clearing up. Catholic Charities even closed their doors, so that means no work for me tonight either. Got to love that crazy Colorado weather!

Rental Car...

2010 Dodge Caliber

Since our car is still @ the tow lot awaiting it's fate we are stuck with a rental car. This is our rental car, the 2010 Dodge Caliber. Jesse hates it, but I don't mind it as much as he does. I think we're both a bit prejudice since we were so in love with our car. Its hard getting used to a new car that is nothing like your car. We've been describing this car to people as a station wagon and a tank combined. It's a boxy big tank of a station wagon. When comparing our Mazda to the Caliber it appears that our car costs more, but that our car has better ratings. The Caliber comes with Satellite radio, but we prefer our heated leather seats and moon roof. Thanks! Hopefully we'll get this all figured out sooner rather than later.

The accident...

Jesse was driving to work and I was along for the ride, so I could take the car home for Cody and I to have for the day. We decided to stop and get cinnamon rolls to share. *note: they are some of the best cinnamon rolls ever, but we're not really sure they were worth ruining our car for. On the way from the cinnamon roll place to his work it was really snowing good. You could barely see 2 car lengths in front of you. I remember seeing the back end of a green truck in front of us and then all of the sudden there was a tire coming at us. The truck had a full size spare underneath and it apparently wasn't attached well, because it came off. The traffic was bad, because it was rush hour, so we had no where to go. Jesse stopped the car just before we ran over the tire. He had plenty of time to stop, so we didn't run over or hit the tire doing damage to our car. I remember seeing the tire on the ground and having a sense of relief. Then 2 seconds later we were slammed from behind by another truck, who apparently didn't see us stopped. My neck was instantly in pain and from there it was chaos. We are both very lucky to only have some minor cases of whiplash. Headaches, neck pain, and Jesse's arm hurts from gripping the wheel so hard, but other than that we're doing fine. We went to the hospital to get checked out and were prescribed some muscle relaxers, aspirin, ice and then heat for our muscles, and lots of rest. I've been taking the lots of rest thing to the max. I pretty much slept the last 2 days away. I'm trying to get back into a routine, so I can feel normal again. This daze I've been in for the last 2 days is driving me crazy. Hopefully we get our car situation figured out soon. The options are it is fixable and we get a salvage title or it's scrap metal and we get to do the whole car hunting thing over again. Either way it's not an ideal situation, but everyone is lucky that it didn't turn out worse.

The elusive 5th Father...

Matching bracelets.
We went to the hospital before the IF show and got checked out. Muscle relaxers were prescribed, along with aspirin, ice packs, and taking it easy for a few days.

Me & Cody (the elusive 5th fathers)
The IF show was a 21 and up gig and Cody is only 20, but he really wanted to come. Jesse and the guys developed a plan to have Cody become the honorary 5th member of the band. This meant that Cody had to be on stage with the guys most of the set. He played the APC, Atari Punk Console, which is basically a sound effects machine. You turn dials to make different sound effects. Cody attended the IF practice on Wednesday evening and practiced with the guys, so he had the timing down pat. Half way through the set Adam, the guitarist, introduced Cody to the Colorado music scene as the 5th member of the band.

P.S. Jesse is completely nuts.

He said he wasn't going to do his typical jumping around dancing thing on stage, but then he did it anyway. Sore muscles and all. Sometimes after a particularly rockin' show Jesse will wake up the next day stiff and sore. Add to that an already stiff neck due to the accident and you get some serious pain. It seems like Jesse doesn't have as intense of a case of whiplash as I do, but he still is hurting. After the show he said he just couldn't stand still while he was on stage, besides Erin we have muscle relaxers to take.

RIP Mazda...

Jesse and I were in a car accident this morning. The accident wasn't our fault, Jesse was driving and he did everything right, our rental car should be here soon, our necks are killing us, so we are going to the doctors to get checked out, luckily no one was really hurt, and our car is most likely totaled. Our poor new car, that just turned over 15,000 miles, that we have only owned for 7 months, and that Jesse kept in immaculate condition is most likely going to be scrap metal. Thankfully Cody was not with us when the accident happened, so he's doing fine. I feel awful that his SPRING BREAK went from good time fun to a snowy blizzard with us car-less and sore. I'm not so sure how the Ideal Father's show is going to go tonight since we are both stiff and sore.

Thank you all for your well wishes and kind thoughts. We're so glad to have all of you there for us.

Love,

Erin & Jesse

Alice, Art History, and Haircuts for all...

Today was our lazy morning day. Unfortunately I was unable to sleep in this morning due to Jesse's alarm clock, but Cody managed to get some extra winks. We were nice enough to let Jesse have the car today, so we took the bus downtown. We had lunch @ a 50's diner greasy spoon burger joint. Then headed over to the Pavillions to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. We both enjoyed the movie, but we both agreed that the 3D in this movie was mediocre and not really necessary. Our recommendation is to see the movie, but you wouldn't be missing much if you skipped the 3D on this one.

Next up was the Colorado History Museum. The History Museum is moving locations starting at the end of this month, so it was free to get in. Unfortunately most of their exhibits were all packed up already. We did manage to see and exhibition of a local artist who painted murals in several Denver buildings in the early 1900s.

Cody always manages to find something to ride.

Really Really Big Murals.

Checking out the Tee Pees.

Horses. A sculptural mural in the Colorado History Museum.

Cody got swept away outside the Denver Art Museum.

Senior picture outside the Denver Public Library.

Denver Capital.
This picture was to demonstrate how nice it was out today. Temps in the 60s, before the temperature drops and the blizzard hits us. *Blizzard predicted to hit tonight, temps expected to drop 30 degrees and a possibility of 10+ inches of snow. Boo!

Before... Shag City!

After... Shortness Relief.

Haircuts all around.
Jesse and I both had appointments to get our shaggy locks shaved down this evening. I asked Cody if he was interested in getting a haircut to and his mom told me to try to talk him into it, but he seemed hesitant. That is until he saw my cut and Jesse was setting in the chair. $16 for a shampoo, cut, and massage? Hmm... I tried to get him an appointment on the PureTalent side of the salon (the side with the stylist in training), but they were all booked up so last minute. The only available stylist charged $40 a cut, a little out of Cody's price range, but today must have been his lucky day. She said she would cut his hair for $16 a far cry from the $40. And so it came to pass that the 3 of us all chopped off our lovely locks. Since we were all looking so spiffy I figured we should commemorate this experience with a picture.

Candies, Mini-Golf, and Go Karts...

First up we went to Hammond's Candies and took their free tour. Now I've been on this tour before and they give you a couple free little pieces of candy, but today they gave us big ol' Wintergreen candy canes. AWESOME!

Hammond's Candies is one of the few places in America that still makes candies by hand. Their candies are sold in designer food stores and magazines all over the US as well as in mom & pop shops. Often times their Hammond's label is replaced with the store's label, so you don't even know it's actually made by Hammond's. They're most famously known for their ribbon candy and many flavored candy canes.

Easter Bunnies were everywhere @ Hammond's.

Having fun in the candy shop after our tour.

Showing off our free green candy canes.

Next up we decided to enjoy this beautiful 70 degree weather @ Adventure golf & raceway.

Putting up hill into the castle.

Cody putting up to the castle.

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater!

Classic windmill shot, throwing Cody for a loop.

A whole in one on the 18th hole.
The only one of the entire game, Thank you Very Much.
*Note the red glowing eyes on the sphinx. That means I WIN!

Posing by the 18th hole.

Cody speeding to catch up with me, because I totally kicked his butt.