A Year of Free Flights

So, in March 2018 I went to visit Paul, Sarah, and Orion in Vermont. At the end of my trip, Paul drove me to the Burlington airport for my flight home. Well, United had oversold the flight, and had to lose 3 passengers before they could fly. This was right after that incident where they pulled that doctor off the flight and got a lot of blowback for it. So they wouldn't even load the plane until they got three people to give up their seats. They started offering travel vouchers. Then they raised the amount the offering. Then they raised it again. When it got to about $1500, I thought, "hmm. Maybe I should take that. I'm working a part-time temporary job that will still be there if I miss one day..."

In the end, I got $2200 from United to not fly that day, and Paul came back to the airport and picked me up. United rebooked me to fly the next day, and Paul was relieved because they didn't have childcare worked out for the next day, so I was going to get the whole day with Orion! As it turned out, a blizzard came through and they canceled my flight for the next day, so I flew the following day. One takeaway is that I always overpack on underwear when going to Vermont, I frequently end up staying longer than I thought I would be.

So for the next year, I was able to have some fun trips and use my United money to buy flights for my family as well.  Here's what I did in the last year with my United money:

April 2018
My good friend from the Peace Corps, Anna, was getting a surprise baby shower thrown for her in Louisville, Kentucky. I thought I wouldn't be able to go, because who flies to Kentucky for a weekend when your friend doesn't even know you're coming? But when I got the United money, I booked a flight, and rounded up our other Peace Corps friends, Tim and Erin, to join me. It was a great little surprise mini-reunion! 

Tim, Eric (Erin's husband), Erin, me, and Anna on a chilly April weekend in Louisville

 I was able to spend the rest of the weekend with Anna and Kyle, and I visited Anna at her job, as well as checking out the American Printing House for the Blind museum. It was so cool, had tons of information and artifacts about the history of braille. I highly recommend it. Also, it was free! You should go!

August 2018
Orion turned 2 this summer!! I used my United money to fly out to Vermont to celebrate his birthday. I got to spend some time with him doing Auntie Adventures, while Paul and Sarah were at work. We went to a nature center right by their house that has this cool outdoor preschool playground. We spent a long time there and Orion loved it.

 

Two years old!!

The obligatory Orion and Tia Laura selfie

We did some rock climbing in crocs at the nature center

He is happy boy! This is also at the nature center.

 

Here he is cooking me some pie soup. This is in the fenced in preschool playground at the nature center. The preschool itself is in the red barn behind him. 

October 2018
In October, Paul and Sarah went to an no-kids-allowed wedding in California, so Orion came and stayed with his Colorado family for the weekend! I was able to buy all of their tickets out here with that United money. It was beautiful weather and we had tons of fun with O. We took him to the zoo, and to this cool park near us, and to storytime at the library which featured a visit from a real firetruck! 

Orion riding a triceratops

Reading with Uncle Awesome

A little rest and a snack with Grandpa Craig

Checking out the firetruck with Tia Laura at storytime

Walking through the zoo with Grandpa Craig

February 2019
My dad turned 70 this month! We decided to throw him a big party with all his friends. It was a super great party, everyone had fun! As a special surprise, I was able to bring Orion and Paul out for a long visit. He was very surprised, he had no idea they were coming! They stayed a week, which meant we had lots of time for fun! Paul, Brian, and I did an escape room with our friends Dana and Henry. We had dinners with the Westlunds, dinners with Phoebe, and dinners with other friends. Orion got to visit the zoo again, the Children's Museum, and of course, I took him to story time at the library.

The room set up for Dad's party

Orion contemplating life in a box

Orion and Paul video chat with Sarah, who stayed in Vermont to settle into her awesome new job

This is when I said I was going to take a nap, and Orion said he would sit by me and work on his computer while I slept. : )

Sudsy boy in the tub

Nothing is as fun as the recycling bin, am I right!? This was Orion sitting in his 'paper machine'

February 2019 (two days later)
Right after the boys flew back to Vermont, I used the last of my United money to go to San Diego and visit my friends Yaw and Helene and meet their new baby, Alexia. It has been a long time since I've seen them, and it was just the best trip, exactly what I needed after the stress of the week before, which was the Denver teacher's strike. We did lots of relaxing, which was fantastic. They live right across from Balboa Park, which is amazing, so I spent several hours there, looking at things, doing the audio tour, and visiting the United Nations country cottages. On the weekend, these little cottages (House of Norway, House of Puerto Rico, etc) are open and filled with memorabilia from that place, and a person hosting the day, and often food, music, or other cultural activities. If you go to San Diego, be sure to visit Balboa Park on Sunday afternoon!

The buildings are amazing! This is Casa Del Prado, just one of the places built for the 1915 California-Panama exposition. 1915! It's basically brand-new!

The beautiful California Tower, one of the few places built for the exposition and expected to last a while.

 

Helene and Lexi

Lexi and I got along famously

Again, the obligatory Lexi and Tia Laura selfie

Lexi finds swinging and listening to Yaw talk to be highly entertaining.

It was not excessively warm that weekend in San Diego

But it was beautiful!

Bonus Adventures
 I also took a trip to Michigan to be a bridesmaid in my friend Dana's wedding in May! I did not use the United money because I wanted to fly Southwest, but it was still one of my fun trips this year!

It was a fairy tale wedding!

 If you haven't seen this video of Brian and Orion, do yourself a favor and watch it several times in a row.

Also, on Labor Day, my good friend Ben came to visit from Utah! We rode bikes around Golden and did an escape room! And as good luck would have it, our friends from Tucson, Claire and her boyfriend Tomas, were also passing through Denver that weekend, from Argentina (!) and so we were able to get together with them for a little picnic in the park!

Ben, Me, Tomas, and Claire! Reunited in Denver for one afternoon only!

P.S. Sorry for everyone in this post who uses accents in their names. I couldn't get it together to figure out how to do accents on letters. Je suis desole and lo siento. : )

Breckenridge with the Walshes

In July, my great friend Belinda Walsh came out to Colorado on a family vacation with her husband, Scott, her four kids, Noelle, Savannah, Blaine and Sage, and her parents.  They rented a big ol' house in Frisco, and invited me to come stay with them for a few days and have adventures.

So I did!

Me, Sage, and Belinda look AMAZING in these wigs!

The house was great, and we had fun hanging out there playing games, and eating Grandma's fresh-baked cookies. 

We went shopping and wandering around in Frisco, we went to Copper Mountain and did the mountain coaster, and I showed the Walshes letterboxing.

Letterboxing at the top of Fremont Pass

One day we went on a ziplining tour, and it was awesome.  They drove us up a mountain in a big army truck (very unpleasant), and then we went down the mountain via 6 different ziplines and some hiking. The ziplines were cool, one went over a train, one over a ravine, one down a creek, and other cool and beautiful scenery.  I loved the zipline, it was easily my favorite thing.

Byeeeee!

We also did an escape room in Frisco which was really fun, and we all helped out solving the clues!

Savannah and I puzzle it out at the escape room

More videos!

I took a few videos at Thanksgiving. Here is Orion and Paul discovering a bug on the kitchen floor. Adorable.

Orion mostly playing with his food at Thanksgiving dinner.

 

And, Orion watching Papa through the window!

Toddler Time!

For Thanksgiving I went to Vermont and had a lovely little holiday with Sarah, Paul, and Orion. Here are some videos of lil' O doing his toddler thing!

Total Solar Eclipse 2017

Did you get to see the Great American Eclipse?? We did!! We'd been planning it for months.

We got reservations at a camp near Ft. Laramie, Wyoming for Sunday night, August 20th. This reservation had enough room to sleep 16 people and included dinner, breakfast, and lunch. It was excellent. Paul and Orion were able to come out, too! 

Our eclipse viewing spot

So on Sunday morning, Mom, Dad, Paul, Orion, and I loaded up the car with lots of provisions, and drove about 3 1/2 hours to the camp.  The camp was pretty basic, but perfect for us. There was even a little petting zoo.

Loading up!

We had a lovely evening, hanging out, exploring the area, eating dinner, and playing some games. 

Orion loves corn on the cob and Nana.

Late that night, my uncle Cliff and his girlfriend Susan came up, too.

In the morning we had breakfast, got dressed, and got ready for the eclipse. There were lots of other people at the camp, but not so many that it felt crowded. We set up a nice spot outside our cabin, and pulled out Orion's pack and play so he could nap while we watched the eclipse.

All the eclipse-viewing garb.

What a show! The sky turned dusky, like twilight. There was a sunset look for 360 degrees. The diamond ring came out, and then we took off our glasses and looked at the corona of the sun around the moon. It was very cool and much too short.

I know it's not the best picture of an eclipse, but I had to get a shot of my own.

After the total eclipse was over, we hung out for a while, watching the partial go away. Then we got lunch, caught a quick nap, and hit the road.

Those are some post-eclipse smiles!

Traffic was terrible, but we were on the Southern end of the eclipse path, so it was much better for us than for others. We got home that night about 10pm.

Summer Vacation 2017 - Vermont

July 28-Aug 1

Orion loves the cat, Carbon

Our time in Vermont had a lot less 'doing' and a lot more 'being'. I have literally hundreds of photos of my extremely adorable nephew, Orion. I will share a few here.

Orion and his Grandpa!

On the morning of the 28th, we went to Penn Station in NYC and caught an Amtrak train up to Montpelier. This worked out pretty well overall, though not perfectly. It was about a 7 hour train ride, so I had time to read, nap, and look at the scenery.

When we got in to Montpelier, Paul and Orion met us at the train station, then we went to our air bnb in town. We were staying at a real cute air bnb in an old Victorian house. The couple that owns it lives in the downstairs and rents the 2nd floor out, and they have a 3rd floor studio for their architecture business. Paul ran out to get Thai food, and the five of us (plus little O) ate together then Paul and O went home and we all went to bed.

Phoebe and Orion

Saturday the 29th was a beautiful day. We met Sarah, Paul, and Orion at the Montpelier farmer's market for breakfast.

What a lovely family!

Later in the morning, we all went blueberry picking. The rest of the family picked a lot of berries. I picked very few, and all of those went in Orion's mouth. He had a lot of fun blueberry picking.

Orion and Mom in their cool hats

Blueberry pickers hard at work

Orion ate blueberries, and I took pictures of him eating them.

In the afternoon, we drove to the nearby town of Hardwick, where Sarah works, and met her parents, who came down from Glover. We had a picnic at a park and showered Orion with birthday presents.

Sarah, Paul, Cindy, Laura, Craig, Marie, Phoebe, Orion, Topher

Orion and Sarah's mom, Marie

Me with Orion on the quilt I made him!

I stayed at Paul and Sarah's that night, so that I could hang with Orion in the morning. When he wakes up, one of them brings him down to me, and I get some quality time with my adorable nephew, reading and playing, and P&S get to go back to bed for a while. It's a win-win.

Hanging out in the yard in the morning

Sunday morning, Paul and I went to breakfast in town with Mom, Dad, and Phoebe at a place called Down Home. The rest of the day we spent at Paul and Sarah's house, helping with housework and playing with the baby. 

Three generations of Eley men!

That evening, they held a little party for some of their friends. Paul did enormous bubbles with the kids, and we had good food while getting to know their friends. We ended the evening with a fire in their fire pit.

Orion and his prom date, Frances

 Monday the 31st, Sarah and Paul both had to work, so the four of us babysat O for the day. I had stayed at their place again, so I watched him in the morning once S&P left for work. We had breakfast, read and played, and then I put him down for a nap. While he was sleeping, mom, dad, and Phoebe arrived. We got the diaper bag ready, and when he woke up, we packed him and ourselves into the car and took a field trip to Burlington.

Our morning hangout time

Burlington is about 45 minutes away. We first got lunch at a Greek restaurant. I have never been in charge of a one-year-old at a restaurant before, and it was an adventure. But boy, can he eat. We all had a very tasty meal, and sorry to the waitresses who had to clean up the floor behind us. Also, we forgot the can of puffs there, so snack time later was disappointing for O.

After lunch, we took him to a park with a playground. He took his first ride in a swing.

Next stop, Lake Champlain.  We were getting pretty tired already, and thought we might just go out to the end of the dock and look out, but we found a little wading area that we thought O would enjoy. We walked him into the water just up to his shins, and he loved it. He promptly sat down in the lake and splashed and splashed. He liked walking around in the water, picking up things that were floating in it. He also liked scooping up a handful of lake gravel and sticking it in his mouth.

Baby in a lake

So once we were done looking at and playing in the lake, we had to change O completely, since he had sat in the water in all his regular clothes (lesson learned for the adults.) We dried him off, cleaned him up, stuck him the car seat, and he was a goner. On the way back to Montpelier, I fell asleep, too.

We stopped and picked up groceries to make tacos for dinner, then dropped Orion off at Paul's work so they could hang out for a bit while we started dinner. We had a great last night at Sarah and Paul's, having a family dinner and helping them move furniture so they could install hardwood floor. I slept at the Air bnb that night.

Dad reading a story to his baby boy. O wanted a different book.

Tuesday morning, August 1st, we met Paul and little O for breakfast downtown at the Capitol Cafe. It was delicious. Then we said our goodbyes (booo hoooo!!) and the four of us left for the airport, and Paul left to take O to daycare and go to work. My flights were uneventful, I caught my shuttle to St. Cloud, and was home, after a long and wonderful trip!!

Peekaboo!!

Reading with mom