Grand Junction day

We left not so early Saturday morning to venture north for some shopping in the booming metropolis of Grand Junction, or GJ as some local hipsters call it. Before we got on our way, though, we stopped for some coffee at our favorite Doghouse Espresso. Here Joachim is delighted I let him blow bubble in my coffee. This picture was taken when we arrived in GJ. Joachim had been playing with stickers in the car and apparently this one got away.

The park

Joachim and "ocks" because he doesn't say the "r"
Swinging so high
The mama enjoying herself

sliding cheerios

Joachim loves to blow on things, and he is very creative in what he blows. He blows out candles, blows bubbles, blows into straws, and he likes to blow pieces of toilet paper out of my hand when he sits on the potty (he doesn't potty, he just likes to sit on it and blow toilet paper). The other day when he went to blow a dandelion puff he inhaled so strongly that he surprised himself by sucking the little floaters into his mouth.

I'm so used to him blowing on things that when Chase brought him in from a walk and Joachim presented me with a flower I instinctively blew on it... which explained why Joachim had been so puzzled when Chase tried to smell it.

cruel facts of nature

Two weeks ago I passed a cinnamon colored bear as I drove down our dirt road on my way into town. We live in the country, but not that much in the mountains. The rest of the day I excitedly told skeptical people about my encounter. Then, that evening the bear came down to our house and ravished my mother-in-law's beehive. My father-in-law even tried to chase him off swinging a hoe over his head. My in-laws are no strangers to bears, having shot one years ago when they lived in the mountains of Washington (a story I'm excited to become part of Joachim's family folklore). Unfortunately, they were helpless to against this bear.

He ate 50-60 lbs of honey and demolished the hive. This was a sad, heartbreaking and somewhat sickening way to see the bees end.
The Wildlife guy who came out to assess the damage was unsympathetic and said the bear would probably be back for the chickens. The bear did come back to check on the hive, but since it's all been cleaned up we haven't seen him.

It felt like such a violation that when I was at a yard sale and I picked up a Whinnie the Pooh book for Joachim, it wasn't at all cute to me because when I read it, it was all about Pooh looking for and devouring honey.

I don't know if she'll start a new hive or not.

looking back on good memories

Birthday & Anniversary

The end of May held both my birthday and our 2 year anniversary. My parents visited for the weekend so they could help with our house and watch Joachim while Ben and I went to a small mountain town - Ouray - pronounced U-ray, by people who are in the know and Ooo-ray by all tourists. I had to be corrected a serveral times when I first moved here. It is the untapped neighbor of Telluride complete with hotsprings and Victorian charm. My dad trimmed our not quite dead tree in the backyard, and it is making a great comeback.Ouray calls itself the "Switzerland of America". It does have beautiful views of the Rockies and we did meet a Swiss man, but I think Switzeraland would get a good chuckle out of visiting this old mountain mining town turned resort.
We had a lovely time, but we were surprised by how much we missed our son.
The restaurant we ate at does this thing where customers can make a wish and throw a dollar with a tack and a weight up to the ceiling, then the weight falls back down. Each year the money is collected and donated to a charity, last year they collected 4,000 + dollars.

Joachim eating... sort of

Joachim can now eat mostly by himself which frees me up to enjoy a few bites of my own food.