Workin' for the Weekend

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah, (that's a nice, relaxed "ah," not an ear-piercing shriek) what a great weekend. Truly. I am completely exhausted. It, for once, felt like a long weekend--not over in an instant like usual. Although, I do wish out loud at the end of every weekend that Doug could retire early and be home with us. Or at least work just 3 or 4 days a week...He just makes everything more fun and easier for me.

Saturday we spent the day in Boulder. What a fun town. I've been there a few times and have yet to be disappointed. Very artsy, eclectic place. The plan was a shopping trip for me and an opportunity to get some plant starts for our yard from a friend's mom nearby. We stopped on our way in Broomfield (I always think of you, Christina!). The mall there has a Hanna Andersson. I always drool over their catalog and wanted to see it in person. Fun stuff, but so expensive! They did have a lot on sale, so I just looked at that and scored a couple pairs of khakis for Bode and a cute romper for Keegs. This mall had a great food court and fantastic play area outside. There was a lovely little pond with waterfalls and river rocks. B kept telling us he saw an octopus and all sorts of other silly, imaginary things. His imagination is so fun lately. Out there, sometimes! Behind it was a bounce house and next to that was this huge sandy beach full of tables with umbrellas, buckets, shovels, Tonkas; etc. We could have stayed there all day. I got some Crocs for Keegen (snagged the last pair of 4/5s, in orange, no less!) and Doug finally got a pair too. I wear just about nothing but my Crocs. I'm even allowed to wear them to work. If i'm not in my Crocs, I'm in my Chacos that I've had since 1999 (I can hear Rae asking, "Don't they stink by now?" and the answer is "No"...). OK. So. Lovely jaunt through the mall. Then off we went to Boulder.

And by the way, it was a beautiful, sunny day. High 70's. Just perfect. In Boulder I wanted to check out Title Nine, another catalog I drool over. We parked right in front of it on Pearl Street. The boys left me alone to shop (they walked down to the "walking mall"). I was surprisingly disappointed in Title Nine. The clothes just didn't fit me right, and i tried on nearly everything in the store. So i headed down to meet the boys. There are some fun things for kids on Pearl Street--the water/splash area, boulders to climb on, waterfalls; etc. So even though I was there for selfish shopping needs, it was a fun family day. I did find a really great store "Outdoor Divas" that had clothes that were more my style and actually fit right. So i got a fun skirt and capris (I really don't need another pair of capris, but I'm tired of mine. I don't wear my clothes out and rarely get rid of things so often don't feel like I should buy anything. But i have some seriously tired clothes). At this Diva shop they do all sorts of clinics, like climbing and kayaking. They are doing a kayaking camp in June that I was interested in but you have to have a clue and I would be a first-timer. Just made me think I should look into something like that closer to home. Anyway, Doug and I split a piece of chocolate/peanut butter cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and then loaded the boys back into the van for the next stop.

Sarah is a dear friend from college. We were both nursing students and hit it off well. She happened to be living with one of Doug's sisters, too, so it's thanks to her that Doug and I met. She's from Boulder and her parents are still there. They live on an acre filled with flowers and trees and shrubs and everything else that grows. Really amazing stuff. Her mom was kind enough to offer starts from her garden and I jumped at the chance. We went over there with lots of grocery bags and just walked around and she found little plants here and there that needed to be thinned out or that had strayed where they shouldn't be. She stuck her shovel in and I got a bagful of potential beauty for my own yard! What a deal! We got an amazing variety--purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, hardy geraniums, something pincushions, "hens and chickens," salvia, blazing star, white candytuft, pink-flowered groundcover thingy (yes, that's the official name), and on and on. So today I made it a point to get them in the ground. I knew that if i didn't do it right away, i would let the poor things waste away. I still don't have a clear vision of my backyard and the front is on the list for improvements next spring so i wasn't really sure where to plant. I decided to just stick them along both sides of my driveway. It's edged with rocks so we cleared the rocks and got them in. We also planted two dwarf Alberta spruce under our den window where we had a random 2'D x 5'L space of rocks and nothingness. So that looks a little nicer ("spruced up," shall we say?). It took nearly all day to get everything in the ground. Now I just have to cross my fingers that these plants will survive and thrive! I want lots more next year to transplant everywhere else in my yard!!

I can't not (how's that for a double negative?) throw this picture in. There has been a pile of top soil for MONTHS at the end of a nearby cul-de-sac. We were told by our friend that works for the builder to feel free to help ourselves as they were done with it. So Doug decided to make trips back and forth with his wheelbarrow (it's a good 3-4 blocks away). After 3 trips, he thought up a more efficient method of sitting on the back of the truck with the wheelbarrow. He and I did a little test drive and then he and our neighbor made some trips. In the end, when some other neighbors noticed the dwindling pile of dirt (one guy actually said to Doug, "Hey! That's my dirt!" Whatever dude!), Doug and our neighbor enlisted another neighbor to drive while they loaded and then sat on the back of the truck with their little 'barrows (thus getting it faster). Too dang cute...

The boys had a blast being outside almost all day and everyone was exhausted and filthy at the end of it. Bode helped Doug with lots of dirt/compost/peat moss mixing and Keegen sampled the different flavors of all and the rocks. He really wanted to push that wheelbarrow! Once we got everyone in and fed and bathed, Bode finally got to set up his marble track that we bought at the mall yesterday (it's a Discovery toy item, for those of you in-the-know. This picture was taken before all the bells and whistles were added). He was so excited and had a great time. Hard to go to bed with something like that set up! But everyone is passed out in bed now. Come to think of it, I can only assume that Doug fell asleep while reading to Bode, because he's been up there an awfully long time!