Cold Weather Girls

I grew up in Aspen and K often asks me why we only go there in the summer. I hate cold weather. K is my little clone except when it comes to the cold weather issue-she loves it. I have noticed that it has frequently been -22 degrees in Kazakhstan this winter. So for President's Day weekend we took a trip to Chicago. We visited our friends Beverly and Peter and got to have dinner with Mackie and Alison (Beverly's son and daughter in law) and their adorable baby Lila. Then we took the train to our cousin Kathy's house. K was so cute on the train, she gazed out the window the entire trip and was so excited about the fresh blanket of snow. Our time at Kathy's was a winter wonderland. K was outside playing in the snow by 7AM every morning. We went sledding and went to John's hockey tournament. It was more than enough cold weather for me. K can't wait to go back and wants to know when we are going to Aspen.

K and Bev's cat, Sophie

Alison and cute Lila

Mackie and Lila

Bev and K walking to breakfast in the snow

John and K sledding

Bobby came home from college for the weekend

Bobby's girlfriend Sam-so sweet

Kathy had this bloody Mary that was garnished with shrimp, a brussell sprout and a sausage among other things!

Bob's Birthday

K: Mom, today is Bob's birthday

Me: That's nice (half asleep-thinking that I don't remember anyone named Bob).

K: Are we going to celebrate?

Me: Is your class going to have cupcakes?

K: No!

Me: Why not?

K: Mom, Bob is dead.

I'm thinking that something must have been lost in translation. Then K said that maybe Ziggy was celebrating Bob's birthday. OK-either we spend way too much time listening to Reggae on Sirius radio or way too much time around Winston (our Jamaican). Or maybe a little of both.

So we baked some cupcakes, listened to Bob Marley and K wore her dread lock wig that Winston gave her. Listening to "Every Little Thing's Gonna be All Right." was just what we needed.

Happy Birthday Bob!

I Have Been a Bit Distracted Lately

Business has been crazy. I hate it when work gets in the way of enjoying my life. This morning I got up (18 degrees out) and turned on my computer and read this article in The Aspen Times. Sotheby's Aspen office is closing. Well, not exactly. They were going to be evicted next Friday. I love how the paper doesn't mention this detail. It also reports that the president claims that he was trying to downsize the company starting early last year. Oh really? Is that why he exercised options on 5 leases last April? This guy owes me money in the six figures and has left all of his brokers hanging. Nice that he has secured a job for himself. Lawsuits to follow. I own the building that Sotheby's is "moving out of."

Sooooo......as I pulled into carpool line there was a medium sized moving truck pulling into carpool line. I asked K how she would like to get out of a moving truck and she said that it would be very embarrassing. Then said that she is even embarrassed when she has to get out of Winston's truck. First of all, Winston has only taken her to school once this year when I was so sick I could barely move.. Second, he usually drives an SUV. Sometimes, if he is making a delivery he drives a truck. but it is brand new and he goes nuts if it gets the least bit dirty. I don't quite understand the point of owning a truck if it can't get dirty but that is Winston. As I was getting ready to pull out of the school parking lot, K said "Mommy!". Geez-I had forgotten to let her out. I had to make another lap and cut back into carpool line to let her out. Like I said I have been a bit distracted lately!



This picture left over from Christmas has nothing to do with this post-well maybe it is a bear market? I just love this bear in this tree. And I love K's coat. She wears it every day. Out to play, where ever. It is really nasty. I need to sneak it away from her and get it dry cleaned.

Braces-Part 1

K has lost three more teeth this month. Two on one day! All of the teeth she has lost have been on the left side. She has one loose one on the right side. And she used her tooth fairy money to buy Fairy Magic books-her favorite books these days.
I took her to the orthodontist during Christmas break and she said that she will not need braces until next summer. She only has a slight overbite. I am going to wait and see how her teeth look when all of her new teeth come in. Hopefully, they won't look like these fake teeth she likes to wear!

Life is Just a Tire Swing

The family down the street has a tire swing which is very popular with all of the neighborhood children. Our street is hilly and curvy so it is not conducive to kids running up and down the street. This does not stop the neighborhood kids from getting around-they have a path through the back yards. They have a stack of bricks that they built to get over our fence and a few houses down they have a moved a lounge chair next to the fence so they can climb over the fence. This house belongs to an elderly couple-they must not ever go to the far corner of their back yard because the chair has been there for years. These pictures were taken on Christmas Eve-hence Ellie's (or maybe it is Annie's) Santa hat. Great way to burn off that Christmas Eve energy!

We Miss Them!

The rest of our trip was easy and fun filled. Days were spent by the pool and with good friends and family. We had lunch with Joanne and Jenny. Joanne is an antique dealer friend from DC and Jenny is her darling daughter. Jenny is so sweet and patient with K-K absolutely adores Jenny. She has her picture taped in a notebook and her phone number written in the book (I have no idea where she got Jenny's number) and she carries it with her everywhere. It is always such a treat to see these special friends. And Joanne and I had a great time lamenting about our antique business (or lack of business-sigh!). We had dinner one evening with Terri and Kate and Kelly. Terri is undergoing some experimental chemo. It is working! Her amazing, positive spirit is such an inspiration to me. The rest of the time was spent with Uncle Mark and family. We went to see Marly and Me. As we walked out I was thinking how glad I am that we don't have a dog. I miss our 3 old labs terribly and still tear up when I think of them. K sighed on the way out of the theatre and said that she really wants to get another dog. Yikes! We miss all of our Florida family and friends.

K and Opie-Uncle Mark's wild lab

K and sweet Jenny

Uncle Mark giving K some Wii tips

Looks like K wore the same thing every day of our trip. Oh well, that's what vacations are for!

Christmas Vacation

K and I had a wonderful Christmas eve. We went to the children's mass and then had Sheila and her family over for dinner. K is lucky to have Sheila and Elliott as godparents because I have decided that K got an entire "god family." We had Sheila's mother, her sister Helen and Helen's husband Michael. They have 3 children who all came. One of their daughters (Katie) is adopted so Katie and K have a special bond. And One of Katie's friends, Rebecca, came. So we had a great crowd and a wonderful dinner.
On Christmas day we went to John and Kathryn's for brunch. We came home and put our jammies on and hung out all
day. We did not go to any of the usual Christmas day and Christmas night parties that we usually attend. It was so nice to be relaxing at home!

The day after Christmas we piled in the car and drove to Orlando. We relaxed by the pool for two days. We went to Margaritaville (K's favorite) for dinner-that was the only time we left the hotel. K lost a tooth while we were at Margaritaville-she thought that was the best thing that had ever happened. And the tooth fairy found her way to the Ritz Carlton.

Yesterday we continued our trip and drove down to Palm Beach. When we got here we went out to the beach to look for shells and there was an incredible rainbow. Last night we had dinner with Uncle Mark and the gang. This morning I have our door open and K is still sleeping. I love listening to the sound of the waves.