The Zoo

Nana and Papa are in Colorado visiting.  They've been here for almost a month.  No, they aren't staying with us (although they would be welcome to).  Rather, they brought their trailer, and are staying at the family campground on the Air Force Academy.  This might confuse Bode in the long-run, because he might think this is where Nana and Papa actually live.  They've been kind enough to entertain Bode.  One day, Nana, Papa, Bode, and Mommy went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  Bode had a great time.  Here are some pictures.  First, we have Bode petting the giraffes.  They have very large and slimy tongues.

To get a better feel for the size of these animals, here is Papa feeding one of the beasts.

This is an interesting shot of Bode.  He's holding a stick with a bird on it.  Ashley said Bode was "flipping the bird."  Nice.

There was a big moose

and then some animals more Bode's size.

Bode had a great time at the zoo.  Evidently some hippos got into a little scuffle--Bode kept talking about how the two hippos got in fight and one of them roared.  Not too much going on this evening.  Tomorrow we are getting A/C installed (thank Heavens), so if you want to visit, now would be the time!  Pleasant day to all.

Riding Horses

Before we moved to Colorado, our neighbors (Ron and Nancy and their daughter, Katie), took Bode to a horse farm.  He loved petting the horseys and being with the animals.  Here are some cute pictures.  First we have Bode saying hello to one of the animals.

Next is a shot of Bode and Mr Ron saying hi to another one of the beasts.

There was also a very nice lake.  Here's a calm shot of Bode.  He's starting to look so grown up at times.

Ron and Nancy were kind enough to let us stay at their house for a couple days after our stuff was picked up.  On one of these days, they had a huge party.  Granted it was more for their two kids (Chris and Andy) having graduated college, but still, it timed out nicely  :-)  Here is a picture of Nancy and me, with Ron doing something with the beer in the background.  I don't know why I look so unhappy...

Ron tried to teach Bode the finer points of botche.  I don't know if the kid got the hang of it or not--he did enjoy the volleyball net, although that's simply because it was something on which to pull :-)

We've been quite busy in Colorado--been here a month now, and are starting to feel settled in.  Still, it will take some time before it feels like home, but I'm sure it will get there :-)  Pleasant day to all.

T-Ball

Before we got to Colorado Springs, we signed Bode up for a t-ball league. Our friend, Eric, volunteered to coach a team.  Eric has two kids--Brenna and Rylan--who are about the same age as Bode.  The season was only four games long, so we decided to give it a try.  Bode really seemed to like it, but he's not quite the Natural.  He did have fun, along with the other kiddos, which was the most important thing.  Here are some shots, in no real particular order.  First up is a picture of Bode getting ready to fire some heat.  Good form, but when he goes to throw, he usually steps forward with the wrong leg.  He'll learn.

Next are some mighty swings at the ball on the tee.  It looks like he missed on the first swing, and on the second, he made better contact with the t than anything.  He did get some good hits in, but we don't have any real action photos--no shots of Bode taking it deep :-)

But there is this one--note he's swung, and you can't see the ball, so he must have hit it at least as far as the pitcher...

This next shot really shows Bode's cat-like reflexes.  Look how he's springing into action, ready to pounce on anything that comes his way.

Here's a decent shot of the team.  One of the coaches asked, "What should out team be called?"  Well, Bode has been thoroughly brain washed, so he says, "The Auburn Team!" Unfortunately, one of the coaches thought Bode said, "The Otters."  So here's a shot of the Otters :-)

Bode had tons of fun playing t-ball--he even got a trophy and a medal.  We'll see if he wants to play again, but I think the next sport is soccer...should be fun!

The Cave of the Winds

Yes, an actual post from the McGuirks.  I apologize, as it has been a month since I last posted.  A lot has happened during this month.  We moved to Colorado--everyone made it, safe and sound.  We got here the day before the big fire in Colorado Springs, so it wasn't the best "Welcome Back."  Fortunately, we were never in any danger.  We did see a lot of smoke, and it was scary for a number of residents, plus the fire did destroy ~350 homes.  But now, a month later, we are settled into our new home and getting back to normal.  I will save the new home discussion for a different post--I've yet to take pictures of the new place because I didn't want to post pictures of a lot of cardboard boxes and packing material.  I will say the one negative has been no air conditioning :-(  Combine this with 100 degree heat, and you get me sleeping in the basement--I would sleep in the crawl space, but I figured that would be uncomfortable :-)

My brother and his family are in town (Pat, Dana, Brenna, Sean, and Devin).  Yesterday, we went to the Cave of the Winds, which was very cool and extremely scenic.

Before going on the tour, Pat, Brenna, Sean and Ashley did something similar to a confidence course.  It was basically a series of obstacles and other confidence challenging things, about three stories high.  However, it probably appeared higher to them because they were right next to a cliff, so I'm sure from their perspective, they thought they were 1,000 feet above ground level.  Here are some action photos.  First, here is a shot of the actual structure.

Next, we have the participants at various stages.  Here's Ashley going across the balance beam.

Here's Sean making his way across the wire.

This is a good picture of Ashley doing the crooked balance beam, and Pat standing on one of the waiting platforms.

Here are a couple pictures of Ashley.  The platform she is on hangs precariously over the canyon.  Ashley said it was windy, so it was a bit unsteady.  She then made her way across the unstable ropes, which just looked like a groin injury waiting to happen.

After the big outdoor adventure, it was time to go into the cave.  It was a wonderful 54 degrees in there--quite a relief from the outdoor heat.  Here's a picture of Mommy and Bode--not the best shot of Bode, but the best we had.

This was an interesting stalactite (hangs from the ceiling).  That's Dana, Brenna, and Devin on the left.

I took a bunch of pictures in the cave, but they don't really do it justice--just looks like a bunch of rocks in the pictures.  But it was well worth the trip.  The last thing we did was the bat-a-pult, which wasn't as scary as it might sound.  Dana, Ashley, Brenna, and Sean rode on what looks like a ski-lift out across the canyon.  They enjoyed it, and said it was fun but not scary (which is good).  You probably can't tell, but Ashley and Sean are in that chair.

The final picture is one of all the cousins.  Getting them to all smile at the same time was difficult.  This was the best we could do.

That about sums up our day at Cave of the Winds.  I have many more posts to get to--hopefully this week.  The next one will be on Bode's tee-ball adventures.  Stay tuned!  Pleasant day to all.