Wolfe

No, I didn't misspell in the title.  The Wolfe family was in town for a visit.  Kristine and I go way back to a time when she was Kristi and most people simply called me "Guirk" or "Guirker."  Twenty-some years ago.  The first Iraqi War was still two years away.  So was the internet.  God we're old...:-)

They came in on a Sunday, and we did a little barbecue.  Nothing major because I'm not very great with the grill.  Fortunately, it is not hard to mess up hot-dogs and hamburgers.  Afterwards, we did a little Scrabble on the deck.  Kristine and I started playing in high-school.  I think I even have a picture of two 17-year olds playing (I'll have to check my archives--the paper ones, not the teradrive).  The weather was beautiful--such a lovely evening.  Here is a shot of Kristine, her daughter (one of three), Abbey, and me.

Abbey is quite the softball player.  Although she's only 12, we probably ought to buy our 2020 Olympic tickets, as I'm sure she'll be playing.  Ashley tried to steer Abbey to an SEC school, but Kristine and Patrick are hoping she stays closer to home.  Their youngest daughter, Avery, is Bode's age, and she is just the sweetest little thing.  Here's Avery doing a "Wolfie," which is when a member of the Wolfe family does a selfie.  Obviously it is not a true selfie since someone else took the picture, but it's still a very cute picture.  Unfortunately, she was wearing a Gator shirt, so we had to kill her.  House rules.

The Wolfes took in all the sights of Colorado Springs--Garden of the Gods, the zoo, and the Manitou Incline.  They even made us dinner--talk about your great house guests!

Check out Patrick on the stove.  He made an Alfredo sauce from scratch, which Ashley and Bode loved.  I didn't try it, as I'm more of a red sauce fellow, but I'm sure if Patrick ever wants a second career, he could be chef.

Sadly, I had to work (damn school starts this week) and could not join them as they toured the city.  However, both Ashley and I did get away one afternoon for a trip to the pool.  Here's a group shot of Patrick, Kristine, Ashley, and me in the hot-tub.  Check out Kristine's $40 shorts.  Sadly, she forgot to bring the right attire to the pool and had to buy something from the gym.  Walmart prices they are not.

 Next, we have Bode, Parker (their son), and Avery.  Parker is really into baseball.  Bode and Parker really hit it off and spent a large amount of time playing Lego Star Wars on Xbox.

Finally, here's a great shot of the elders, Paige and Abbey.  Paige is starting high-school and will be driving in another year.  The cool thing (in my eyes, not hers) is she doesn't even have a cell-phone.  Big props to Kristine and Patrick.  We'll try to emulate their example.  They also don't have cable tv...no way in hell we're doing that, what with the SEC network starting in five days.

The pool was wonderful, and afterwards, we had pizza at Dion's, the greatest place to eat because they give military personnel free drinks.  Talk about savings for a party of nine!  Kristine and I also took some time for a together shot.  Below is an interesting progression of bad-to-better-to-best pictures.  In fairness to me, I was trying to look goofy in the first picture.

Now for a quick discussion on the Scrabble games (and yes, there is a reason this will be a quick discussion).  Kristine beat me in our head-to-head matchup.  No excuses; she won fair and square.  I even brought out the timer to try to get an advantage.  The real winner was Patrick who won every game he played despite a lack of sleep the first night here (side note:  he has dog allergies; tried sleeping outside in a tent; got very cold; yada yada yada he was fine the rest of the time thanks to drugs).  I really need to start practicing.  Perhaps a couple hours a day with the two- and three-letter word lists would do the trick.

Bode starts school in a week--a week!  I don't think I'm ready for summer to end.  I can retire from the Air Force in less than a year.  I've been telling people I want to work for at least four or five more years.    I think I'm lying.  I don't want to work anymore; I HAVE to work for four or five more years.  But as soon as its financially feasible, I'm done, packing it in, and firing up the novel machine :-)  Pleasant week to everyone.