First Half 2015 |
|
We started 2015 off right
with great food and drink and a small gathering of teenagers at our
house. |
|
It only took us a day or
two into 2015 to head up to the mountains and snowshoe. Pictured
above is the Guide / Tracker for the excursion. |
|
We returned to that
memorable wedding spot. |
|
Kathy and JP signal they
need assistance after hiking too many miles. |
|
We went to the RV show
with Barry and Gretchen to see their options for their new fifth
wheel. The best in show had to be this actual cabin on wheels. Kathy wants one. So we just need to find $70,000. |
|
In the Jeep headed to the
Broncos divisional playoff game against Peyton's former team, the
Colts. |
|
Kathy enjoying all that
Club Level has to offer. |
|
Luckily the weather was
really nice for the game...cool yes, but still, we are talking
January in Denver. Could have been much worse. |
|
Excellent seats on the 25
yard line in section 339. We were in row 15, seats 15 and 16
(aisle!). In Club Level if your row is 11 or higher you are
protected from the elements. The Broncos sucked it up and lost 24 to
13. |
|
For Kathy's birthday we
met Betty and Dede at Zink Kitchen for breakfast. It was very good
and a worthy breakfast eatery in the Tech Center. It is located just
west of I-25 on Orchard. |
|
The gift from JP and Santi
was a very cool pair of Puma BMW sneakers. Nice job guys! |
|
Kathy with the boys
looking all dapper. |
|
Betty and her girls. |
|
Finally Randy gets his
turn with Kathy but then can't stop kissing her. |
|
IT contractors were
allowed to attend the End-of-Year Celebration. The event was
held at the Hyatt
Regency Denver. Randy reserved a room at the hotel and called it a
date after Kathy said she would go with him. |
|
The ballroom was
beautiful. |
|
There was acrobatic
entertainment, too! |
|
The band was very good.
Each new song resulted in different members wearing new costumes
appropriate for the tune. |
|
The band played for 90
minutes straight. After that a DJ took over until midnight. Kathy
and Randy closed the place by dancing until 11:55 PM. We then
retired to our hotel room for the night. We had a blast! |
|
There were many
opportunities for pictures at the party. |
|
We spent part of the
evening hanging out (and dancing!) with Bill and Beverly. |
|
Sometimes you have to let
IKEA solve the question of what to have for dinner. |
|
If you want a beer that
tastes good with ANYTHING, try a Boddingtons. Rinse a pint glass in
water and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then grab a
chilled Boddingtons (and your glass from the freezer) and open the
beer. Quickly start pouring the beer since the Nitrogen capsule in
the can will start foaming the beer to simulate a draught pour at an
English pub. Slowly pour out as much beer as possible until the 1/2
inch of foam reaches the top of the glass. Drink the remaining beer
from the can and then recycle it.
Admire the perfect pour
you completed (assuming your pour looks like mine above). Then take
a sip, and be sure you get a taste of that sweet foam. Cheers! |
|
We stopped by RV America
to look at the new Sprinter models (JUST TO LOOK) and ran into these
retro, yet brand new, Shasta trailers. We would get one if Randy
could stand up in one. |
|
These Shasta campers also
come in red...with matching red wheels! Too cool. |
|
Randy commuted to downtown
from Longmont on MLK day after visiting Betty and Dede and watching
the Patriots crush the Colts to go to Super Bowl 49. Since it was
MLK day Randy assumed traffic would be light. Nope. Those poor
north-enders cannot catch a commuting break even on a national
holiday. As soon as 104th avenue was in sight, boom, traffic
stopped. So glad we live on the south side! |
|
Randy was coming home from
work in mid-January when the Yukon started acting really weird. From
the moment the truck started in the parking garage, it sputtered and
had very little power. It finally died on I25 at 8th avenue. Not an
ideal location but Randy managed to get it out of traffic and into
the appropriately-named breakdown lane. Called Geico and a a tow
truck arrived 30 minutes later. |
|
After spending all day at
the GMC dealer in Park Meadows, the cause was not a bad alternator
as Randy had hoped. Much worse. The internal fuel pump (inside the
gas tank) had failed. Guess what that means? They have to pull the
gas tank, drain the gas, and replace the internal pump. The cost of
the pump alone is $500. Total bill, including a new fuel filter is
$1,200. Good Lord. No choice really unless we want to stop skiing in
the Winter and camping in the Summer. That won't happen. |
|
Over Valentines Day we
went skiing at Winter Park / Mary Jane. We also came to watch Lizzi
race. Dede rented us a sweet condo with a garage! Here is the view
from the Winter Park base on Saturday. The weather was very warm,
almost too warm for skiing. On Sunday we skied again and had much
better weather (for skiing), and the snow storm arrived mid-morning
which made conditions better and better as the day went on. |
|
There is Kathy stopping to
give Randy a break from chasing her all over the mountain.
One minute Kathy is skiing next to Randy...10 seconds later she is 500
yards ahead of him. |
|
This trip to Winter Park
was the first of the season for us. About time! |
|
Kathy resting and eating
lunch in the Yukon. |
|
We skied on Saturday with
our friends Randy and Nancy. Both families have 8th grade boys and
they came along as well. Here Kathy and Nancy visit on the upper
deck at the Winter Park base lodge. |
|
Nancy and Kathy buy beers
after a day of racing down the mountain. |
|
We love skiing together
and then relaxing with a cold beverage around 3 PM. |
|
Here is the Saturday group
resting on the deck. Randy, Nancy, Mitch, JP, Kathy,
and Randy. |
|
Pictured here is a group
of people we didn't know. There is something going on in this
picture that may not be immediately obvious. |
|
Zoom in on the picture to
see Randy photo-bombing these strangers. When they passed the
digital image around they saw the bomb immediately and told Randy it
was an "epic" photo-bomb. |
|
Here is everyone at the
condo wearing our "Team Big Liz" shirts. Sitting next to Lizzi is
her boyfriend Logan. |
|
In mid-February 2015 Randy
made the decision to sell Miranda. There was no specific reason for
the sale other than too many toys and only one butt to sit on them.
Miranda has been a pleasure to own for three years. |
|
Kathy did not want to sell
her. In late 2012 we had our first
date on Miranda. Since then we have gone on countless weekend
rides and received admiring looks from other riders. When parked
among other bikes at Twin Peaks, no other bike has the stunning good
looks that Miranda has. |
|
A buyer from Colorado
Springs purchased Miranda for his wife. Miranda is a BIG bike for a
lady rider, but when the buyer's wife saw her listed on Craig's
List, she told her husband to go get her before anyone else did. |
|
Randy sold Miranda for
$300 less than he bought her for in 2012. That works out to $8 per
month for the pleasure of owning her. She is going to a good home.
She will be missed. The cool thing is, when we are ready for our
next bike, we get to shop for it together. |
|
On February 24, Randy was
commuting to work in the left lane of NB I-25. Traffic came to a
stop due to traffic congestion. By complete surprise, a lady in a
Jeep hit the Volvo on the right rear bumper. |
|
The impact pushed the
Volvo into the Nissan XTerra in front. |
|
The front end of the Volvo
was smashed. The lady driving the Jeep was issued a ticket. Prior to
this day, there was not a scratch on Randy's beloved Volvo. Now it
sits at an auto body shop in Castle Rock awaiting her fate...fix or
total.
Randy was not injured.
The whiplash protection system (WHIPS) did its job. Nothing compares
to Volvo's safety systems (and amazing good looks, of course). Swede life! |
|
Speaking of amazing good
looks, Kathy met Randy after work
at the Yard House downtown, right across the street from Randy's
office. We ordered the Turkey Pot Pie to share, and it is a good
thing we decided to share. |
|
One Saturday morning while
drinking coffee and catching up on work at DazBog, two very talented
girls (with their dad playing bass) sang country and bluegrass songs
for everyone's enjoyment. These girls were seriously good. |
|
Date night! We planned to
bar hop to at least three different establishments in the Tech
Center. We started at Brook's Steakhouse...at that is where we
stayed. Brook's is a very difficult place to leave when you see some
of the best steaks and seafood being served to everyone around you. |