Finishing 2011 one party after another

Kyle and I were in NM for one weekend before we flew to CO to attend Kyle's parents' 50th Wedding anniversary party up in Estes Park. It was a great weekend filled with tons of family and lots of fun.

You can always find a card game going with this family.

Such a beautiful setting for putt-putt.

The next big event was the wedding of my friend Tina up in Los Alamos. We had so much fun with her fantastic family. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, and I wish Tina and Daniel happiness throughout their lives together.  Sadly, I don't have any wedding photos, but I do have this one photo after a few of us spent the afternoon at Ojo Caliente, where we indulged in massages and sat in their wonderful spring pools.

Our next gathering was a party we threw at our new home. We brought together our old college buddies and our new MA friends for an afternoon of frisbee, croquet, ping-pong and of course Rock Band.

Of course, Fall wouldn't be Fall without a visit to a corn maze and a pumpkin farm. Thankfully, we had some friends who were going to be doing just that.

We had another mini party when Kyle's sister, Deneen, came for a visit along with our nephews, Chris and Nathan. It isn't a big surprise that the evening ended with Rock Band.

In between all of these parties, we were also prepping for Logan's arrival. Below, Frik was doing her part and helping me test our Moby wrap.

Halloween rolled around, and since it is my favorite holiday, we had to have some friends over. Our neighborhood also provided tons of children going around gathering candy. We ran out at about 450 pieces. I have to get better at taking pictures during these parties.

I'm the pregnant ninja, but sadly the photo doesn't show my large belly.

The next weekend was our first baby shower. Our dear friends Suzi and Asa hosted it at their house. It was wonderful to be surrounded once again by our old life-long friends as well as our new MA friends. We ate, played ping pong and of course received many wonderful gifts.

Real funny Jaime. I see you showing off how tiny your tummy is behind me.

I made this cake for the shower.  It goes with our nursery theme.

2011 still had more parties to come, but I'll save them for the next post.

Final Days out East and our trip back to NM

Here is my last post about our year out East. I will make it short so that I can get this blog up to current events.

We spent one day touring the Adams' homes. The best part about the tour was the Quincy library (building on the left in the photo below). The guide stated that Quincy read all of the books in the library, and then Kyle noticed some books on the shelves that were published after Quincy's death. Just goes to show you that you shouldn't believe everything you are told.

On our last night in Boston we went out to eat at my favorite restaurant, 75 Chestnut. Then we went to watch Shakespeare on the Commons. We were too tired to stay, but I love the idea that they hold free plays every summer here.

On the 29th of July we left MA for our trip home.


View Cross Country 2011 in a larger map

We had one destination left, though  before we headed West: Niagara Falls. There we met up with Gustavo, an old friend from our days in Colorado.

Our second night was spent at Tryon Farm Guest House in Michigan City, Indiana. We really enjoyed our limited time here. We spent the morning walking around part of the land, and then were lucky to join the community of people who reside in this conservation area for a group breakfast.

Before leaving, I took Frak out for a little walk to visit the chickens. The chickens were certainly not afraid of Frak, but they certainly startled her.

On our way out of town we stopped by Lake Michigan just to say we had been there.

Our trip out West was amazingly hot. Tempuratures were in the 100s F some days. So, we pretty much took turns eating at establishments and keeping the car running so that the cats wouldn't get too hot in the car. Once again, the cats did really well traveling. Each morning they seemed to be in distress, but by the afternoon all was well.

Frik on her scratcher outside her carrier.

Just waiting for Kyle to finish his lunch.

The road we traveled took us through St. Louis too. Although we didn't stay here, we at least got a few great photos of the Arch.

We reached Julie's parents house on August 2nd. We ended up staying with them for almost a month as our furniture didn't arrive from MA until the end of August. We were so grateful to them for taking all 4.5 of us in.