All about Coco, plus some really bad pictures of the blood moon

It was pointed out to me by a faithful blog reader that I've been light on the Coco coverage lately.  Well, consider that corrected right now.  As I type this, Coco is curled up on my ummm upper chest, purring like a motorboat.  It's not super easy to type like this but who am I to move the kitten?   Coco continues to grow and thrive.  She's healthy and has more energy than any other members of this household combined.  Except maybe Trigger.  She races up and down the stairs chasing dogs or being chased.  She sweetly nestles her head into your palm, purring like crazy and then bites into that soft chewy part of your hand and grabs on with both front paws.  She meows plaintively for breakfast/lunch/dinner and then bites your feet until your open up the fridge for the wet cat food.  At night, you'll find her curled up on the end of a kid's bed and unwilling to be moved to the designated cat bedtime spot (not a kid's bed).  Coco is a force of nature but she's brought a lot of fun and smiles to our household.  

Coco's favorite sitting spot.  Here she's watching Glenn bringing groceries in and doesn't budge from that spot right smack dab in the middle of the door.  She's also starting to make a dash for the front yard if you aren't quick enough.  

We let Coco explore the front yard with a leash and a kid on the other end.  She loves watching the birds and hunting bugs and chewing on grass.

A girl and her photogenic cat.  

I love how both of them are looking at the camera.  

Being outside is so exhausting.  Coco is not interested in being leash-trained.  

Meanwhile, back inside someone is watching our every move.  

 The blood moon had the audacity to take place at the same time as the Broncos game so once or twice I yelled at everyone to run outside and see the moon.  The eclipse helpfully occurred at halftime so I was able to take a few pictures.  None of them are very good but they are pictures.

The moon looks really, really far away.  

Who needs one blood moon when you can have like six or seven?  The camera wasn't kidding about that 'tripod recommended' setting.  

Could be an eclipse, could be just a completely dark picture.  You decide!  

What we've been up to - September edition

Sports:  Will's playing soccer and flag football.  Reina is playing soccer, taking swimming lessons and has a tap dance class once a week.  Needless to say, it's a little crazy right now.  I broke my own rule of one sport at a time, but that ship has sailed, at least for a few more weeks.  The good news is that everyone is getting a lot of exercise and it hasn't snowed during a game yet.  On the flip side, our evenings are a blur of practices and a late dinner and squeezing in homework.  But we are keeping the ship afloat until things slow down.

Hunting:  Glenn went to Alaska a few weeks ago and came back with a giant caribou and a bunch of meat in the freezer.  This is usually a taxidermy-free blog but I'll add a picture soon because he's so proud of it and he should be.

School:  First and third grade are going well.  Trips to the nurse's office have been numerous due to monkey bars incidences, recess soccer shots to the noggin, a particularly brutal game of "monkey in the middle" and an inexplicable whack to the head from a pole that had the audacity to get in Will's way.  No stitches or broken bones KNOCK ON WOOD.   Both kids are learning a lot.  Reina is reading like a champ and Will has vocabulary to learn this year along with spelling words.  This week's lesson includes forlorn and trudging.

Gardening:  I'm ready for our first frost - there I said it.  We've had a great run of gardening this summer.  Lots of sun, no hail, decent rain so we have an abundance of tomatoes and squashes of all shapes and sizes.  I've canned beets, pickles, peppers, tomato sauce, jalapeno jelly and some strawberry/rhubarb jam earlier in the summer.  I'm pretty much ready to call it good.  Which probably means it'll snow next week and I'll be the one to blame.

Pets:  Coco is still loco and the dogs are completely nonchalant about her existence by now.  Coco tears around the house, wrestles Will's stuffed animals, bites my feet, meows at the fridge, carries cotton balls around in her mouth and plays with the dogs when it suits her.  She likes to especially snuggle Tootsie on the couch which makes Tootsie nervous which is probably why Coco likes it. There's some circular cat logic for you.

I think that about sums up our September.  We've been enjoying some football games, or at least, enjoying some parts of some football games.  The weather is cooling and leaves are starting to turn and candy corn is at Target.  It's my favorite time of year.

Reina's first Broncos game

Let's talk about football!  I took Reina to the Broncos pre-season game towards the end of August.  It was her first trip to Sports Authority Field at Mile High and she loved it.  We had such a nice afternoon together.  It was one of those days were everybody (at least Reina and I) was in a good mood,  the weather wasn't too hot, it was a pre-season game so the score didn't matter (the Broncos won) and we just had fun.  

Reina's view from the seats.  I love the sneak peek of the tips of her fingers.  She was a little bored as the game went on so I gave her the phone camera.  Lots of backs of heads and butts, but I guess when you are under four feet, that is your viewpoint.

Wearing Bobo's hand-me-downs but happy as a clam. 

See above caption. 

 During the game, I said she could pick out one treat and she was trying to tell me what she wanted, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember the name.  She asked me if she could get those hippity hops or those hop-hop things?  We finally got on the same page and headed for the Dippin Dots vendor.  Yeah for weird ice cream!  It was a terrific way to wrap up the summer.  Since the game, Reina's been more interested in the Broncos and while she doesn't always watch, she definitely asks who's winning.  Last night, she even made the connection that Eli Manning must be Peyton's brother.  I was so proud!  She's my little superfan!

Let's be workers!

We're clinging to summer around here just like Coco clings to the front door screen while Tootsie supervises.  Coco was trying to catch flies, naturally. 

We're still writing about summer over here!  A few weeks ago, I had to take my booth for work to another town about 2 two hours away.  It was the day before school so the kids came with me. We had to drive about two hours one way but we left early enough to stop at a pioneer museum on the way up.  Both kids are into 'old stuff' right now so it works pretty well.  Pioneer museums have enough guns, swords, army uniforms, skulls and maybe a cannon or two that keeps Will interested and dresses, tea cups, taxidermied animals, and old fashioned anything to entertain the Reina.  We had a very pleasant day.  On the way home, we stopped by a state park that I've driven by for years and never took the five minute detour off of the interstate to check out.  We'll be back Natural Bridge! 

Darn sideways camera picture.  This is Natural Bridge.  It's a giant rock formation that has been eroded by the river so it looks like a giant natural bridge.  Wow, I should write copy for our state tourism material.

I was trying to take a picture of my booth for outreach purposes and Reina says, "hey Will, let's be workers!" That's what I am, a worker. 

Photobombed by a worker! 

Star Wars Night at the Rockies game

A few weeks ago, the kids and I attended Star Wars Night at Coors Field.  Last year Will and I went but this year Jedi Girl came too.  I think it's becoming a Pauley summer tradition.  The game was at night which was good because we had a busy morning with football and farmer's market and a few chores before heading down the interstate.  As we pulled into Pop-pop and Grandma's neighborhood, Reina whispered to me from the back seat. I looked in the rear view mirror to see Will fast asleep, using Reina as a pillow.  She was wide awake and I'm not sure why she volunteered her noggin as a soft place to snuggle up to but there are a few things I don't get about brothers and sisters.  And hey, at least they weren't screaming at each other.  I'll take it! 

At Pop-pop's, we changed into our Star Wars costumes.  Last year, Will and I just attended the game.  This year, everyone agreed to get to Coors Field early so that we could march in the pre-game parade and get to walk on the field. 

Argh with the pictures that won't rotate.  Will (slightly) graciously let Reina borrow his Jedi costume while he combined a Jedi robe with a Rockies jersey.  Very apropos.

Good guys and the major bad guy, who was actually really nice. 

Us on the field!  The parade was along the warning track and for my part, totally worth the 1+ of standing in line.  We got to walk on Coors Field! 

More characters and a couple kiddos who took their job pretty seriously.

So Star Wars Night was a lot of fun.  The Rockies didn't win but we got there early enough to get bobbleheads.  A parade and bobbleheads? What else do you need.  Oh, maybe cotton candy and we did get that too.  See you next year Coors Field! 

Summer isn't over yet...at least not on this blog

Almost a month ago, we had a visit from the Omaha Pauleys and we all headed up to the mountains for a camping trip.  The official tally was 7 humans, 2 dogs and 1 cat.  Yes, we took Coco camping again, and she probably caught a respiratory infection because of her cold weekend camping, but all's well that end's well.  So back to the camping trip.  We headed up to the top of the Snowies to a campground that we'd visited before.  It was raining a little when we set up camp but that was a nice break from the summer heat. 

Tootsie and Trigger have lost their "off-leash" privileges due to several infractions during previous camping trips.  Really the infractions are basically "completely ignore frantic screaming of our names as we race wildly into the woods towards freedom." 

Coco made fast friends with the Omaha Pauleys and she assumed her perch on Ben's shoulder for most of the weekend.  I'm mad at myself for not taking more pictures of the cousins and Uncle Mark and all of the gang everybody was there, you'll just have to take my word for it. 

Coco's favorite way to view the world. 

Will and Reina fighting over what I can only assume is sugary cereal, a camping tradition.  (the fighting AND the cereal)

Our campground was heavily impacted by the beetle kill and most of the trees have been cutdown.  There are a lot of little saplings coming up but it looks much different than it did even a few years ago.  The light was so pretty and I tried to capture it.  Still working on framing pictures but my cute kid makes it worth saving. 

A man and his kitten. 

The next day, we packed up camp and headed to Brooklyn Lake.  The older half of the family (besides me) headed off on a long hike and I stayed back with the kiddos and cat.  Reina and I took a little hike by ourselves while Will napped.  She's a trooper.  We didn't hike far but we stopped to look at flowers and animal tracks and a tree trunk that was particularly interesting.  Life is one adventure after another for this kid. 

Nature girl! 

After the mom/daughter mini-hike, we came back and picked up Will and the cat and walked down to Brooklyn Lake just a short distance from the truck.  The day was still a little cool but that didn't stop the kids from sticking their feet in the water. 

Pretending that he's being dragged into the water by a shark or sea-dwelling monster of some sort. 

This is what I get when I say, "Smile for me sweetie." I think this one should probably be saved for the graduation collage. 

I played around with the camera while the kids launched into some complicated scheme that involved lava and bad guys and definitely not touching the water.  I slowed them down for a few seconds and grabbed this shot.  Without even seeing the picture, Will says, "You should save that one for the Christmas card, Mom."  I think he's right. 

And it's not even a chokehold!