Harlow's 1st Birthday

On Sunday we went over to Dez & Tim's house to celebrate Harlow's 1^st birthday. So Harlow opened her presents...

Oh look a box... let's empty it out and play in it

And then we had some cake that Dez made...

Definitely not a cakewreck...

And then Harlow ate it....

I wish I had a picture 10mins after this...

All in all, a nice afternoon with a nice sugar rush ending....

First snow of 2011/2012

While I was out of town for work, the first snow of the season hit us here in Colorado. Luckily it was not a major storm and didn't cause me any trouble getting home. Because the trees had not lost all their leaves yet, there was quite a bit of damage in some areas, but we did not have any at our house since Jody went out and knocked the snow off.

However, it did provide us with some nice pictures. So here they are

During the storm on Wed

Thursday Night

Thursday Night

By Saturday the snow was basically gone, except for the shaded areas. So that is the start of the season, and it looks like we'll have more in the next day or two.

Conference presenting

So as I said earlier, I was accepted to present at a conference in Miami.  Now funny enough this conference was at the same hotel that work has had graduation at in the past, so I knew the area, and the hotel.  When Kevin and I checked in, we chatted with the person at the desk, and it turns out he had been to CO a few years ago etc...anyway, small talk paid off as they upgraded our room to a suite....it was sweet. 

one night we walked over to Bayside, it is a fun little area, near the water, with shops and restaurants.  Here is Kevin at Bubba Gump (taken especially for Pauline)

However we didn't eat there, we ate at a Cuban place. 

On the walk back to the hotel we saw this statue....

My presentation went off without a hitch, we were a little worried as we had the last presentation of the day on a Saturday, but I guess our topic  "Supporting General Education by Connecting Faculty Across the University to General Education Disciplines"  was interesting to a lot of people.  :-)  Here I am with my co-presenter Heather (Asst chair of math).

Florida!

Recently I was accepted to present at a conference in Miami.  And as luck would have it, the same week I was going to be in Florida, our exchange student from this summer, Florian would also be in Florida on vacation with his parents.  So Kevin decided to go with me, and we went a day early, and drove from Miami to Sanibel Island to get to meet Florian's parents and to see Florian again. 

It was a really nice day....Here we are driving across the bridge

 

 As we got into town, we saw this sign, it made me laugh....Now, in CO I guess we have don't feed the wildlife signs, so this isn't any different, but still not something I see everyday. 

First we met Florian and his parents at their condo and sat and visited and exchanged gifts.  Then we went to lunch: 

This is the pier at the restaurant we ate at...

 Then we went to the beach.....can you see this, this is entirely shells....

The GULF!!!  This was the first time I had seen the gulf up close and I got to put my feet in it :-)

Then we went to ice cream

Then we went over to see the lighthouse and more beach

 

Driving along alligator alley....didn't see any, but I did like seeing the palm trees and the evergreen trees together.  

It was really wonderful to meet Florian's parents!  They are very nice people and we had a great day with them.  I wish we would have had more time, as both Kevin and I enjoyed our visit.

I had said we exchanged gifts, and Florian's parents were very very (too much so) generous.  Here are all the things they brought us....

You see the Coo Clock in the box, where here it us hung up on the wall:

You can hear what it sounds like here:  I am not sure if Stormy yet gets it :-)

What a wonderful (but short) vacation, before my conference. 

Dickey's BBQ

 Recently we were in Greeley.  I go often as I have an exchange student from Norway there, and I have to do monthly contacts with the family.  So after a recent visit, we met my friend Kari at Dickey's Barbecue Pit. The food was really good, and not very expensive...I think I might have to stop in again soon!

Brush Oktoberfest

Well this post is old, but I am just getting around to putting up some pics.  Kevin and I made it to the Brush Oktoberfest this year.  Now, this is a small event, across a few blocks and in conjunction with a car show.  But the Oktoberfest here, is really a family event with booths of food, things for kids to do and just a tiny Beer Garden....

They have a tent with various things happening.  Here is a ...umm....ok I will just say it, and Old lady dance group showing off the "Chicken Dance"

A view of all the booths.....

 And this?  Well not sure how Sicilian Snacks fit into Oktoberfest, but it looks like it didn't stop people from trying out the food. 

Since this is a small town event, and not very big, we spent about an hour there, but as you can see it was a gorgeous day and a great way to get out on a Saturday. 

Ritter Sport - Pfefferminz

Well Florian, here it is... the day you have been waiting for... the day I ate the Ritter Sport Mint Chocolate bar... To bad you were not here for it. Actually, I ate it about two weeks ago, but am just now getting around to writing about it.

Florian said this was his favorite bar, and he tried unsuccessfully to get me to open it while he was here. I knew he liked it alot and so that made me a little concerned I would not get any of it. (Just Kidding). Anyway, Florian was right, this is a very good bar and I would pick one of these up just about any time. The mint is strong, but not Altoid string and the chocolate is a nice, crisp, dark chocolate. Recommended if you like mint.

Ritter Sport - Halbbitter

The Ritter Sport Halbbitter is a dark chocolate bar. Even though it is only listed as a 50% bar, it actually tastes like a darker bar, perhaps a 65% one from other vendors.

All this means is that the chocolate the RS uses in the bar is a good quality chocolate and that is hard to complain about. Anyway, this is a good bar and I would purchase one of these again.