Holiday Festivities

Tis the season for parties and Santa! We had fun at my work holiday party where Nevi got to play with a little girl very close to her age. They made funny faces, chased each other down the hallway and went up and down the stairs too many times to count. Nevi also got to meet Santa Claus in person but truthly wanted no part of him. She was happy to meet him when he was walking out to greet everyone but when it came time to sit in his lap, she panicked. Just like me when I was her age. Maybe next year....

My 33rd Birthday Party

The day after Thanksgiving, the Seal troop rounded up once again but this time to celebrate my birthday. Thanksgiving leftovers were enjoyed (my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is to enjoy it over and over again) with a grand finale of birthday cake instead of pumpkin pie. Thank you everyone for enjoying my birthday with me - I feel the love...

More of the Fam

Ring Around the Rosy

The Fam at Thanksgiving in Anderson, IN

It's been a long while since the Colorado Seals traveled at Thanksgiving but we landed in Anderson, IN this year to see Nana & Pop along with all the others... There were 45 beautiful and familiar faces on Thanksgiving Day, all extensions of our family. We enjoyed this reunion and feast in Noblesville, IN at the Lodge, a new and super nice venue thru the Parks and Rec Dept overlooking beautiful green open space (Thanks Don for the Lodge and Thanks Sue for the organizing and mass cooking). It was a perfect day. Even the rain was cleansing and unobtrusive. The food was out of this world, the company somehow was even better and the Thanksgiving Prayer (Thanks Sue) was the cherry on top. Nevi was even able to nap in the Lodge office for a while so we didn't miss a beat.

The traveling was surprisingly easy, as well. Robb, Nevi & I all made it to the airport on time for departure, expecting long lines the day before the holiday but ended up with NO line when checking bags and a reasonable/manageable line for security. We arrived at our gate 2 hours before take off but it not an issue since everything is a fun activity with Nevi. Leaving Indiana was just as easy, just way too early. With the time difference (2 hours difference between Anderson and Lafayette), we figured we woke up at 2am to head back. Yuck, but well worth it (Thanks PopPop for the rides).

It was awesome to watch Nevi bond with everyone and get such warm love and genuine interest/attention in return. I think that this trip was very fulfilling for us all.

Winter hats & ZOO!

The Denver Zoo offers a few free zoo days each year so we partook in their offer last weekend. I, like everyone else in Denver, thought....oh goody...free! Needless to say, it was packed and the parking was crazy! But, we managed a few hours amidst the chaos and enjoyed a few animal displays. The giraffe were probably the most entertaining of the exhibits - they recently had babies who were running around, playing and having a ball. Robb also liked the grizzly bears. In most other animal exhibits we saw, the animals were sleeping or sitting peacefully, so we'd say....'Look., Nevi, a snake!' And she'd look and look and not see a thing that was exciting. We didn't spend a dime that day, but I think next time we go to the zoo, we'll pay full price and spare ourselves the stress. It took us 30 minutes to find our car after the zoo and an additional hour to leave the parking lot. And, as usual, toward the end of our visit, I was REALLY ready to go, feeling emotionally charged seeing those poor creatures in captivity. Seeing Nevi absorb the views and education offered by this place made it worth the hassle and tears.

Nevi LIVE! Winkle Winkle A-B-C