“Not now, I’m playing a game”
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| Not as impressive as the real thing. |
They continued to have fun in Denver for the week, visiting a mini golf and fun center a couple of times. They also stopped in at Tiny Town. That’s either a miniature village, or a giant model railroad depending on which direction you look at it from. Anabelle was very excited by the Dinosaur Hill section the train passes, since it had many models of parasaurolophus on it, her favorite dinosaur. (Doesn’t everybody have one?) We didn’t see much on them at the other dino-sites. Apparently they aren’t one of the breeds sticking out of the freakin’ ground in that area. Rosa was, of course, very excited by the Home Depot. One of the little buildings was a “Stanley” company. Nice to know they were still being looked after.
There was also a quick stop at Dinosaur Ridge again. Anabelle’s ammonite escaped from the luggage in transit (or more likely as I unpacked since I forgot it was in there.) She managed to find the exact same fossil in the sandbox. Not only did she find it, but now that the sand was unencumbered by hordes of pillaging girl scouts, it took under a minute.
She happily got to see Carly again. They played Whoonu, and swam in the pool together. There were tacos for lunch and an introduction of Daddy’s guacamole recipe to the Colorachachas.
I finally got to watch the Dune miniseries I’d had on DVD for over two years. I think I’ll have to buy the sequel…when they go back. In addition, I found time for a couple of three mile swims Up the Lake without having to feel guilty I was abandoning my family on shore for the over ninety minutes required to do that.
While we all had fun, and survived apart, we definitely work better as a team. There was a great deal of phone calls, picture text messages, and on line video chats throughout the week. With the exception of the few times there was a game Anabelle was trying to play on the computer, then Daddy’s unexpected face was seen more as an interruption than as a message from home. Can’t win ‘’em all, I guess. I did keep the photo booth pictures, the napkin of stuff to mail, and the postcards they sent with me all week. The Green Lantern picture is still in my wallet. (Because I am a softie.)
When the week apart ended, they got to have their own airport adventure. For some reason all passengers had to pass through a single security scanning machine. It is unclear why, in such a large airport, this was the case. It is also unclear why, in such a large airport, there didn’t seem to be anyone around who knew how to run the scanner for chunks of time. Despite the fact that they arrived very early for the flight, since the security line alternated between speeds of painfully slow and even more painfully stop, time was catching up to them.
Luz Maria got a pass to accompany them to the gate, originally so they could enjoy a leisurely lunch together before takeoff. Instead the three of them ended up sprinting through the airport as my wife and daughter’s names were being paged over the loudspeaker. Much like a dramatic movie, the airplane door was actually being closed as they ran toward it, and only their calls to wait kept it from being shut. Much like a sillier kind of movie, Luz Maria didn’t even have time to get her shoes back on and was running through the airport carrying both her footwear and Anabelle’s car seat.
The flight turned out to be, fortunately, much less eventful than the boarding process. The original plan to celebrate our reunion and my excessive swimming with one of my two yearly allowed Hunan Taste dinners was pushed back a day. Instead a stop was planned at the quicker and easier Hibernia Diner, since they were both starving after replacing the leisurely lunch with the accelerated airport ambulation.
I met them at the luggage rack with roses and balloons. Back home was a set of Cars 2 toys waiting for Anabelle. (Did I mention I’m a softie?)
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| Denver says, "Come back soon!" |
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Days Alone
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