M - Closet blogging on Noah's birthday

I started this blog holed up in the rather large closet of this hotel room trying to be relatively quiet so as to not wake the still slumbering family.

I'm trying to catch up on missing a day or two of the trip report so let me start with Sunday.

We attended worship with the Eastside Church of Christ in Colorado Springs. The kids had a great time in a very innovative VBS style kids' program that takes place through both Bible class and worship. While there we are ran into some old (well, not really 'old') friends from college, the Schlup clan. Afterwards, we headed back to Susan's apartment so Katie (and her dad) could take a nap before the trip up Pike's Peak. I'll work very hard to resist the strong urge to make this an engineer's geek report and talk only about the train, its engines, the steep grades, and the fatigue potential of the cog railway itself given the range of environmental loads it experiences.

We bought tickets on the 4pm train and were lucky, it sounds like, to get those. It's a busy place and this is their peak season. The train is open year-round and there is some really cool video on their website where the snowblower is clearing 10-foot snowdrifts. Some of the snow at the bottom of the drifts is so wet and heavy, they have to cut it with chainsaws then break it into smaller pieces to be chewed up by the tines of the blower!

The views from the train were amazing, and no picture, at least the ones I can take, do justice to the majesty of God's creation. Every scene amazed and humbled me. The steepest incline experienced on the trip is about a 26% grade. Most steep highways usually don't exceed 7 or 8% grade! We had the privilege of seeing several animals on the trip up. The usuals are birds, deer and marmots but this time we got to see bighorn sheep and even a small herd of elk as well. The lone sheep was very close to the train but the elk were quite a distance. With the heavily overcast clouds it was tough to get a good picture at such a long zoom. Nonetheless, here are a couple of attempts. You'll have to click on each picture to get a larger view.


Passing the tree line is always a treat in my opinion. I've only ever done that on a hike one time before, and it was pretty cool. In 1992 I hiked up Mount Elbert, the second highest point in the lower 48. I'd love to do that again some day.

Pike's Peak is number 32 on the Colorado fourteener list.

The view from the top was a REAL bummer. I've been at the peak of Pike before on a perfectly clear day, and it's amazing. Unfortunately, this day was much different. Not only was it really cloudy, it started to sleet as we were boarding the train for our trip back down. At least I can say it was our first time to see ice fall from the sky in late July! Lunch at the top was tasty and we even tried the famous-but-not-sure-why donuts. Like I said, it was cold, sleeting, and windy as we readied to board the train.


If you make the trip, we'd suggest sitting on the '3-seat' side of the train if possible. Both sides have their relative advantages but that side of the train has the best views overall. We were on the '2-seat' side and were a little envious most of the time!

We said our goodbye's to Susan at the base of Pike's Peak and headed straight to Denver after a quick trip through McD's drive-through (only our second so far!). The trip was about 1.5 hours from the mountain to our hotel. As Dana blogged earlier, we are staying at the Adam's Mark hotel in downtown Denver. Apparently it is the largest hotel in Colorado and I believe it.

My frugal bride got our room on Priceline for an unbelievable $70 per night and the room is HUGE. Actually, they first put us in a king bed room that was much more normal and would not have been good for this long of a stay. For those that don't know, you can't request a room type on Priceline. The hotel graciously switched us, and we never looked back. I've never had a hotel room this big, even a suite. We're estimating the total size to be around 600 sf. The only downside is that is has two double beds (kind of crowded for 2 adults), but I'd rather have the space for a 6-night stay. The closet and bathroom (& the 2nd sink/vanity area on the other side of the room) are at least twice as large as the norm. Plus, you just can't beat the price.

Our first full day in Denver was a bit of a relax day except for the THREE hours at Casa Bonita. Seriously, except for the really bad food, it's a pretty neat, out-of-the-ordinary sort of place. The game room was fun and full of some 80's era arcade games (the only ones I really know how to play). The high-diver dude was pretty cool, and the skits, while somewhat lame, were still entertaining as a dining element.

Later in the afternoon, I stayed with Katie in the hotel while Noah and Dana went on a walking tour of downtown Denver. I consider it my fatherly duty to supervise Katie while she is napping. Lest you think I was asleep also, she simply needed me to be very still and quiet with my eyes closed so as to not disturb her unnecessarily.

We finished the evening at Noah's favorite restaurant which is Olive Garden. In celebration of his birthday, we enjoyed the chocolate gelato. I've never seen Noah eat so much. Maybe this is what 6-yr olds do...EAT. He had a Chicken Parmesan, two helpings of salad, a breadstick, some pasta, half the gelato and his Andes mint, then finished the night off with lots of grapes back at the hotel room.





FINALLY, this morning Noah awoke to a room full of balloons, cake, and birthday presents. He was really surprised - which was the whole point. Dana did an amazing job of planning Noah's bday morning. She stayed up after all of us went to bed and got the balloons and everything ready. I had to be extra careful not to step on a balloon and pop it this morning as I tried to leave in the dark! Noah still hasn't seen the car, but it has been appropriately shoe-polished for the occasion. I think we'll all agree it just might be a dream come true for any little kid (and
some grown-ups) to get birthday cake for breakfast! And that is
exactly what they did. Mom retrieved breakfast for us a little

later so we had something to combat the major sugar OD on their
little empty stomachs.

Today we are off to Waterworld which looks to be pretty doggone fun. If you are sticking with us on these postings, I'll be sure and update our trip tonight or tomorrow. After that, my blogging days will likely be numbered until the next vacation! ;-)

M - Santa, North Pole, Garden and God...in the same day?

It is Sunday morning as I write this and just a few minutes ago, as you can see, Katie and I were frantically helping to get everything ready for church. Well, perhaps just maybe we weren't frantic or actually helping to do anything but our hearts were in the right place about the whole issue.




As they say in Australia, yesterday was chock-a-block full. Starting about 1030hrs we made our way to Santa's Workshop at the base of Pike's Peak. I was here about 25 years ago and I think Noah and Katie had just as much fun as I did so long ago. Dana, Susan, and I had a great time also but alas, we are far older than the little ones and the hiking at altitude all over the park was admittedly a bit tiring.

It was a COLD start to the morning at the park and the rain didn't help at all. Katie, Noah, and Dana each got new shirts out of the deal but Susan and I figured we could tough it out. This park is 100% Christmas all day every day. I love Christmas but I'm not sure what impact it might have on me to live it every day at work. One of my co-workers is a gentleman who worked at North Pole City in OKC for 17 years. He never even put up a Christmas tree at his house because he lived Christmas EVERY day at work (including Christmas music)! I talked briefly with the owner of Santa's Workshop. He grew up in Jefferson, TX and spent summers with his family in Colorado Springs. His parents built the park in 1956 and it has been in operation ever since. Summer is his steadiest business but Christmas is his busiest time of year (go figure).

There were all manners of small amusement park rides at this park. Unfortunately, most of these spin...fast. In addition to all the other things that changed about the time I hit 30, I can no longer SPIN. Slow, fast, short, or long, it's best if I don't spin. MommaBoz on the other hand is tougher than I and has no issues with this!






Lest you think I'm a real wimp, I'll let you know that I handled the Ferris Wheel with no issues whatsoever. Not bad, huh? I'll also have you know that this is the highest Ferris Wheel in the world. (yes, that's right, the highest - not tallest).




Katie did great but boy did she get pooped. She snuck in about a 30-minute nap and we were all better off for it!

Next we were off to Garden of the Gods which is just magnificent. I could spend LOTS of time here and take LOTS of pictures if afforded the opportunity. We were all pretty worn out by this time but we still took the opportunity to drive around and hike a little. Here is a panoramic view from the visitor center:


This next view is much more impressive if you view the full-size shot and get a sense of the scale by noticing the people on the sidewalk:

Spotting deer:


Just plain cool:

The kids, especially fearless Katie, kept us a NERVOUS WRECK as she scaled all over the rocks in her little imbalanced sort of way. Noah was a bit more cautious for which we were very thankful.

Just a few more:

And the end result of the day --->


Today it's Pike's Peak and the Cog Railway after church...can't wait!

M - Roadside emergencies...

...come in many forms.

This little session costs me 4 cents as it took a bribe to get Katie to do what we knew needed to be done. Even better, this roadside detour took about 20 minutes AND took place only about 30 minutes outside of Salina, KS, well before any 'scheduled' stop.

Nonetheless, it was a necessity and I'm glad mammaBoz keeps us prepared for such things. The rest of the drive was quite uneventful for those that have any knowledge of Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado can attest. Lunch included our first of what likely will prove to be many stops at the McDonalds drive-thru.

Colorado is my second-favorite state behind Oklahoma. The mountains are absolutely awesome and I enjoy them every chance I get but personally, I love the plains. I love being able to see what's going on all around and I wouldn't give up the sunrises and sunsets for anything. There is an old Sons of the Pioneers song entitled "Don't Fence Me In" that speaks to just this notion. Bing Crosby sang it also but I like the Sons version best. Here are the lyrics:

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don't fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don't fence me in.

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever but I ask you please,
Don't fence me in.

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in.

We saw some spectacular vistas after we entered Colorado and before we could see the mountains. A rainstorm added to the appeal.

While in Colorado Springs we are staying with Dana's friend Susan...true to a Bosley's desired price range for lodging - FREE!

After our arrival I took the kiddos out for a leg-stretching session and wouldn't you know we found water...and wouldn't you know we couldn't resist its siren call...and wouldn't you know we accidentally got wet and muddy...and wouldn't you know we had just a great time!

There was lots of digging and dam building and water re-routing. Noah is well on his way to engineering geekdom, perhaps as a hydraulic or *gasp* Civil Engineer. Nah, he would never do that to me. :-)










We can see Pike's Peak to the west of Susan's apartments. In this picture it is nicely shielded by both man and God's creation, the Goodyear sign and clouds respectively.







We ended the evening with a great view of a full rainbow of which here is a glimpse.

Off today to Garden of the Gods and Santa's Workshop plus other yet-to-be-identified activities.

M - Colorado or bust

On average, I travel once each month for work. I have streaks where I don't travel for a month or two but then make up for it over the next month or two. Thus, I have a fair amount of 'hotel time'. Traveling with the fam is cause for interesting mornings. I awake at my usual 0500-0530hrs and go get breakfast, either in the hotel lobby or at a local restaurant.

This morning it was a little 24hr mom-and-pop cafe near the hotel. This one was smoke-free from 5am to 9pm according to city ordinance. I will take a little hole-in-the-wall cafe like this over IHOP or Denny's any day. A breakfast connoisseur am I. There was a steady stream of locals and truckers into the old restaurant. Overheard conversations about car shows, cattle auctions, and how things used to be fill the air.

The tricky thing after breakfast is that I'm not allowed to re-enter the hotel room until the family awakes (or one member awakes and it's my job to retrieve said member, always a kid, so that the other members of the family can continue sleeping). Thus, I normally have some great alone time to catch up on work-related issues and, as was the case this morning, cruise the streets of Salina, KS for interesting sites. Alas, there were none save for the St. John's Military School. In effect, it appears to be a school in part for troubled youth in need of 'reformation'. The reviews on Google Maps are raving. If you are having trouble with your young 'un, I can now confidently recommend St. John's for the answer to your little rebel's travails.

Seeing our little ones asleep in the same bed, with a fortress of bed bars surrounding, is really nice. I hope they are always such good friends. As you might imagine, they have their not-so-great moments. But by and large, Noah is an amazing big brother and caretaker of the little blonde fireball named Katie. And Katie worships the ground on which Noah treads. Dana laughed herself into tears yesterday on our way to Salina as we listened to Noah's attempt to sing a Hard Hat Harry song with his headphones on. At last count, he managed only to get approximately every third word correct but that did nothing to diminish his efforts to sing right along with the song.

Our final destination today is Colorado Springs. If all goes well we will be there this afternoon ready for some sight-seeing.

Nothing like a gourmet Fairfield Inn breakfast!!

M - Mike's take on things

With a fair amount of subtle pressure, I'm now blogging it seems.

Noah and I fish up to 3 or 4 times a week. It's the perfect hangin' out opportunity and I know we are building memories that will last a lifetime. It is also well-documented with pictures which will come as no surprise to those that know me. In short, I like to photograph just about anything and everything. The picture to the left is a really nice bass that Noah caught all by himself. It weighed just under four pounds which is the largest bass I've ever seen come out of our pond.

Anyway, back to fishing and hangin' out together. Katie is slowly getting to the point where she can spend more than 5 minutes on the boat without us having to turn around and take her to shore. It drives Noah crazy when we have to stop and go back...but she's getting there!!

Noah and I in past years have put out a trotline but this year we are trying our hand at limb lines. Generally speaking we haven't done as well but we did pull in a 5lb channel cat that was well worth the effort. Katie thought it was REALLY cool and was quite upset at me when I turned it loose.


When we catch our own bait it's always in the form of small perch. Catching the bait using a cast net is almost as much fun as catching a fish or turtle on limblines. Here are a couple of pics of some of the nastier creatures we've pulled in. The first pic is an alligator snapping turtle and the second is a soft shell.



I've chronicled MANY, but not all, of our backyard zoo at this website:
www.ebosley.com/Pages/Backyard_Animals/bosley_backyard_zoo.htm

And, finally, here is one of my favorites of each of our beautiful babies. Katie is making a made dash down a drainage ditch to catch tadpoles in her net. Noah is proudly displaying one of the largest Okie frogs I've ever seen.


And to think...my wife calls me a city dwellin' redneck.?.?

So there's my first blog ever. Hopefully it was worth your time. I'm definitely going to have to get more efficient at it or I won't be much of a blogger!

D - 100 Things about Me

I've been a blogger for less than a week, and Audrey's already told me to do this. Here goes...

1. I am a christian.
2. I am very honored and humbled by this.
3. God has richly blessed my life.
4. My parents are faithful christians and have been married almost 40 years.
5. My grandparents (all 4) are faithful christians and are still living.
6. I have two beautiful children.
7. I never dreamed how much I would love them.
8. I get emotional when I think about this.
9. God gave me the best possible husband for me.
10. I am very proud of him.
11. He is the best dad in the world.
12. I love to watch my kids run to him when he gets home from work.
13. I love that Mike is Noah's best friend.
14. Katie is just like me.
15. This could be trouble.
16. She absolutely cracks me up.
17. My favorite description of her is "funny."
18. My humor usually involves sarcasm.
19. I am not an affectionate person.
20. This sometimes causes problems.
21. I am a stay at home mom.
22. I am really happy with this.
23. Before kids, I worked in commercial real estate.
24. I really liked my job.
25. I miss the people I worked with.
26. Some of them feel more like family than coworkers.
27. I am TERRIBLE at staying in touch with people I am not around regularly.
28. I went to 3 different high schools.
29. I HATED high school.
30. I don't keep in touch with anyone from before college.
31. I LOVED college.
32. I went to Oklahoma Christian.
33. I made some wonderful friends there.
34. I don't really keep in touch with them either.
35. Told you I was bad at that!
36. I hope to never move again in my life.
37. I love Edmond.
38. I love the Edmond Church of Christ.
39. They are my family.
40. I am so happy that my kids will grow up in this church.
41. I pray that my kids will be faithful christians.
42. I need to be better at sharing my faith with them.
43. & anyone else for that matter.
44. I thought this would be easy.
45. I am a member of the YMCA.
46. I go 3-4 times per week.
47. This would be funny to anyone who knew me EVER.
48. I have never been athletic.
49. I was in band.
50. I played clarinet.
51. I was pretty good at it.
52. I made all state in high school.
53. I had a music scholarship in college.
54. I dropped out of band my junior (?) year in college.
55. I think.
56. I miss it.
57. There is something very emotional about making music.
58. I blame band for my not being athletic.
59. I think I would have enjoyed sports if I had time for them.
60. I didn't.
61. Now I really love indoor spin classes.
62. I'm thinking of getting certified to teach.
63. I REALLY love yoga.
64. I haven't done yoga regularly for almost a year now.
65. I miss it a lot.
66. Yoga is spiritual to me.
67. Sometimes at the end of a practice, I would find myself lying at the foot of the cross.
68. I really need to find another class.
69. Am I interesting at all?
70. I, like so many other women, have insecurity issues.
71. I love tv.
72. I miss tv.
73. I miss talking about tv with my coworkers.
74. I haven't watched much tv since my kids were born.
75. Mike would disagree with this.
76. My favorite show is Lost.
77. I can't believe it won't be on again until 2008!
78. I've been watching Alias on dvd the past month.
79. I have lost a lot of sleep this past month because of this.
80. I gave up reading novels because I lost too much sleep.
81. I can't put down a good book.
82. I love shopping for clothes for Katie.
83. I have developed really expensive taste in this area.
84. Fortunately, there is ebay.
85. I LOVE ebay.
86. Mike would NOT disagree with this.
87. I am a very frugal person.
88. I manage all of our finances on Quicken.
89. I have 2 sisters.
90. I love them very much.
91. I love that Mary lives down the street from me.
92. I wish I saw Jill more often.
93. I love my beautiful niece, Michaela.
94. I love pink.
95. I love dressing Katie up and fixing her hair.
96. I love having a girl.
97. I love having a boy.
98. I cried the first time Noah played basketball.
99. I was just so proud to watch him run up and down the court being a little boy.
100. Wow! That was easy. Does that make me full of myself???

D - Good Forgetter

I just walked in the back door and Noah came running into the hallway to greet me. He told me that (once again) he had built a fort in the corner of my room, but that he would clean it up if I would remind him.

I said, "I'm definitely going to remind you because I don't want that mess in my room when I go to bed."

He answered, "I will DEFINITELY clean it, but you'll need to remind me because I'm a gooooooooooood forgetter!"

D - My Beautiful Boy

Have you ever seen such a beautiful face on a boy? This picture is a little old - May of 2006 - but when I thought about what I wanted to say today, it's the one that popped into my head.

I was just out shopping for presents for Noah's rapidly approaching 6th birthday when I remembered that he needs some new underwear. (I realize someday he will be very unhappy with me discussing his underwear with the world, but for now he'll never know!)

Anyhow, as I looked over the selection for kids his age, I was overwhelmed with love for my beautiful, innocent boy. Apparently boys his age are into Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars and other things that seem really grown up to me. Noah, on the other hand, still gets scared by Disney movies and prefers Diego, Dragon Tales and Clifford. I know someday he'll be exposed to more grown up things, but for now, he's still just a little boy - with the most compassionate heart I've ever seen and so full of innocence and goodness that I'm filled with emotion when I look at this face. I pray that this is what God sees when he looks down at me. I hope he sees a world full of darkness and evil and that he sees Dana as good and beautiful and innocent. How I want to be that person!

So, what kind of underwear did he get? Superman. I'm pretty sure he's full of goodness too.

D - I love Priceline!

We are leaving in a little less than a week to go on a Colorado vacation. We'll be spending a couple of days with one of my best friends - Susan - in Colorado Springs and then going on to Denver for almost a week. Mike has to work 2 half days and 2 full days while we're there, so Beams in paying for our hotel for 4 nights. Yippee! We're staying at the Adams Mark in downtown Denver which (according to the price anyhow) is a very nice hotel.

Since we are having to pay for the first 2 nights in Denver, we thought it would be really nice to stay at the same hotel as the conference just so we wouldn't have to move. But after seeing the prices, I decided it would NOT be such a great plan to stay there. So, I decided to give Priceline a try. We've used it in the past with varying degrees of success, so I figured it was worth a shot. After a few rejected offers, I got the luckiest result EVER! Out of the hundreds(?) of hotel options it could have given us - we actually got the ADAMS MARK!!! What are the odds? We're staying there for only $70 a night as opposed to the conference rate of $140 or the hotels.com rate of $219! Priceline is awesome!

D - Yep - I'm trying it!

After being a blog stalker for a long, LONG time, I'm finally giving it a try myself. A big thanks to my friend Chrissey for getting me this far! Here goes.....

My hopes for this blog include:

• Keeping in touch with my family and friends;
• Occasionally downloading pictures from my camera (last month I pulled off over 300 pictures that had been collecting since last October);
• Writing down some of the hilarious things my kids say and do so I never forget them;
• & finding a way to spend even MORE time on the computer;

Hmmmmmm. Funny. I just figured out that I have nothing to say. What a fun first post! Now you'll definitely want to come back for more!