Extra Happy T-Day

The original plan had just Marie’s family celebrating the holiday with us.

But snow happens - 

Gary and Shelly’s plans to join her sister in the mountains got washed out - 

as does the flu - 

poor Mary caught Donovan’s stomach bug.

As bad as I feel for Mary, 

I was still pretty pleased 

that all my California tiny people 

were here for the day 

(except Leia, who’s with her mom).

Hope your Thanksgiving was extra happy too.

Baker Addy

On our last day in Colorado, we took Addy shopping to spend her birthday $$ (shoes and scrunches at H&M),

then settled in so Addy could try her hand at yeast rolls for the first time. 

 First rise is done!

We watched the video together before I walked her through the process, with Addy doing all the mixing and measuring. 

Using a pizza cutter to slice the dough and forming the balls - it takes skill- were her favorite parts. The end results were delicious.

Addy is planning to make these, on her own, for Thanksgiving with her dad’s extended family. Boy, are they in for a treat. 

Birthday Golf

We celebrated Addy’s birthday today with a trip to Top Golf, near Denver. 

Hubby and I were expecting something like an old-school stand-at-the-line-and-swing driving range but this place was crazy cool. 

The building is three stories tall, with approx. 100 bays holding up to 6 golfers each, and state-of-the-art ball tracking on a screen in each bay showing scores, trajectory, speed, hang-time and more on every shot.

There were heaters in the ceiling to combat the chili (high of 50 today - it’s a heatwave!) and comfortable couches on which to enjoy the food and drink service. And the price was reasonable, especially compared to the usual child party venues.

Addy and her buddy, Mel, held their own, golfing almost as well as the adults. There were several times when one of them was in the lead.

Addy loved knowing her ball’s speed after each shot. (56 mph was the top.)

The highlight of the day - for the adults, at least - was when the very drunk guys in the next bay *loudly* joined us in singing happy birthday.

Addy was horrified. 

Sorry, Addy. But it was pretty funny. 

Happiest of birthdays, new teenager.

Camp Christmas

We saw Frozen II this evening and it was good! I think I like the first one better, but maybe I just need to see this one a few hundred more times for an accurate comparison.

This morning we headed to Denver and Camp Christmas.

Sponsored by the Denver Performing Arts Center, and designed by one artist, 

 The originating artist, making tiny spun sugar trees to fill the giant white tree frame on the right

it’s described as "an over-the-top holiday extravaganza as big as the season it celebrates."

“Over the top” is an understatement.

It was big, bright, bold, colorful and fantastic.

 Baroque Christmas 

 Closeup of the woman in the sleigh. There’s a tree in her hair!

There was something for everyone - 

 Mid-Century Pink was a bit much

historical perspective,

holiday factoids,

faux sleigh rides,

holiday stories

 Story by Louisa May Alcott
and sooooooo

 The Victorians loved their Egyptian decorations

much more.

Even a demon bronco that Addy refused to go anywhere near.

My favorite part, hands down, were the pun trees.

You may need to enlarge the pics to get these. 

So bad. So funny. 

So well done. 

Definitely worth the hour drive, just for the puns. PLUS, we got holiday hats. Doesn’t get much better. 

Birthday Addy

Woke up to a white world this morning - 

can you tell we aren’t in California??

It was so chilly last night that Addy, who is almost never cold, was happy to model the Can-a-DEE-a hat we bought her on our last trip. 

 Silly girl teenager

Since she’s now 13, Addy is allowed to wear "a little" makeup to school.

So today’s first stop was for a mini-facial and makeup lesson at a local store. 

Addy wasn’t thrilled with how the eyeshadow was done, so she came home and redid it. Much nicer!

We finished the day with dinner at Red Robin (Addy’s choice),

 "Look Grandma, I’m queen of the rock!”

a quick walk (it was 19 degrees!!) through a local sculpture garden’s Christmas lights display

and home again for presents 

and birthday "pizza" from Baskin-Robbins. Soooooooooo good! 

Happy birthday, sweet Addison!