welcome to the rockies, where a baby's feet never touch the ground.

A few highlights of our trip to Colorado:

For David the highlight of the trip was Hildigard the Dog. Unlike Tuff, back home, Hildy's head and tale are in the same time zone, so he can see a whole dog, not just a tale or a head. And when he saw that dog he giggled his most excited giggle--pumping arms and legs in delight. Hildy was not quite so sure about David, who seemed to be butting in on the attention that we were supposed to lavish on her. But they got on well.

And David enjoyed much lavishing of attention. He was lavishingly lavished. For a week, he had Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma and Grandpa cooing and fussing and holding and laughing. He played his part well with his advanced repertoire of syllables, grins, and giggles. Then we would take him back for a night of screaming and fussing. The strange, thin, over-stimulating environment didn't settle well with him and sleeping was a real problem for the three of us. Also he is experiencing the chewing, drooling discomfort of early teething. If I leave out important details about the Colorado trip, it is because I was sleeping.

The weather was beautiful, so we spent a lot of time outdoors, walking, hiking, playing with Hildy. One day David, Hildy, and I went on a hike through a valley of sage-brush meadows. Another day, Jaime and I went horse-back riding in the mountains around Sweetwater Lake. You know in those movies where guys ride up on horses, jump off, and immediately start fighting with swords or guns or fists or whatever? Those are heavily edited. They totally cut out the part where the guys dismount and then limp around for ten minutes waiting for their knees to resume bending back-and-forth rather than side-to-side.

I also got my teeth worked on. I'm sure that many people think that their son-in-law talks too much, but few people can take such decisive action on the issue. My father-in-law is a dentist, so every trip to Colorado means a cleaning and checkup. He gave me a new filling and worked on an old one. It is a nice perk--especially if you are unemployed. Before being a dentist, Steve was in the Navy and was a football player. All I can say is--I had no idea how far a person's lips can stretch.

The Feast of the Transfiguration was also spent ascending mountains as we went over the Divide through Rockie Mountain National Park on the way to a family reunion in Estes. At the top, it did occur to me that this would be a good place to pitch some tents and camp.
The weekend of the end of the trip was a family reunion of most of Steve's siblings, nieces and nephews. This was even more people to hold David and coo and fuss over him. On the whole it was very relaxing a lot of fun.

The highlight for me was simply being reunited with my lovely wife and child. We could have sat around and picked each other noses and I would have been equally content after a week without them.

Sorry that I'm being pokey with the pictures. I am learning something new.