Before I get to the fantastic wedding (the pictures are still downloading), I can tell the story of going up to my sister’s house for a two-hour Dad-style trip.

Dad’s famous for never spending more than two hours at a place if he can help it, and if he does stay longer, he usually ends up fixing something or building a patio.

So, since I had a whopping four hours between getting up and time to get ready for the wedding and I was a mere hour away from my sister’s house, there I went. We had all these grandiose plans to go meet up at the Denver Zoo, but that’s expensive for six of us, and besides, they just went. So it was easier to drive one person than five, and up I went in my puny little rental car.

 

It was really great to see them though, and especially to just hang out with the kids a little. Orion’s birthday was just the other day, and he was deep into a game he’d received.

 

Phoebe has recently become a hot-shot on her purple bike with the streamers, so we took the camera out and she did tricks for me to photograph.

That brought Nolan out too. All of their family is athletic, but Nolan’s a real prodigy with the swimming. He had bike tricks to show me too, and a wall full of medals. He’s got such an impish little face, you know that one’s going to be a heartbreaker in a few short years.

I really wish I lived close enough to spend more time with these guys. It’s been over a year since I last saw them, and they’re incredible kids. I was quite impressed with Colorado too. I’d like to spend more time visiting, although I don’t think it would be exactly my cup of tea to live there. Too many yuppies, not enough pickup trucks, but that may have been the portion I saw. But it was green! In the summer! Very surreal for this brown-hilled Californian. One of these years in the not too distant future, maybe when John’s old enough to spell me driving, I think we’ll hitch up the trailer and follow our noses for a couple of summer weeks. Stop when we want to, go where we feel like it, and maybe get to know our family a little better again.