THE 40th WITH JACOB AND FAMILY, August 24-27

Jacob moved back to Colorado several years ago now but it’s still hard for me to believe it!  He and Leslie were married on New Year’s Eve 2019 and now we also have two bonus granddaughters (and grand-dogs!) to add to the crew.  Having secured our parking space in the TriLakes Center for the Arts directly behind their home, we had easy access to the mixing of our lives.

The celebration of Jacob’s 40 years went really well and we had fun reviewing a 40 year photo slide show I had created as well as enjoying Jacob’s amazing smoked ribs with his request for favorite childhood recipes including a derby pie complete with 40 candles.

With the birthday over, we got on to the business of being family and doing projects!   School has begun for the girls, a mix of online and onsite for Cozy the new high-schooler and still completely online for Monet in middle school so most of each day had them holed up in their room on their computers.  Leslie works from home from her office downstairs so the whole gang is nearby but out of site!

Rob and I took walks most days enjoying the wonderful area around Palmer Lake.  From wandering out in the open range to climbing Lombard Mountain over Palmer Lake, we ventured out every day.  On days when the projects kept the boys too busy, I headed out the Santa Fe Trail practically right out the door.  Stretching 50 plus miles of near level bike and hiking trail, it’s an easy distraction whenever needed!

Jacob and Rob’s project for this visit was rebuilding their master bedroom shower.  Using tile gifted by a friend, the big surprise was finding that not all the 13” tile was 13” – half was 14!  And not all the 6” tile was beige, half was, well, different!  Improvising size and color, these two worked hours every day measuring, cutting and climbing the stairs over and over and over.  The space went from bare studs to beautifully tiled and ready to use in a matter of days! 

Somehow in the middle of all of that I got to work on transforming the garage space.  Going from catch all to organized, I did what I enjoy more than anything – organizing!  Jacob joined me for the last day and we took to the tools and guitar equipment, finding a place and easy access for everything.  It’s so fun to see a space transformed and we all felt pretty accomplished.

Of course our time together couldn’t be all work and no play and we cooked and played games and even got out to try the local moonshine – properly distanced of course!  

The last night we got lazy and ordered food to go before venturing out in the rain for an ice cream treat a fitting way to end this chapter of the visit before we head a bit north to see more family and friends.