Cheyenne Frontier Days Welcomes Travis Walter!

Travis Walter Carpenter joined us at 112AM MDT Saturday, July 21, 2007 and President George W. Bush was so excited that he handed power to Wyoming's own Dick Cheney (coincidence...we think not)!

He (Travis, not Dick Cheney) weighed in at 7 lbs 12.5 oz and was 19 1/4 in. long.

Kelly and Travis are doing well.

Here are a few of the pictures from very early today, and this morning when Nolan and Barrett were able to meet Travis! As always, click on the photos to view the full file size and save if you wish.

PS: Nolan, Barrett and I ran over to Frontier Days for a short time at midday since it was Broncos Day at CFD. We had a very warm wait in the hot July sun, but Nolan met "Miles" (the Broncos mascot) and received an autographed photo. He then went back and asked Miles for another with "Happy Birthday Travis!" on it after he explained that his new little brother was born today. Miles was very hyper so you can see Nolan was a little shy, and Barrett wanted nothing to do with him.

July 19th, 2007: Finally some house pictures...

Well, we've just celebrated 3 months since moving to Cheyenne and about 2 1/2 months in our new home. I know I promised a few pictures from around the house months ago, but here they are finally. We decided to get some pictures hung up in the basement and main floor on Wednesday before the new baby arrives (we know by Monday for sure, if not between now and then), so I thought it looked good enough.







Above: Heritage Room (aka Living Room) looking toward the front.

Above: Heritage Room looking toward the back yard.

Above: Looking from Heritage Room through the Dining Room and into the Kitchen.

Basement Staircase with photos on the ledge.

Above: Family Room in the basement.

Above: Family Room in the basement standing by the air hockey table looking the other way.

Above: Guest bedroom suite (bathroom with jetted tub not shown) with the day bed (it has a trundle bed too).

Above: Guest bedroom looking from the window back toward the family room.

Above: Just a different angle from the guest bedroom toward the family room, including our little office area.

July 17th, 2007: Tee Ball (one more game on the 19th)

GO RANGERS!

A couple of pictures from Tuesday night's YMCA Tee-ball. We have one more game to go on the 19th, since they try to wrap up the session prior to the start of Frontier Days. Nolan has had a great time and learned a little too. He is anxious to get going with hockey here in Cheyenne, and has even been enjoying some dry-land training drills in the driveway almost daily.

July 14th, 2007: Pool?...Sandbox?...does it really matter?

We converted our old sandbox to a pool this summer since we don't want to kill a big area of our awesome mix of grass and weeds in the yard...and didn't want to have our inflatable pool on the bricks (that probably wouldn't last too long!). Anyhow, the boys have had fun in it a few times.

July 4th, 2007: America's Birthday Party

We had a good 4th here in Cheyenne, but late on the 3rd, I was called and asked to work the holiday since a co-worker was stuck at airports between here and the east coast returning from vacation. I was able to get off work early in the afternoon though and we had a good barbeque with some new friends and then watched the city fireworks from the lawn of the National Weather Service Office (a well kept secret for a great viewing spot, and NO traffic on the way home!!!!).

The photos below are from the kids parade that Kelly, Nolan, Barrett, and our new friends attended at the Depot area in downtown Cheyenne. Turned out not to be a real parade, but instead a nice opportunity for kids to decorate bikes and themselves and go a short distance. While watching the parade, the local CBS station was wandering around asking kids to say the Pledge of Allegiance. As many of you know, Nolan and Barrett love singing the National Anthem, so Kelly and Nolan sang the anthem on camera and Barrett quietly plugged his ears. Needless to say, this made the evening and late night news and was quite entertaining. We have it on DVR if anyone wants to see it when they visit.

June 29th, 2007: PUSHAmerica Journey of Hope in Cheyenne!

We were lucky enough to have the TransAmerica team from Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity's PUSH America Journey of Hope arrive in Cheyenne this morning. They are one of three teams cycling across the country (from Seattle to Washington, D.C.) to raise funds and awareness for people with disabilities this summer.

Nolan, Barrett and I went over to Lions Park to see them arrive from Laramie and visit with a few of them during their lunch which was provided by the Cheyenne Cowbelles. The Action Club of Cheyenne was also in attendence with several disabled folks so they could visit with the riders.

June 28th, 2007: Barrett has his glasses!

Here are the long-awaited pictures of Barrett in his new glasses. He picked them up on Wednesday of this week and has been doing great wearing them without complaining. It has been interesting to watch him adjust to them and compare what he sees by looking through, below and above the lenses. He has already told Kelly several times what he has been able to see so we think it is a really great thing that they have arrived.

June 28th, 2007: Tornado Capital of the...

OK Wyoming/Nebraska Panhandle, I get it...you are a prolific producer of tornadoes compared to Montana!

For the fourth time (and the third time I have actually been at work) since mid-May, southeast Wyoming and/or the Nebraska panhandle has experienced a tornado. Today's was unfortunately just south of Cheyenne near the Colorado border. Although we put an EXPLICIT statement in the warning that the Tornado Warning did not include the city of Cheyenne, the hospital went into tornado mode, they sent everyone in the mall into shelters and actually sounded the tornado sirens ALL across the city of Cheyenne, etc. Sheriff's Deputies were actually considering evacuating all mobile home residents as well. *Insert Lewis Black's frustrated exclamation here* We definitely have some outreach to do in this community to try to make sure city officials don't unnecessarily warn 50,000+ people again.

June 25th, 2007: Another Afternoon In Colorado

Monday, we made another quick run down to the ice rink in Windsor, CO for a few hours of skating. It was 100+ on the Suburban thermometer, but even with the heat there were only about a dozen people on the ice at any given time. By the end of the public skating period, we were almost the only people on the ice again. Great for less than $10. Kelly came along and got the pictures shown below.

After skating we ran down to the mall in Loveland and did some shopping and then went to On The Border for dinner. At dinner, I noticed that an older couple who I worked with in Estes Park in 1993 was in the restaurant. After dinner we visited briefly with them and exchanged email addresses, and hopefully we can get together with them some time. They lived in Estes Park in 1993, but now live in Fort Collins, CO. Funny how small the world can be.

June 17, 2007: Fathers Day Trip to Rocky Mountain National Park

Last Sunday, we decided to head up into Rocky Mountain National Park and take advantage of being so close to one of our favorite locations.

We had a great day, with a picnic lunch near the Alluvial Fan (Endovalley) area and a trip up Trail Ridge Road (including a visit to the store where I used to work in the summers of 1992 and 1993).

After coming back down Trail Ridge in the late afternoon, we swung through Estes Park just long enough to grab a bite to eat at Ed's (and catch Tiger's missed put on 18 in the US Open). We had a great dinner at the recently (a few years ago it turns out) renovated Ed's and wound our way through a few shops and playgrounds along the way. On the way home, we watched a little thunderstorm get quite big and produce a nice lightning display in NE CO and SE WY.

Below are a customary few pictures...

At the Alluvial Fan.

Again at the Alluvial Fan.

Nolan...rock climbing (aka...bouldering) at the Alluvial Fan.

Nolan in the snow at the base of the stair "trail" above Trail Ridge Store.

Nolan resting on the rocks on the trail above Trail Ridge Store (note the road in the background).

Nolan at the top of the stair "trail" above Trail Ridge Store. He's not quite ready for Longs Peak, but we'll probably have to try it in a few years! Kelly and Barrett waited on us down in the store, in which the food service area is being totally renovated this summer by the new concessionaire, Xanterra. Otherwise it is the same old place. I get a kick out of the fact that this sign was changed a few years back as it used to say something about being "higher than Oregon's famed Mt. Hood" which is actually about 800 feet lower than this point. Some whiny Pacific Northwesterners must have been 'offended' by RMNP poking a little fun at another national park being vertically challenged.

June 16, 2007: Garage, what's a Garage?

We had a very successful garage sale and trip to Goodwill and Salvation Army today. I awoke at 5am and moved our mass of "stuff" out to the driveway for an 8am start. First folks started arriving at 7am which was actually nice since they were spending. We quickly surpassed our $10 fee for advertising in the Cheyenne paper (for two days)--which was amazing after hearing from the Billings Gazette last year that they wanted $50 (!!) for a single day of announcing a garage sale!--and ended up passing on a lot of our old stuff to anyone interested.

So...2 months after I started work here we actually have a garage that can be used by both of our cars! It is still tight with bikes, etc. but we are VERY excited to have moved up at least into the 2-car garage world. I would say "bring on the hail storms," but that might not be good, so I'll just say "bring on the snow." I'm parking indoors!

June 15, 2007: Challenge to Jazzy!

That's right, the Zeltwanger's posted a picture of their micro-hood installation during their recent move-in, so I decided to photograph ours as well (although, my MIC was not nearly as willing to come help with the install). Why? Well, just thought we could post a direct challenge to see Jazzy's work when he gets to install one during his move in (even if you're renting, Jim!). In the words of Ted Knight in you know which movie, "Well, ...we're waiting..."

Oh, and I had to include a pic of the finished product too. We love it!

June 12, 2007: Nolan's First T-ball Game

Nolan had his first t-ball game last Tuesday and had a great time. His team is full of energetic 4 and 5 year olds!

June 8, 2007: Bikle Visit

We enjoyed a brief afternoon visit with the Bikle's a week ago this past Friday. Chuck even broke out his Viola de Gamba for a brief demonstration. After he played a song, Nolan asked him if he could play "Twinkle, Twinkle" and Chuck broke right into it without missing a stride.




We may have another visit from Chuck and Laura later this summer when they next come south for another lesson with their instructor in Denver. It was great to visit with more friends from Montana!

June 5, 2007: Astros vs. Rockies

We decided after Kelly's doctor appointment Tuesday to take advantage of a Rockies Value Game and head down to the big city and see Kelly's Astros play. Barrett and I rooted on the Rockies, while Nolan wore his Astros shirt and joined Kelly in rooting for them. The Astros prevailed 4-1 in a very good game (including a bench/bullpen clearing situation--I wouldn't really call it a fight though).

We got down to Denver real early to pick up our ticket package since it also included a parking pass, and then drove around the city a little bit. We stopped at Invesco to see the Bronco fountain and to drop by the Broncos store. The following picture is of the boys outside Invesco Field and check out the hail shaft in the background from a nearby thunderstorm!


After parking, we stopped by the Breckenridge Brewery for a little bite to eat (since our ticket package also included 4 hot dogs and 4 drinks at the stadium) before the game. The Denver chapter of Texas A&M alumni was supposed to be meeting there to distribute their tickets for the game, but we did not end up seeing any of them at the restaurant (we'll have to track them down later at another event).

We then went into Coors Field for the game and were there early enough for the boys to play on the playground in the Left Field corner (they think of everything, don't they). The playground was right behind our section so it worked out really nice as we waited for the game to start.


We were under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch at game time, but the weather was actually perfect as it was a nice warm evening (and all the storms were well east of Denver).



Here we are. Barrett did really well, but did get scared a few times about how dark it was getting. Nolan just had a blast the whole evening, especially when trash talking with me and pretending to fight after the bench clearing situation.



Above, another picture of the boys enjoying the game.



Here's Kelly and the boys toward the end of the evening.

We hit the exit to Coors Field just before 1030pm after the game and the boys did a great job walking the 1/2 mile or so to our parking area. We jumped on I25 and were back at the house at 1205am after the drive home.

We all had a great afternoon/evening enjoying being able to have this fun without taking a whole weekend to come down to Denver as we've had to do in the past! We are so thankful to have these opportunities, but we sure still miss Montana at times.

On that note, we have our second visitors from Billings coming by this Friday when the Bikles pass through town! It was great to see the Solum's last week and we really look forward to our visit with the Bikle's.

Nolan in High Demand!

Nolan had his first t-ball practice today at the park by where he will start school this fall. Ironically it was not for his team. We signed him up for YMCA t-ball in early May, and two teams have come calling! The Rangers called first, then the Padres...with the Padres first to practice on Sunday. Nolan did great practicing with the Padres, but when I returned home from work today he told me "the Padres have enough players, I'm going to play for the Rangers."

Kelly spoke to the organizer and in fact they had mistakenly put him on both rosters and he was needed on the Rangers. Amazingly, the YMCA t-ball has 14 teams and they play at a local soccer park dividing the 3 soccer fields up into 8 different little ball fields! It should be interesting when games start June 12th. The Rangers first practice will be next weekend, so practice will have to continue in our front yard.

Note: Nolan's connection to Texas continues since his Billings "house" Mite Hockey team was the Stars (in reference to Dallas) and now the Rangers (of course also in the Metroplex). Plus, a local antique store owner recently gave Nolan an old Nolan Ryan (as a Texas Ranger) Kellogg's Corn Flakes box when Kelly and my Mom were shopping for furniture for our 'heritage' room in the new house! Funny how things end up happening some times!

More to come soon...

The Tradition Continues...We found Poppies!

Hope you enjoyed this brief photo essay. The first four pictures were in our Billings backyard, beginning when Nolan was almost one and a half. Barrett joined the pictures when he was almost one and a half. The last is along a street near our church in Cheyenne.

Happy 34th Birthday to....ME!

Another great birthday today, and nice after a weekend of going through old stuff kept since I was a child. Kind of therapeutic really.

And Kelly discovered that season 5 of Scrubs was released...TODAY...so that tradition continues too! This DVD contains the great 100th episode (aka, the Wizard of Oz episode ending in IZ's rendition of "somewhere over the rainbow."

I also officially received my new wireless weather station today, so will start investigating where that can be placed around the yard.

Still no grass in our seeded back yard, but there is actual rain falling this evening so we'll see if we see some sprouts by the 14 day mark.

Back to celebrating!

We're getting more and more settled into our new home every day. We are doing very well going through a lot of old stuff we've collected over the years.

The boys are doing well and adjusting well to life in Cheyenne.

I've worked a full stretch of midnight shifts (7) and several evenings. My first opportunity to supervise a day shift will be this coming week so that should be fun. On one of my evening shifts last week, we had a confirmed tornado on the ground near I-25 to the north of Cheyenne and near Guernsey (not anywhere near the city of Cheyenne). It came from a very weak thunderstorm and only lasted a very brief time. My co-workers told me that is a typical WY tornado, but over in Nebraska we will see the more textbook type tornadoes. It was good to experience a first tornado in the forecast area so soon, and thank goodness it was out in open country.

Today (Sunday), we were eating lunch and heard the tornado siren going off. Apparently another very small funnel cloud touched down briefly and law enforcement saw it. All we could see from the house was rain shafts and no rotation, but apparently there was a brief tornado on the other side of town. No word on damage yet, if any. The storm fell apart very quickly after the warning was issued.

Later this afternoon we have a church picnic to attend, so hopefully the existing storms dissipate and we can enjoy that and meet some more folks.

For those of you who know, I've taken photos of the boys every year (after they were born, of course) by our poppies in our Billings back yard. We thought we were out of luck this year, so Saturday I took the boys to a big grove of Lilacs here in town for a photo.

As it turns out though, we saw some poppies on the way home from church today so we'll try to get over to that neighborhood today or tomorrow for an authentic "poppy pic."