Dear Exhausted Reader,
I promise this is my final letter about our trip to Estes Park. Just bear with me another minute and we'll be back to our regular scheduled programming of laundry piles, diapers to change and insane laughter.
Wait, we had all those things in Colorado too. It really must just be my life. It happens wherever I go. Strange.
We joined some dear friends of ours for lunch at Nicky's, a restaurant my parents ate at when they came to Estes for their honeymoon. The table was a bit more crowded than it was back then, but they still like to sit just as close.
After dining on some delicious onion soup,
There was nothing else for it, the cabin fever was too much,
the time had come,
We packed up our ever-handy teenage attitudes.
And our faithful companion, Preschool Attitude. They are very similar, I might note.
And we went SHOPPING.
I mean, even the deer were out doing their Christmas shopping. What were we supposed to do?
Yo, P.I.P.
Let's kick it!
Ice ice baby,
Ice ice baby!
This is insanity at it's best. Five adults and seven children, in bulky coats with multiple bags, bundles and purses, walking through tiny, close quartered shops.
Oh-ho, it gets better. Just wait...
Shops full of hundreds of over-priced breakable objects.
If that doesn't just about make you break out in hives,
Then you are not him. It just about drove him right over the edge.
Some of the shops heard we were coming and closed up early.
Others weren't so lucky. They had to put up with our singing and our weirdness and our unbalanced adult vs. children ratio. Poor dears. They never knew what hit 'em.
[Music begins] Someday my prince will come...
[Long musical overture] What? You don't break out into song and choreographed dance mid-shopping trip? That is strange. We can't be the only ones. Give a shout out if you do this.
Anybody out there?
Someone? Anyone? I feel so alone.
It was too much. I couldn't hardly take it.
A whole shop of Christmas tinsel-y, evergreen bough-ed, candy-cane bearing, snowflake-y, Santa cloaked sweetness,
Complete with chubby, be-sparkled, martini-drinking, mermaids in sunglasses.
Someone catch me, I'm going to faint.
Purses! What? Where? I think I've recovered. Whew! That was a close one.
I think the girls had slightly more fun than the guys.
I don't know why.
It was just a feeling I got.
Something in the tired, less-than-ecstatic, rather-be-put-through-a-meat-grinder-than-do-this-again looks on their faces.
Quick, pull them back from the edge! We're done.
I wanted them to live to be cute another day. I really couldn't ask for better escorts, after all.
Love,
Rae
P.S. A couple new rules to live by:
1. Friends don't let friends wear more than 25% leopard print.
2. When It comes to dieting, remember one simple rule...
"If you can't lose it, decorate it."
ROFL! I love rule # 2... that's my new motto! (it's really just that I'm too lazy to loose it but don't tell!)
ReplyDeleteLol. Glad you had a good time shopping. We went up to Loveland to the outlet malls and went shopping Thanksgiving weekend and I actually enjoyed it. Maybe because I found some clothes that I needed and the clerks where awsome in the dress barn. They brought us water and held the baby and even opened up a nice cushy (the seat was) dressing room for me to sit and feed little bit in. What a fun time.
ReplyDeleteFun times. Laughing at the teenage/preschool attitude comparison! Your pictures say it well!
ReplyDeleteAnd shopping with guys...and kids....ewww! Shopping IMO is for girls & girl time alone!
Dear girl-o-mine,
ReplyDeletewow that was fun! We did not get much more than a whole block, but it was great anyway.
It was really cool that we all went together....I can't think of a time when we have ever done that with all the kiddos/boys/guys..;) can you? We had some great laughs and saw a lot of interesting sights together, it was the perfect choice for the afternoon ending with our totally impromtu 10 minute (or was it less) photo shoot!
Just think, we all used to fit in one vehicle....now 2....wonder how many it will take the next time we decide to do this?
Thanks for another wonderful memory to keep.
love,
the mama key
Wow, I don't know if I will be so generous to share my anniversary with all my kids I mean kid. How fun. You probably drove right by my house - stop in sometime. If the whole crew comes maybe just a few at a time! J/K!
ReplyDeletethanks for choosing the picture of me where i am really tiny in the very back :)
ReplyDeleteHmmm, the above comment must have come from the "B" girl. I have to admit, it took me a while looking at that picture to figure out WHO you met with out there! I haven't seen those girls for a L-O-N-G time and not sure I would have recognized them if it hadn't been for the parents!
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, this morning I just noticed the name on the shop window that you 3 sisters are standing in front of..... :) How very fun!
I guess I better get to decorating hadn't I? If you need just a little bit more teenage attitude next time...I got two I can send you.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a grand time!