Uncle Benj came to visit in the middle of May, on a brief break from law school. He was unexpectedly bushwhacked with some work for the Law Review journal which kept him busy over a computer all night. Of course, he made sure to have time to spend with his lovely niece during the daylight hours.
No sooner had Benj left than the FrieTeB clan had to head out to Santa Fe!
Did I mention we were all sick? Yes, yes we were. One after the other. Torlis got the flu first. Then Mommy picked it up. While Torlis got better, Mommy’s flu crawled into her sinuses and set up house as a persistent and nasty sinus infection. Then, just before the trip to Santa Fe, Daddy got a huge fever which then degraded into a horrible sore throat and cough which alternated between preventing sleep and impairing speech.
Nature was no better off. A huge storm hit Northern Colorado just as we packed up to go to the airport. It was no ordinary storm, either. A sizable tornado passed over Greeley and Windsor before heading North into Wyoming. There were fairly few injuries and only one fatality, but there was no shortage of property damage. Our own house on the Easternmost edge of town was unharmed, but some of the worst damage was only 10 or so miles from our doorstep.
We count ourselves lucky.
More amazing images of the damage can be found here.
The weather didn’t follow us to Santa Fe, so we had a great visit with Grandma Susan, Grandpa Dan, Grandpa Ed and Cleo.
We were hosted in high style, indeed. Torlis was treated to the surprise of lots and lots of my (and Benj’s) old toys to play with. Upstairs in the bedroom, Torlis found a bed fit for fairy-tale royalty, cleverly made up of cardboard, stickers and gold spray paint.
Highlights from the trip include: A cookout (complete with s’mores!); tea-time at the Hotel St. Francis; a leisurely brunch with Ben, Alison and Clara; looking for bunnies outside, and finding only ants and cacti; finger painting at the Children’s Museum; seeing Aunt Norine and carrying on the tradition of “painting” with water; and, of course, food, food and more food!
Cleo’s favorite part was Torlis. I have never seen a dog get SO excited to see somebody! Torlis took Cleo’s enthusiasm in stride, giggling and kissing and (when necessary) reprimanding Cleo and telling her to “lie down!”
Once we got home, Torlis developed pink eye, and Mommy and Daddy both got on antibiotics. Torlis had some eye drops, but those gave her hives after a couple days of use, so she got to end her medicine regimen early.
So now we’re back at home and things are, as much as ever, back to normal. Good weather has followed the tornado, but for tonight, which saw a torrential downpour and amazing thunder and lightning. So amazing, in fact, that the Subaru (containing Torlis, Sunda and Sheba) got struck by lightning on the road! Nobody was harmed, and Torlis says it was a great adventure and not scary at all. Sheba disagrees.
