solid food heaven

oatmeal & salmon,
he’s off to a delicious start.

unfortunately, the fever persists.

surely the fresh prince of bel air &
the stepanek/djokovic match
(some great tennis today)
aided in his healing.

the boys came up yesterday;
so glad to see dad.
and the daily calls from caroline & betsy
bring a relieved smile & a candid look of longing
to his handsome face
(they’re playing in co spgs today,
thank you, mom & dad).

massive thanks to carrie love for
enfolding our boys in her happy care;
our fam has skated thru surgeryweek beautifully,
thanks to the prayers & words of encouragement;
thank you, friends.
the Lord is near.

ps – the workofmodernart on his abdomen is
gaining beauty as new colors unfold daily.
i forgot how attractive the purple/black/blue hues can be.

pps – c’s doctor, john chabot, is very attentive.
we are grateful for his care &
for barry’s help in getting us here.

no soup for you

well, soup is okay,
but no food for cory,
at least until tomorrow.

today = adios to the morphine

tomorrow = food + possibly check out of
hotel columbiapres

stats

6 minutes apart, how often he can click the morphine
2 walks around the hallways today
4 breathing exercises to keep pneumonia at bay
101.3 fever, they’re keeping an eye on that
1 nebulizer treatment
6 inches, incision length
13 staples
15 minutes of a piano concert we joined in the sunny, marble-y atrium by his hallway

and special thanks to kathy k. who spent the long
surgery day with me as my waiting room buddy,
what a gift.

wednesday afternoon

a mental snapshot:

cory standing in front of the
floor-to-ceiling glass hallway window
looking south over riverside park
with his iv/morphine pole
thinking about fantasy baseball
(“will you change my roster?” he asks)

we had to bench manny ramirez;
sorry about his back.

Good News

(Kari Jo’s dad here – guest blogger – coached by KJ)
The surgeon gave a good report!
Everything went as expected.

Cory is in recovery and we hope he will be moved to his room about 6 p.m.

Columbia Presbyterian (168 St./ Fort Washington)
Milstein Hospital Building – 9th floor
9 Hudson North – Room 130

And in your prayers for us your hearts came out to us,
because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
(2 Corinthians 9:14-15).

movin’ on up

the hospital rang at 8:15am and
asked to move cory’s surgery up.

he and his dad left here at 8:30am
and they were going to prep him asap
and get the party started.

last night’s re-entry was special.
tears of elation on the triborough -
we’re home.

nathan said, upon arriving at our very own digs,
“i see why they say ‘home sweet home’. “

family games in the back yard and
then an impromptu party with
beloved ones:
justin, ashley, daniel, joanne & dad cates

thank you for your calls & your prayers.
we are, as always, in the Lord’s hands.

with love,
kj

ps – nathan also said that we’ve been
out of the city ’so long’ that he needed to
‘reconnect with the monuments’
?
love that guy.

grateful

thank you to all of you ny friends
who too such good care of cjc this
month.

thank you, elders, for coming and
praying for him tonight. *

my heart overflows with the Lord’s
provisions in the form of our friends.

*dk – i heard you read the job passage
where his family dies and he starts
over. what are you trying to say?

i can never remember if sarcasm
comes across online.

lowbrow + brilliant

you know that page in new york magazine
that has the quadrant labeled with these four categories -
the top two are ‘highbrow’,
the bottom two ‘lowbrow’,
the left side is ‘despicable’
and the right side is ‘brilliant’.

in our book,
chuck e. cheese = lowbrow + brilliant

the fastest two hours of our lives.
the kids had never been before this
trip and now they’ve been a delightful
number of times. tonight included.
the perfect way to end the summer.

and don’t be misled, it’s usually daddy’s idea.
tonight, he and nathan were laughing
so hard playing air hockey.

i absolutely smeared daddy at skee ball.
he was throwing the ball at the
pockets in vain attempts to
beat my score. sorrycharlie.

and i think betsy has a crush on the
huge mechanical mouse puppet.

one of the distinct moments i remember
falling for cory was on a break at kanakuk
we were taking a walk and the conversation
came around to the uber-trivial subject of
what kind of cars we thought we would
like to drive in the future.

cory’s reply, an old truck.

?

so people would call him when they
needed help moving or had a big
project they needed an extra hand with.
and they wouldn’t be worried about
messing it up, thus the ‘old’ part.

please join me in praying tonight
that the surgeons & staff will rest well
tonight, tomorrow night;
that their stress levels will be low
and that they will be clear-minded
as they prepare for surgery on tuesday.

the boys and i fly home on monday evening;
i’m praying that we won’t have any
flight delays so that we can rest a bit
and be ready for tuesday, as well.

please pray for my parents as they are
graciously keeping the girls for two
weeks and then flying them out sept 12ish.
we’ll miss these two smiley girls
like crazy but we hope that this
will be the right way to get our family
through this next period.

with love,
kari jo and for cory

ps – john stott’s recent charge is
encouraging me tonight;
refocusing my mind off the
fear that desires my attention
and onto the Truth.

he hilights romans 8:29,
2 corinthians 3:18
and 1 john 3:2.

rom 8:29
For those God foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

2 cor 3:18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect
the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into
his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

i john 3:2
Dear friends, now we are children of God,
and what we will be has not yet been made known.
But we know that when he appears,
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

pps – and about the
‘fear that desires my attention,’ -

the upside of recognizing that fear
that wants to seize & consume me,
is that it sends me running to Jesus,
saying,
‘it’s me, again, Lord,
at your feet,
begging your redemption
and your power.
help me.‘

not such a bad thing at all.

and i think i’ll be praying that
repeatedly tomorrow,
monday,
tues…

i love ny

our holiday has been exactly that,
a holiday.

“a period of suspension of work,
study, or other activity,
usually used for rest,
recreation, or travel”

that said, we are now ready to
come back to earth,
to our real life,
and to our friends

ethan & jane, cory,
(should i reverse the order there?)
our church, worshipping @ the 5pm service,
our fellowship group,
our neighborhood,
our playgrounds,
our fairway.

i think i’ll smile through the first
week of bumping elbows &
flashing tempers, just tickled to be
back in the flow of the city.

hooray for holidays
and
hooray for our real life

ps – cory, don’t give me grief for
being sappy. i’m a sap.

happybirthdaytoyou

today, we celebrated
caroline’s 3rd and henry’s 5th
b i r t h d a y s

since the next month is going to
be an unusual one for us,
we wanted to get the
celebrations underway.
(actual bdays are c . 8 and h . 25)

papa’s pancakes & eggs for breakfast,
fun gifts, those gross-teeth party favors, special prayers,
caroline’s ‘princess haircut’ (her first salon haircut),
a pizza and cupcake party at bounce,
a bike ride along the poudre river,
and the boys, grammy, and papa are out now
enjoying a movie under the stars in loveland.
(flushed away by the wallace & grommit crew;
i hope the boys are warm enough)

may the Lord be with you, dear henry & caroline,
may He make his face to shine upon you
and give you peace.
He is our life.
we love you.

funky princess ‘do



at casa bonita

ps – since it was a party day,
caroline politely insisted that the girls
wear their party dresses.
not exactly ideal attire for
bouncing & climbing
but they didn’t seem to notice.

pps – brilliant chair booster

ppps – grant hamilton on flikr.
i would tack these in a
straight line down my brick wall.
or in a square.
maybe a 10×10 square.
they are fantastic.
but i don’t think they’re for sale.
obvious flashes of damien hirst in there
and you know i’m enamored with his
pharmacy line, esp:

‘valium’

literary bliss

we look forward to the greeley library
as part of our relaxing vacation.

caroline chooses happy places to read &
the boys master ‘gadgets & gizmos‘ on the computers

ps – self checkout? you don’t even have to open
the book & scan the barcode, you just lay the
closed books on the sensor & it checks them out and
prints the receipts.
nathan and henry love to do it.
modernization, i tell you.

next year, we’ll just walk out the door with
the books in our hand and the sensors will
email (or text?) us a receipt, i bet.

the cates boys

cory, danny & jacob have always resembled eachother,
but as they grow, i see it more and more.

cutiejacob, am i embarassing you yet?
ps – yes, he’s single.

going green

i forgot.

i forgot what my summers of lifeguarding
inevitably brought [besides a kickin' tan]

green hair.

this month of swimming sure has been
fun, but this wasn’t exactly the souvenir
i was looking for. we’re scouring
the salons for un-green concoctions.
recommendations?

h.s. flashback:
remember when traci and the other
dancers dyed their hair black for the play
and then when they tried to take it out,
it went completely green?
t, yours was much greener than mine,
but you wore it so well.

ps – angela, those are certainly timely
for me, as well. thanks, friend.

lazy, hazy summer days

today, we heart:
nathan – moose
henry – his bike
caroline – blue jays
betsy – chipmunks
kj – cory

Pre Fight Weigh In

Cory here.

I went through all the pre-op and pre-admission tests today. All systems are go for an open cholecystectomy and open cyst-gastrostomy. We are on for next Tuesday at Columbia Presbyterian, currently scheduled for 1pm.

I had to fill out my name, address, phone number and birthday at least six times, sign at least a dozen times, donate six vials of blood samples (I think the six vials was a personal record, I’ve never seen such a whirlwind of sticker backing and peel away adhesive strips when the nurse had to label all the tubes and put them in bio-hazard baggies), lay down for an EKG that lasted about 3 seconds (it took way longer to hook and unhook all the wires), say no to all the questions about allergies, poor genetics and prior conditions at least 4 times (1 written, 3 verbal), take standard measurements (pulse, blood pressure and weight), demonstrate to an anesthesiologist that my neck moved normally, confirm that I could walk up two flights of stairs without getting winded (luckily I didn’t have to demonstrate), have my insurance card photo-copied 3 different times, and eventually everyone agreed that I was indeed healthy enough to be operated on.

When the basics of the procedure were being explained so I knew what to expect and could sign the authorization I thought it was funny some of the things which were pointed out so that I wouldn’t be surprised on game day. For example, roughly the same emphasis was put on the fact that the incision could be as large as from breast bone to belly button and the fact that when I woke up from anesthesia I would have compression stockings on my legs to prevent blood clots. Whoa – you guys are gonna knock me out and put pantyhose on me? I’m not sure about that – I only signed up for the big invasive abdominal surgery, not involuntary hosiery.

I found it interesting that both the pre-admission administrator and the anesthesia screener volunteered that Dr Chabot was ‘good’ – it was clear that they were impressed with him both professionally and personally. I didn’t have anything to say back, but found it vaguely comforting that random people at the hospital thought highly of him.

There was a moment during the basics talk which made me shudder. After surgery I will not get food or water for a day, then will have a day on clear fluids, a day on full fluids and finally normal food. I was fine with this until I was reminded of what no water means – that maybe I would have a little swab to moisten my mouth until I could drink water. Quickly visions of the horrid green sponge swab came into my head and the feeling of wanting to take a big gulp of water and getting only a medicinally minty taste of sponge on your lips and tongue. The minty curse of Tantulus. That made shivers run down my spine, yes even more scary than the thing most people fear in this situation, the pantyhose.

prep for next tues

cory has all of his pre-op appointments today.
i feel queasy.
the Lord is with us.

betsy does not like this photo of cory.
he deserves for me to put it up here
since he was being goofy when mom took it.
loveyoubabe.

the kids & i are in the mountains now,
canoeing, fishing,
hiking & biking.

nathan’s mesmerized by his
‘colorado guide to big game’
handbook from papa.

:: u p d a t e ::
okay, you didn’t like the photo of cory either.
(4 of you emailed me about it)
here are two she does like. agree?

ps – a brief word on betsy’s ‘method’:
my dad prints out pictures of cory
which betsy carries around happily
saying ‘daddy!daddy!’

there are some pictures that when
we print out she will either
1. pick up & lay back down
or
2. look at and refuse to pick them up

the girl’s got high standards for her daddy 

nathan’s rainbow trout.

remember the one time i taught
fishing at kanakuk? (k-5, we had fishing)
a mess. a mess. i do not touch fish &
none of the girls did either.
luckily, it’s the one class you teach by yourself,
so that was no help either.
(insert messy fish-unfriendly ending here)

update :
can i say one more thing here?
okay, the fish are conditioned to come to
that spot because several times every day
huge handfuls of corn are thrown into the
water to make the fish come so that
fishing class will be successful.

i have woken up in a cold sweat on several
nights since then crying out
‘no more corn!
stop throwing corn!
poles out of the water!’
once i realized the grave danger we were in.

the
fish
were
biting.

and i had no follow-up plan.
oye. oye.

subway-centric

as i’m trying out my suburban skills
tooling down the road with
two little girls buckled in back,
caroline tips her head and asks,
“are we going uptown
or downtown?
is grammy’s house uptown?
no, maybe it’s downtown.”

uptown, sweetie. surely it’s uptown.

science is sexy

i am cracking up hard.
(which isn’t as much fun when you’re alone,
except when watching episodes of
arrested development; brilliant laughtrack-less show that it is)

the recent atlantic confirms what i’ve known
for a long time, that:
scientists and
computer-loving-math-nerds
are sexy,
and make good husbands and fathers,
and are handy when you need to do
some random multiplication.

the author cites television shows like
csi & numb3rs are replacing the old
scientistsareweird vibe with a new ‘geeky glamour’.
[beautiful minds, p. 140-1]

evidently scientists in the old days were known for their
‘obsessive nature & brilliant minds’ and most
often appeared in horror movies.

so if
csi is reshaping public perceptions about
scientists by playing a catchy tune,
showing glamorous people in tightly tailored lab coats
and designer sunglass-looking eye protection with
cool gadgets and gear

and
numb3rs studs are touting ‘algorithms as high-tech weapons’

then
my babe is a hero.
the jack bauer of the math world.

i always knew it, lovey.

birdhouse 101 with papa

ps – cory ain’t buying the scienceissexy thing.
just whisper the name
horatio
and he visibly cringes.
(i like to get a reaction)

christa lou

it was so hard to say goodbye to christa when
she moved from around the corner (71st st)
to colorado springs in april.

but what a radiant life the Lord has given
her here. the terrain is breathtaking,
we had such fun swimming,
seeing parts of her life – apartment/office/neighborhood/
young life/etc., picnicing in the pouring rain,
twilight in the garden of the gods, movie night.
thank you, christa lou.

the boys were entranced with the garden, so
we grabbed breakfast and made it back for
a sunrise picnic & climb this morning

betsy’s tears = i wouldn’t let her climb to the top with n, h & c.
duh.
evidently i secured the meanmommy award.

complete surprise? nathan loved the visitor’s
center almost as much as the actual climbs.
the facts!the history!the diagrams & charts!
a junior ranger could really feel at home here.

yes, he’s barefoot.
he insisted that realclimbers climb barefoot to feel the rocks.

urban perspective

this morning, henry walked up to
papa (my dad) and said,
“you have three bathrooms.
you are so lucky.”

turned around and
walked away.

michael & sara in wales

do it yourself shrinky dinks – hooray

note to self, take 2

um, tim’s marriage tapes weren’t a very
good second choice in trying to avoid
leaving teary voicemail messages on
cory’s office phone.
“iloveyousomuchimissyousomuch
youaresocompassionateandkindandhandsome…”

hopefully he takes it off speakerphone
before he gets to my message.

strike 2.

ps – in all of your spare time:
100 websites you should know & use,
according to people with a bit of time
on their hands

a. do see becoming jane

b. slip a tissue in your pocket

c. don’t be surprised at the urge to
practice your penmanship upon
returning home

d. if you’re like me & had an
vaguely ill-defined aversion for
anne hathaway, this may alter it
as she gives a genuine, even gripping,
performance.

morven’s message on a scottish beach (aberdeen) warms my heart;
we love you, bonny lass.

he’s eight, but sometimes i get flashes of
his grownup self.

including children

i spend a good amount of our time in colorado at the
library, giving my mom’s library card a workout.
(they have a coffee shop and welcome, invite even!
you to drink your coffee while browsing the stacks.
have you ever?! modern times we’re living in)
we take nathan & henry’s backpacks and fill them full.

one of my favorite benefits of being the mom:
staying up late with a flashlight
reading under the covers
with no fear of rebuke.

from last night’s adventure:

“In many of our modern, sophisticated congregations,
children are often viewed as distractions. We tolerate
children only to the extent they promise to become
‘adults’ like us. Adult members complain that they cannot
pay attention to the sermon, they cannot listen to the
beautiful music, when fidgety children are beside them in
the pews. ‘Send them away,’ many adults say. Create
‘children’s church’ so these distracting children can be
removed in order that we adults can pay attention.

…Interestingly, Jesus put a child in the center of his
disciples, ‘in the midst of them,’ in order to help them
pay attention…The child was a last-ditch effort by God
to help the disciples pay attention to the odd nature
of God’s kingdom. Few acts of Jesus are more radical,
countercultural, than his blessing of the children.”

Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony,
by, Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, p. 96

i do think there’s an appropriate age/time for children
to join the service. and see the value children’s churches that
actually prepare children to worship by learning the
creeds and songs. but i’m wondering when is helpful
for the children to begin joining us for the entire
service. (age 4 or 5? depends on the child?)

r. castleman says it well in her book,
parenting in the pew, p. 43.
(i really like this book;
i checked it out but plan to order my own copy)

“The sanctuary is often described as a place to ‘just relax and
unwind,’ providing a once-a-week hour of reprieve from the
demands of the world. It’s no wonder this hour can also become a
reprieve from God’s command to worship him.

Worship is work, hard work. It is also rewarding work. To
worship the Lord in ’spirit and truth’ does not come easily,
and it certainly does not come naturally to us. It is difficult
to worship on the leftover energy of a long week and a late
Saturday. The Sunday-morning encounter with God is worthy
of our best energy, not our least.

The Lord of life promises to accompany us in worship. We will
come upon unexpected stores of energy when we remember that
worship is a joyous privilege. His mighty energy will
be at work in us to revitalize our weary spirits. We will find rest
for our souls.”

note to self

when 1,759 miles away from darling husband,
do not,
i repeat not,
listen to country music
while driving.

you will weep in your car.
it will be embarassing
because we’re not talking ‘cry‘
here, we’re talking ‘sob‘.

those yearning songs,
those love-lost lyrics,
you are no match for them when
lovesick & far away from your beloved.

duly noted.

my friend

as in jenny friend
(literally, mrs. friend)

what a treat to enjoy this grand lake trip
with jenny & chris, meredith & caleb.
(we were bridesmaids in eachother’s weddings)

they’re staying a stone’s throw from us &
it is precious to catch up
with them in such an idyllic setting.
(they came to nyc for the last visit;
lovely in other ways)

sitting on the dock talking late into
the night – in a valley surrounded by mountains.

picnicing on the beach with our children playing
in the water – in a brilliant lake rimmed
with mountains.

having brunch at charming little
places – next to a breathtaking
lake and towering mountains.

the Lord is good;
he restores my soul in so many ways.
christian friends.
did i mention the lake & the mountains?

junior ranger

nathan has spent the past several days steadily
working his way through his ‘national forest
handbook’. fifteen exercises on topics such as
ecosystems, habitats, predators, identification &
observation, and the dangers those pesky humans present.
(they said it tactfully)

he attended an hour-long class taught by a lively
park ranger, maria l., who passed around
actual bear, puma/cougar/mt lion, coyote pelts
(3 others i can’t remember) as well as skulls, antlers & teeth.

[caroline was having none of that but
betsy was intrigued for at least the first 4 minutes;
henry hung in there for the whole class and
eagerly raised his hand with helpful answers to the questions.
like when maria asked how far--vertically--they thought
a mt lion could jump.
henry offered:
'seven...pause...hundred. seven hundred feet']

so this morning at 8am (the actual moment they opened),
nathan proudly walked into the
kawuneechee visitor’s center and showed them
his completed handbook.

the head ranger gathered all of the other rangers
on duty & they looked through his book,
gave him a short charge on the duties of good
park-ranger-ship,
congratulated him with clapping and cheers
and then presented him with his
junior
ranger
badge.

on the short drive home,
nathan said to daddy,
“i feel remarkably satisfied right now.”

junior park ranger, indeed.

note: he’s worn the badge all day today and
it’s sitting in a place of honor on the counter
just waiting tomorrow’s fresh shirt.

aisle or window

we rode the ski lift to the
tiptop of winter park &
the sign at the top read:
any higher and you’d have to
choose aisle or window

i forgot how wearing poofy ski clothes
makes you feel secure-ish on the lift,
try it with four little kids & your thin
summer clothes – it feels like you could
just tip right out of there.
but it was the most incredible view
on top of the world
and the kids loved it.
begged to go again.
(it’s about an hour round trip;
i put them off until ‘next time’)

the boys loved the bungee trampoline
(nathan landed 9 flips)
and the alpine slide w/ dad (henry was elated to be
just barely tall enough for his own slide)
and biked on the winter park bike path w/ my mom & dad.
henry clocked 3 mi and was itching for more.
(bandaid update: his left arm is one big scab
but his chin is healing nicely)
facepainting & a picnic at the bottom of the slopes;
a dreamy day.

horseback rides at 8:30 this morning,
followed by cowboy church
(‘the only cherch where it’s okay to wear yer hat‘)
and upwards of 20 horses/riders trudged
thru the stream while we were worshipping
and studying philippians 1 together.
led by tender-hearted campus crusade leaders
from ohio and texas.

i think we may never come home.

nathan & betsy, caroline goes solo

top o’ the world–winter park style

see the one on the right? we’re above the clouds

8,461

feet above sea level
grand lake, co
our home for the next several days

we went over the continental divide today;
the arctic tundra is as beautiful
as i remember it.

i think it’s the smell of high country
and the feel,
the top-of-the-world
i’m-actually-on-a-mountain feeling
that captivates & refreshes me.

i was driving the girls’ car behind
daddy, who had the boys in the truck
and was pulling the camper.

i felt a bit dizzy driving for hours
(2.5 or 3?) on the narrow mountain
roads with maybe 1′ of shoulder
and then
drop
off

and the bicyclists. wow.
courageous + persevering,
even at our peak elevation
today (we’ve come down quite
a bit here at the lake) there
were people biking on the
almost non-existent shoulder.
if i felt dizzy driving and
concentrating my hardest,
i wonder what it felt like
for them keeping their tires
on the white line
on the top of a mountain.

today i’m thankful for nathan’s huge smile
(despite not landing any fish),
for betsy’s squealinghappiness in the mountain stream,
for henry’s zeal and enthusiasm in general and
caroline’s cheery manner.
the Lord is kind;
he restores my soul.

we miss you, cjc.
and we miss our ny friends.
and we’re having a ball.

tonight:
campfire and horseback rides

love,
kj

ps – camping w/ wifi?
too modern for me

pps – nathan’s newest environmental concern:
japanese beetles,
as their destruction is evident all around us.
but daddy said something interesting about
their actualy returning the forest to health
in some way. is that true?

to e.r. or not to e.r.

full disclosure:
cory was actually v. sick while we were
at the lake, prompting a midnight-consult with his
dad re: whether or not to hit the hospital.

he waited it out with pain meds.
in bed for most of 2 days.

i’m praying he hangs in there until
surgery on the 28th
and that post-surgery, he’ll feel
like his old, wonderful self.

free association

chin .. henry’s latest bike wipeout is displayed there;
that boy likes to speed

2.5 .. the usual number of suspects who migrate to my bed nightly

bob dylan .. listening to the chronicles, vol I, in the car

marshmallows .. roasting in the back yard nightly;
love that outdoor fireplace

mrs frisby & the rats of nihm .. what cory & nathan
are reading simultaneously
and emailing back and forth about

waterslide terror .. what i felt when cory and i went down
the ‘big’ slide the boys had been going down for an hour already.
let me just say, it’s pitch black, you can’t even hold your head up
because it’s seriously speeding & it goes onandonandonandon
before you see light and hit the splash pool.
i’ll stick with the ‘little’ slide, thankyouverymuch.

vegetarian .. what nathan is. or as he put it,
“i’m mostly a vegetarian
except that i like chicken.
pause
and beef.”
cory gently reminds him, “and bacon, you like bacon.”
nathan: “right, chicken and beef and pork.”
the carnivorous trifecta that prevent
most of us from truly being vegetarians.

oz

on our last morning in kansas,
my great aunt letha gave us a
handsome hardcover copy of
the wizard of oz.

and we finished reading it aloud
with 35 miles to spare inside the kansas border.

there’s no place like home.

(and remember how lewis said a
christian’s home is being with other christians,
our only true home on earth)

ps – ava’s blog is cracking me up.
that is my motto & it absolutely works for me.

harder+faster+higher

henry’s mantra for this trip
(being thrown off the dock,
riding the jetski, tubing, boating, watersliding,
gokarting, and somehow, even puttputt)

and if you see a cute dad & assorted kiddos
scooting around town on a lime green
150 scooter with smiles from ear to ear,
yep, that’s our life.

we love colorado.

ps – sometimes nathan’s even chasing the
scootercrew on his bike which wears him
out like a madman.
(the fastest cory’s clocked on it so far
was 62mph when he was trying to
follow me to the waterpark today.
or so he claims.
you know i wouldn’t do over
40 in a 40 zone. comeonnow)

pps – the coolest thing about the scooter
by far is the gas tank. from E to F for $2.16.

safety note: cory was alone on the scooter
when he made his claims to speed