New York, New York

Ok, a cheesy title, however, we are singing it's praises after a visit there. Such a fun city that contains an even more fun little lady we were visiting. Hayden's Aunt Michelle was such a wonderful hostess to us and even Grandma B joined the fun for a day of our trip. A cross country trip with a 9 month old went surprisingly smooth (with exception of a diaper blowout on the last leg of the trip on the way home-bless Derrick for handling it so smoothly.) The first full day we were there it was a little rainy, but we carried on like true New Yorkers would. We visited Wall street and saw where Michelle worked and then Grandma and Aunt Michelle (our double nanny team) took little Hayden for the afternoon while Derrick and I visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.













That night we relaxed in Michelle's apartment before Grandma had to head back the next day. Sunday was Church (down the street from Bergdorf Goodman, Gucci and some other places I'll admit I am too intimidated to step foot in). Then Michelle tried to kill me at one of her "aerobics" classes...more like "get your hiney kicked by a Rockette who asks you to do standing splits, yeah right" classes. Ok, it got my workout in to make up for all my tasty indiscretions, made me respect Michelle more who does these classes like 9 times a week, and after all it is where Kelly Ripa and Sarah Jessica Parker workout. You'll have to tell me next time you see me if I look anymore like them. Then onto a beautiful fall walk through Central Park.























That night some very delicious burgers from JJ Mellons (I told you, tasty indiscretions) followed by gluttony in some of the best cupcakes you will ever taste from a shop called Crumbs (a reason to go to NYC even if you don't have a Michelle.)

Monday was Rockefeller Center where we watched the Today show going on (admitted Today show addict), Times Square, Little Italy (Chinatown on accident---not a really clean place) and the Brooklyn Bridge.The trip was fantastic (minus a demolished stroller thanks to Chicago Southwest Airlines gate check loaders and a diaper blowout that occurred during turbulence requiring in lap cleanup.) So to end it, We HEART NY!

The Lucky Ivory

Well, I thought I should send out a blog to catch everyone up on my elk hunt up in Colorado with our good family friend Leonard. The story goes like this...

It was Wednesday morning (Sept. 23) and I was still in Albuquerque waiting to hear from Leonard about the snow storm the I-70 region received Tuesday and that was supposed to continue on Wednesday. The thought was that if things were bad I would go into Denver and wait until Thursday to go up into the mountains for my hunt, which was around the Jefferson, CO area. After hearing from Leonard that things didn't look too bad, I decided to make the trip up. Since it was unclear whether the day would yield significant snow, instead of going straight to the mountains, I would go into Denver and drop off Jenny and Hayden at my sister's and stay with Leonard that evening and see how the weather looked. After a good 9hour trip up to Denver, Leonard had heard new information that the area we were going to hunt had only received about 4in of snow and things were melting fast. So, we decided to head up that night so we could get a fresh start the next morning.

We made it to the cabin we were going to stay in about 9pm, unloaded our gear, ate a quick snack, talked about the next morning's strategy, and headed to bed. The elevation was about 10,000 ft and there was still snow on the ground from the past two days with light flurries in the air. The next morning, Thursday, it was still snowing off and on. I decided to stake out an area in a tree stand that overlooked a portion of a swamp. After a few hours of pretty cold temperatures and light snow flurries we decided to head back to the cabin and get some food and a quick nap.

The rest of the day had a similar feel, light snow, with no elk to be found or heard. They seemed to be hunkered down out of the snow and cold. We were hoping that the weather would clear up.

The next morning, Friday, we awoke to more snow flurries and more snow on the ground. I staked out the same swamp area in the same tree stand. After about 45minutes the snow really picked up and a thunder-snow storm moved in, with lots of lightening. After a few close lightening strikes, I decided it wasn't a good idea to be sitting up in a metal tree stand. And, besides, it's not likely there would be any elk that would be out and about. So, I headed back to the truck, caught up with Leonard and we headed back to the cabin. We waited the storm out all morning until about noon, when things started clearing up. We thought this might be the end of the snow and cold and the weather would begin warming up. After a light afternoon hunt, things began looking up.

That Friday evening with the weather much better we decided to go a longer hunt. We left around 4pm and headed over to an area called east pasture, which was about a mile hike. The approach was to start on the extreme southeast part of the region I was hunting and drive through the swamp to the northwest. It would be a tough hunt because of the terrain, but one we were ready for.

After driving halfway through the swamp we ran across an old elk carcass. It still had the skull attached, so Leonard looked around the area where the skull was located to see if the ivories/whistlers (teeth) were still there. He found one and said "Here, take this, it is good luck". Not really understanding, I went ahead and took it and put it in my pocket. About 30 minutes later we heard a bull bugling within a 200 yd radius from us. Since the swamp was pretty thick and the cover was about 10' high, we couldn't see where it was at and whether or not he had any cows with him (I held a cow permit). We drove towards the area where we thought we heard it without much luck. But, the good thing was that we were actually hearing elk...so they were finally out and about. We spent the next hour or so driving the rest of the way through the swamp and popped out near the tree stand that I had spent the last two mornings in. It was about 6:30pm. Leonard was thinking we should go check out another couple areas since we had about an hour left of shooting light. I told him I just wanted to sit up in this tree stand until shooting light fell to rest my legs. He obliged and said he was going to go over to another area and scout. So, I climbed up the tree stand and he headed off.

After sitting there about 2minutes, a cow popped out, about 175 yards out. Finally, a chance. It was walking away from me, so all I could see was it's rump. Knowing that that wasn't going to make for a nice shot, I decided to wait to see if she would give me anything to work with. She then cut through some brush and I thought I had lost my chance. Right then a second cow popped out in the same area. This time I was ready. She was quartered away from me, so I decided to take the shot. It was about 3minutes since I had been on the tree stand. At the first shot, which missed, she jumped and went through some brush to a clearing, standing broadside. At that time, Leonard, who was only about 50yards away from me had ran back to the tree stand to see if I had shot myself climbing up the ladder :). Of course, I hadn't. Since she was still standing broadside, I shot a second time, this time hitting her right above and behind the shoulder, perfect placement. She fell down and went behind a bush. Leonard headed back to the truck and got some supplies for field dressing. At that time, another friend showed up, Jared. Perfect timing, because the work was about to begin and we could use the help.

So, Leonard, Jared, and myself headed out to the area where the elk fell. We found it about 7:30pm, a good hour after I had shot. It was dead on arrival. We spent from 7:30pm until about 10pm quartering it and hauling it out in backpacks. It was then that I realized how big these animals are, even cows.

So, the MORAL of the story is that the ivories of elk, are indeed, lucky. After not seeing or hearing any elk for nearly two days, once Leonard found the ivory, our luck changed (or maybe it was the weather, but no matter).

Leonard and I processed all the meat ourselves and I am currently tanning the hide. The steaks are great and the hide is looking like it will turn out to be a nice rug, if Jenny will ever let me use it as such. (not likely-Jenny's insert into the story.) Below are some pictures, which I'm sure is the one thing you are really wanting to see from this blog. Thought I would add the story as well. ENJOY.

View from the tree stand....can you find me in the picture?

A few pictures from the tree stand of the mountains....


And finally, me, my Weatherby .270WSM, and my first elk....

1st Balloon Fiesta was a Bust

So we have the balloon fiesta every year in October and the last two years we have gone at least twice where we haven't gotten to see the darn things get inflated. It's really an amazing sight to see so many balloons in the air (in the morning some 500+ balloons will go up.) And last night we thought, we'll try just one more time...the wind is just right for a balloon glow (100+ balloons stay on the ground inflated and light up at night simultaneously). We pull into the parking lot, the wind is calm and the balloons are up. We step off the bus and the wind picks up and the balloons start deflating. It was as if they canceled it because we came. So I hurried up and got my photo op with Hayden and Derrick and myself so we could actually say he had been here in his first year!

Way Behind on Blogging...But He's 9 Months!!

Yeah, 11 days ago Hayden officially became a 9 month old. You can see that in the 9 months, I've become more lax about posting in a timely manner. To give myself an out, we have been ailing from severe colds that were determined not to be the flu- swine, avian, bovine, regular or otherwise. However, only Derrick and his iron-clad immune system have managed to evade this virus that Hayden and I are sharing. Anyway, we had our 9 month professional mommy photography session to commemorate this day. Hayden is now crawling beautifully, trying to stand without assistance and great at pulling himself to standing and staying that way for a long time. His first discriminate word was "book" and has followed with "ball," "bear," "duck," and "bug." Mama and Dada aren't nearly as cool to say as they used to be. He got to travel to Denver recently and visit his aunt Rachael and there he mastered her stairs and has loved to sneak away from me ever since requiring a barricade at the bottom of the stairs. He loves to sing and to Derrick's delight enjoys country music-especially Alabama-though mommy throws in a wide variety from Christian to Classical and of course actual children's tunes. He still loves Sadie and treats her like a favored stuffed animal and dives on her to cuddle. She just gets up and finds somewhere else to curl up only to be "cuddled" with again in about 2 minutes. Anyway, he's a lot of fun. He's learns so fast and watches everything we do and is always trying to imitate us. It makes you very aware of what you're doing every second that he is around. Enjoy the pictures. My little ham always loves posing it up!