Sweet Life With Mary

Scenes from My Window

Spectacular fall colors woven on the mountainside. It was really the best time of the year to be driving throught Estes Park and on to the Rocky Mountains.

Not a Forest Fire, but a Controlled Burn.

We were high up in altitude and going higher. Nothing much lives up here, no trees, grass, nothing…

I did not like looking down from my window on some of the passes. The road side just drops away — quite breathtaking!

And this is what saved me during the trip — clean, safe restrooms. For some reason, I needed to use the bathroom like I was pregnant (which I definitely am not) or something. That afternoon, I was the complete opposite of “retaining water.” I am thankful for all the men and women who maintain these places. These photos are dedicated to you.

All three of us had a magical time on this trip. We were all agreeable, in great moods, neither Mary or I got carsick (which we often did when traversing these mountain roads) and we encountered unplanned scenes that were just wonderful visual and emotional treats for us. We would have loved to have our family and friends share this time with us. Hopefully, with this series of articles, they were able to participate in our pleasures.

This article is the last article of a three-part series, Road Trip to Estes Park
Part One - This Trip is Funner Than I Thought
Part Two - Unexpected Pleasures

Unexpected Pleasures

Cattle Drive Along Highway 36

We were not the only car to stop and watch Black Angus cows crossing the main highway to Estes Park. Not a daily occurence to see a real cowboy and cowgirl in action. What a thrill to have cows mooing ten feet from our car window.

Parade Down Elkhorn Avenue

To our surprise and delight, as we were strolling the main shopping street at Estes Park, Elkhorn Avenue, here comes the local high school’s Homecoming parade. It seems to be the thing with parades nowadays, the people on the floats toss out treats to the crowd of eager and delighted watchers. Pretty soon, Mary had a collection of lollipops, chewy candies and Smarties.

The Much-awaited Visit to the Glass Store

The promise and prospect of visiting and actually buying something from this store is what made Mary say, “This trip is funner than I thought!” And it was fun looking around this store. We all picked out some treats. Mary ended up with a hanging dolphin and a trio of minis (a yellow chihuahua, pink flamingo, flying pig), Jack got another flying pig to add to his collection and I got a dragon to start MY collection.

This article is the second article in a three-part series, Road Trip to Estes Park.
Part One - This Trip is Funner Than I Thought
Part Three - Scenes From My Window

In How Do You Spell Success?, Mary’s grandpa has expressed concern that maybe she should be wearing protection- helmets, elbow and knee pads. I believe, there is no city ordnance about this in our town, every child or adult I see on a scooter do not wear any protective accessory and Jack has not expressed any concern about it. So, Mary does not wear them. I personally feel that there is no need as one has a lot of control on the scooter— you go as fast you can push yourself, if you are going down the hill, apply on the brakes and you can always jump off of the scooter or of you do fall, you are not far off the ground.

Well, Mary did take a tumble recently. Mary had wanted to show her dad her new skills so last Thursday, Jack and I picked her up from school, Jack on his bicycle, me with the scooter that Mary can use on the way home.

Mary showed off a little bit and Jack was suitably impressed. At one part of the route that had a steep incline, Mary followed her dad, got a little nervous and confused that she might hit her dad (who was yards away) since she was going fast down the slope, tried to jump off, couldn’t get her balance and fell on her knees. She suffered a nasty bruise on her right forearm and another on her right knee.

My first reaction was—“…let’s not ever do this again… Oh no, my baby is hurt…Thank God, it was just minor bruises…” But then, I thought, this is the scared little Filipino girl talking and I had promised myself that I will not pass on my fears to my kids but still, I could not help myself…

So, after ascertaining that there is no blood, no broken bones, Mary is ok except for the bruises, I hesitantly ask her, “Maybe, we should not scooter much anymore? ….”

“No, Mommy.I did not want to hit Daddy, that’s why I fell down…”

Jack was also quick to give her encouragement. “You did well, Mary. Thank you for showing me. I’m sorry that you fell. I was far ahead of you… ” I was surprised that Jack did not blame me for Mary’s fall. I was sort of expecting being blamed because I thought I was responsible.

We got Mary home, got ice to put on her knee, she was ok, she was more frightened than hurt. Her dad advised to learn to use her brakes better. I was still on a wait and see mode. Because if it were me, I will not get on the scooter again…

I remember my experience with the skateboard when I was about 13. The only place that I could really use it was on our concrete driveway. I had wanted to get good at it— by that, I mean, I wanted to go very fast without falling, maybe do a wheelie and get around obstacles—none of the fancy ollies, verts, mid-air flips of today’s skateboarder.At one time, I set up 3 rocks on a straight line about 3 ½ feet apart and I wanted to go swerving through these rocks. I started out from the top of the driveway and as I was going down, here came one of my toddler cousins. I did not want to hit him so I panicked and fell off the skateboard, falling onto my side, sliding on the concrete. I got scrapes and bloody scratches for my effort. I said then, that was it! And it was. I did not try doing any tricks any more.

And that was pretty much my outlook on doing things back then — try something, get hurt, do not do again OR do not try something because you can get hurt. Did I get to do much? No. I did not get hurt much but I did not have much fun, either.

The very next day, last Friday, Mary and I walked to school and we took the scooter with us. SHE wanted to. She was wary about going downhill and was taking it slow. Over the weekend, we coached her on how to use her brakes. And, today, this morning, when she got on the scooter again, she was taking on those downhills without any fear. She has fallen and had gotten up.

I learned a few things from this experience. One, Mary may look a lot like me but she is NOT me. Two, I am not to blame for Mary’s hurts. Three, get over the hurt and move on. Also, Mary has taught me to take a closer look at my assumptions, what I thought I could not or never do— One thing that comes to mind is cartwheels.

Mary is learning to do cartwheels at her gymnastics class and she is getting there. She is almost hitting a perfect one. I envy her so much. I would like to be able to do one.

She says, “Mommy, I’ll teach you…”

And she does that. Everyday.

After picking up, dusting, vacuuming the house this morning, I told Mary, “Now, let’s keep the house clean and neat, at least, until Daddy gets home this afternoon.”

“Why? Is it his birthday?”

That’s right, the house gets cleaned only on special occasions. Or, when company is coming.  That’s one other reason why I like hosting frequent playdates for Mary.  Even if it is just one little girl who will come to visit and who probably would not know the difference, at least, the house (mostly, the kitchen/dining area and living room) gets cleaned.

It is not Mary’s daddy’s birthday today.  But, it will be in two days.  Let’s hope the house stay clean.

This trip is funner than I thought!

My first idea for a travelogue of our trips was to have it ala Food Networks “Feasting With Asphalt” minus the motorcycles— a chronicle of the trip with philosophical insights, local people adding to the flavor, showcase of the food along the way.  I thought the travelogue for this trip will include Mary’s endless barrage of “Are we There yet?”  (Mary’s version includes: “How long does it take to get there? Has it been 10 minutes? Are we close? When are we going to get there?”), descriptions of our food stops, and blurred photos of the elusive elk.

It turned out to be magical! (Jack’s term and I agree.)

No More Are-We-There-Yets???!!!

Jack and I nipped that right in the bud. Mary started asking questions- Where are we going? Estes Park, to see elk.  How long does it take to get there?  About an hour but we are going to stop for food and also, at that place where you can feed squirrels (we had brought along a bag of stale pecans for this purpose).  Is it far to the restaurant?  It will be about 20 minutes to Lyons.  How long has it been? At this point, it was time to shut down the questions.  Mary, just enjoy the ride, you’re with your family, it’s a beautiful day. If you are going to ask all these questions all afternooon, we will just turn around and not go on this trip.  It is not fun for Mommy and Daddy when you constantly ask.

What is great about Mary is that even at only five years of age, you can reason with her and as long as she is not overly tired or hungry, she would listen.

But we also helped her by:

• distracting her with what we see out the window, pointing out the scenery to her, encouraging her to tell us what she finds interesting
• playing games — we usually play “I Spy”. For this trip, I had her thnk of 10 words that start with a certain letter
• letting her know of an added treat for this trip. We will stop at a “glass” store where Mary can choose a glass animal.  “Can we buy it?,” Mary asks.  “Of course,” we say.  “This trip is funner than I thought!”

At least, the Soda Was Great!

Our first stop - for food, it was lunchtime after all since we headed out for out trip after picking up Mary from kindergarten.

The roadside eatery was not as good as we remembered. Jack had ordered a double cheeseburger, fries and Pepsi for himself, Mary was going to have a corn dog and a baby chocolate cone. I could not have anything from the menu as I cannot eat anything that has been deep-fried or fat-full (I am suffering from a recent intolerance of fat, makes me violently sick). Mary had always liked their soft serve cones and Jack had never had a bad sandwich from this place before. This time, the burger patties were burnt, the fries overcooked, the corn dog overdone. Surprisingly, the fountain soda drinks were good— it could have been worse, it is so easy to screw up the mix of syrup and soda water— just observe the next time you order from any fast fodd place.

Our next stop is a photo opportunity for tourists.

This Time There Were Lots of Blue Jays

Also, this is a great spot to stop and feed chipmunks. Jack’s eldest daughter had driven this road to Estes Park numerous times and knew of this added attraction so we were prepared today and had a bag of nuts. The other time in 2004, there were a lot more chipmunks but this time, it was bluejays!

And finally,

We found elks!

Without even looking. As soon as we hit Estes Park town proper, there they were, right in park by Lake Estes,for every tourist’s viewing and photographing pleasure. We parked, went running towards them and took dozens of photos.

From what Jack told me, the way it is with elks, during the rutting season, one dominant male will gather a whole group of females for himself and all the other males wait around in the sidelines.  Only this one dominant male gets to have his way with the females.  Lucky dog! (or not, so lucky- it could take a lot of work— oh, I’m sure he enjoys it…)

So that whole group of females belong to that one elk bull— he has an impressive antler.  None of the other males around has an antler with as as many prongs— he deserves to be the dominant one.  Every so often, we would hear these screams (much like the squeeks and squeals my mom (or any unsuspecting female) makes when my dad (or any other male), its called bugling, sounds that the male makes to establish dominance among the other males and to attract females.   National Geographic has a good audio.

So, we’ve found elk but our trip did not end there.

This article is the first article of a three-part series, Road Trip to Estes Park
Part Two - Unexpected Pleasures
Part Three- Scenes From My Window

We are going to Estes Park this afternoon to hunt elk.  To shoot them, not with guns, of course, but with our cameras.

From Wikipedia, “Estes Park is a town in Larimer County, Colorado, USA on the Big Thompson River.”  It is the eastern gateway community to the Rocky Mountain National Park.

For us, Estes Park is where we get to see elk in the wild during the elk’s rutting season.  The town has their annual Elk Fest late summer and this year it was Sept 29th and 30th, which we’ve missed.  So, we are going this afternoon.  I am hoping that we still get to see elk in town — they actually come down from the mountains and go right into town during this ruttinig season.  This photo was from Fall 2004.

Here is Mary in downtown Estes Park in Fall 2003.

Hope we get to see elk this year!

Mary’s school (Monarch K-8) joined the rest of America and the world to celebrate International Walk to School Day on October 3rd, 2007.

We have been walking to school for the past three weeks now so it was just another walk for us. But, there sure was a lot more foot traffic - moms and dads and dogs walking the kids to school, kids on inline skates, bicycles, scooters (like Mary).

The school sent out a flyer about it the week before and on this flyer, they had a highlighted PS “Enjoy bottled water and other goodies courtesy of Sam’s Club, Albertsons, Safeway and the PTO!” What they mostly had were donuts, from Lamar’s.

The iwalk website asks the question, “Why promote walking and bicycling?”

The first reason - “To enhance the health of kids.”

Serving kids donuts enhance their health???  I wonder who contributed the Lamar’s donuts… Sam’s Club, Albertsons, Safeway or the PTO? Where’s the fresh fruit like apples, grapes, pears, cut-up oranges? Or, maybe bagels would have been a wiser choice to enhance the health of kids.

To be fair, there was bottled water and a box of Clif Kid Organic Twisted Rope. But, the kids (and parents) would have been better off without the donuts…

I happened to have on this TV show, Singing Bee, last evening when Mary got done with her shower.  Usually, she would have me change the channel to the Cartoon Network or Jetix that will have one of her evening cartoon show.  But, Mary likes singing so I thought she might like this show.  (For those of you who hates reality shows– that means you, my sweet hubby, Jack—”Singing Bee” is a game show on NBC hosted by Joey Fatone (of N Sync fame).  As described at NBC.com, “… a variety-competition show that challenges contestants to accurately sing the lyrics to popular songs…)

Last night’s theme was One-Hit Wonders and this song by Anne Murray came up.  You know it— it’s “You Light Up My Life”.

“..So many dreams, I kept deep inside me.”

As the melody was playing, Mary cried out, “I know this song!”

Now, she was born in 2002.  We usually only have the radio on in the car and though this song had been a No. 1 hit a long time ago, I don’t think it has been on the airwaves recently; Jack puts on music in the house but I dont think he has Anne Murray.  The only reason Mary could possibly know this song is I used to sing this to her when she was a baby!

Those times when Mary would be crying on and on for no reason and I would try to drown it out get her to stop by singing to her.  And one of the songs (I’m embarrased to say) that I happen to know ALL the lyrics is this song.

So, I told her, “I used to sing this when you were a baby.  That’s why you remembered.”

“Sing it, again!”

So, I belted it out, emphasizing some of the lyrics.  Mary did light up my life and I wanted her to know why I sang this song to her.

Then she says, “I like this song, it reminds me of my childhood.” This from my little grown-up, the five-year-old.