birthday weekend

what a glorious, hefty week it has been. nicole flew in to spend time here in boulder with us and help me celebrate my birthday. awww, thank you nicole. three of my fun and peppy maryland high school girlfriends have ended up here with me in colorado, denver way, and organized a birthday lunch at devil's food in wash park. we four savor birthdays and precious times making new memories together but now as cheerful but weary middle-aged women :) thanks beautifuls! 

gabi offered our place this year for the annual excalibur show choir retreat. what an amazing group of 32 high school singers! they pitched (no pun intended) tents down by the stream then began a chopped competition for the best brick oven pizza with paul at the helm. sopranos made heart-shaped, white pizza with fresh basil, altos went for a vegetarian rainbow theme, tenors took over the kitchen creating a high-carb macaroni and cheese pizza and the basses built a s'more dessert pizza with marshmallow cream toasted to perfection. winner! no worries about hosting a group of teenagers of this magnitude, they are thoughtful, they are inclusive and they are very, very fun. the only complaint i would disclose is that they are noisy, even into the wee hours of the morning. but then again, how can one complain when the 4:00am singing is in perfect harmony? led by the choir director, the next morning was spent eating breakfast, organizing, brainstorming and planning for excalibur's exciting new school year. at midday, the retreat ended on a high note. after tents were packed away and the property and kitchen spotlessly cleaned, the group gathered to sing happy birthday to me. what a thoughtful surprise and the most beautiful rendition i have ever heard. thank you all. you made my birthday very, very special. what a pleasure to have you all here. i can see it will be an outstanding choir experience this year for each of you.

as the last singer left, paul, nicole and i headed up the mountains stopping at the old mining towns of black hawk and central city and nicole went prospecting for gold in the tailings around the towns. alas, she only found a sparkle. we then carried on up to mt. evans, a favorite 14er around here. as we climbed up, up, up we passed herds of mountain goats, big horned sheep and a couple shy marmots. we also stopped to check out the bristlecone pines. did you know they are the oldest living thing on earth?! finally, at the mountain's top, we got out of the car and hiked the short quarter-mile trail to the summit (i know, very uncool to live in colorado and take your car up a 14er instead of hiking but hey, it's my birthday so i can do what i want), anyway 14,264 ft. simply amazing! if you've ever wanted to know what the top of colorado looks like, this is it. in the last summit photo, you can see the mile high city of denver down in the distance. wowza. 

what did you do and where did you go for the lunar eclipse? gabi joined the rest of fairview out on the fields for a legit 4th period skip. nicole and i grabbed our glasses and went up to paul's office to join the rest of the guys and their families for an eclipse bbq on the deck. it has a view just about as amazing as what was happening in the sky. boulder saw 93% of the total lunar eclipse and it was incredible. i was surprised to feel the temperature cool so much, so quickly. to say a loving goodbye to nicole on her last night and to continue celebrating the eclipse, we went to dinner at our favorite south boulder restaurant, under the sun. ha! what an extraordinary week. loved, loved it.