Nornbergs Visit...Again!

On Thursday morning we had breakfast at the Walnut Cafe with my family. On my bike, I raced my parents up 30th as they headed out of town. I regularly bike around town and I never thought to take a picture. But I'm glad my mom is a shutterbug and snapped some shots of me.


Shortly after getting home, I headed out again to meet Julie and Maggie Nornberg. They were using Mark's workshop at NCAR as an excuse to visit. So, lucky me, I got to spend Thursday with Julie and Maggie walking around town. We visited Alison's Cafe on Pearl Street and returned home in time to meet the boys for dinner at the Med. That night was a typical Thursday evening in Boulder and as we walked up the Boulder Creek Path we encountered many people in the Boulder Cruzer Club in costume wishing us "Happy Thursday".


On Friday afternoon Mark joined us and we went for a walk around the Betasso Preserve. Betasso isn't as strenuous as the walks we did the last time they visited two years ago (Mount Sanitas) but it was just as scenic. Plus, as far as I know, it was Maggie's first experience in the mountains!

Mom & Dad U, & Grandma in Town

My parents visited Alex in Nogales, AZ for a few days where he's helping protect our borders. Then they started a road trip home with some fun stops along the way. They went horseback riding in Phoenix with Aunt Harriet; with Grandma in tow they visited Mesa Verde National Park while en route to Boulder to see us.



Mostly, we spent our time hanging out. We had meals together (BJ's Brewhouse, the Hungry Toad). We sat around our apartment. Grandma and Mom let me splurge a little on some new clothes at the Outdoor Divas (thanks!!) AND we all went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see Bodyworlds. Pictures were prohibited in the exhibit but I did manage to get one of a camel that had been plastinized that was outside the exhibit. In the background is a poster of one of the bodies I got to see: Man Playing Soccer. I highly recommend seeing BodyWorlds if you have the chance. It was fascinating and very educational.

All in all it was a really fun two days. I only wish it could have been longer!

Celebrating Five Lucky Years

We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary this year. Unbelieveable! I can't believe that it has been so long what we were all in Grand Cayman. I really can't believe that Mike and I still get along so well! We couldn't be happier with one another.

In addition to a fancy meal out on the town at one of our favorite places to splurge in Colorado, the Sushi Den, we gave each other the traditional gift of wood. Of course, we put a fun skiing-worthy spin on wood. We bought each other telemark skis (and bindings and boots). After a few test runs on some demos I chose the Black Diamond Mystics and Mike got the G3 Barons. Okay, so only Mike's skis are technically wood-core skis. But I love my new skis and we agreed that these are pretty SWEET anniversary gifts. ;)

Our First Tyrolean Traverses

After a leisurely morning of sleeping in and getting bagels with the guys (McGuire, Justin, and Kevin the Frenchman) we headed into Boulder Canyon for a day of rock climbing.

A Tyrolean Traverse is basically like a zipline set up to cross a river or the like. The one we did was a set of ropes suspended between two rocks above the rushing rapids of the Boulder Creek. We clipped our harnesses to the ropes and pulled ourselves (and our food, water, and gear) across the river. In the pictures on the left, Mike is wearing red and I'm in green.


















We spent the day hanging out and taking turns climbing.

On the way home we experiences the strangest weather we've had in Boulder to date: it snowed. It wasn't the fact that it was snowing on June 24th that was so strange. It was the WAY it snowed. The snow was coming down as snowballs and splattering on windshields and the ground. By the time we made it down the canyon the streets in Boulder had flooded. After all, it had been warmer than 90 degrees F and the asphault was so hot that a lot of the snow was melted on contact. By the following day the only evidence of the 20 minute snowstorm was the debris deposited on the sides of the streets and walkways. Crazy!

Estes Park Wool Festival

My friend from CU, Jess, and I went to the Estes Park Wool Festival. It was AWESOME. Ranchers from all over the country gathered in Estes Park, Colorado for an annual weekend of fun and fiber. We walked around to every tent and visited all sorts of fiber-producing animals including sheep, goats, rabbits, llamas, and my favorite - alpacas. While the main vendor barn with all sorts of yarn was cool, it paled in comparison to our local Boulder yarn store (Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins). So, I purchased a few skeins of natural (not dyed ) alpaca wool yarn from the vendors in one of the animal tents. It is the softest yarn I've ever held! I almost bought a sheep to bring home (they're only $300!!) but decided that Mike probably wouldn't be too happy with a sheep as a new pet. I decided to wait.



Now I'm waiting to move to Montana to buy some fiber animals. How cool would it be to have my very own alpacas?!? Jess only encouraged these crazy ideas. Yeah right, in my spare time I'll sheer alpacas and spin yarn. ;)
I probably won't start raising sheep or goats or alpacas any time soon. I think I can stick to knitting and crocheting. Now that I have all this yarn waiting for me I had better get started! Luckily, Jess and I came home and put together a knitting group. Yay!

TiWWDEO - Artichoke & Morel Pasta

Artichoke & Morel Pasta
Approximate cost (including wine): $25 for two to four people.
Ingredients:
2 artichokes
2-4 ounces morel mushroom
garlic
salt
butter
cream
oregano

Recipe:
1. Wrap artichokes in foil and grill for about one hour on medium.
2. Start heating water for pasta.
3. Make Sauce:
- On Medium-Medium High heat: saute 2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced in 2 tablespoons of butter.
- Add fresh morels and saute for another minute or so.
- Add 1/2-1 cup (depending on how many serving you want to make) heavy cream and grilled artichoke hearts (snack on the leaves while cooking).
- Simmer sauce for a few minutes while cooking angle hair pasta.
- Finish the sauce with some fresh oregano.
4. Toss about half a pound of pasta with the sauce and serve with some grated hard sheep cheese.

Serves 2-4
(Make the meal complete with a mixed greens salad and a bottle of wine.)

This is Why We Don't Eat Out - Introduction

As most of our friends and family know, we eat well. (See ucsu.colorado.edu/~schneijc/eat.htm for more.) So I figured that I could include a Food section of the blog called "This is why we don't eat out". Look for posts for our menus and recipes including, among other things, clean out the 'fridge meals that top most restaurants we can afford.

Blog #1 - The Montana News

Hi folks,

I'm just starting to use this blog for my family and friends. I started it orinigally just as a trial thing but I'm feeling so inspired by other blog-a-holics (my friends) that I might actually start posting stuff. Also, CU's web managing is a little klugey and since we're leaving soon (see below) I figured I should start something that is a little more mobile than my webpage.

Yes. We are leaving Colorado soon. I'll spare you the drama that led to our decision for now but ultimately Mike is now an Assistant Professor on leave from the University of Montana. He'll finish a stint here in Boulder at NIST until next summer. Come Fall 2007 he'll be teaching and doing research at UM for nine months a year and doing research at UM and other places in the summer months. I have a full time instructor position waiting for me. As it stands, my position will be split between the math department, the physics departments, the education department, and the community college housed on UM's campus. So I'll teach wherever they need me and do research in my "spare" time.

What does it mean? It means that you only have one more year to visit us in the Colorado Rockies. :) Rocky Mountain National Park (45 minutes from Boulder), Summit county (2 hours), and Boulder all have wonderful things to offer for entertainment and will be around for a while but the hostesses with the mostests (me and Mike) will only be running tours for one more year. After that the Schneider touring company will relocate to Missoula where we'll be running local Missoula tours in addition to "big" trips to Glacier National Park (3.25 hours from Missoula), Yellowstone National Park (4.25 hours), and - among other ski resorts (www.wintermt.com) - Big Sky (<4 hours) . Who knows, if things get crazy we might even end up in Canada (4 hours).

That is the only real "news" in our personal lives that is worth blogging. I could brag about family stuff but that'll have to come later. For now, I have to get back to all that working I was just complaining about.

Hope to hear from you soon!