I survived the sharks . . . the Avs didn't

Lots of sharks in my life lately . . . First, on Friday, October 24th, Bug had her birthday party at the Downtown Denver Aquarium. A sleepover ( a misnomer because not much sleep involved) . . . but she and 4 of her friends had a great time. We started with dinner at Steuben's on 17th Avenue in Denver. The girls all ordered "The Bug Special", which is what Bug orders every single time we eat at Steubens . . . chicken strips, steamed green beans, and the best french fries outside of McDonald's.

They sat us at the back of the restaurant . . . imagine that . . . .just because I had 5 squealing, excited pre-teen girls . . . we were put in the back of the restaurant.

Here are Cat, Court, Izzy, Bug, & Ana . . .




Here is Bug with her cake . . . an extremely low fat cake composed of chocolate with chocolate chips in the batter cake (3 layers), with cookies and cream filling, topped by buttercream frosting. And the restaurant brought them all ice cream to accompany the cake . . . so thoughtful (heavy sarcasm here).



After what felt like a very long car ride with 5 squealing, excited pre-teen girls hyped up on LOTS of sugar, all while listening to the soundtrack of "Camp Rock", we made it to the aquarium where the girls changed into t-shirts and went on a tour.


After the tour of the aquarium and some games with the aquarium educators who, unfortunately, felt the need to bring a hideous, evil snake into the room, take it out of its cage and parade it through our group, we started making preparations to . . . sleep with the sharks.

As we lay in our sleeping bags (on the concrete floor!!), this was the view above us. And when all the lights went out, the sharks really started circling. As well as other extremely large fish and turtles. Once when I awoke, there were 3 sharks circling right over my head. Talk about a wake-up call. Barracudas, sharks, sting rays . . . all night long . . . in the dark . . .while sleeping on a concrete floor. But . . . the girls LOVED it . . . thought it was the greatest party.

The next morning, the Aquarium treated us to bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, bisquits, and juice for breakfast, then the girls were able to give the pirahnas their breakfast of shrimp, watch the tiger in the rainforest search for his whipped cream breakfast treat, and meet a macaw named Ricky.

It was a very fun birthday party . . . although my back took a few days to recover from the experience. LOL

And then last night, Robert and I went to the hockey game where the Colorado Avalanche played the San Jose Sharks . . . and the Avs got bit . . . I mean "beat" . . . 5-3. But it was still great fun for me . . . my very first professional hockey game. It was at the Pepsi Center, which is such a nice facility. And my guy was at my side, so it was a great night. Robert caught a t-shirt at one of the period breaks for Bug, so she was very happy when we got home. And I bought an Avs jersey to wear at the next game Robert and I go to as it will be against the Vancouver Canucks, his favorite team. Since he will be wearing his Canucks jersey, I thought I should have an Avs jersey on so we don't get pummeled by Avs fans. I'll make sure to get a picture of us so you can see. The game is in December.

This coming weekend, we're all 3 headed to Chicago for Bug's birthday trip. Dinner at American Girl Place on her actual birthday, then the next day we're going to shop, see Wicked, and have dinner with our friends that moved to Chicago in July. We're looking very forward to some Garrett's popcorn!

Wanted: Sleeping Pills . . . ASAP

This will be me tonight, sleeping with sharks . . . . and eels . . . and pirahnas . . . and other slippery wet things. Bug decided some time ago that she wanted to have her birthday party be a sleep-over at the Downtown Denver Aquarium. It sounded very fun at the time, but now I'm having some anxiety. After visiting the Aquarium, I now know that there are snakes in the building. Hideous, grotesque, evil snakes . . . . snakes and tornadoes are my irrational fears, so please . . . no emails or comments about any value whatsoever of a snake. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to think about them. I don't want them in my world. Yet, tonight, I will be sleeping in an enclosed area with them in the building. I would rather put on a wetsuit and spend the entire night in the shark tank.

The Harry Potter scene where the glass disappears and the snake escapes keeps running through my mind. I'm convinced one is going to escape during the night, make its way to my sleeping bag, and bite me. Never mind that there are also tigers in this Aquarium (part of a rain forest exhibit). I can handle a tiger . . . . but not a snake. So . . . if anyone has any Lunesta or other wonderful sleeping aids . . . . please get them to me by 7:00 tonight . . . . that's when the Aquarium locks the doors . . . and there I'll be . . . . until 9 AM tomorrow morning.

what was I thinking?????

A trip to the Aquarium

One of my colleagues invited Bug and I to go to the Aquarium this past Saturday. It was going to be a tight fit with me having tennis lessons from 9:30 - 10:30, and Bug's lessons starting at 2:00, but making friends is high on the list of priorties right now . . . especially since our best friends left to go back to Chicago this past Friday. So, my answer was a resounding "yes" . . . "we would love to go to the Aquarium!" And we had such a good time. My colleague has THE cutest 3-year-old son, and he swept Bug and I right off our feet.

Here are Miles, Catherine, and Bug in front of one of the exhibits:

The Downtown Aquarium is not as large as the Shedd in Chicago, or the one in Baltimore, but the exhibits are great and well-maintained. They even have large tigers in the Rainforest area . . . and I have never seen a tiger at an Aquarium, so that was cool. And there were lots of sharks, barracudas, eels. There even was an exhibit of a flash flood that got a bunch of us wet and scared the bejeezus out of us.

I love sea horses, and these guys are "Pot Belly Seahorses" . . . . (little beer drinkers maybe??)

These fish had HUGE popeyes that eerily glowed when Bug took her picture:

Bug wanted a picture of her and Miles in front of the clown fish exhibit. When she squatted down to be at his level, he squatted too. Very cute!

It was a very fun time. Bug was so captivated by Miles that she bought him a stuffed otter at the gift shop. We capped off our time at the Aquarium with a picnic lunch outside. Catherine's husband climbs huge mountains all over the world, and he's based out of Boulder. So we've been invited up to their place in Boulder next for a hike. I'm very excited about that. Bug hiked around Pike's Peak when she was at camp, but I've yet to make my first hike. Which means I've got to hit the Stair Mill at the gym.

It was a hot day, over 102 at the tennis courts, and Bug got a bit dehydrated during her lesson. So we cut it short and came home to air conditioning. Later in the evening, I went on yet another bad date. This one was with a PhD and a nationally known expert in environmental and enery issues and. . . oh my goodness . . . were we enthralled with ourselves. Geez . . . . luckily the food at Piatti was delicious. Other than asking me whether I had ever done any international mission work overseas . . . ??????? (what the *#@*???), I don't think he asked one question about me or my daughter. I've never had as many dates in my life as I've had the past 7 months, but I'm starting to think Colorado men are similiar to those in Alaska . . . . when I visited there a few years ago, everyone told me that, as far as the chances of finding a man in Alaska go, "the odds are good, but the goods are odd." Seriously . . . . . .