Friday

I picked Max up from school. We went to Chipotle:

then PetSmart. They had no cats, but we looked at the fish, crabs, lizards, snakes, hamsters, and all other animals, as usual.

Then Bricks and Minifigs store:

where we purchased a Lego baby for Newey and Mama and Aki and Maxi:

Then Black Gold:

Then Peter Rabbit, the movie, in Highlands Ranch… all without going home!

Saturday

Max read Eloise’s Summer Vacation, and then I read The GingerBread Man to him (the Ed Arno version that was read to me as a boy) to him. This was perhaps the 3rd time I’d read it to him. The next day, Max read 1/3 of it to ME.

We watched one or two Adventure Time season 9 episodes:

 then went to Christopher’s 9th birthday party!

[TODO: insert photos]

Afterwards, we went to see the horses at Chatsfield Resevoir. Then Tim Coutts called me, saying he was waiting at Barnes and Noble in Lakewood for us. I’d forgotten, or rather thought we hadn’t agreed upon a time and so it had been called off, but apparently we’d agreed to 3 PM, and it was already 3:30. We raced to Barnes and Noble. Max met Tim and his wife, Margaret, and they were delighted with him. While we talked, Max roamed the bookstore — something I did as a child with my father.

Later, after Tim and Margaret had left, I sat with Max and we read a lot of Dungeons and Dragons books which we’d already perused at Black  Gold the night before. He really wants this one, so I’ll get it for his birthday:

He’s obsessed with Mind Flayer colonies.

We spent hours there, after Tim left, reading through books and playing with toys (but, surprisingly, mostly reading). We sat on the floor of the aisles and read, just like I did when I was a boy at Encore books,with my father in the War section and me in Science Fiction & Fantasy section.

Finally, we had dinner at Olive Garden (yechhh), where Max accidentally ordered video games at the table. He thought I would be mad at him, but I knew it was a mistake on his part–he wasn’t reading the screen, just pressing buttons. We drove home and went to sleep.

Sunday

Another morning of reading Eloise’s Summer Vacation and The GingerBread Man, breakfast, Adventure Time season 9, and a shower that was difficult to have Max take (“I don’t take showers in the mornings!” — and he really doesn’t — so this was new for him).

Then off to Chipotle for lunch and Castlewood Canyon for the abandoned dam! He loved that hike. He kept saying afterwards that he likes having a destination for the hike. We stopped at the ranger station first, where they had rattlesnake shedded skins, lots of stuffed animals (real ones, not stuffies!), etc. A ranger told us that most of the petrified wood in the park is gone, but you can still find some if you go to places where others hiker’s haven’t been. This stuck with Max, and he was obsessed with staying off the path in the beginning of the hike, rattlesnake skins and petrified wood, while I was afraid of losing the trail altogether.

We saw a porcupine on the way, hanging out in a tree. We had sword fights and climbed rocks, playing King of the Mountain. We jumped over streams, looking for fish and crayfish. We ran through the fields, giving each other wedgies. We played at the playground. It was magical, even if I was exhausted for no apparent reason.

[insert photos]

Finally, we went food shopping then home. Max played a little kindle while I started dinner. Karolina came home after driving 6 hours from Cordillera. She confronted Max about lying to her about not having homework last week, so Max was banned from playing kindle or watching TV.

We ate salmon and vegetables, I worked for an hour the first time in 2 1/2 days, then all went to sleep.

a great weekend!