Moores Go

I'm pretty sure most readers get a copy of this one way or another, but in case you don't, presenting Moore's (a.k.a. Travis') annual Christmas missive. In real life it's on pretty paper, but here you get hyperlinks to the footnotes!

Hello, Hello!

Let’s jump right in…. Finn loves 2^nd grade, and similar to probably most parents, I’m amazed at the level of work his class is doing. I think I’d have to up my game a bit if I were a modern-day second-grader, because my efforts from decades ago wouldn’t cut the mustard now. I know I didn’t have superficial or loquacious on my spelling test when I was 7. (In fact, loquacious didn’t enter my personal lexicon until sometime in high school.) Math is trickier, too. Compare these:

o Travis’ old-school 2^nd grade math: If you have 5 apples, and you eat two, how many are left? (A likely answer of mine, using the Socratic method – or perhaps dodging the actual task at hand: What kind of apples are they?)

o Finn’s modern 2^nd grade math: Mary goes to the park and sees only dogs and pigeons. She sees 4 dogs, and a total of 32 animal legs. How many pigeons does Mary see in the park?[1]

Our major family wing-ding this year was a ski trip to France that has been in the queue for several years. Since Finn and I had never been to France we added a bit of sightseeing in Paris and Switzerland before heading to Tignes / Val d’Isere for a week on the snow with Ann and Eric and mutual friends the Rushers.

o Paris was great, and we saw the key tourist-district sites: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Pont Neuf[2] bridge, and Musée d’Orsay; and ate our fill of crepes and croque-monsieur.

o The TGV train from Paris to Geneva was super-smooth, and super-fast, clocking in at almost 150mph. Check-in? Just walk on your train car. Snacks? You bet -- Brie and a glass of wine. We’re all fans of high-speed rail now!

o We arrived in downtown Geneva mid-trip, so I set out to take care of some laundry while M and F did homework at the hotel. The laundromats in Geneva are conveniently located in the red-light district[3], so laundry-doing has a bit different vibe than coin-ops elsewhere.

o One rainy day in Geneva we rented a car and went to Gruyere to see where the famous cheese is made. Even for factory-tour veterans, the cheese factory is pretty cool – they even have a cheese-turning robot that flips each wheel of cheese as it ages. Finn campaigned to bring a wheel of cheese home with us, and after calculation I determined that it would be hard to fit 85lb of cheese into his suitcase.

o The most dangerous thing on the road from Geneva to Tignes was not the narrow, winding, icy, road, chock-a-block with racing buses, but British tourists who are grappling with driving on the wrong side of the road![4]

o Tignes is high in the Alps, and is essentially treeless, so there are massive expanses of pure white. Lifts and the network of groomed runs are there mostly to take you to off-piste[5] skiing. The tail end of a hurricane made the first few days challenging[6] but when the sun shone it was world-class with cloudless skies and big fluffy powder.

Finn was a Holly Park Shark again this summer and was a top competitor in his age group, especially in the breaststroke. The Sharks team swelled in size this summer to over 100 competitors and made a formidable sight as they sung the Park Shark Power! team cheer at the start of each meet

Trying to remedy the displacement of June camping by swim meets and the rapidly-shrinking feeling of our “4-man” tent, we adopted the logical approach and purchased a pop-up camper. While extending our camping season and providing enough space to take refuge from regular afternoon hailstorms, the camper has had some interesting effects on our family and traveling:

o Finn is enthralled by the whole scene, and turned instantly into a proto-camper salesman. If you come within earshot, he will explain every feature in exacting detail, ad infinitum.

o We became accustomed to some new facts of camper-life: driving in the right-hand lane up big hills (wave as you scoot by in the left-lane, please…); the merits of “pull-throughs”; huge turning radius; choosing businesses that have way-out-there parking; and an eagle eye in the backseat commentating on all of the other campers on the road.

This summer Finn convinced across-the-greenbelt BFF Emma that camping is awesome, and the two laid plans for a backyard summer camp out. The tent was pitched and stocked with the absolute bare essentials necessary for an authentic suburban wilderness experience: sleeping bags and pads, stuffed animals, numerous flashlights, pillows, books, headlamps, glowsticks, jammies, spare clothes, and two kiddos. Marshmallows were roasted before bedtime on a disposable charcoal grill to make some s’mores, and two relatively sticky campers hit the sack. Finn and Emma elected to spend the night in the tent without any parents, which is pretty plucky for recently-graduated 1^st and 2^nd graders. I left the back door open that night and slept on the couch with an ear open for any bumps in the road. All was quiet until about 5:45 the next morning when both came bounding gleefully into the house campaigning for breakfast.

Maggie’s paternal grandfather turned 90 this year, and there was a big family party to celebrate. Bill is a WWII veteran, and was in the infantry at the Battle of Normandy. After listening to tales of a family member’s recent trip to France, Bill didn’t miss a beat and quipped “Last time I was in France, I had to wade onto the beach…”. He’s happy and in good spirits, and makes us all smile.

Maggie and Finn made several trips to KS this year to visit Maggie’s maternal grandparents, and Cousin Katie[7] and her parents. Katie turned 2 in November, and Finn is smitten. They both have huge personalities, and it’s hard not to smile when they get into their rhythm together.

Grannie Annie’s birthday gift to Finn this year was a ride on the Royal Gorge Train near Canon City. Finn was thrilled at getting to ride the train. In the dome car! Through a canyon! The train ride is an out-and-back through an exceptionally deep, narrow, and spectacular canyon. The canyon is so skinny that there is a section if the track that is suspended by girders attached to each side of the canyon. Apparently a train long ago was a bit too big to fit under the suspension beams and crashed into the support structure, leaving various dents and bent things in the process. Now, as you would reasonably expect, the train stops at the scene of the incident so everyone can more closely inspect the structural damage to the very items that are holding up the train above the icy river.

Gardening was relatively good this year, with some adjustments to the garden makeup. I inadvertently discovered a way to expedite the gardening by bypassing the harvest of a portion of the crop: (1) Hastily construct a bean trellis out of scrap bits of dodgy lumber and make it about seven feet tall just in case you have some of Jack’s beans. (2) Be sure there are a few well-placed knots toward the bottom of the trellis supports. (3) Install the trellis upwind of a bunch of small and delicate crops. (4) Plant beans that will entirely envelop the trellis with 80 lbs or so of biomass. (5) Wait for a big wind, and (6) Voila! In one cataclysmic event the knots on the structurally-deficient trellis will snap and the trellis will crash into the veggies below, efficiently doing away with a mass of beans, a few bell peppers, some edamame, and baby tomatoes. Gardening made easy!

We hope you have a joyous and satisfying 2015 –

Photos – clockwise from top-left: sunrise at the Eiffel Tower; M&F at the top of Mt. Evans (CO); Chihuly glass + F at the Denver Botanic Gardens; Louvre in Paris; awesome day at Tignes; off to the Broncos AFC Championship[8]; Hooray for the Camper!

[1] Mary sees 8 pigeons in the park.

[2] Finn thought it was hilarious that the “New Bridge” is the oldest one in the city.

[3] Working-girls have laundry, too, I bet.

[4] As a matter of interest, the French and Swiss drive on our accustomed side of the road – the right-hand side.

[5] Oxford Dictionary definition: ADJECTIVE&ADVERB, Skiing 1.Away from prepared ski runs:[AS ADJECTIVE]:challenging expanses of off-piste skiing

[6] Visibility was zero, with no non-white trees or rocks for reference, and the howling wind blew Finn over a few times.

[7] Technically a second cousin, but who’s counting?

[8] We later avoided the misery of Super Bowl XLVIII with a Serendipitously-scheduled trip to Paris.

You know just one visit to see Christmas lights isn't enough, right? Moores saw not one, not two, but THREE sets of light displays.

#1 Trails of Lights with Emma and her Mom

#2 Denver's Parade of Lights with Suzie and Audrey

For any non-Denver readers, the Parade of Lights' claim to fame is that all the floats, marching bands, and balloons are lit up. The advent of LED lights with battery packs have made it pretty spectacular. With my bum foot we opted for grandstand seats this year, an excellent choice. The Denver City and County building gets all lit up, too, and our view over the parade route included top spot viewing of the building (above).
Back in his college days my brother's fraternity volunteered to walk one of the balloons, Underdog. Since the parade winds through the city the balloons have to go under stop lights and such. Underdog didn't make it under his first stop light and sadly fell to the earth. Travis and I were just barely dating and sat patiently toward the end of the parade route and Underdog never showed up. "Oh no, we killed Underdog!"

#3 Blossoms of Light, just us! It was a bit pared back this year, we think due to the Chihuly exhibit that just closed down. Most of the area where the glass sculptures were was closed off and unlit this year. Good thing we had two previous doses of holiday light cheer.

Last weekend I managed to squeeze a shoe onto my right foot! Hooray! It's been nearly a month since I wore a shoe on that foot. I still have to wear the boot some during the day, but now in the evenings I'm wearing shoes or slippers around the house. Freedom! Healing is slightly ahead of schedule and Dr. and I are both excited about how well it's going.

The puppy is here, the puppy is here! Not our puppy, but our puppy to borrow. Granny Annie and Eric picked up Teddy on Saturday. Sunday Travis and I went to the Bronco game and F got to hang all day with super mellow Teddy. We'll have plenty of chances to visit and dog sit, even better than having a dog of our own!