Lynns-Family.com Blog

Woah. That's all I can say. Lemme say it again with a little more effort.

WOAH!

Yeah so - August brought a lot of excitement. First I have been working on some side projects with a small venture partner - my buddy Paul. We co-own a company called BlueWebShop.com. We recently landed a nice contract with Jefferson County School district. It continues to be a nice relationship with them so we'll see where it takes us.

August also brought about Nicolas and his first birthday. Although we really celebrated his birthday while back home in SD and MN, we still managed to have him open a few gifts and have some more cake.

Then came my birthday. Of course most know that it's my 30th. I'm not thrilled about it. I guess mostly because I can't say that I'm in my twenties anymore. But if there's one thing you cannot control - it's time. If my thirties end anywhere close to how they began - I'm in for 10 years of absolute fun.

The Sunday before my birthday - Dawn threw a nice surprise party. I figured it was coming mostly because I had seen a few clues about it. Dawn delivered on a great party with a lot of the neighborhood, good food, a keg and cake. All in all it was fun and I would have been completely content if that had been it.

The following week - was hell for me. We just bought some company so we're trying to manage an integration with them and the deal closed last thursday - so we had all these things to do before. So I was cranky on Thursday night. Dawn called me at work and said that our friends Tony and Julie wanted to take us to dinner for my birthday. I called Dawn and told her that I was really not interested in it because my allergies were kicking my butt, I was tired and I just wanted to go home and rest.

Well that wasn't good enough for them - so Julie called me and said they had something very important to tell me - so I caved in.

At Johnny Carino's the conversation was light until Tony says "Well, the reason we couldn't do a BBQ this weekend is because I'm going to be out of the state." I was like "Yeah so - where?"

He says "I'm going to Vegas".

Laughingly (I still had no clue yet) I said "Yeah me too".

He pulls out an itinerary and says "Yeah I know. You're coming too".

Plunk.

Yup that was the sound of my jaw as it hit the floor. I couldn't believe it. I was in shock for the better part of a day and half.

We left for Vegas at 12:30 on Friday. It started with being at the airport. Tony and I, eager to get started on our vacation, had a couple drinks in the Denver Airport bar. Nice....

On the plane - yup another drink.

Got Vegas. This place is another universe. Some kind of parallel dimension. I was totally immersed in the visuals my eyes were seeing. It's total stimulation on you to be there for the first time.

After a weekend of drinking, eating, drinking, clubbing, drinking, swimming and oh yeah - drinking - I came home fullfilled. 2 nights in Vegas is the limit I think a person could handle. Either you'd run out of money or be too overstimulated. Everything down there is expensive. $20 cover charge. $10 drinks. Not for the poor of the pocket.

Had a great time. Thanks to all who helped pull this off. It was a memory I will not forget. Click on the photo below to see the rest of the pictures - also check out the photo gallery under the Adventures for the rest of them (remember there are three pages of pictures so click the little numbers at the bottom for the next pages).

Yeah, yeah. The last update to the Blog was in March. Things around here just get so busy. With Nicolas the Tazmanian Devil™ it's hard some days to keep up with things like the Blog.

We'll be in Sioux Falls and Mankato from July 15th - July 26ish. I say "ish" because we're somewhat flexible to how long we're going to stay there. Should be a good time.

Picture section has been updated. We've been busy with family visiting, Estes Park, the pool, neighborhood activities, etc....oh and of course, work. Bleh. Thankfully we'll be on vacation soon and in Mexico next month.

Getting the kids pictures taken for passport was hilarious. They had to lay Nicolas down on a sheet on the floor and when the photographer was ready, Dawn laid him down and said SHOOT and within seconds he was squirming and on his belly. He doesn't like to be held down...hehe.

Other than that - not much happening here - you'll probably see more pictures coming from the site than blog entries, at least until the summer slows down a bit.

Another week and thankfully it's Friday. We've had another very busy week around the house. Between the kids, work and school, I'm suprised that I haven't been committed yet. School is going well. I have 2 weeks left before the final. So far we're batting 100% in this class. With a research paper, 2 case studies, 2 chapters and forum participation due every week, sometimes it is hard to keep up with.

Work has been busy as well. We recently reorganized (again) and now we are under another department in Qwest. We met with our vice president this week though and it looks somewhat promising. I shouldn't hold my breath though because everytime things finally make sense and work, they change it again.

The kids are great. Kelsey has been really becoming more and more a little kid everyday. She now has more grace to her and she can run without tripping to much. She loves playing in the park, pushing her baby stroller around and just being outside in general. The kids are meeting the firefighters today down at the Castle Rock Fire Department. The guys down there love it when the kids stop by and the kids are always amazed at the trucks and equipment. Kelsey is now 5th on the waiting list for pre-school as well. She has shown moments of brilliance with potty training and other not-so impressive times. But overall she's learning.

Nicolas is a firecracker every second, of every moment of the day. He wants to GO GO GO all the time. So much that he tends to go all day without napping which plays havoc on him at the end of the day. The other day he was so tired that "we think" he was dreaming but he was whimpering in his sleep and doing some really bizarre breathing. Obviously, as concerned parents we worried that something was wrong with him - but he doesn't do this but once in a while and it doesn't seem to be a problem. We're still keeping and eye on him though. He's already 8 months now. Can't believe that he'll be 1 year in a few months. The kids are definitely growing up.

We're looking to vacation this year....finally. Both Dawn and I are really craving the beach. We found a great resort in Cancun that is totally family geared. We think we'll probably take the kids down to Mexico in late August. We're looking at the Crown Paradise Club Hotel. w00t! We need to get away. Then later this year - we may have babysitters (family) come in and watch the kids so mommie and daddie can do a quick weekend in Vegas.

We'll be home in South Dakota/Minnesota between July 15th and July 24th. So yeah, we'll be doing some traveling.

Check out the photo gallery - much picture upload happenin there.

   

So it's Friday and Ryan's been off for two days because work has been the "suck" lately. It was a beautiful 70 degrees in Denver today so we decided to take the kids to the Denver Zoo. We were about a block away from the Zoo when we came to a stop in the left lane of Colorado Blvd. That's when Mrs. Minivan decided to rear-end us.

Yeah - we took one in the back at about 10mph. The kids were very frightened by it and we spent most of the time trying to calm them down. The minivan was hosed. It hit its crumple zones and the whole front end was bashed in. So I told her to take the next left so we could get a police report filed (since Colorado Law is to move accidents out from traffic).

To our luck we pull into the Denver Police Gang department building. They were awesome guys and helped us get a report going and insisted they call an ambulance to have the kids checked out. So I walked back to the rear of the explorer, not sure what I'd find back there. To my surprise, there was only moderate bumper damage. I couldn't understand it at first.

But then I saw it. Like somekind of shiny, proud logo shimmering in the sun. Our Colorado Avalanche hitch cover sticks out of our hitch at least 2 inches. That baby had gone head to head with the MiniVan and WON. Oh - the hitch is bent up pretty good - but the fact that we had it on there, kept her MiniVan from doing any legitimate damage. w00t!!!

So - here's the crappy part. Neither of the people in the MiniVan got out of their vehicle to ask us if we or our kids were ok. Some people make me sick.

But - in the end - their insurance will be ponying up $$ for new bumper, total check on Explorer frame, alignment, etc. in addition to 2 new car seats. The cop informed us that after an accident like this - we are supposed to get new car seats. I guess it's something with the impact and the webbing of the car seat. So have fun with that Mrs. MiniVan.

    

That didn't stop us from getting to the Zoo. The kids had a blast there. We saw monkeys, penguins, sea lions, polar bears, camels, giraffes, etc. Kelsey was loving it. Pictures to be posted soon (of both the explorer and the zoo). Whew and it's only Friday.

Werd.

For months we have been driving by a building over by the Costco that we shop at and wondered what in the heck is going over there. The building is quite bizarre and it's like 7 stories tall. It wasn't until La Weekend De Bowling that we finally figured it out.

They opened Skyventure in Denver. Basically this place has a 7 story wind tunnel that shoots 120mph worth of air up at it. We figured this out when we looked over at the building in the bowling parking lot and through the windows you could see people free falling and shooting back up. Crazy wierdos.

So yeah - I wanna do it. Cost is about 48 bucks for a one hour lesson which includes:

• Training
• 2 - 1 minute free falls (equal to 3 skydives)
• Learn basic freefall position

Plus you can get a nifty video if you like. Might have to take the family over there and have the kids watch daddy fly. Yippie.

It's snowed like crazy here yesterday and the temp today is creating a lot of The Dumb™ on the road. I don't understand why adding water to the road makes people drive either 20mph or 100mph. Where are the normal people?