Hands on Learning

Not often do I have photos of what I am doing in school. Luckily we had a camera on hand to capture the magnitude of the learning in my classroom. Kevin Wright from the Division of Wildlife was kind enough bring in some roadkill for us to examine. It was quite the moving, shocking, and enthralling lesson in Anatomy. Enjoy...

Tuesday afternoons with Brent

We are watching our parents dog Rio while they are off traveling Africa. Two days ago Rio ate 10lbs of dog food...no joke. His stomach was like a water balloon, over filled, ready to pop. He has been sleeping the last two days for probably 20hrs a day. The other hours he just goes to the bathroom in the yard and farts in the house.

There were 60mph winds last night...I prayed and dreamt of a glorious snow day...it never came...I had to work today...but they call for 12" tonight...let us pray!

Right now I am reading a book called "The World Without Us" It is an amazing book about how the world would heal after the rapture, ailens, or some virus take us out. It had a great chapter about how rivers would take back New York city. The subway tunnels collapsing, creating canyons, rivers, and rebirth. It said most of our houses would last 50, maybe, 100 years. Then most of it would be recycled back into the system. Thats pretty shotty considering the Egyptians and Maya architecture still stand after 1000's of years. Another cool thing to think about was plastics...that eventually they would incorporate into the Rock Cycle, maybe become a conglomerate, and you would have a bunch of cobbles cemented together with a Barbie head in the strata! Then they said that bacteria would eventually evolve to break down these carbon substances and they would disappear. But thats after a few 1000 years of evolution. Hard to imagine we are just a blip on the time scale....it would be interesting to start all over again, knowing what we do know, could we make it work?

Megan my lil'sister lives up in Snowmass. It has been awesome to have her and her boyfriend Jared around. We schralp (ski) when ever we can. It just so happens they work at a 4 star hotel with a sweet hot tub and free tea. We visit them often...

The Busy Season

Christmas to New Years is the busiest season of them all. We spent our Christmas eve in Aurora with the Alexanders. The drive over took 8 hours due to snow and traffic, the trip usually takes 3.5-4hrs. We spent a few relaxed days in Aurora playing cards, eating, and playing more cards.

Christmas day were to be in Aspen and when we woke at 5:30am to leave we noticed Santa had brought us a very white christmas day. It was a full on blizzard in Denver, but there was no traffic, and we made it to Aspen in under 5 hours, just in time for coffee and presents! My parents had come up the night before and Megan has just moved to Snowmass so the Maiolo XMAS was in our tiny apartment.

After my family left on the 26th, we had two friends from Seattle come in on the 27th. Nonstop fun now for over a week. Megan and Justin stayed for 4 days and we packed it in during this time. We went skiing, did yoga, snowshoeing, ice climbing, dinner parties, and Aspen movie star watching.

Now it is quiet, just Cara and I, Finn, Rio (my parents dog), and Pecos riding his plastic parakeet. Hopefully we get some new snow to make for some more epic powder days. We have had 9ft in Aspen this month!

Happy New year to all....much love

Be American, read a "banned" book

Our school librarian has passed around an email concerning the books/movie "The Golden Compass." Supposedly it has caused quite an uproar and has even been banned in some schools and public libraries. This notion of banning books/media/art/speech/etc...really bothers me. Isn't the concept of free speech one of America's founding principles? Is America crumbling to pinko-commie dogma? If you want to live in a country that bans books, try China, Venezuela, or maybe Cuba. If not, stand up, be American, and read whatever the hell you want!

The Google image is what the Chinese Government has banned about its own history.

Agua Vivo

Agua Vivo, "Alive Water" is the name sometimes used in Spanish to name the Jelly Fish. Much more descriptive and mythical name than the English version. For some odd reason these little guys have been floating in and out of my subconscious, slipping through the cracks and flowing the tides of my thought. Here is what I have been seeing...

Victoria Christine

Here is the first pic we've been sent of our new niece! We'll have more pictures to come when we arrive in Virginia Beach this Wednesday. She was 20" long, and 7lbs plus. We can't wait to meet her in person!

Thanksgiving

Here are the other pics that didn't post to the previous entry!