Saturday 22 February, 2020

Well, we arrived, finally! 9.30pm on Friday night (Denver time). Stasi, my high school friend from Chicago, who relocated to Colorado 19 years ago, came to pick us up.

Dark and cold, she had the car’s seat warmers on, and the heater blaring: very well prepared for her out-of-towners!

We headed to her house, where we were greeted by her husband Rob (Stasi & Rob have been married 20 years, and I was in their bridal party- we all go way back!), and their sons Tyler (13) and Jacob (9).

The kids hit it off immediately (nerf guns and computer games sealing the deal for Cohen)! And us adults chatted away until well after midnight- if we didn’t have something to be up for the next morning, chances are we would have pulled an all-nighter. We estimate it’s been 19 years since we’ve seen each other in person, but it was like time had stood still and we picked up where we’d left off.

After a good (but short) night sleep, we woke to a stunning, crisp, yet sunny, winter’s day, and headed out to the Thornton Scout Pack 212 for their annual Pinewood Derby. As we exited the house and drove around the suburbs, Cohen was impressed by all the snow on the ground! This was his first snow experience, and he was in heaven.

The Pinewood Derby was such a well run event, and a really happy, fun occasion, with a real sense of community about it. The Scouts (mostly Cob Scouts) sculptured their own cars out of a pinewood block. The conditions being that each car had to be a maximum weight of 5 ounces, and needed to be individually designed and decorated by each entrant. One car per entrant, which was raced four times (once in each lane), against others randomly selected derby cars. The winner was the person whose car averaged the fastest speed.

We helped set up, and before the race Cohen was given the Pack’s scarf and woggle, and indoctrinated as an honorary member of the Pack. I was gifted a “Mother’s Pin” too. And we shared badges from Australia with them.

Cohen raced a car that Jacob had built a couple of years before. He came first in three of the races, and tied for first place in another. He came in seventh place all up.

Awards were given for place-getters, along with a judges (I was a judge), parents, and scouts choice awards. Cohen received the award for the “Furthest Traveled”!!

Lunch was served too! Turkey or ham and salad rolls, a variety of potato chips, brownies and cinnamon cake.

After lunch we took a trip to the shops to buy a SIM card for me so that I could have a US number, and avoid paying roaming fees. We followed that with a visit to Walmart (affectionately referred to as “Walnut” by Cohen), and Coh desperately wanted to go there to look at dinosaur Lego! They had a reasonable selection, and Cohen walked away with the smallest one I could find!!

Back at Stasi’s I could barely keep my eyes open, so I napped while the kids played. Using snowball moulds, the younger kids used poor Tyler as snowball throwing target practice!! But they all had fun!

I woke to knocking on the bedroom door; my alarm hadn’t gone off as expected, as I’d set it for AM instead of PM!! Rooky mistake!! I packed an overnight bag and we all set off to meet up with family and friends at Casa Bonita, a Mexican theatre restaurant.

With a group of 16, we were seated across three front row tables in a private dining area that had its own stage, where we were treated to an impressive magic show.

Our group consisted of Cohen & I; Stasi, Rob, Tyler & Jacob; friends Sharon & Kent (aka Speedo); and cousins Gaye, Doug, Elaine, Joe, Kate, Kara, Jamie & Alex.

Both Jacob and Alex had the opportunity to get on stage to support the magician- and both were amazing assistants, with the show having us all awe struck.

The meal was ordinary, but the entertainment extraordinary. Right outside our room was a huge waterfall, and throughout the night divers would dive from the top of the waterfall into the pond below! There were characters roaming around, pantomimes, puppet shows, arcades, a walk through mine, fortune tellers, and much more. We all wished we could have stayed longer.

While our cousins tried to coerce Cohen out of the games room, I left to transfer our bags from Stasi’s car to Gaye’s car, as we were staying the night at Gaye’s. To our surprise our cars were parked side by side!! Awesome coincidence!!

We said our goodbyes, and journeyed to Gaye and Doug’s via downtown Denver, where we got to see the city lights, and witness a street-style-rail-jam! It was like a winter outdoor concert, but with a giant inflatable snowboarding ramp that you could ski down on rails! It looked like lots of fun!

Back at Gaye’s house, Doug treated Cohen to airplane toys, and hot wheels cars. Naturally Cohen made himself right at home in no time at all! Again, we sat up chatting. I’ve frequented Gaye’s house enough times over the years that I too feel right at home there- a warm, familiar, home feeling.

Gaye, Elaine and Glen (dec) are my dad’s first cousins. I’ve been visiting them in Colorado, along with their kids since late 1991.

After a great catch up, a cuppa, and some late night snacks for Cohen, we all retired to bed with anticipation of the snow predicted for the next day!