Roaming Blackshire's: June 2023

Alanna and I traveled to Buffalo for a visit! Our flights were red eye, which was a bit wild. Our first flight was fine, but then we were delayed for our second flight. We were scheduled to arrive in Buffalo around 9:30am and ended up getting in around 12pm. It always amazes me how upset people get when they aren't allowed to get onto a plane that has mechanical issues. Was it a minor inconvenience? Sure. Did we get to Buffalo safely? Yes. That's the only concern I have when flying. Delays are annoying, but getting there safe is the end game. Here is an adorable picture of Alanna passed out in the airport waiting for our next flight. The first weekend we were there I picked up Alanna's best friend Maddy to have a sleep over. The number of giggles that occurred that weekend was obnoxiously adorable! Of course, we had to stop for Starbucks, and because we had Dad's convertible we had to ride with the top down. The girls had a great time! We also got to see my BFF, Suzie, and Braelyn! Dad, Uncle John, and Denise were gracious enough to host a potato pancake dinner.

After a busy weekend Alanna and I had to get some work done. I worked and Alanna worked on schoolwork. The following weekend was GovBall in NYC. Alanna and I hopped on the Amtrak Train and headed for the city. The train was a really great way to travel! I could work, Alanna could do schoolwork, the seats were comfortable, and it was less expensive than flying. We got to NYC, Mischa picked us up from Penn Station, and we headed out to get something to eat. We had a busy weekend ahead of us with a three-day music festival.

Friday we leisurely woke up and got ready to head to the concert. My favorite part was the artist lounge. It had comfortable seating with outdoor couches and chairs, free beverages, and free food! They also had the best bathrooms, which is a huge deal for me. I don't think I could make it all weekend if we had to use the porta potty. We were pretty close to a bunch of artists like Ice Spice, and Diplo. Lizzo was by far my favorite! Alanna also got to meet the actress Zoe Colletti from "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark." She met her, she cried hysterically, like bawled her eyes out, and then they kept running into each other all weekend. It was quite magical! She's the cutie in the blue wig in the pictures below.

On Saturday Mischa took Alanna to Coney Island while I was dead to the world with a sinus infection or respiratory issues from the Canadian fires that brought a bunch of smoke into the city. Either way, my horrible cough settled in and stayed for over a week. Alanna eventually got it as well, but it waited until the day we were coming home from NYC.

Our train ride back to Buffalo wasn't as great as the ride to NYC. Our cart was warm, oddly warm. I thought maybe it was just the way the train was until I went to the cafe cart and all other carts were quite chilly. On top of that we were stopped for over an hour waiting for EMS to come and remove someone having a medical emergency from the train. So, we were delayed, coughing, sleeping, warm, and exhausted. I will say it was still better than flying because the seats were comfortable enough to actually nap on. We got back to Buffalo and started to heal from our weekend. I was leaving Buffalo on June 15, but Alanna is staying until July 12! She spent a week with Maddy and her family, and has been between grandparents houses.

I left Buffalo Thursday, June 15, and got back into Colorado well after midnight. My flight was delayed out of Buffalo a bit, and even though it was a direct flight it felt like it took forever. I had to wait for my luggage at Denver airport, and the airport itself is just massive to navigate. Brandon picked me up and I believe we finally settled into bed around 2am. We obviously turned our alarms off and got our rest. Friday was my flex day, so no need to wake up early and work. It was a great day to recoup! We leisurely got going on Friday and went to the gym where I was still barely able to do anything because of my cough. We did the same thing on Saturday. Sunday was Father's Day! We woke up (I was still coughing but not as bad) and were getting ready to go rock climbing. My cough almost made Brandon cancel going rock climbing, but the fact that the approach was a short half mile walk made going easier. Or so we thought it was a half mile walk. The park we were going to was very busy and the lot we were going to park at was full. We ended up hiking over two miles up to the approach. I did not do great, I had to stop multiple times to catch my breath, and I wanted to tell them to go on without me. I made it through, we climbed, had a bunch of laughs, and had a really great time. We climbed with a super puppers named Carlos. Carlos is a very large German Shorthair Pointer and he was adorable!

After climbing we went home and had steaks on the grill. Dana came out to have dinner with us. We played the Dreidel game (super fun), and then went for ice cream. Besides the fact that Brandon didn't have any of his children around him for Father's Day, it was pretty good. The girls would have made it a million times better.

These are pictures of one of the many coyotes that are in Cherry Creek State Park. Random, but here they are! Brandon is officially a zip line adventure guide! He trained from Thursday to Sunday, and starts officially working this Friday. His job looks like a blast!

This past weekend (June 24 &25) was spent watching Fruit Snack rock at Roller Derby and going to Lake Carter. I'm not sure what I was expecting being a Lake Erie girl. Dana's high school friend, Katie, lives less than a mile away from Lake Carter, so we met at her house. We were responsible for bringing a watermelon. Nothing that was pre sliced, because the rinds were going to the chickens, a whole watermelon. I ran into the grocery store and came out with a 25lb watermelon. This thing was huge! It was also on sale. What it wasn't was seedless, and that's okay. We didn't have a child seat to lock it into for the drive, so I held it on the ride and protected it. The watermelon was delicious! Lake Carter is 3 miles long, I could see all sides of it from where we were, and there wasn't any sand. It is a man-made lake, or reservoir, where you can boat, paddle board, kayak, and do water things. We basically floated for a bit and had great conversations. On Monday we walked Bruce over to the beach in Cherry Creek and let him take a dip. He did pretty well, but he still wants to fight the waves as they come in.