(photos are coming soon - I promise)
Right after school was out on Friday Ethan and I headed out to Loveland for the Hammer In. He was so excited because he had his first paycheck from his first paying job and he was ready to get some blacksmithing gear. When we arrived we found that our usual spot for the van and the tent were left open for us and the truck next to us had a few items, including a forge, for sale. Ethan looked it over a bit, unpacked a bit, looked it over again, helped me put up the tent, talked to a few blacksmithing friends, looked it over again and by the end of the night he negotiated a good deal on a complete, handmade forge. The man who made it, Levi, is an electrician by trade and an man who builds things to last so the forge is heavy duty and comes with a little extras, like three ways to control the blower motor. Ethan was pleased as punch.!
Saturday I cooked and he blacksmithed he made himself a fire poker, a fire race and a forge mop. There were also a few new people there, including Brian Brazeal, a master blacksmith who recently returned from his blacksmithing tour of Europe and Australia. All of the smiths were thrilled to sit, watch, listen and learn. Brian makes wonderful, unusual things, like a two space hanger with a dragon head, chess pieces and so on. Much of what he sells is done on Ebay.
The other cooks and I were busy all day we served: smoked pork ribs, cumin & sugar crusted pork loin, chicken fried steak, meat calizones, white chili with pheasant, brandied chicken, wild rice with leeks and bison, quail pie, olive & onion pie, Colorado coleslaw, mashed potatoes with gravy, buttermilk pie, blueberries & banana pice, strawberry rhubarb pie, caramel apple pie, spice cake with rhubarb topping, spice cake with apple topping (called "bear in t he orchard"), strawberry fritters, sopipia cheese cake (Ethan's favorite) and chocolate cake. We threw good eating habits to the wind and really enjoyed the meal. Ethan ate 3 plates of food! He ate so much that he was not hungry until late afternoon on Sunday.
Ellie, on the other hand, spend time with dad on Friday. They colored, took the dog for a walk and enjoyed having time together. Saturday Ellie went racing she placed 5th in the John Stenner Memorial 2008 Colorado Junior Time Trial Championship. She said there was a terrible headwind and she was not at all pleased with how her time/ place came out. She missed 4th place by about 28 seconds and 1st place by less than two minutes. I asked her if she had a good time. She said she did. I told her that was the most important part. Later that day she spent the night at Emily's house and had fun. One thing she thought was funny was when one of the chickens jumped up on her when she was in the hammock and began pecking at the design on her shirt. She said it felt funny.
Sunday came and Ethan was sad to go home, but not too bummed because we went to Elitche's (an amusement park) with the extended family - all 12 of us. Ellie & Daddy, along with an extra cousin or two, did the roller coasters. By the afternoon his head was spinning. He was still spinning this morning and has decided that one or two roller coaster rides should do it for him in the future. Ethan, a few more cousins and I took the more spinning, twirling route and had a good time. My favorite part was not the rides, but the shows. I loved the Hot Diggity Dog show with agility dogs. The Crique show was really fun as well.
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