She said Yes!

It doesn't seem possible but our little girl is engaged.  Blaine asked Henley to marry her last weekend and we couldn't be happier for them.  Blaine and Henley met up at their friend's ranch in Cisco for what Henley thought was going to be a short visit since Blane had told her that he was just going to be able to be there for a few hours. However, Blaine had something bigger planned. He set up the proposal by telling Henley that one of his dogs was missing and they needed to go look for him.  As it turned out, the pup wasn't missing at all...it was just a ruse to get her to the top of the hill that overlooked the property.  Then he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him.  Of course she said yes and the pictures tell the rest of the story!

We are really excited to have our family grow again.  We had kind of known that Blaine was going to ask us to marry Henley.  He had skirted around the issue off and on the last few times that we have all been together but he didn't come right out and ask us until the week before he asked her to marry him.  Of course, us living in Colorado didn't make it easy for him to ask us in person so he did it the best way he could- by phone! Blaine and Henley have dated for 3 years now, have known one another for about 6,  and we feel that they have had ample time to get to know one another.  He balances Henley out.  He is a calming influence on her and he is exactly the kind of man that we always knew she would end up with.  Over the past few years we have come to know so much about about him; his humor, his honesty, his patience, his faith, his drive to succeed, and most importantly... his unconditional love for our daughter. When he asked us to marry Henley we didn't have one minute's hesitation about his sincerity of wanting to spend the rest of his life with our girl.  Welcome to the family Blaine!

Girlie Time!!

It's been waaay too long since we have been to Austin.  Last year we were able to see Delaney almost every other month with all of the wedding plans.  When we did go to Texas last year, we mostly flew into Ft. Worth and Delaney and Zach would drive up to see us.  Now that the wedding is over it is time that we started going to see all three kids more often.  We would have gone sooner this year but between Delaney, Zach and Henley's testing schedules we just couldn't get anything planned out.  But as the fates would allow, there was a golden weekend in April (Easter Weekend) that we could all meet up. 

Delaney and Zach moved into a new condo two weeks before they were married.  They have been setting up their home and it is really beautiful.  They now have an extra bedroom that Z has turned into his study and they have a real dining area now!  We are so happy for them!

While we were there we did the usual things: ate out at as many Mexican food restaurants as we could, walked around their new neighborhood, helped D and Z get some shelving put up in their laundry room, and we were able to catch the Longhorn's Spring Game.  Unfortunately the long weekend passed too quickly but we were so grateful for the time we did get to spend together!

 

Paint Mines and DInner in an Airplane

Me: Ready to go?
Mark: Ready to go where?
Me: Paint Mines.
Mark: What's that?
Me:  It's an Interpretive Park and I've heard it's...
Mark: Interpretive park?  Like where hippies run around naked and dance and sh*t like that?
Me:  Maaaayyybeee...

Here's the thing.  Colorado has lots of places that are off the beaten path and this is one of them.  We've told Colorado natives about going here and all but one of them has never even heard of it, but they are missing out on visiting a really cool place.  

So if I were to say that this place is out in the middle of nowhere I wouldn't be lying.  It is about 35 miles east of Colorado Springs and about 40 miles west of Limon (which everyone knows is in the dead center of nowhere).  And to make matters worse, Siri seemed to think that we had no desire to drive on paved roads so she took us on every farm-to-market road she could find to get us there.  

What are the Paint Mines?(click on the highlighted words for more info if you want)  For those of you who don't want to click on the link here's basically what the website says:

The Paint Mines are named for their colorful

clays that were collected by American Indians

to make paint. Brightly colored bands, caused

by oxidized iron compounds, are found in

varying amounts throughout the may different

layers of clay. When the outcrops erode, a hard

capstone allows columns of clay to be

preserved beneath them, creating fantastic

spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum)

contributes to the color, and white quartzitic

crystals dazzle the eye.

Well when you first get to the park you wonder what all the fuss is about.  It looks like flat plains and dead prairie grass and nothing much else. But once you hike down into the canyon things change dramatically. 

And even though we tried our very best, we didn't find any naked dancing hippies!!

On our way home we drove to Colorado Springs and checked out this place to eat that has been featured on several Food Network shows.  It's called "The Airplane Restaurant".  Now normally we don't go to places that are theme based but this one was wacky enough that we just had to try it.  

Basically what this place is, is a Boeing KC-97 tanker. The owner of the restaurant bought this plane at auction once is was decommissioned and built a restaurant around it.  The plane itself has been gutted and outfitted with booths but the remainder of the plane has been left intact.  We got there early so we were able to sit and eat in the plane.  The food...eh it was so-so but we really didn't expect much more than "airplane food" lol

Bishop's Castle

Me: Hey!
Mark: *Mouth twitches*
Me: What's with the mouth twitching?
Mark: Nothing.  So "hey" what?
Me: Wanna go to Bishop's Castle?
Mark: What is that and were is that. Oh never mind...I know it's got to be better than Frozen Dead Guy Days again.  Ya let's go.



So basically this place is a one-man show.  A man named Jim Bishop who lives near Rye, Colorado has single-handedly built this castle.  It started as a simple cottage but has since turned into Bishop's castle.

Outside of Bishop's Castle

However it wasn't built without lots of blood, sweat, tears and controversy.  Seems old Jim Bishop has has his share of legal issues with the US Government off and on for most of the years that he has been building this place.

There were signs everywhere!

Level 1

West side of the Grand Ballroom.  Countless weddings have been held here.

East side of the Grand Ballroom

View of the Grand Ballroom from above

The Fire Breathing Dragon- although NO fire comes out of this dragon.  False advertising haha

Jim's carving

Towers and spires and spheres

Stairwell.  Notice that there are NO handrails at all. 

View of the arched bridge.  No support is underneath this thing and it is WOBBLY!!

View from the tippy top of the spire

Atop the highest Spire- again there are NO handrails on any of the stairs

But all that aside this place is IMPRESSIVE; especially since he has no formal education in architecture or engineering AND that he did this all without any help from anyone else.  It has three stories of interior rooms complete with a Grand Ballroom, towers and bridges and a Fire-Breathing Dragon coming out of the front of the castle.  It is 160 feet tall at the highest spire and it kind of reminds me of Hogwarts (but with no concern for safety). In both towers, going up to the crow's nest and the high sphere, there were no handrails in the narrow spiral staircases, there were holes in the railings that surrounded the outside of the building, there were holes in the floors, ice on the stairs, construction tools lying around, etc.  I thought Mark was going to have a heart attack when he saw some very small kiddos running around the place unattended. Fortunately there were no accidents while we were there.

Notice all the holes that kids can fall off of...Mark was having massive anxiety lol

This platform was wobbly as well

Mark on the bridge that connects the two towers.

Now Jim (the builder) is quite, shall we say, animated.  While we were there he was on a rant about the government and was using some highly inflammatory language.  (I don't think he's been told that Obama isn't in the White House anymore) As one of the website about this place states: "PARENTS ALERT: Bishop's Castle may look like Hogwarts, but Jim Bishop is no cuddly Dumbledore. He's a tough-talking man with strong beliefs, and sometimes he expresses them bluntly and loudly. If you or your children want to avoid potentially offensive rants (involving politics and race), you may want to steer clear".

Nuff said.

On the way home Mark actually said that this place was really cool and I had a good suggestion about going there!!!

Could I be on a roll? I think I just felt my mouth twitch too!