July gifts

I can't believe July is over! July was like a long, merciful grace period before the challenges of the new school year loom too large. Jon had long weekends in July, and we welcomed visitors that made us feel a little less far from home in our new.... home.

Before the Grunerts left, we showed them Jon's office...

...and his view...

I love all the fountains in Pueblo!

We took a family visit to the zoo, thanks to our gifted zoo passes. We got very close to the lion family, the parents of whom were trying to enjoy some afternoon.... cuddles. They didn't care for us being there to watch.

We have made several visits to the neighborhood pools during the week. 

The kids are increasingly comfortable in the water, but they're not exactly swimming yet. When I was a kid, we had access to a neighborhood pool a five minute walk from home, so it's hard for me to comprehend that children don't just learn to swim as a matter of course. Maybe private lessons are in order.

In mid-July, we received another set of visitors. My cousin, Joel, who lives in Denver, was himself being visited by his family, and my Uncle Doug, Aunt Lynda, and cousin Aaron accompanied them on a long, hot drive to Pueblo. I'm so grateful that they did! It felt so good to see my extended family in my new home. After a tour of the house, we visited a park and then went to see Jon at work, before they returned to Denver.

Here are the four cousins, Isaac, Eli, Miles & Adele. Isaac and Eli are each less than a year older than my kids. Such luck that they're only 2 hours away!

This whole family shot makes my heart happy:

Back at the zoo that week, we discovered a children's play cabin in the middle of the zoo. It looks locked, and like it's only there for display, so the kids think it's their private playhouse:

Adele loves her some pigs:

Love watching otters frolic!

That following weekend, we trekked up to Denver to shop at Ikea (we got a massive horde!) and to visit Joel, Bri and the kids.

Paid respects to Pike's Peak on the way

We decided that while we like the size of our city better, Denver's mountain views are superior.

During this trip, we managed to take zero pictures of ourselves or the kids! I won't let that happen again. But we had a great afternoon with the Cornells, visited the pool, watched the kids play, talked about family and about politics and ate some absolutely gourmet pizza. I even got to watch an old home movie from 1985, where Joel is five, Leah and I are three and Buddy is just a few months old. I got to see my grandparents and mother again, in living color and motion and sound, and it was entrancing. I especially enjoyed watching my tender Grandpa, whom we lost in 2014, play with my baby brother. It makes me remember that all the little moments we spent pouring love into kids matters, stays with them, becomes a part of them, no matter how fast the time seems to fly and yet, at the same time, paradoxically, crawl. I'm so grateful to be a link in a long chain of love. 

Welcome to Pueblo!

Our first guests, techincally, were Tim and Corey, who drove the truck and helped us move in. But the first people to visit a furnished and unpacked home were Dave and Cindy Grunert, who arrived on Thursday the 14th to spend the weekend on their way through their cross-country road trip. We enjoyed some rest and time at home, but also took our guests to a few places around town to show the city's flavor.

We took a long walk by the Arkansas River on Friday.

There are a lot of fountains for splash play downtown in Pueblo.

Actual cacti growing by the river:

More riverwalk art:

Angelo's downtown has a cool opportunity: kids can build their own pizzas!

On Saturday, we paid a visit to El Pueblo History Museum. We learned a lot about our adopted city.

Like, that we were living in Aztlan!

And that Latinx people in Pueblo have living memory of segregation. Several people shared stories of separate water fountains, bathrooms, etc, and of being disallowed from health clinics, to name a few examples.

We're proud to be associated with an effort like this, from CSU-P

There were a lot of cool relics from the Chicano movement in the 60s and 70s:

And the kids had plenty to engage them, from little historic play rooms to crafts to dress-up!

True story: I saw a guy wearing pants like these at the Mexican restaurant where we ate tonight:

Lots of Puebloans remember being migrant field workers.

We'll be sending Miles to school in District 60. I'm pleased to learn about the activism that led to District 60 being funded and equally supported by the state.

The three faces of mestizo: Spanish, Indigenous, and in the middle, the mestizo.

Jon and I made maps of our lives to show our family's movement:

And we toured the model of "El Pueblo," the trading post that sits where the city of Pueblo now exists.

The folks living in El Pueblo were Italians who married indigenous and used Moroccan technology and Spanish language. This is a very culturally diverse area, despite demographics which indicate that it's mainly "white" and "hispanic."

They had a place to show what neighborhood visitors represent, and also, what Pueblo means to you:

The top two are mine and Jon's.

Dave and Cindy's visit also gave us a chance at a date. We took a walk in the comfortable desert night, and then sampled the beer at the Irish brewery. The moon and the murals outside made a magic sheen over a lovely evening together.

Who will be our next visitor?

Expanding into Pueblo

We've been ticking off visits from our list of Pueblo places of interest. A week or so ago, we landed at the children's museum. I love the outside of this museum!

The inside... well... it's small. I mean, we've been regular visitors at the Strong, so it's hard to impress us with small city children's museums. But we had fun, and we visited on a free day. So, no buyer's remorse.

The dress-up area was a good time, anyway!

Miles camps out. That's the closest he's gotten to camping, I'm afraid.

The statues and fountains out front impressed me more than anything inside!

I took this just after transferring out little sprouts into the garden.
I'm sorry to say they're all pretty much fried now. I tried. July in Pueblo is just too arid and hot (101 degrees today, for example) for tender shoots. And no, I'm not going to build them a shelter. Or call a landscaper to fix the sprinkler. At this time, they're not priority.

Getting Miles to swim, that's a priority. I bought a swim pass. He's not afraid of the water, he just can't keep his head above it when his feet can't reach the bottom. In case any of you with younger children were wondering what the magic age is when most of your kids' peers will be able to swim, it's 6. Apparently.

We recently set up the guest bed, and now have a very passable guest room! Who's booking this room next??

Miles is a few chapters in to the Prisoner of Azkaban. Adele has started to read simple words!

I still can't believe we've been here over a month. Some days it feels very normal; some days, I can't believe we actually executed this feat. The daily Colorado sunshine is doing me a lot of good, though.