10. Go to the Denver Aquarium

At the Denver Aquarium with some friends...
Andrew, Janessa, Liam, Lars & Crystal

We went to the Denver Aquarium with some friends from out east, Eastern Colorado that is. We wandered through the exhibits and saw some pretty cool aquatic life. One fish of note was a tire tread eel. This was interesting because we got to see a full grown one at the aquarium, and if you've seen our small fish tank you know we recently got a tire tread eel, and he's about 10 inches long at this point. Anyway, the full grown one we saw was easily over two feet long and was quite thick, further research showed they can top out at about 38 inches, and we realized "we're gonna need a bigger tank!" After the aquarium we took a brief walk down to the platte river, followed by a small lunch at Lola'a for happy hour where crayon wars ensued. As we left Crystal saw a small ice cream stand, and of course we had to stop.

6. Go to Breckenridge Beerfest

Breckenridge Beer Festival
2010

We went up to Breckenridge to enjoy the mountain air, see the sites, do some walking, and something else.... I just can't remember. Oh yeah, drink beer!!! We started the day at Rasta Pasta, a fusion of Jamaican and Italian cuisine, actually very good. The we headed over, rather anxiously to the festival. There were over 40 breweries at this years festival, with a live music accompaniment that varied from awesome to Beyonce covers (that's the polar opposite of awesome in case you're wondering). We made it to about 35 of the breweries before closing time, where.... you guessed it; "you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." At this point we sauntered (which is a really apt description) back to our condo and attempted to order pizza. Note to those who want to attempt this: the cheapest pizza place we found would deliver two large pizzas for $50! So we went to the grocery store and got DiGiorno, it really didn't matter, we couldn't taste anything at that point anyway. Great time, great people! See you there next year!

Cheers to Beers!!!

20. Crystal - Complete four classes for masters this summer

FINALLY DONE!!!
I have finally finished all four classes I was taking this summer. I had one more paper to finish up this week and I e-mailed it to my professor this morning. It is such a relief to get these classes done so I can finally start my summer.

The classes I took were: Foundations of Bilingual Education, Techniques of Teaching ESL, Methods & Materials, and Linguistic Analysis of English.

12. Crystal - Go through teaching stuff and throw away what I don't need

Going through all of my teaching stuff is a daunting task...

Lars is right... it is kind of like Hoarders :-)

Before...
Let the work begin... Lars and I stacked all of my school stuff in our office when school was over in early June. I did not sort through anything... just threw stuff in boxes so I could get out of there!

Here's the mess...

After...
Got rid of three boxes of stuff. The stuff I kept is only what I will need to teach 6th grade or any intermediate grades.

Lots of materials for teaching primary that I packed up to give to a friend.

LOTS of trash!! 5 bags total... WOW I didn't realize I never threw anything away... This is the complete opposite at home! Lars complains I throw too much away... Glad this task is done and I am ready for the new school year.

7. Climb a 14er(s) - Gray's and Torrey's

Climbing two 14ers in one day!
This is the climbing group. From the left: James, Diane, Lars, Crystal and Richard.

We all made it to the summit of Gray's Peak, and we're all still smiling.

We're now ready to climb Torrey's Peak.

We finally summited Torrey's peak. It was shorter but much more difficult.

We all ate at Beau Jo's after our climb. It was the best pizza ever, probably because we were finally sitting down and not moving.

5. Have a BBQ with friends

We had some friends over for a BBQ & Horse Shoes

Lars and James stupidly ate a Ghost Pepper, despite advice from everyone against it. For some background, the Ghost Pepper, or Bhut Jolokia, is 5 times hotter than a habanero and this should only be attempted by the dumbest amongst you.

Crystal and Jen are reunited! They're smiling... must mean they didn't eat a ghost pepper.

This is Jane and Bob. Jane works with Lars and Bob is her husband. They turned out to be nice people, we'll probably hang out with them again.

This is Bryan and Lisa. Bryan works with Lars and Lisa is his wife. We've been folfing with Bryan before.

This is three fifths of fraternity row. Don't ask.

19. Crystal - Buy golf clubs

Crystal's New Golf Clubs

Step ONE done... buying the clubs is the easy part. Now... Step TWO learning how to actually play golf from husband... not so easy!

4. Have a family BBQ to celebrate our third anniversary (3 years already?!)

Family BBQ

This is everyone that showed up. Lars, Crystal, Becky (Lars' Mom), Finn (Lars' Dad), Aleta (Crystal's mom), Mark (Crystal's Dad), Grandpa Tom (Crystal's Grandpa), Grandma Betty (Crystal's Grandma)

Kitty had a few too many drinks and took a nap in the sun.

Good food, good company, and horseshoes! The BBQ turned out really well, and everyone enjoyed themselves.