Wow, the past couple of weeks have flown by! Since my last post, I flew to Virginia for a few days of work, then came back to CO and went camping with Nate over the weekend.
It was fun being in Virginia, but it also felt like a parallel universe. I was familiar with the area, had crazy days at work, saw some good friends, had yummy Korean food for dinner one evening, but it felt different. Nothing has changed that much in a month, but I knew it wasn’t home anymore. That made me a little sad at first, but then–at the end of the trip–I found myself excited to go home. At the end of the day, home is where N8 is. *smile*
This last weekend we went camping at Pike National Forest in Eleven-mile canyon. It was so beautiful! The air was fresh and crisp, the night-air was cool and sleeping-bag-worthy.
This morning we came down the mountain and went to N8’s parents place in Colorado Springs for a birthday party; we were celebrating the family members who were born in August (including yours truly. 
). As always, the food was wonderful, and the conversation elicited such laughter that I think I burned off half of the calories I had consumed! If you want a good abdominal work-out, I highly recommend a dinner with the Hamel clan!
Anyway, one of the many highlights of the day came during the gift-giving time. I received a few cards, which I very much appreciated. Then N8 came down the stairs with this *huge* box for me–all wrapped up. He said it was a gift from the whole family. . .
I couldn’t think of what this could be, but the moment I ripped a small portion of the paper, I gasped –
It was Rock-Band for the Wii!!!!!!!!
I nearly cried! I was so excited. I had mentioned I wanted that a long time ago, but–given the move and such we decided we should wait to save up for it. But now, with the whole family chipping in, there it was. *sigh*
So happy. (Thanks, Hamels!)
A whirlwind, literally
To top off the day, N8 and I were driving home–car packed with all our camping gear and my new favorite toy– when I looked out the window and saw something odd forming in the sky. Can you see it in this picture? . . .
Funnel cloud over Douglas County
It was the very first tornado I’ve ever seen like this–in person! It’s hard to see (I only had my camera phone with me, and we were driving around 65mph), but it’s on the right-hand side of the photo, about 1/3 of the way into the shot. (It was much bigger in person.)
Anyway, i just wanted to post an update since it had been a while. The DNC will be held this week in Denver, so I hope to get into down town one day to experience a bit of the madness first-hand. Maybe I’ll try to get on TV. . .just need to figure out something to protest.
*****update*****
This footage gives you a better view of what I saw; I also saw this helecopter approaching while I was watching. Crazy!
