The Zany Zukowski Weblog

We’ve lived in our home for 6 years, and we purposely planted trees that change color with the Fall season. We have been disappointed by the lack of color in our trees, until this year. So most years the leaves just begin to change color, the cold snap hits, and then the leaves go brown and fall.  We have not had a really cold snap, or dramatic temperature changes yet. Usually, by Halloween, it feels like winter is here. This year we expect lots of trick or treaters as the temperatures should be mild and the temperature today was nearly 80! I believe this to be the reason for the wonderful colors in our yard this year! So I took my two favorite supermodels and had them stand by our most colorful tree! And voila adorable pictures!

Halloween is tonight, the yard is very spooky and two spidermen are ready to patrol for candy! Beware of the Zukowski house! 

Happy Trick or Treating!

Halloween is almost here, just in case you didn’t know. We’ve had lots of discussions on what to be this year. First it was 2 black spidermen, then one black and one blue/red spiderman. Now it’s official, we’ve got 2 blue/red spidermen.

Sadly, a  balloon, participating in the fiesta, caught some power lines and went up in flames. 1 person died, the other is in critical condition.

www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20081010/Balloon.Crash/ 

We spent about 7 + hours making a 6 hour drive home from Albuquerque to Castle Rock. Turns out little bladders don’t make it far. The drive was somewhat frustrating with all the stops, and of course the little guys don’t understand that the more we stop, the longer it takes to get home. Inevitably they’d complain their butts were tired of sitting, we’d stop, then as soon as we load up in the car, they’d moan abouthaving to go potty again or wanting to go home. Are you kidding me? Mike even said that to the boys more than once, not that they understood it, and I just rolled my eyes at him (in my head I’m thinking “They are 2 and 4 they don’t understand sarcasm, or even cause and effect most of the time, and you are talking to them like that! What kind of a parent are you?”   But I have read far too much parenting stuff, books, magazines, internet sites, research and can’t expect the firefighter to be the perfect parent when I’m not myself. I have 2 degrees in child development, he says stuff wrong all the time, I sometime worry the children will be scarred for life.) We got home and had a simple dinner. They boys were running around, remember they spent most of the day sitting on their tired butts, in a car. Mike was upset they were running in the house, and normally I’d agree, but tonight? Really can’t they just run? ( Again I’m thinking Don’t you see the big picture, their little bodies need to stretch out, why can’t you be perfect like me and never be upset with children. Which of course would be a lie, because my kids have the ability to drive me a little crazy and I put them in time out!) Ok so off to bed early because of course no one really took much of a nap  in the car. We were both tired, and so looking forward to sleeping on our own lovely, familar, king sized bed.

We sank into our sheets, and were asleep before our heads hit the pillows. At 1:30 AM Freddy was in our bed, poking and squirming. Mike took him back to his bed so we could continue our blissful sleep. I drifted back off to dreamland, when Stephen was standing next to me telling me ‘Freddy’s sick.’ Well of course he is, there’s no rest for the wicked. I told Stephen to climb into our bed and went to go help Mike. We got Fred in the shower and dressed in clean jammies, we put clean sheets and blankets on the bed, and Mike said he’d stay with the sick kid, so me his pregnant wife could avoid any exposure to illness. (so he can be a good husband and parent). At around 330 I heard Mike and Freddy up and got up to see if I could help. MIke was cleaning and I reassured FReddy he’d be ok. Stephen ran in to the hallway and yelled:

“GET OUT OF THE HOUSE ITS THE FIRE ALARM!”  

Mike reassured him the fire alarm wasn’t going off, and to go back to sleep in mom and dad’s room. Stephen and I went back to sleep and at around 4 or 5, I’m not sure because my vision was blurry and unfocued, we heard Mike again, but I didn’t get up to help him this time. Stephen again yelled out

“ITS THE FIRE ALARM, GET OUT”

I patted his back and told him to go back to sleep. Maybe the fire alarm did scar him for life. MMM, well we won’t be on the Datline/60 minutes/nighttime news shows about our kids ignoring fire alarms!  I got up at 6 to greet my charges and start my day, albeit not as wide eyed and bushy tailed as usual. Mike called in sick to take care of our sick little guy (And that my friends is why I married the lovely man, because he can take care of sick kids, and help me out, and he actually does dishes! So who care if he doesn’t talk to children like all the books say you should, ok, I’ll learn to live with it, he does dishes and takes care of sick kids). It seems that Freddy must have eaten too much junk or just been sick from the car ride home. No one else has contracted the barfing bug, as of yet. 

We survived the trecherous/fun/beautiful weekend and were treated to a wonderful night’s sleep on Monday night. No one crept into our room, had to go potty, or woke us up. May you have as good a night’s sleep tonight!

We took a quick weekend trip down south to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and to visit family. A little personal history, Michael and I met, dated, went to college, and were married in Albuquerque. (Michael is a native of Albuquerque, well from 3 weeks old anyway!) The Balloon Fiesta is a big event in the city, and a huge generator of revenue for the city, seriously book your hotel room NOW for next year’s balloon fiesta. In 3 days we had a lot of ups and downs so I’ll break this blog into the various high and low lights. First the fabulous balloon fiesta! We arrived in Albuquerque, late Friday night due to traffic. Saturday morning we awoke early, even before our 5:45 am wake up call, it seemed everyone was excited to see the balloon, as none of us slept well, for more on that thread, see Fire alarms. Everyone was excited to see the balloons. The balloons rise using literally hot air, and thus need the cool morning temperatures to lift off the ground and float away. October seems to be perfect in terms of weather patterns and temperatures and this has been an annual tradition in New Mexico for over 30 years. Such a simple concept to inflate a huge colorful balloon and float into the air with little to no directional ability. It has a fairytale quality to it.  The balloon grounds when filled with inflateing and floating balloons are picturesque, and it feels surreal to walk around the giant balloons lifting off, and coloring the sky. 

I lived in Albuquerque from 1993 – 2001, while attending college and working as a teacher and in that time I never made the time to get up in the early morning and visit the balloon fiesta grounds. You can see the balloons from just about anywhere in Albuquerque, so on my drive to work or school for two weeks each year, I was treated to spectacular morning views and fairies flying overhead. My college job and second job being waitressing until midnight or 2 am, so the idea of leaving the house at 530 am, was not appealing, no matter the fairy tale qualities. I did manage to go to an evening balloon glow, years ago. A balloon glow is in the evening right after sunset. The balloons inflate and then they light their burners, but don’t take off, so you have a huge ‘balloon candlelight’ evening walking amongst the balloons. It’s been at least 12 years since I’ve been to the fiesta, and Albuquerque has greatly improved the venue. It is in a new location, with lots of grass for the balloons to inflate from and asphalt in the surrounding area for vendors. Years ago it was a chain linked fence around a dirt lot, but a dirt lot lit by ‘balloon candlelight’, and still people came to be enchanted. With the new location they improved the traffic around the grounds and have park and ride available. I took a bunch of pictures, but they don’t begin to communicate the awesomeness of walking betwixt and between the balloons. 

The balloon fiesta is indeed international, we saw balloons from: Crotia, Russia, Mexico, Canada, Spain, and Switzerland. The balloons come in the traditional shape as well as special shapes such as lady bugs, bees, cathedrals, elephants, cats, cows, eagles, stage coaches, and frogs to name a few. 

Stephen’s favorite balloons were the spiderman balloon, the elephant balloon, and the bees. There’s a picture of a blue balloon with a silver star that reminded Stephen of Captain America so he took that picture. Stephen also thought of his Aunt Lea and took the elephant balloon pictures. Freddy liked the ladybug balloon, but told us that was the baby ladybug balloon, the Mama ladybug was even bigger! I’d've like to have seen the Mama Lady bug! We walked up and watch as they used fans to first fill the balloons with cool air and puff them up if you will. Then they light their propane burners for a short time and the balloons magically rise up into the air. The burners are of course hot, and very loud, and the boys were a little weary of them, but liked to see the lift off. If you don’t mind crowds of gawking folks, it’s a great way to spend a cool morning in October. 

We enjoyed breakfasts burritos with New Mexican green chile from (get this) a local Italian restaurant. The burritos tasted good, so evidently the Italians in New Mexico know how to make great New Mexican cuisine as well. And of course at 5:45 in the morning no early rendevouz would be complete without a Starbucks, so if you are daring enough to attend, rest assured they have Starbucks in little ole Albuquerque! Enjoy the pictures, they just don’t do the views justice, but they will have to suffice!

The highlight of the trip was obviously seeing family. Despite the traffic screeching to a halt, 15 miles outside of ABQ, we did manage to catch up with Mike’s sister Lea, Baby Katie, Lea’s friend Mike, and our nephew BJ. We got to pass around baby Katie, who unlike Stephen as a baby, was pretty content to be held by anyone. She’s a cutie, and the purple girl clothes are so cute! Katie has lots of dark brown hair, long elegant fingers, and a cute button nose. Her hair looks as though it may lighten up and is coming in lighter, so that will be fun to watch. Freddy was born with black hair and is now a blondy. Stephen loves babies, and had to hold her in the restaurant. BJ’s doing well, and so tall, it was good to see him. We reluctantly passed Katie back to her Mama, to eat our dinner and say our good byes, we had to be up early the next day for the balloons. 

After the balloons in the morning, we picked up some lunch and headed across town to see Lea, and Katie. Once again our sweet Stephen had to hold Katie, several times. He just loves babies. I got to hold her too, as she’s so friendly.(Stephen would’ve squalled, and squirmed and shook the rafters with his screams! Lucky Lea!) Freddy even took a turn, although he was more interested in checking out toys and talking to the cat.(read put toys and pillows near the cat and ask the cat if that’s his blanket, until the cat tired of this conversation and tried to bite at which point Freddy was done talking)  Our nieces, great niece, and Mike’s other sister came by too. It was a short, but fun visit. It was mass chaos as everyone talked at once and the 3 toddlers, Stephen, Freddy, and Nikki entertained us without trying. We took lots of pictures, even Freddy took some pictures of Katie. It’s funny to see what she must look like from Freddy’s point of view. (It’s the first picure, she seems to have very large feet) Firefighter Mike, reinstalled baby Katie’s car seat for Lea, now Katie’s super safe. It was time to leave for some naps, and we made plans for dinner. 

We managed one more meal with Lea and Katie, and Uncle Russell and Barbara, before hitting the road. The boys were great at the restaurant, and Katie made the rounds. We had a good time catching up and enjoying a meal. (Again with the slow service, this is Albuquerque!) We had to give our last hugs and hit the road for home. 

On our quick weekend trip to Albuquerque, we booked a hotel online. The hotel we stayed in, was a great choice. It  was clean, fairly new, and well maintained. That being said we did run into some trouble. On Saturday afternoon, after we had awoken at 5:30 AM to see the balloons take flight, and visited family, all of us were due for a nap. We layed down and went to sleep about 1:30. Michael and I even clocked 2 hours of sleep. Stephen got up and we were hanging out waiting for Freddy to wake up, it was closing in on a 3 hour nap, but given that his asthma had reared up due to allergies or a cold, we were letting him wake up on his own. I decided to take a quick shower. I was about to dry my hair when the fire alarm went off. I picked up Freddy from a sound sleep, and Mike instructed Stephen to get on his shoes. The boys were great, they followed instructions and we were out the door. Thankfully my firefighter husband reminded me to turn left and get to the stairs because the elevators to the right won’t work. We calmly walked down the hall to the stairwell, and decended 3 flights of stairs and exited to the parking lot. By the time we reached the parking lot the fire alarm was turned off. We checked at the front desk and were told it was a false alarm. We acended the stairs, and again I tried to dry my hair. Round 2 The fire alarm went off again and we gathered a few necessities, put on our shoes and were out the door. We turned left and decended 3 flights of stairs again. Again our boys were great, they didn’t cry, sqwak, complain, or whine. This time Mike was sure the fire department would show up, so we waited in the van. Sure enough ABQ FD Engine 13 arrived and the firefighters went into the building. People were waved back inside and told it was another false alarm. Using his firefighter lingo and dropping a few names, Mike struck up a conversation and asked if these fire alarms had anything to do with the elevators that had been making so much noise, the very laid back fire fighters said no it’s a faulty smoke detector in a conference room. Mike listened and went along with it but in the stairway was very clear about his suspicion of the elevator. Again we ascended 3 flights of stairs and got the boys through the shower before dinner. We congratulated our little firefighters on their good job of listening and following instructions. They really did a great job. I was going to dry my hair and apply some make when, you guessed it the fire alarm went off again. I wanted to cry, Stephen grabbed his bear and did cry. Freddy, for once, was speechless. We followed what was now a habit and exited the building. Once again there was an all clear, we ascended again, to get our cell phones and jackets before we headed out for dinner.

We had a lovely dinner with Mike’s sister Lea, her baby Katie, and Lea’s friend Mike. We headed to a favorite restaurant in town called Marios. The food was good, the company great, but the service was slow, such is life in the land of manana. The boys behaved so well during dinner, now that they were rested and fill with great food.  It was clear that due the rain there wouldn’t be much of a balloon glow, or fireworks to watch so after dinner we took the boys bowling! It was a blast, the had great 80’s and 90’s rock music playing, and black lights on the lanes. (This is called rock and bowl, and a great way to spend a Saturday night in little old Albuquerque.) The boys loved it, Freddy would roll his ball down the lane, and turn around to grab another ball, ready to roll, before the first one even hit the pins! Stephen, with the help of the bumpers got 2 strikes and nearly beat Mike who didn’t use the bumpers. After 2 games, we headed back to our hotel. We stopped and asked about the fire alarm, and found out, Mike was right, it seems the elevators’ oil reserve tanks were overheating, and setting off a sensor and the fire alarm. So, that noisy elevator was to blame after all! Mike and I quickly figured out that neither of us had slept well the night before because the elevator made so much noise. We were looking forward to a good night’s sleep before we headed out of town. 

There’s no rest for the wicked they say, and evidently Mike and I are terribly wicked. Freddy’s cough/cold/asthma were preventing him from sleeping, and there was that 3 hour nap in the afternoon. He didn’t fall asleep until about 9:30 and even then coughing jags would wake him up. Fred’s a back sleeper, and with the drainage from his sinuses, it seemed better if he could be on his side, so we moved Stephen over to my bed. Mike slept with Fred to keep an eye on him and try to keep him propped on his side. We gave Fred some of his inhaler while he slept and hoped it would help him sleep better. Of course Freddy’s frequent coughing woke Mike and I up, so we weren’t sleeping to fitfully. Mike and I were finally able to fall asleep around 12:00 AM. At 1:30 AM the fire alarm went off again! Before we could get our shoes on the alarm turned off, we checked at the front desk and they said it was another false alarm. Stephen wanted his firefighter Dad so Mike and the boys squeezed into one double bed and I got a bed all to my pregnant self! Firefighter Mike was surprised that Stephen was shaking! Well duh, most people are startled and run away from fire alarms not into the fire! You firefighters are weird. Thankfully everyone slept in until almost 7, so we felt we’d had enough sleep to function well and get ourselves back home safely to Castle Rock. 

I guess Mike and I are too laid back, or too forgiving, but whatever the case we packed up and left the hotel the next morning. No we did not lodge a complaint or demand our money back. I guess we figured we want functioning, sensoring, fire alarms in hotels, and there are going to be false alarms. The boys got to experience a real life drill. We didn’t know, initially, if it was a real fire or not, and everyone remained calm. The boys got to see how firefighters arrive at a fire calm, professional manner, and went right to work. I hope they never have to flee a burning building but if they do, they have an example of how to handle an evacuation. 

We are crazy busy here at the Zukowski household, but I thought I’d share a few thoughts from our children.

We were watching some kids shows before bed and a commercial comes on, the man on the commercial talks as if he’s in the room with us:

commercial: Do you have credit card debt?

Freddy: NO! I don’t. 

commercial: Do you have 5, 10, $15,000 in credit card debt? 

FReddy(now really worked up): I TOLD YOU NO, I DON’T HAVE ANY! 

So after I stopped laughing I needed to pay for something online, which of course requires a credit card. I made the mistake of saying, ‘ok after I get my credit card guys it’s bed time.’ Stephen’s eyes got really big and  he looked at me and said “Mom, you have the credit card debt the guys was talking about!” So again I laughed and told him I’d explain later. (Just for the record the credit card in question has a zero balance and I spent $1.00, yes, $1.00 on my trade name for my business. )

We recently visited the Denver museum of Natural History. We first stopped at the new Dinosaur exhibit. The dossenes were demonstrating how a cast is made. They mixed the plaster of paris, and they shook the bubbles out, and of course as we moved down the line, they had some already dried casts of a particular dinosaurs’ tooth. So the boys picked up a bag and checked out their new toy. Freddy’s first question: Is this to pick your nose? So I ask myself, why am I trying to broaden their horizons? Is this really just a big waste of time? Would we have been better off staying home and playing in the yard? 

Freddy has recently had a some issues with itching his bottom, incessantly. So of course I’m worried he’s got a parasite. Due to some minor irritation I had applied some cream to his bottom, but one day before naps he was obviously really bothered by his bottom. I took him to the bathroom to take another look at his bottom, and as I look between his little cheeks, I see the problem. There’s a sticker stuck between his cheeks. Poor kid!