Hi, everyone!
We had a restful week after we got back from the Netherlands, but now it’s getting very busy again! The local strawberries are in season, so we’ve been eating strawberry shortcake for dessert while the ripe, sweet berries are available. They won’t last long! James was busy doing things with his cousins William and Mady Rose, so Thomas and Aunt Kara came over to play with Grandma and Grandpa and me. Grandma and Grandpa took me out to the bay for a very pretty sunset, and I helped Grandma finish the jigsaw puzzle of Petoskey stones. Petoskey stones are fossilized coral found in Michigan, and I found some when I visited Papa Dick-san and Grandma Sue and Monster Rock there. Papa Dick-san and Monster Rock gave Grandma and me the puzzle for Christmas!
Last Monday, Grandma and Grandpa and I took James back to the Strong Museum. He likes pushing the buttons for the elevator, so we started on the second floor. He and Grandpa worked on the three dimensional labyrinth, then James and I played bingo. James thinks the bingo markers look like cookies that need to be baked! When we came downstairs, I made friends with The Count and then we went to the helicopter. Now that James has been in the cockpit of an AWACS plane, he knows how to fly pretend helicopters. I only had to help a little bit! Then we found a table with animal parts, so we could make mixed-up animals! We had a good time!
On Thursday morning, Grandma and Grandpa got me up very early to go on another adventure! We flew from Rochester to Baltimore and then on to Denver Colorado! Cousin Bev is getting married this weekend and we’re all going to the wedding! It was too early to check in to our hotel when we arrived in Denver, so we visited the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Grandma and Grandpa are members of the science museum in Rochester, so we didn’t have to pay to get into the Denver museum!
The Denver museum has a temporary exhibit called “Mythical Monsters”, and that’s what we visited first. I got to meet a kraken and a yeti and a griffin and a unicorn. The exhibit suggests that people made up stories about horses with a single horn on their heads because there’s a sea creature, the narwhal, that actually does have a horn there. I got to touch a real narwhal horn. Then I saw some dragons that reminded me of my friends from Thai Chinese New Year parades. The jackalope is claimed to be a native of the Denver area. The sign said I could touch the jackalope with one finger, so I was very careful to use just one paw!
There were interesting things to see in the rest of the museum, too! The snake reminded me of my king cobra friends in Thailand, and the dinosaur skeletons and toothy skulls did, too! I really liked the gallery displaying rocks and minerals! Doesn’t this slab of agate look like somebody made it on purpose with those designs?
On Friday morning, we got up early again! One of Uncle Bill’s classmates at the Air Force Academy named his son after Uncle Bill. Will entered the Air Force Academy on Thursday, and we drove down to Colorado Springs to join his parents for the oath of office ceremony. There were lots of families gathered on the chapel wall to watch the ceremony, but it was really hard to locate any specific new cadet in the groups assembled to take the oath!
After the oath of office ceremony, Will’s parents and Grandma and Grandpa and I got a special escort into the cadet living area to visit Uncle Bill’s sand volleyball court. I helped Grandma add some beach sand from Hawaii at the edge of the court. The quadrangle and surrounding dorm have been renovated recently and there’s a really nice barbeque area next to Uncle Bill’s court now. Grandma says Uncle Bill would be pleased! Then, we drove over to Doolittle Hall, which is the new location for cadets to first enter the Academy. I sat on the Challenge bridge that new cadets cross, and then I made friends with the Pegasus statue. Grandma noticed that Pegasus is dedicated to both the United States and Italian Air Force Academies. That’s special because Max, the student who died in the plane crash with Uncle Bill, was a graduate of the Italian Air Force Academy.
On Saturday, Grandpa and Grandma and I drove south west from Denver into the foothills to the Buddhist monastery where cousin Bev was being married. She and my new cousin-in-law David met there and are active in that community. The ceremony started with a meditation walk to the statue of the same bodhisattva I saw in Thailand! Bev and David led the procession, and part of the ceremony involved lighting candles in front of the bodhisattva statue. There were pretty flowers along the path, and I made friends with three lion statues that sit there, also.
The reception was held on a plaza with a parachute suspended above it to provide shade. At the reception, there was a place to write haiku poems as a present to the bride and groom. I was glad Grandma had already helped me write mine, because it’s hard for little lions to use calligraphy pens! I got to greet Bev and David and to see Bev’s mother again. There were five wedding cakes! I had a piece of the “regular” cake and it was yummy. Then I got to see the vegan cake, made with no wheat, dairy or eggs! At the end of the reception, everybody helped clean up as another present to the bride and groom and their community of friends. I helped by making sure all the chairs and tables were put away!
The reception was over in mid-afternoon and Bev’s brother had to catch an evening flight home to California. So Grandma and Grandpa and I and Great-aunt Betsy and Great-uncle Bill (Bev’s mother and father) and Bev’s brother went to a restaurant near Red Rocks for an early dinner. The Fort was built to look like an early Colorado trading post, with an outer wall and gate. I made friends with a bear statue in the courtyard before we had dinner. Guess what? I had another piece of cake! This one was chocolate chili flavored, and it was yummy, too! Great-uncle Bill and Great-aunt Betsy are celebrating their fifty-second wedding anniversary on Monday, so they were served a special dessert and got to wear party hats. But at the Fort, party hats mean buffalo and coyote skins!
Love,
Lion-san
The barong did look like one of your dragon friends in the Chinese parade. The slab of agate did look like someone made it. The wedding looked like fun too and the dinner after. Bev’s new husband looks like a nice fellow! I’m glad you all had a nice time in Denver.