A Visit from the Johnsons

Last month, our friends the Johnsons came back to Boulder for a visit. They moved to Minnesota last year so that Todd could take a job as a physics professor at Saint John’s University. We were all delighted to have them back! They stayed the first half of the week with the Brinkmans and then came to our house on Friday night. We got a couple of pizzas and Phoebe and Henry played until bedtime. Then the grownups got to play the train game! We hadn’t played a board game in a while, so that was really fun. I lost badly, as usual.

On Saturday morning, we went for our usual trip to Cannon Mine and Santiagos for breakfast burritos and coffee.

Our plan for the morning was to meet the Brinkmans at Community Ditch for a hike. We were all on time (the Johnsons have always had a positive effect on the Gribbles’ timeliness) and headed out, John and Henry walking, Phoebe and Thomas in backpacks.

It was a windy day, and it got windier the farther we went. We turned around when the boys were showing signs of fatigue, although John was (very emphatically) not ready to head back to the car.

After the hike we went to Larkburger for lunch and then we split up because Dave, Phoebe, and I were going to Henry Nikolaidis’s 2nd birthday party. It was a Life Aquatic themed party, so there was a super cool submarine in the backyard! It’s always good to see the ex–Rowman & Littlefield friends and babies.

On Sunday we went to church and then played at home in the afternoon. We had pickle chicken (a crock pot Thursday favorite) for dinner and played Trivial Pursuit, which Dave won after coming from behind.

On Monday we had to go back to work, but it was a YABS night and Thomas’s birthday, so the Brinkmans hosted. It was great to have everyone together again (minus the Bronskis, whom we missed a lot). There were party hats and cupcakes: pretty great for a handsome one-year-old!