Posts Tagged Alex

Faith went to give Alex a hug on her way to bed tonight, and as she turned to head to her room:

Alex: “Your hair smells like H’s (new girlfriend) hair.  What kind of shampoo do you use?”

Faith: “Oh, I don’t know.  X-Men.  No, wait. . . Matrix!”

I love my kids!  They keep me so entertained!!

So tomorrow morning we are going to get up very early and leave out by 8:00 a.m. to get Alex to the Charlotte airport.  His flight

Colorado Trail Sign

leaves at 11:33 a.m. and he will arrive in Denver early tomorrow afternoon.  After Alex is safely through security, we will hang out for about two hours, and pick Gaylon up at 12:06 p.m.!  I am obviously not much of a travel agent, or I would have managed to get Gaylon here in time to see Alex before he heads off into the wilds of Colorado!!  I’m afraid my brain has headed south without me.

Anyway, my niece, Kristi, is going to pick him up at the Denver airport, and he will stay with them until Jess joins them.

So, I am putting in an official prayer request:  please pray for Alex as he hikes the Colorado Trail.  They will officially head out on Saturday, June 12, and are planning to reach Durango by July 22.  I gave Alex a bit of room for error, so his flight doesn’t actually leave until July 27.  That way, if it takes a couple of days more to reach Durango, it will be okay.  They will take a bus from Durango back to Denver.  He will get to hang out in Denver with my niece, Kristi, and her family in the meantime.  Hopefully he’ll get to hang out some with my nephew, Joseph, and his family, as well.

If anybody wants to pray for me, that would be nice, too.  I am trying not to stress out too much, but I can’t help but be a little worried about sending my baby boy off into the wilderness!

Map of the Colorado Trail

I just wanted to brag a bit on Alex!  He will graduate from our humble homeschool next month, and to celebrate, he is going to fly out to Denver, meet up with a friend and hike the Colorado Trail!  It is 500 miles long, from start to finish (Denver to Durango).  I think it’s absolutely awesome that they are doing this, and wish I had done something adventurous when I was young and free.

His friend, Jess, is my friend Lola’s only child.  They have pretty much known each other all their lives.  Lola,  her sister, Cathy, and I have been friends forever.  Like, um, over thirty years!! So Lola and I are loving that our kids have grown up to be friends, too.

Alex has spent a ton of money already on special feather-weight, ‘moisture-wicking’ clothing.  He also bought a pair of underwear that actually have silver woven into them!  I’m not sure how they do that, but the reason behind it is that silver is an antibacterial, and so it’s supposed to fight against ‘road rash’.  Good plan, considering they will pretty much be wearing the same set of clothes for over a month!!

Lola tells me that there are “drops” along the trail where we can mail stuff to them, if they need it, and where they can make contact with civilization, if they need to or want to.  Jess has done quite a bit of hiking before, and apparently keeps online trail journals.  If Alex decides to do something like that, I will post the link.  Lola ordered a wall map of the CT and mailed it to us, so when they call in at various points during the hike, I can label their location on the map with the date. I think that’s a very cool sort of keepsake.  There are lots of other little details that I’m learning about as we go along.  I’m glad Lola has done this before, so she can keep me up to speed on things.  Alex pretty much just does his own thing, and I have to try and keep up, LOL!

Alex and Jess will be done in plenty of time for Alex to get home in time for his brother’s wedding.  Most importantly, he will be back in plenty of time to take a SHOWER!!

I have learned a little something about clothing style recently.  At least, about Victorian clothing style, what it is, and, by definition, what it is not.  Let me explain.  Alex has decided to have a Victorian Era Theme Party for his 17th birthday party next month.  We will have Victorian Era food and Parlour Games, and everyone is encouraged to dress the part.

Victorian Clothing ca 1874

Well, this may come as a surprise, but I simply don’t have any Victorian-style clothing in my closet!  I do, however, have one very nice British Overcoat, a la ‘Captain Hook’, and one Gypsy dress.  But not a thing that would pass muster with Queen Victoria.  I had an idea, I thought, of what Victorian clothing looked like, but upon consulting Wikipedia, I discovered that what I was actually thinking of was Edwardian.  I was picturing things from movies like Mary Poppins, or Titanic.  Nope.  I was wrong.

The Victorian Era is generally agreed to have lasted during the reign of Queen Victoria, from June 1837 until January 1901.  So, basically, in our country, at least in terms of fashion, think: Civil War and Wild West!  As an interesting side note: I saw on the History Channel some time ago that there were more patents taken out for sexual devices during the Victorian Era than at any other time in history.  Don’t get excited.  They were for devices that would prevent sexual activity, not enhance or encourage!

Incidentally, the Edwardian Era barely lasted a decade, spanning the time from Victoria’s death in 1901 to the death of King Edward VII in 1910.

I am looking forward to Alex’s party.  I do hope that everyone is able to dress up for it.  Most of his friends are into Drama and acting, so I think they will be very much into playing ‘dress up’ and participating in the Parlour Games.