Jim's 1st Week of Work and Casa Bonita!

March 31st! What a day! Its a day I've been waiting for, for quite some time. It was Jim's first day of work! He left Sunday the 30th after dinner to go down to Pueblo. He had to report to work by 8am, and its a 2 hr 20 min. drive, so it was best for him to go down the night before.

He thoroughly HATES pictures of himself, but he did oblidge as I asked for a picture of him as he left the house. It was the closest thing I could get to the picture I really wanted: Him leaving the door for his first day of his new job. How cute he is!

The boys and I stayed in Longmont. At first we were going to go and spend this first week with Jim, because it was Eric's spring break. In the end it didn't work out for us to all go, so we stayed here. Our new routine for the next 6+ weeks started: talking to dad every night. Here are the boys, just chillin' as they talk to Jim.

Jim worked Mon-Thurs. 4-10 hour shifts. For training they are putting Jim's 4-10's all in a row, due to the fact he is commuting without his family for a while. That is only guaranteed, however, for the first 2 weeks. Then he'll be on a regular schedule, which will be more crazy (something like 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off.) So, he stayed the night Thurs. and came home Friday after he'd slept a night. It was good to see him after a week without him! The boys were pretty excited too.

Friday night we went out to dinner with some of the Vinton side of the family. Uncle Doug and Aunt Layne Vinton, and Uncle Rick Vinton met us at Casa Bonita. Its a fun place to go, with great entertainment and ok food. They have cliff divers, a wild west show, a "gorilla show" that Eric remembered from last time, a mariachi band, a pinata to break, a "spook alley", a puppet show, and waterfalls to walk behind and run around.

Here are the boys, watching the show from our seats. At times they were so entertained they forgot to eat. Oh well. The show did end after a few minutes and they ate between shows. Eric eating a sopapilla. They are pretty good smothered with honey!
Aunt Layne and I. I have to say, this is a MUCH better picture of her than it is me. Am I always that pale and sickly looking? I thought I'd include it because I rarely have pictures of me, or Aunt Layne, so this was my big chance (even though I'd rather not include it). Maybe I could blame the bad picture on the camera, or the person taking it??? ha ha ha Sorry Uncle Doug. :)

The boys with the treats they got from the pinata. They didnt' get a chance to hit it before it broke, but they did get their 3 tootsie rolls, which they were pretty proud of (although you can't tell in this picture they're even happy to have them).

Michael at the wishing well. To the left of his head you can see the light-up necklaces that the boys got as a special gift from Uncle Doug. They are pretty cool, and as we left they were running around with their necklaces on their necks blinking like crazy. We could all imagine them lying in bed, with their lights blinking all night...how fun! Thanks Uncle Doug!

Here are the boys choosing their treasure from the treasure chest! It is by the door out, and each child is allowed to choose one thing. Michael immediately grabbed his tootsie roll, as Eric stood there debating for another minute.

We had a great time! I've decided that we definately need to have more big family gatherings. I remember very well many gatherings with my extended family growing up. We always had some dinner or birthday party with Uncle Jeff's family and Aunt Brenda's family. I look back on those times as good memories, and want to start having them more often with the Vinton/Clark families, who live within 2 hours of us but we rarely see. So, for any of you out there reading this: when is the next gathering?