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Hello my dear friends,

So I'll bet you are wondering just where has this French Laundry chick been?  August is kaput!  She posted ONCE.  What happened?  Well, for starters, we went on vacation...see if you can guess where???


Nope, not the beach...but it is the tallest sand dune in North America.  And it is right here in the state of Colorado.  The Great Sand Dunes National Park was one of our stops on a week long grand tour of southwestern Colorado. 


The kids loved it...nothing better than running full speed and jumping off of the huge dunes.


We did some hiking at some beautiful places like Maroon Bells outside of Aspen.


The pups came along and did pretty darn good.  Momma Bella...


And even Diego, aka Little Bit...who in their right minds travels with a 12 week old puppy?  Seriously, who?  We OBVIOUSLY are not in our right minds!


I enjoyed getting reacquainted with our beautiful state.


Some of the many cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park.  These amazing structures are over 1000 years old.


We visited Bishop's Castle.  It's an interesting story.  You can read about it here.  One man, working for over 40 years building his castle...


There's even a dragon.  He presides over the castle.


We came home for a few days and cleaned like fiends getting ready for my brothers' visit and then came the first day of school.  Could my boys be more excited?  Really?  Is it possible?



A couple of days after school started, the much anticipated visit of my brothers arrived.  My bros and their wives came down from Texas to celebrate my birthday.  I turned FIFTY.  50.  The big 5-0.  Began my 6th decade of life.  Over the hill.  SHREEK!!!


Despite the slightly disconcerting nature of the number, it was a WONDERFUL birthday.  We had a great dinner at a local Italian place.  My whole immediate family, my 2 brothers and their wives, and my BFF and her husband shared the day with me...I feel so blessed.


We did a lot of this in the couple of days the siblings were here...


We took in the local sights such as Garden of the Gods, one of my favorite places in Colorado Springs.


The uncles took pictures of the nephews...


We took pictures of each other...


Mr. FL reminded me of one of the many reasons I love him...


He loves our kiddos and I love him.


And a good time was had by all.  They returned to Texas and we enjoyed a second bloom of many of our flowers in our garden and enjoyed the cooler weather that almost always seems to come with the arrival of August.


And that, my dear friends, is where August went.  Time flies when you're having fun.  I hope to get back into the groove of posting and sharing with you some of the many ideas that are rattling around in my head.  I hope my U.S. friends have a lovely long weekend and the rest of you have a great normal weekend.  Enjoy the weather while it lasts...and look for beauty everywhere.  It is all around you.

Until next time,