A Day at the Zoo with Livy

Today Livy and I went to the zoo for the Bowdoin Polar Bear Day - the whole Bowdoin aspect of the day pretty much evaporated, cause I didn't really find any other Bowdoin grads. But there was a zoo employee at the polar bear exhibit, answering questions and telling us about polar bears, and letting us touch a pelt of polar bear fur. Livy seemed pretty frightened of the live polar bear, but then later in the day when picking what animal she wanted to ride on the carousel, she wanted us BOTH to ride on polar bears! Small victory. Perhaps she'll be a Bowdoin girl yet! She was definitely more interested in things like the train ride, carousel, playing the African drums set up in the African animals section, and even the little Broncos booth where you get to try to throw a football into an inflated target than the ACTUAL living animals, but she seemed to have a good time anyways!

The Quintessential Colorado Experience

Last night I had the most amazing experience - some friends and I hiked up the mountain behind the Red Rocks outdoor amphitheatre, had a picnic dinner and some drinks, and listened to the sounds of the amazing Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young! The view of the city and the foothills was incredible from our high vantage point. CSNY played all their most well-known songs, including all the old Vietnam protest songs, and an awesome rendition of Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner. The hike down was a little treacherous, but with the aid of a flashlight we managed to get down okay. An altogether amazing and memorable evening.

The Red Rocks amphitheatre:


A view of the mountains to the south of us:


My friends Adam, Celia, and Eva:

A Magical Brush with Nature

So, yesterday I flew home from Maine and drove into Boulder, after many hassles and delays, and with sore shoulders and a grumpy disposition about my vacation coming to an end. I lugged my suitcase down the path to my yard and left it just inside the gate, unlocked the door, and got Fenway a fresh bowl of water. I started trying to get organized to go into the office, and thought I'd better bring my suitcase in before I forgot. I went to the door and started to open it, but was stopped in my tracks by the sight of a large object in my yard. It looked like...a DEER! But in the split second before I could really process what I was seeing, I remembered that my landlord had said that they were planning to "fix up" the yard while I was gone, and I thought to myself "holy shit, they put a DEER STATUE in my yard!" And then I realized, duh, it was moving, and it was a real deer! It looked like a young buck. I grabbed my camera and tried to take some pictures through the glass, but they came out all blurry, so I very carefully squeezed through the door, trying to keep Fenway inside and not startle the deer. I crept out onto the patio and got some photos - it was SO close! It was just kind of hanging out, ambling around the lawn. Then Fenway and some other neighborhood dogs started barking and the deer looked nervous, but it didn't seem to be interested in jumping over the fence. Then I thought, "maybe this deer is injured and CAN'T jump over the fence! maybe it's been here all week!" but then it suddenly just gathered its legs up underneath its body and gracefully lept right over the fence! It was amazing.

A Very Footer Family Fourth

Happy Fourth of July! Just wanted to share some photos of the recent Footer family festivities...

We went to the beach (Small Point) on Monday morning with lots of relatives...it was Fenway's first real day at the beach. He loved it - wouldn't quite SWIM in the ocean, but went in pretty deep and let some waves crash over him! Then he basked in the sun with the rest of us.













After the beach, I drove down to Portland to pick up my friends Sarah and Ragan. We went to Brunswick to walk around the Bowdoin campus, then met up with the whole fam at China Rose for a birthday celebration for Nanny and Sadie.



The next day was the Fourth of July - and of course, it started off with us being late to the parade! Several of the family members were featured in the parade - Margaret with the Video Galaxy float, Hannah with the YMCA, and Noah with his martial arts academy. We always like to embarrass our family members by cheering for them, and when we chanted Noah's name, one of his instructors held his arm up like a prizefighter!! And then when our beloved Oakie came along, Caitlin and some of the other cousins ran out and asked him to hold up a sign that said "Where are you AJ?" in memory of the famous day he ran out and hugged Oakie. Good times.

Will add more soon...