August 1, Thursday- we drove this morning over to Aspen to visit with Rach, Brad and Jake. At Brad's Dad's Aspen home there were four families with 9 kids visiting. Jonnie and Roger, naturally, stayed in a hotel. While one group went to play golf, the rest of us went to the top of Aspen (Ajax) Mountain via their Silver Queen Gondola. The restaurant at 11,000 feet provided gorgeous views and good food. Following the lunch, an hour walk along a ridgeline nature trail provided the opportunity for some much needed exercise.

JAKE WITH "PICKLE"	RACH, BRAD AND JAKE ON ASPEN MOUNTAIN

As a small copy of the major kids' development in Vail at the top of the Lionshead Gondola, Aspen had a kids' camp with some simple activities, but had a neat climbing wall. This portable assembly had safety harnesses that were set up with tensions, for the beginners, almost equal to the climber's weight. Thus, the kids couldn't fall and got a great beginning fell for climbing.

SILVER QUEEN GONDOLA AND KIDS PLAY AREA WITH CLIMBING WALL	ROCKY MOUNTAN HIGH FROM AJAX (ASPEN) MOUNTAIN

Returning back to Allan's, one of the dozen smoke alarms were beeping signaling "low battery backup". With his 8 foot ladder, he couldn't reach the middle bedroom alarm. Larry to the rescue! I was able to reach the alarm and change it, plus all of the other "high" units, except one. In the center hallway, the alarm must be 20 feet high. That one will be a challenge when it starts going off.

SIX OF NINE KIDS	BILL CLINTON AND ENTOURAGE

Dinner was back at Fran's with 5 couples playing "hand and foot" in the evening.

August 2, 2002, Friday- after working on my CPE material in the morning, we went shopping in the afternoon for the ingredients of a "Texas" supper for Steve and Becky's last going away party. Fran and Allan went to the ballet, while we entertained 13 for dinner with ribs and chili with all the fixings. It was a fun night except for Hobbes getting sick a few times and the house needing some cleanup.

GOOD LUCK BECKY & STEVE	GOING AWAY PARTY FOR BECKY AND STEVE

August 3, 2002, Saturday- it was project day helping Phil hang some photos and mirrors, and Allan on some more household projects. Great to be needed!

Dinner was our thank you to Fran and Allan and Phil and Bev for using their homes during the last two months. The new owners at La Tour, in Vail, did a fantastic job. Each dish was a creation, tasty and had top notch presentation.

LARRY, BEV, PHIL, SUSAN, FRAN AND ALLAN AT LA TOUR

Returning back to Fran's, it was a late night with a few more rounds of cards.

August 4, 2002, Sunday- after fighting traffic back to Denver in the afternoon, we spent 30 minutes with Steve and Becky. They loaded their rental van to the roof yesterday, and spent a fair amount of time waiting for the mechanic to get the truck running. It kept stalling. Hopefully the new fuel filter will make the difference, but with 150,000 miles on the truck, anything can happen.

We then joined Debi for dinner at her house, then crashed on her couch.

August, 5, 2002, Monday - one more CPA continuing education class has been completed. One more to go. Susan, during the day, did some shopping and got a good report from her eye doctor.

Returned to Fran and Allan's for dinner and cards.

August 6, 2002, Tuesday- went to the coach today and started everything up for the first time in 6 weeks. I turned on the refrigerator so that when we load it up on Thursday it will be cold. Also, we set up a tentative time table for the next three weeks and are starting to make space reservations and appointment stops down the line.

This evening I drove to Denver to stay at Debi's, and in the morning, I get my last class finished and can then file for my license reclassification, from inactive, to active CPA status.

August 7, 2002, Wednesday- finally! Done with the continuing education credits, knocked down 83 credit hours. After today's course I drove over to the Colorado State Board of CPA's- the licensing authority, and dropped off the required papers and check. Within 2 weeks I should be up and running as a legal CPA.

Drove back through 90 miles of rain for a great dinner at Phil and Bev's, our last hurrah until who knows when.

August 8, 2002, Thursday- clean up day at Fran and Allan's, then drove to Eagle to get the coach. Everything was great, except, the bins and coach were covered in mouse droppings. Lots of cleaning needed for this and to organized the coach. I even had a few wool sweaters eaten. Yuk!

The coach is stuffed to the gills. Over-nighted in Golden at Dakota Ridge, made our obligatory Costco refill run, and we collapsed after a lot of work around the coach.

We finally heard from Steve. They made it to Austin on schedule, with only minor problems, and unloaded everything on Wednesday, but had no phone until today. Also, no gas service turned on so they have no hot water, but, at least the air conditioning is working. Good luck to them.

Debi flew to New York yesterday and is enjoying the good life with friends and family for her long weekend.