Poland Day Two

Yesterday most of our student competitors arrived and I spent the day in the lobby hanging out with the other Microsoft folks and waiting for the students to arrive. Across the square from our hotel is one of the main event venues: the Palace of Culture. We are setting up an outdoor theater in front of the main entrance for our Opening Ceremonies tonight. The palace is built right at the corner of the famous Ghetto where the Polish Jews were forced to lived and then eventually exterminated in 1943 by the Nazis. In the evening, people hang out in the surrounding parks. One street musician playing a tuba had a very interesting approach to his music.

Street Muscian with a Twist from randy guthrie on Vimeo.

Arrival in Poland

I have been in Warsaw, Poland for about four hours now. My hotel is located in the city center, and seems like a good location. I am sharing a room with a colleague, which is typical for these kids of events, but our room is pretty small. I have a twin-sized bed rather than a queen. I flew from Denver to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Warsaw. I am 8 hours ahead of Denver time. I have already talked to Kevin Guthrie; he is about two hours south of where I am by train. I'm sure if I will have time to see him but I'll try. It took 14 hours to get here and I didn't sleep on the plane, so I am pretty tired and am going to bed. Check out the video I took in the rest room in the Lufthansa frequent flier lounge. I'm always amazed at the level of automation that never catches on in the US.

Airport Toilet in Frankfurt from randy guthrie on Vimeo.

Seth High Adventure Rafting Trip Part I

Seth is getting ready to leave on his last Scout High Adventure Trip. They are spending three days floating down the Yampa River in southeaster Colorado on homemade rafts. They are pontoon-type rafts. There will be two sausage-shaped inflatable tubes made from truck inter-tubes that fit in the vinyl pockets on the bottom. Unfortunately I won't be able to go, but others will take pictures that I will share when he gets back.

Summer Rainbows

There is no more refreshing way to end a hot summer day than with a cool rain shower in the late afternoon. It started raining just as I was putting the lawnmower away. We had about 45 minutes of rain and then it cleared up, leaving the air cool and clean. Just as it was starting to clear we had this pretty rainbow appear over the rooftops of the houses across the street.

A Day with Grandma Jane

Today Uncle Seth, Grandma Jane and the Thornbrue bunch had a brand new adventure. Thanks to Seth's expertise, we were able to take the Light Rail (train) to downtown Denver. The kids got to put money in the machine and buy their own tickets. We went to "Confluence Park", where the South Platte River and Cherry Creek come together. There are river trails, a bridge, places to wade and play in water, shade, and even some little rapids where people practice kyaking and rafting. You can rent bikes there and there are food vendors too. The kids lathered up with sun screen. The kids enjoyed the train ride and switched seat frequently, but Grace was intimidated by the openness and lack of seatbelts. We went to Union Station, and set out on foot from there to the park. It was a quick walk and very fun. We had lunch in the shade, and the kids like wading, and wished they had their bathing suits. Tessa even found some kind of clam shell. It (the shell) got placed in a plastic bag with some goldfish crackers and Ben accidently put it in his mouth with a handful of crackers and almost broke a tooth on it. We had to pull the kids out of the water and we all dried off on the walk back to the train station. Next time we'll bring parents and bathing suits.

After we got home we went to the Library and collect prizes for their summer reading program. The prizes were tickets to the major theme park in Denver kind of like Six Flags. Their favorite thing to do at the library are to look at there amazing collection of pop-up books. During dinner, Grace fell asleep in Aunt Molly's arms, but the rest of the kids went with Grandma Jane and Papa Randy to a nearby park for one last round of play before baths and bedtime.

Confluence Park - Denver, Colorado from randy guthrie on Vimeo.

An Outing with Papa

It was a warm evening and I wanted to walk our 1 1/2 mile loop, so I offered to take Bryson with me and give Melissa a little break. Within four minutes of leaving the house Bryson took a run down and sidewalk and did a spectacular endo. I was all for taking him home for first aid, but Bryson started crying and wanted us to continue our journey in the direction of the park. So we did. I didn't mention the wipeout again until we were near home where he knew a bandaid was waiting.

Family Night out at the Rockies Game

Last night we went to a Colorado Rockies baseball game. Microsoft Denver bought a block of tickets for the local employees. I was able to get eight tickets so Seth could bring friends. The best part was that each ticket came with $10 in concession credit, so we had drinks, hotdogs, and funnel cakes for free! The Rockies played the Milwaukee Brewers in an exciting game with home runs, double-plays and strike-outs. The Rockies eventually won but it was down to wire so we stayed all nine innings. We had decent seats and there was a beautiful sunset around the fifth inning. Jarom and Melissa and Bryson came, and Bryson really enjoyed himself. One way that we know we aren't in Los Angeles any more: it took 40 minutes total from the stadium gates to home after the game ended instead of 2 hours and NO stop-and-go traffic on the way home!

This video is really funny because Bryson has figured out to cheer "Go Rockies" but he has this super-high screeching voice he uses.

Untitled from randy guthrie on Vimeo.