I’ve finally got a bit of extra time to put up some pictures from our Colorado visit, complete with captions and smart-ass remarks. I’ll also put up some more pictures from Costa Rica ASAP so that you can see what we’ve been up to here, but in the meantime, enjoy these!

Angela at a liquor store with a big gold (-colored) statue. Looks like the old perv is trying to steal my woman.

Everything that makes America great: BBQ, root beer, regular beer, flip-flops, Michael Jackson, and Dustin Colburn! (You can find the various elements in the picture, just like Where’s Waldo?)

My mom and Angela with some huge flower planters.

We got to visit Dustin as well as his wife Samantha in the respective schools where they teach. It was quite a different experience for Angela, who’d only seen Costa Rican schools, and even for me it was a bit of an eye-opener. I guess I had forgotten what it was like to go to school in Colorado. Here’s Dustin teaching a math class. Look at the kids: they’re being polite, paying attention, participating, and none is just walking around the room aimlessly. Weird.

Samantha, my mom, and Angela at a Japanese restaurant. Every time we go to Colorado I make sure we hit up all the ethnic joints that we don’t have in Costa Rica. At first Angela was sort of annoyed by it all, but then she learned to use chopsticks.

Speaking of ethnic food, here are some delicious Mexican nachos and a tamal. You can tell it’s Mexican and not Costa Rican ’cause the tamal has sauce that’s vaguely spicy and the nachos feature neither ketchup NOR mayonnaise, which are part of Standard Operating Procedure when it comes to Tico Nachos.

Speaking of Costa Rica, we saw this vehicle in Estes Park. I think it was the result of thousands and thousands of prayers from the people of Berlín, Costa Rica: An enormous, mid-80s, 14-passenger Land Cruiser! Unfortunately, God sent it to Colorado instead of here.

On the day we arrived to Colorado, we visited my grandma who’s in hip rehab. (That sounds strange, but “rehabilitation center” sounds pretty druggy.) In any case, she had a hip replacement replaced, so she was staying there to get physical therapy. The ladies in this picture are wearing aprons that Angela sewed for them: My aunt Kathy, my cousin Kiersten, Angela, my grandma, my mom, and my cousin Katie.

We also visited my other aunt, Kris (left). My mom’s looks like she’s in a Ghostbusters tribute band because she’s wearing a beekeeping uniform (Kris has a ton of bees).

Angela in the beekeeping jacket. She sort of looks like a fencer with a swollen head. And as for why she decided to tuck her pants into her socks… well, I got nothin’.

Kris with a honeycomb.

Kris, mom, and Angela checking out bees.

A family portrait, and also a preview of this year’s Christmas card (which will arrive to your mailbox around January 12th, 2010): my dad, Angela, sister Di, mom, brother Paul, Paul’s dog Iris, and me.

Speaking of Paul’s dog, here she is with Angela and me. We are on the way to Estes Park, in the Colorado mountains just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park.

We’re one of those families who tends to have tons of dog pictures.

Angela (the scared one in red) and I on a gondola.

Nice tree.

Di, Iris, and Paul.