Monday, June 23, 2008

Colorado: Part 1


The mountains up around Trail Ridge Road

Elk (Dad is very proud of this shot)

Me outside the school

Reese at the park near the school

Reese at what used to Lowry Air Force Base. More on that next post.

Reese and her chipmunk friend


At Estes Park

Mom, Reese, and Flat Scott

Reese in the snow

So I headed to Colorado on the 15th. My first time to fly alone, my first time to go out on my own for really any length of time. The flights were great, all on time. First class is totally the way to go. Northwest Airlines apparently carries these chips now that are cinnamon and sugar pita bread baked chips. They are awesome. They're a brand called "Stacey's". Now, I just have to figure out where to get them. Not just a whole lot happened on Sunday after the flights. So, we're fast forwarding to Monday.

Monday, Reese had her appointment with Dr. Selina (sp?) in Memphis. Now, this is all what I have been told second-hand as I wasn't there. They took several "reliable" eye pressure readings, ranging from 28 (what it was in Little Rock) to 42. It seems kind of a wide-range to be so "reliable", but hey, I'm no expert. They put her on another kind of drops, which she takes in addition to her Betoptic drops. She's going back in July so they can get a more reliable reading while she's under anesthesia. It's looking like we may have to have another surgery to help control the pressure. They're talking about implanting a valve, because her bleb apparently isn't draining the intraocular fluid the way it should any more. They said she's had a trabuculectomy twice, and if it's failing again, there's not point to doing it a third time, because it would just fail again. So if anyone out there knows anything about implanting valves for congenital glaucoma in small children...we'd love to get a comment from you.

On Monday, in Colorado, we received our cameras for the course, an Olympus E-300, I believe it was. We learned how to use it in the morning, had lunch on our own, and met back at the Art Institute to head to Red Rocks for a photo shoot. We shot professional models. It was really cool. The Red Rocks was beautiful. They're these HUGE red rocks that are jutting out of the ground, courtesy of of several million years of sediment getting packed onto one another while the area was still ocean, and then a great amount of upheaval pushing them upward. It was really cool to see. It used to be called the Garden of the Titans. I think they should have kept it called that, as in Colorado Springs there are more red rocks of the same type at a place called the Garden of the Gods. Anyone who knows Graeco-Roman mythology gets why.

Tuesday, we worked on editing our pictures and working on our websites. That night, Mom, Dad, and Reese got into Colorado. I switched hotels due to some unfortunate events to stay with them. I was still attending the Studio though, don't be confused by that. Wednesday morning, we went to the Denver Zoo for a photo shoot. All the animals seemed to think it was too hot to move, however. It got me to thinking that it's a miracle any of the animals move here in the Little Rock Zoo. We got some cool shots there, and went back to school, and after lunch, worked on editing those and publishing out websites.

Thursday was the send-off party. It was also the day to apply for early admission if you wanted to. The $50 application fee was waived, and there was a $500 scholarship that you could only get if you applied for admission that day (only for use if you went to the Art Institute, though), because you attended the summer studio. So, we went ahead and applied. I loved the school. It was a really awesome place. The teachers are knowledgeable and really nice, really interested in you succeeding.

On Wednesday, while I was in classes, Mom, Dad, and Reese went up to Estes Park to see if Trail Ridge was open, which it never has been when Mom and Dad have been there before. Impressively, it was open. And there was still a lot of snow on the side of the roads. Reese made a friend with a chipmunk. She fed him/her/it Cheerios. He/She/It liked Cheerios.

P.S. Sorry, Michelle, if you can't see the pictures. I had to bring them over from Snapfish, the Blogger picture uploader was being really cranky.


More stuff later. There's still many more pictures and stuff to talk about. :)

1 comment:

Charity, Katie, Louie & Natalie said...

Reese is looking beautiful and so grown up. Every time I see pictures of her she looks happier. It's been so great to watch her blossom with you all.

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