Colorado

I am finally posting about the road trip the kids and I went on this summer. We had an awesome time and I honestly had the best travelers around! I can't wait to take another trip with them-they definitely take after me and have the travel bug. Jon does not have the bug or even the travel larva. He did not come with us and had to stay home and work-not that he was really sad about that, just sad we were not home and he missed us.

I have to laugh looking back at the first day of our trip. We stopped all the time and Sawyer (true story) had to pee every hour. By the second day though he was on to the automatic flushing toilets and hated them, so then he refused to pee all day-how can you go from not being able to hold it more than an hour to holding it for like 10 hours!

We were so excited when we reached South Dakota, well the kids were anyway. They thought we were so far from home (:

This picture was taken at Clementine (I think) South Dakota and it was a pretty area.

Mmmm, is there anything better than a free continental breakfast? Well, probably but pretty fabulous never the less.

Here we are all ready for the second day on the road. This day we traveled through Nebraska and I was surprised how much I loved Nebraska. The hilly sand dune ranches were really beautiful and it was amazing that it was miles and miles and miles and miles of ranches, but you never saw any sign of life (well the occasional group of cows) or a house or anything. Where do they go grocery shopping?? It was also interesting that you would see these large signs every so often that had different ranch names posted on it and how many miles to each one.

After Nebraska we were finally in Colorado. Eastern Colorado is pretty desolate and not much to look at until you get closer to Denver when out of the blue the mountains just appear. What surprised me was that there was nothing until you reach Denver. Even when you get to Denver there were no suburbs or towns before it. After driving through Denver we headed up into the mountains to Evergreen. I was really nervous because I didn't know what to expect and I have a strong fear of heights. I think if I go back now I won't be as nervous because I will know what is coming around the next curve.

We finally arrived at my sister Chrissy's house and the area where she lives is gorgeous!! I would move there in a second. I just felt so calm and quiet and I loved that nature was so close all around.

Here is Sawyer relaxing in the hot tub right after we arrived. I guess he needed to relax after relaxing in his car seat for two straight days.

The others joined him and my kids honestly thought they were swimming in a pool and started going under water and swimming around-such dorks (:

Chrissy and Chuck's house is beautiful and has a cabiny feel with a wrap around deck-I just loved it!

Here are a few shots I took in the car on our way to the Denver Zoo the next day. These pictures don't do the area justice and I should have stopped the car and really taken some nice pictures-but that's in hindsight and I am stuck with these. (:

My brother, his wife Maja, and their little Luci were visiting at the same time and I was so excited to see them, as well. Here is Maja and Luci enjoying a picnic lunch before we entered the zoo. Luci is such a little peanut and so adorable-I wish they lived closer....
Here are the rest of the kids. The cousins just loved being together.
Here is the gang minus Chrissy outside of the zoo.
I guess I should mention that it was 100 degrees in Denver that day and it was HOT! Towards the end of the afternoon we were more intersted in finding the next shady spot instead of the next animal.

Jonnie, Tanner, and Mitch

This was probably the one and only time Sawyer was actually in the wagon I rented for the day. The rest of the time he wanted to push the wagon himself which defeated the whole purpose of renting it.

My sweet Mitchell-I really miss having him close by ):
I love this picture! Tanner is the older version of Jonnie, so I can see my future in a few years! Tanner is one of Sawyer's idols and I loved seeing how helpful and kind Tanner was to him!


Ahhhh, a shady spot.....Ashley and Allison who really look nothing alike (:
Sawyer loved Allison so much-she was so helpful to him the whole vacation. I kept telling Chrissy that I hope Alaina takes after her big cousin-she is so responsible, fun and sweet. Here she is helping him touch a peacock.

Maja, Alli, and myself.

Maja, me, and Chrissy

I love this picture of my brother Adam with sweet little Luci.
And also this one (:

Shade!

Are we done yet?

Here is Ashley with Sawyer-Sawyer loves her so much, too. We didn't get to spend as much time with her as she left for camp the second day we were there. I know Alaina missed her and Ashley was able to do her nails before she left!
Here we are realxing after the zoo. Sawyer had a bath and was all clean and refreshed. Chuck grilled us dinner and we just hung out on the deck-it was pretty wonderful.

A picture of their front yard.

They also have a pond in front of their house and Sawyer loved throwing rocks into it. We did this often.

Sawyer really missed Dex and rubbing into his fur-thankfully Ruby was there to fill the void.
The front of Thier house-just breathtaking.
Here we went to a park and the kids ran around, we grilled, and later waded in the creek. The kids never fought and just had a great time together.
Sawyer and Luci, who Sawyer was jeaous of and kept calling her "that baby." I think he was more jealous of Chrissy's attention toward her than me. He loves his Chrissy!
Haha, couldn't resist. He normally doesn't ever want to pee outside so that's why this is funnier to me. I was way across the park and zoomed in on him.

Here is the creek that Jonnie lost his shoes in in the first 5 minutes. We later bought him another pair of sandals so he could walk in the different creeks the next day. The water was freezing-I don't know how they could stand it.

"Its told mom, so told!"

On our way home that night, we saw some elk at the local high school. That was so cool to me. The next day when my brother drove by there must have been around 40 and he got some pretty awesome pictures. They kind of take over everything and the people just have to put up with them.
Then, when I pulled into Chrissy's place I say an elk right in her yard. I got really close before it walked slowly away.
The next day we walked around and explored downtown Evergreen. A very cute, quaint little mountain town-I loved it!
Here is the adorable couple!
The cousins, minus Luci ( they went to downtown Denver that day).
That day we went to a few different creeks (or rivers-not sure what I was supposed to call them) and I honestly took about 100 pictures. I won't torture you with all them as they are all pretty similar....this is one of my faves though because they were being pulled and laughing so hard.
Same day, different river. Here they stripped down to their bathing suits.
Allison helped Sawyer the whole time-it was so sweet!

Me and my sissy.
Alaina and I in my diaper-haha.

Heading home.

The next morning we headed back on the road to home. Chrissy is definitely the hostess with the mostess and I miss having her around so much! The ride back was just as great as the ride there and this time we hardly stopped and just wanted to get to the hotel as quickly as possible. We kept hitting storms and freaky clouds and where we were it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere with no one to help us if needed. But, fortunately we kept running out of everything and a strong storm rolled through when we at the hotel, but we felt safe (: When we arrived home, Dex was so happy to see us, he peed all over my feet (I guess I should feel loved). And Jon was almost in tears hugging the kids-very sweet! It was nice being back home. Oh, one last observation-all through Colorado, Nebraska, and South Dakota the landscape was mostly ranches and grazing pastures and as soon as you crossed into Minnesota it was all corn and more corn with farms, barns, and silos. I guess there is beauty in that, also (:

So, next summer we are headed to the ocean-right, honey? (: