Colorado!!

Crazy that it's been over a month since I blogged! Even crazier that our much anticipated vacation to Colorado has come and gone. It was incredible and I wish we could do it all over again next week! Here's the recap for those brave enough to read it all, but more importantly for me to look back on and reminisce.

The boys were excited as we headed out, just barely rounding the first corner from home. The car was packed expertly if I do say so myself and the first movie (of fifteen!) was playing.

Our first stop was with the Grabau family in Longmont, CO. Eric was Landon's best man in our wedding and we hadn't seen them in years. It was a blessing to spend time with them catching up on life and talking about our future. Their 3 kids, who are 10 and older, played with our boys tirelessly, which meant a lot of running, wrestling, nerf gun shooting, and playing dead. We enjoyed the beautiful weather by spending lots of time in their backyard in the hot tub and roasting marshmallows. Kellen loved being out there with us, even if i refused to let him try a marshmallow.

On Saturday, we drove into Boulder with the Grabaus and experienced Pearl Street, which is an area full of shops and street artists trying to make money. We saw some interesting acts. This man fits into a cylinder and then a box by bending his body in unimaginable ways. Before showing off, though, he tries to get the audience involved and picks three little kids. Trenton was his first choice. I started laughing, thinking he would refuse, but he walked right out there! As first pick, he was shoved in the very back of the box, cramped, waiting for two other boys to be shoved in next. Afterwards, he said, "that hurt my head!" 

And there it is: 3 boys in a box. We all wondered how this made him look more impressive as an artist ... "Look, I can fit in a box that just held 3 people!" Oh well, it was worth a laugh and some pictures to see Trenton up there.

Sawyer kept asking, "when is he going to choose me??" Then he stood as close as possible just so the man would get the hint. It didn't work, poor guy.

Applause for the three apprentices.

Our next stop was the Runzo's house in Colorado Springs. Scott and Lisa were our youth pastors in high school. They have three older kids as well and surprised us with an adult night out! Our boys stayed with their kids while we went to a nice dinner at a local brewery. They're always good at asking the hard questions and gave us a lot to think about as we choose our next step in life. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures because it all flew by so fast.

After the Runzos, we drove to nearby Woodland Park to see my aunt and uncle. On the way, we saw a sign off the highway for Garden of the Gods and knew we had to take advantage of the opportunity. In the chaos, I had left the boys jackets at Landon's sister's house, which was kind of our main headquarters for the whole trip, so we had to improvise. The boys loved running around outside and climbing around after so much time in the car.

My aunt teaches and we knew she wouldn't be home right away, so after Garden of the Gods we went to a little dinosaur museum right by her house. Sawyer was not a fan of the scary Jurassic park-like music playing in the background, but both boys loved the fossils. Landon and I thought the coolest part was the observation windows where you could watch scientists actually cleaning off fossils just brought in from a site. The boys thought the coolest part was the measuring tape that showed the length of a dinosaur stride. They kept jumping from the start and asking, "What dinosaur am I?" We'd go look at bones and then they'd say, "let's go jump again." I felt like saying, No, I can make one just like it at home! But I didn't. It really was fun to watch them explore and exclaim over the sizes of the dinosaurs and their teeth. Sawyer's favorite bone was an arm bone displayed vertically so he could stand right by it. It was at least two or three times as tall as him! I couldn't imagine an animal big enough to have an arm that long. The rest of the day, he kept pointing to his own arm saying, "this was my favorite, but I didn't want a picture with it because it might have a hand." Good point buddy, an arm that big is bound to have a pretty big hand for grabbing little boys. I can't fault his logic.

Arriving at my aunt's, we spent some more time outside. Their backyard is basically a forest and the boys even got to stand pretty close to a group of 4 deer and watch them. We had an amazing dinner with my aunt Kristen, uncle Tony, cousin Selena, and my Grandma who happened to be visiting from Idaho at the same time! Then we learned a new card game that we are now passing on to all of our friends because we're obsessed.

The next day, we had hoped to visit the Kolbs, another couple from our high school youth group leadership. We spent hours at the Kolbs' house in high school and their two daughters adored Landon. I specifically remember sitting around the kitchen table with Matt and Lisa enjoying adult conversation, while Landon was in the room with McKenna letting her put bows in his hair! Since moving to Colorado, they had added a son to their family and we'd never met him. Unfortunately, Joshua was sick and they didn't want us to get it so we had to cancel. We ended up seeing them at the end of the week at my niece's first birthday party and loved seeing their beautiful kids, but on our next trip we definitely need more time with them. 


Since we had extra, unplanned time, we stopped at the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs and let the boys play in the "Adventures in Odyssey" playground. As a kid I listened to this radio program with my siblings and it was so fun watching my kids play around all these characters and place names from the stories I grew up on. I'd love to get the boys hooked when they get a little older, even if Landon thinks it's nerdy.


Our final stop was five nights with Uncle Nathan, Aunt Chelsea, and cousin Charleigh on their ranch in Franktown. Landon's parents flew in Thursday to meet up with us, which was incredibly special. By then, we had passed this nasty, super-cold around and all the kids along with Chelsea and I were pretty miserable. But for the most part, we rallied and still had a great time. Chelsea said we were gypped and deserve a redo, so maybe we'll do it again sooner than we thought. =)


Our first activity, per Landon's request, was to visit Castlewood Canyon, a state park only seven miles from Forsythe Farms. Our time there was cut short because of hungry mamas, but Landon and the boys were in heaven exploring for that little bit.

My new favorite picture of my three boys. I love the hoods!

While Grandpa Dave walked with his daughters and grandbabies on the path, Landon took Mom mom and the older two off-roading. Sawyer found a rock that he refused to leave behind and is right now in his toy chest. By the way, is that illegal?!

With the little sickies, we didn't get many pictures since it seemed like they were mostly sleeping or covered in snot! But here's Baby Kellen Face spending quality time with mom mom and then one with his cousin Charleigh. We know they'll be close since Chels and I experienced the pregnancies together and they were born exactly two weeks apart. And because we'll make them.

Probably the highlight of the trip, besides all of the quality time with people we miss, was the Denver Aquarium. The boys are obsessed with sharks and sting rays, so we knew they would love this experience. I can't even describe the amazement and wonder -- both on their side and ours. I've always envisioned an aquarium as rooms of tanks, but this was beyond description. The entire thing was a circular path through different environments and exhibits that made you feel like you were really there ... like the desert with lizards, snakes, tarantulas, and flash floods that sent Sawyer scrambling into my arms as water came rushing out of the hills to wash us away, stopped only by the unnoticed glass wall five feet higher than our heads ... like the rain forest with the Sumatran tiger pacing only three feet from where we stood and a tank of piranhas ... like an underwater shipwreck with eels, sea horses, and rays buried in the sand only seen because their eyes were moving... like the coral reef where we pet starfish and watched lobsters and crabs crawl around. And through it all were fish unlike anything I've ever seen. The colors were astounding. Some were as big as my three year old. 

A couple times there were domes in the bottom of the tank so you could stand in it, surrounded by fish and rays.

Of course, the highlight for Trenton and Sawyer was the sharks. This is the best picture; I love how Trenton's awestruck face is reflected in the glass.

I've never been so close to sharks, not even at Sea World. These swam so close we could see their gills moving and the texture of their skin. We saw nurse sharks huddled together on the bottom of the tank with rays swimming over them, even bumping into them. They'd move almost as one shark and settle back down in the sand. We saw brown sharks, zebra sharks, sand tiger sharks, and even a crazy sawtooth shark with its teeth circling the outside of its long snout. Then we ended the day by petting and feeding rays. Sawyer and Landon were the brave ones. Trenton and I took one swipe at their slimy, rubbery skin and we were done.

This is an experience we will never forget.

Our last day was Charleigh's birthday party and we celebrated in the barn with hamburgers and hot dogs. The day was not ideal as it started to hail, wrecking the hay ride, but the boys didn't care as they rolled around in the arena dirt and played with shovels and buckets. They were literally covered head to toe in dirt. Here's a couple pictures taken by Chelsea's friend Robin (robinpenceimages.com) that capture the moments perfectly.

The next day we had to head out on our two day road trip home. It was extremely hard to say goodbye to the Andersons and the Forsythes. I'm determined no matter where we end up living, we should make this a yearly trip. We reconnected with so many people and had such wonderful family time.