Colorado!

After 2 1/2 weeks of missing Daddy while he was teaching in Colorado, it was time to go visit! And I was so ready. I have so much respect to women who are single mothers or whose husbands travel frequently. It's tough! 

On the way out we stopped at Little America for ice cream cones. Since I was a kid, I've always wanted to stop and get ice cream there but never did (clearly their 5,000 billboards work!) Check that one off the bucket list! 

Walter did pretty well on the drive,  and we made it to Daddy in decent time! 

 

We spent a few days in Greeley hanging out while Daddy taught. We introduced the kids to mini-golf which they thought was amazing! 

The kids really wanted to visit Tiny Town, so we left Thursday for a stop there before heading up to the family reunion. On the way we stopped by the house I grew up in. The trees are SO tall! 

Sadly, when we got to Tiny Town they were planning to close in 15 minutes due to a thunderstorm moving that way. The kids were so bummed! They'd hear all about Tiny Town from Hazel. They were nice enough to let us in for free for those 15 minutes, so they at least got the running tour of it (and we got Hazel's then and now pictures snapped.) Guess we'll have to come back again soon. 

The forecasted thunderstorm arrived and it was a big one! We spent some time in the car waiting out the rain in Breckenridge. But once it stopped, we enjoyed a beautiful evening and found the troll! (Michael had one day of teaching left and missed this part of our adventure). 

He was so cute! A Danish artist creates these forest trolls. There are many in Denmark and now he's creating them all over the world. 

After visiting the troll, we strolled through the forest and found the cutest train themed playground. The Colorado mountains are pure soul food! 

We tent camped that night at Dillion Reservoir. Walter did great (and the big kids went crazy around the fire). The next morning we took a stroll down to the lake and caught the most amazing views. It was paradise. 

It's safe to say this cutie loves camping as much as the rest of us! 

After packing up, we drove the last little bit to the family reunion near Glenwood Springs. It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend as always. I forgot to take many pictures but we enjoyed swimming, great food, playing with cousins and second-cousins, visiting, a mini-river float, an awesome alpaca farm, and tons of memory sharing with family. 

And of course everyone LOVED Walter. Especially his second-cousin Ettie. She would have held him every minute of the trip if she could have! 

Yay for a safe trip and enjoying the remarkable Colorado mountains. Even bigger yay for having Daddy back home!