On Monday October 19th, it was time to say goodbye to our wonderful hosts Kevin and Teri and Weslee and Kent, who we had such a great time with during fall break! We really can’t thank them enough for the comfy beds, yummy homemade meals, and for sharing so many of their favorite places and restaurants with us. Kevin and Teri are just a dynamite couple who are so unbelievable generous and good and who live their lives to the fullest. We love them to pieces and love any chance we get to spend time with them. Thank you SO much guys for letting us come out and visit you! We are so blessed to have your sweet family in our lives! You are both one in a million!
Leaving their home also meant that it was time to begin phase two of our Colorado adventure. That of going to Estes Park! When Adam and I had started looking into where to stay overnight for our return trip back to Utah we had checked into our worldmark condo’s and found that we actually had one available the whole week! and since Adam can work remotely from pretty much anywhere and since the kids had another day off school that week (on Friday) we decided to extend our trip out 5 more days and have one last adventure – and so off to Estes Park we went!
So after stopping at Walmart to buy food for a week, we drove the two hours to Estes Park which just happened to be right NEXT to Rocky Mountain National Park. Sa-weet! And since our condo wasn’t going to be available until 4 – we decided to go and drive around the area to get a feel of what it had to offer.
While driving we just so happened to come across this amazing herd of Elk! Incredible!
Then once we finally were able to check into our condo, we all decided to take a quick trip to the pool to go and soak in the hot tub! That night I made a scrumpteous meal of my Nana’s potato soup with bread and then we spent the rest of the evening watching Harry Potter movies as a family!
The next morning Jamis got up pretty early and while putting him back to bed I noticed that the walls in his room looked pink. So I opened up the blinds only to discover what has to be the most vibrant beautiful sunrise I think I have EVER seen! I just couldn’t believe the colors. I HAD to go and snap some pictures!
The rest of the week we spent doing an assortment of different activities (which I will blog about separately), but below are all the pictures we took at the condo itself. We had a pretty relaxed week for the most part and loved just hanging out in the condo as a family where we puzzled, played games, watched movies, eat lots of yummy food, took walks to the park, and hit up the swimming pool as often as we could! We so do love family time!
I have to laugh at this picture because it had snowed that morning but the kids really wanted to go swimming at the pool. So we all had to bundle up in our snow gear to head over because it was SO COLD! Gotta love the boot, swim suit, and ski coat look! ha ha!
I love Adam’s creativity and seeing the world through his eyes in pictures. 🙂
We pretty much did a puzzle a day while at the condo (which we love doing) but I failed to get pictures of all of them. Below are pictures of the ones we completed that I did take.
Another day it was once again snowing pretty hard, but we all had cabin fever so we decided to hit up some museums around town. Our first stop was to a rock shop (which was having a big sale) and so we all got a few fun magnet souvenirs for our fridge. Then I also found some gem stone rings so Adam and I both got some of those. Branson was also able to talk to the manager (who was a rock collector himself) and ask him some questions which helped him pass off a scout requirement! Win Win! We also hit up a few art museums, and went to a taffy making store.
The highlight for most of us was getting to see a real glass blowing presentation! It was so interesting to see how they make fun decorative vases and such by blowing hot glass!
And of course we spent a lot of time making some of our favorite delicious meals! The one below is BBQ chicken, berry spinach salad, fruit, and garlic bread. Yum!
Here is a picture of the river right next to our condo after it snowed. So pretty!
Here are the mountains a few days later after the storm passed! So pretty!
We ended up leaving our condo on Friday afternoon after lunch and then decided to just drive the whole way home so we could all sleep in our beds that night. We did stop in Wyoming for some Dominos pizza dinner though when all our tummies got Hungry. Below are a few pics of our drive home.
And a shot of our cute little feller who after we got home started rubbing his legs together like two sticks trying to start a fire! He’s our little cricket bug for sure and we love him!
We sure did love our Colorado adventure and making wonderful memories!
