Dar and Sean Visit

Well,  George and Rene left in the afternoon and Dar and Sean arrived that night! The first night we didn't do anything as it was rather late. The second night we had Bill and Dawn and Becky and Arek over for a barbecue. The girls and I also had testing for our tae kwon do yellow belts! The camera was dead by the time I did my testing.

The next day Dar and Sean took the girls up to the mountains and Dan and I went on a little anniversary trip to Fort Collins. Each year we have been exploring an area of Colorado while Dar and Sean watch the girls.

Our first stop was Odell Brewing Company. Their new facility was very nice, included a food truck.

This is the floor.

We went on an informative tour.

We next checked in to our little inn. It seemed like a bread and breakfast but they couldn't call it one because there was no employee in-house all night. Strange regulation.

This very old catholic church was a block away. I wish I could have gotten pictures of the pew on the sides of the church. They only held two people! Since we actually went to Mass there, it didn't seem appropriate to whip out the camera.

The next day we went on a lovely hike, even if it wasn't the one we planned on. We never did find that trailhead. 

The hike was VERY uphill.

Meanwhile Dar and Sean were with the girls in Silverton after riding the Georgetown/Silverton railroad. They found this amazing AirBNB.

There were three sleeping lofts.

On the way back down the mountain a truck crossed the center divider (the size of a football field), and hit the car behind them, head on. Sean saw the crash in the rear view mirror. It was all over the news here. 

The next night we went with Bill and Dawn to see Peter Frampton and Steve Miller at Red Rocks. We had tried two years ago to see Frampton and it was canceled at the last minute. It was worth the wait because it was a spectacular, clear night.

Who needs to rest??  The next night we were off to some sort of city scavenger hunt that Dar bought on Groupon. Nicole and Jason met us downtown. We didn't last long on the hunt as all the kids were tired. But we did find a cool beer garden and hung out there a couple of hours.

I took them to the airport the next morning. Fun times!

George and Rene Visit

In July, George and Rene visited. The first night we had a barbecue with Becky, Arek and the boys.

We made s'mores of course.

George and Rene were very good with the kids.

Even Abe Lincoln showed up.

Dan had to work during the day because he had already taken so much time off for our vacation. So the girls and I took our visitors to the community pool in the morning. Afterward, we went to see the Viking exhibit at the museum. Anna is contemplating what she will spell with the Old Norse alphabet.

She decided on Anna!

And then Mia!

We talked with a Norsewoman.

Frightening Vikings!

I did learn that the Norseman were only called Vikings when they went A-viking,  going out in boats to pillage, trade or conquer.

What a good sport Rene is!

The next day I took them to lunch at the Old Stone Church, the original Catholic church in Castle Rock which is now a restaurant. You can see tables up in the old choir loft. 

They left for the next stop of their road trip that afternoon!

Horse Camp 2017

This was Mia's third and Rylee and Anna's second year of horse camp. They go every day for four days, riding and learning about horses. They even have to clean the stalls! They look forward to it all year and absolutely love Rosie's Ranch.

They learn all the correct names for the parts of a horse.

This year Mia rode Hearts and Rylee rode Dallas.

I was invited to get a little closer when it was Anna's turn to ride. You would think the pictures would be better!

 Anna rode Pachuco.

 On the last day the kids do a presentation for the parents with songs and sharing all they have learned.

I'm sure we will be back in 2018!

Part 8 Vacation 2017

The next two days on the cruise we visited two more ports, Juneau and Skagway. I was somewhat surprised that these cities are so small. Juneau's  population is only 32,000 people.  That seems so tiny for the capitol of a state!

In Juneau we went gold mining first. We've done this many times but never for real before. We actually mined out of a creek that actually had gold in it.

If you didn't want to mine in the creek, they had barrels of creek water ready for you.

After the gold mining, we went to a salmon bake.  It was probably the only negative thing on the trip. It was keto salmon. Kept salmon is tasteless. They poured a thick sauce over to disguise the bland taste of the fish. The rest of the food was not good either.  How do you mess up cornbread??!!

The next day we headed out to go dog sledding in Skagway! The view up the mountain was priceless.

Of course, there was no snow so the dogs carried sleds on wheels. These dogs were getting in their miles to qualify for the Iditarod.

The girls could not get enough of the puppies!!

On the way back down the mountain www witnessed an older woman pull over on her moped, try to get off, and fall over the side of the mountain. It was horrifying to watch but she was actually okay!

The next day we woke up to glaciers! Amazing!

Two days later we were home. What a fun and happy trip!