The Great Experiment

Oh beautiful Colorado! Which by the way means red or colored red in Spanish. We drove up and came home through the mountains and back ways which was so much fun. And do you know what one of the best parts of the trip was? The mini DVD player broke even before we pulled out of the driveway. That turned out to be the best thing ever. The kids were forced to look out the window, color and play with each other in the back seat (well as much as you can play being strapped into place). We really had a great trip. We spent 5 days in Ft. Collins playing with Aunt Lindsay, Uncle James and cousins Henry, Ellis and Clara.
Jason turned 33 on Tuesday August 11th. We had a special birthday party and birthday cake for him that afternoon before we left to go camping. He said he wanted summer cake for his birthday. And then he requested a "special shapes" cake. I did my best to oblige with a special shapes summer cake, a new challenge. Happy Birthday Jason- with his own personal Fourteener. Can anyone tell me how many mountains over 14,000 feet CO has (a little fact I learned on this trip). Jason's cake was to scale with each inch representing 1000 feet. Ok maybe not but that's the idea.
The Halgrens came with us up to Wyoming where we camped overnight and hiked around Vedauwoo (a very neat place of which we have no photos). While in WY we got to spend the afternoon and evening in Laramie with the Bluemels. Dave Bluemel and I were in the same MTC group. Do you realize I have been home from my mission for 10 years this past May? Crazy. And we didn't get any pictures of the Bluemels either.

We left Ft. Collins and camped for 2 nights in central CO near Glenwood Springs (after driving through Rocky Mountain National Park- highest paved road in North America). We splurged and went to the natural hot springs (turned resort with LARGE warm swimming pool). It was the perfect tempurature for the mountain air. Wesley swam non stop. In the "deep" end. Jason and I have learned to watch for the bubbles to know when he is ready to come up for air. He will rest for a second in your arms and then dives right back in. It is hilarious to watch and so inviting to strangers to comment and stare. Of course we have no photos and this is when we decided we really want one of those underwater point and shoot cameras that are almost indestructible. Perhaps then we would have more photos to share.

We drove home and stopped for dinner in Creede. It is a cute little mining town tucked back in the mountains. The city park had a little mine train and cars. You could barely pull Luke away to eat and bite and then he was right back at it.
A close-up of Wesley's new thumb and scar in case you haven't seen it.


And what was the great experiment you may be wondering? We never ate out- no restaurants, fast food, nothing. All meals came from Lindsay's kitchen and the back of the truck (so ok, the grocery store). It was great. What is funny is that is how I remember traveling while growing up so it really shouldn't seem that novel.

Nature provided some treats of her own. Fresh mountain raspberries. Yummy!
A baby moose we saw while driving home. So cute. But where is mama?

Lindsay and her amazing yummy swiss chard from her gorgeous garden.
We had a wonderful time. When we asked Allie what her favorite part of the trip was she said "Playing with Henry". Aw - cousins. So fun!
The end.