After a whirlwind visit with family in Texas, we began the loooooooong drive to Colorado. Technically it’s about 16 hours, but it sure seemed longer than that. I had the worst stomach ache I’ve ever had the second day of our drive, and Tobin must have been dealing with the same thing because he spent a fair amount of the drive alternating between moaning and screaming in pain.We stopped near Boulder to buy some groceries for the week, and get out of the van for a bit (T was begging me to hold him). He fell asleep on my lap in the coffeeshop in Safeway while Matt and Luke shopped for us. We’ve never been so glad to get anywhere as we were when we finally arrived at our cabin near Estes Park.
Praise the Lord, that was the worst of it… We took it easy on our first day, but T & I both were better pretty fast, and neither Matt or Luke ever caught whatever we had.
We had a delightful week in Colorado…I just love the peace of that place. I love being outside, having picnics for lunch every day, hiking in such beautiful mountains, and being together as a family. We did some amazing hikes this year – but the theme was definitely biting off more than we could chew. Matt carried Tobin a fair amount of the way in the kid-pack, but Luke and I were on our own. The payoff for both hikes was well worth it – the first one, we got to see two amazing cascades and a waterfall. The second went by two lower lakes on the way to an amazing Alpine lake surrounded by boulders (Luke’s favorite – he loves scrambling around on rocks and boulders.)
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Day 5:
As fun as the week was, the highlight definitely came as a result of a text from my friend Julie, who has also lived in Lincoln, NE and College Station, TX – so we have mutual friends in both places. She noticed on a Nebraska friend’s facebook wall that I was in CO, and texted me asking if I knew that several of my dearest TX friends were also in Estes Park. We were able to get together with them for dinner one evening, which was a gift I wouldn’t have imagined. When we first met up with the Bryants, Sledges, Corrys, and Coyles I couldn’t seem to stop crying, I was so happy to see them. We must have been quite a sight, crying and hugging on the sidewalk in the middle of town. Dinner was definitely a zoo with so many kids, and us trying to catch up as fast as we could. Tobin was smitten with all the little girls, and Luke and Colson Sledge sat down at the end of the table talking like old friends (and neither of them are really chatter boxes.) I asked what they talked about: “You know, sports, video games, the usual.” :)
