The stars aligned just right for this Colorado trip to happen and we are so glad that it all unfolded beautifully!
Dan actually had a work trip scheduled in Houston in June, but Dan's family decided to get together in British Columbia at the same time, so Dan did some re-adjusting of work, so that we could go to BC as well. His work trip got re-scheduled for the first week of June, in Colorado!
It also worked out great, because Dan has a companion pass for Southwest, which means when I fly with Dan, I fly free! And we paid June's tickets with points, so it was a free trip to Colorado! How could we not go!?!
Dan and June went to church Sunday Morning, and I stayed home with Owen so he could have his actual nap, and not be cranky on the plane. Best decision we made! Once they got home from church we loaded up the car and headed to the airport!
The flight and traveling all went well enough and we were excited to go see Nana and Papa! June had been asking every single day when we were going, it got to the point where we finally had to make a countdown, so she could see how many days were left! She literally ran into our room on the day we left yelling "It's Nana and Papa day!!!" So she was really excited.
Being such a big girl, holding onto the railing all on her own. She didn't want any help!
Once we got to Colorado, Dan and his co-worker/friend, Adam, took off one direction for their rental car, and the kids and I left with my parents. After some huff and puff over our carseats being lost, we finally gathered all our possessions and headed to my parents mission home! By the time we got home it was around 9pm so the kids were tired and ready for bed. I got them down and settled, my parents finished up some missionary work and then we spent the rest of the night catching up on life.... though I talk to my parents all the time, I still feel like I have so much to catch up on when we are face to face.
The next morning, the kids were up bright and early due to the time zone change, but later then I was expecting which was nice. My dad was already up and at 'em, and he was off doing Missionary business. My mom had a few free minutes and we decided to go walking/running to a park close to their house.
June and Nana jogging on the path. June loves to run. She must have the Mendenhall gene for her love of running!
Once we got to the park, my mom took the kids and let me go run for a bit. I hadn't been running in over a week because I was so sick and plus the altitude change about did me in, so I hardly ran, but I still ran! Counts for something right?!
We then played for a bit at the park.
Nana taught June how to climb across this rope. It made June pretty proud
We came back from the park and got ready for the day. While we got ready, June played with the beloved polly pockets, which were actually mine as a child! I will someday take them home, but for now they are such a special treat at Nana and Papas house.
During quiet/nap time, my dad came home from the mission office, and let me and my mom escape for a couple hours. I didn't get any pictures, but it was great just spending a bit with my mom. We caught up on all the stuff mom and daughters get caught up on and did it over sushi... nothing better.
When we got home, we put up the slip n' slide and played outside for most of the evening.
Still keeps us entertained as he did when I was little. Never a dull moment with my dad.
June got cold and asked to just get comfy cozy with a towel. She was bundled up so snug I had to take a picture. And Owen playing with cars.... What else!
Mission President life is rough! hahaha just kidding! I think this was the only 5 minutes I saw my dad sitting, and he was actually dealing with missionaries at the moment.
We played lots of games, had dinner and got ready for bed.
The next morning, my parents had a meeting so me and the kids got to explore my parents neighborhood by ourselves.
We played with bugs, trying to convince Owen to not squish it!
We drew with chalk and went on a nature scavenger hunt.
And ate lots of otter pops outside.
Being still on Texas time, Owen went down for an early nap, so June and I went out back and had a picnic and watched the clouds float by. It was lovely.
My parents came home from their meetings right as the kids were waking up, so thats when they decided to take the kids to the splash park, and let me have a night with the love of my life.
We had a whole night to ourselves! It was heavenly knowing we didn't have to be back for a babysitter, or call it an early night. We got to just be us two again. We went up to the Denver amphitheater, Dan was in geology heaven! He had been there before, but he always loves explaining different things to me. I actually get more amused by his explanations than I do about the actually geology of it all. Its just so awesome to have him so passionate about his work.
Dan explaining how these rocks are millions of years old.
We then went and looked around some caves
Later that night we went and had dinner, then went to a movie. It was just awesome and I can't thank my parents enough for making that happen. I got to sleep in, and shower without anyone bugging me, crying or needing something. I think I showered for like 45 minutes.
So meanwhile, my parents took the kids to a splash park and let the kids play for a while.
My dad sent us this picture, telling us how he really does miss having little ones around! This has Owen written all over it!
June bug helping Nana fold laundry.
Once I got back to my parents house, Owen was down for a nap, so we just played, my parents got caught up from the night before and then we headed out to the aquarium.
It wasn't busy at all which it felt like we had the place to ourselves! This little otter and June were so cute. He was so intrigued with her! and Vise Versa!
Sting rays
In my 28 years of life, I have never seen an actual real life sea horse, and I just could not get over the cuteness of it! They were so adorable! I want one!
Owen was intimidated at first by all the things surrounding him, but once he got into the tunnel of water, he just seemed to let loose and enjoyed himself.
We could not get over the size of this fish. IT WAS HUGE!!
There were these little domes that you could stick your heads in to feel like you were swimming with the fishes. June loved it, Owen hated it.
Both kids hated the talking gorilla! and I mean Hate!
There were random tigers at this aquarium. Nana and Papa pointing them out. What a Swiss Family Robinson family I have. haha
The shark tank was really cool. They had all different sizes of sharks. Some were pretty big! Bigger than I would have thought would be at an aquarium!
June loved petting the snake! She wanted to take him home and kept telling me how cute he was. For the record: We will never own a snake! Sorry June bug, I have to draw the line somewhere!
After the aquarium Nana and Papa spoiled the kids in the gift shop, and also treated us to dinner at the aquarium, where you get to eat with the fishes.
The kids were wiped out by the time we got home. We got them into the bath and popped some popcorn for them to watch a movie.
The next day we took another walk down to the park. My dad had meetings later that day, so we took advantage of our morning with him and played!
We headed back home, had lunch, put Owen down, and I was sitting on the couch catching up on emails, when I heard June, Nana and Papa all laughing, and yelling... I go outside and they had made up this game with June. I naturally joined in. It was fun.
That night, Dan actually got done with work early, so he met us at my parents house. It was a super awesome, since we didn't think we would see him until Friday night!
I helped my mom get all ready for a missionary leadership meeting they had the next day. We made mini key-lime pies and they turned out so good! I can't wait to try and make them again!! SO EASY TOO!
Friday, My parents headed out early morning for their meeting and would be there all day. So Dan and I took advantage of the day and just had a little mini Lancaster vacation. We took the kids to the zoo.
We had only been there about an hour and it started down pouring! So we went into a restaurant for lunch and waited out the rain. By the time we were done the rain was down to just a trickle, and a lot of people had cleared out, so we basically had the zoo to ourselves! It was awesome! We got to see all the animals up close!
Another busy day and it zonked the kids out
My parents got home from their meeting around five and the kids were awake and happy. We decided to go bowling. June loved it and she loved the arcade even more!
June took this picture. She was pretty proud of herself for it!
We played as many arcade games as we could before it was time to head home and have dinner.
That night we got the kids fed and down for bed. Then that night, my dad grilled up some steaks and we made dinner for just us adults. It was nice to just sit down and talk without kid interruption.
That morning my parents dealt with missionary business and then we headed out to a lake close to their house for a morning walk.
That afternoon my parents headed out to a baptism and we let the kids have naps and quiet time.
Once my parents got back we headed up to George town in the Rocky Mountains. It felt like home.
I love the mountains. Being born and raised near them really made me take them for granted, but after living in the flat nothingness of Texas for 6 years now, I forget how magnificently beautiful they are.
We took this awesome train ride through the mountains! It was so pretty!! and it was really fun riding an authentic train!
June loved that we were going over trestles... Just like in her train books!
This is just a beautiful picture of my mom and Owen. Owen was her bud and didn't leave her side. They were so snuggled together.
After the train, we went into town and had dinner at a little pizza place. It was really good and reminded me so much of West Yellowstone!
*Side note: So I tried to be super sneaky and caught the waitress before she brought our bill to the table.... I hurried and handed her my credit card and she just looked at me and said I can't accept that. I seriously could not figure out why... Then she said it had already been paid for!! AH! SNEAKY PARENTS!!!
They are the worst but also the best!
We got back that night, got the kids settled, and Owen down for bed. Then we played this booger game with June that my parents had gotten. June thought it was a riot! Oh she is still talking about that game! It was pretty funny to play though!
Once June went down to bed, us adults snacked and played marbles. It was a great way to end the trip.
We finished packing up and went to bed ourselves.
Sunday morning came too quickly, and we had to say goodbye. My parents took us to the airport and then we were on our own. The plane ride was good with lots of turbulence. But it went as smooth as possible.
We got home and we all crashed for about 3 hours. We didn't wake up until 6pm. Surprisingly the kids still went to bed at a normal time and Dan and I went to bed not too late either. I guess that just goes to show how exhausted we were.
It was a really fun trip and I'm so glad it happened! I am grateful for my parents and how much time and effort they put in to still being awesome grandparents even though they are so busy being mission presidents. Family is first to them and I love them about them. I'm sure they paid for it this past week trying to catch up!
Thanks again mom and dad for another awesome adventure at the Mendenhall Mission home!
