The Rest of the Rockies!

The rest of our trip to Colorado was pretty relaxing and just spent catching up with family and hanging out. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, played some games, ate yummy food, and just chatted a lot. One of the most notable food-related experiences was when we ate dinner at Olive Garden one night, and Dresden demolished almost an entire plate of calamari. When we went back several nights later, he did the exact same thing. I'm not quite sure what happened, but our normally picky food skeptic had a moment of curiosity and bravery and tried one without even blinking an eye, and then fell in love with them. Let's just hope its the start of a foray into even more food-related variety, past his regular affinity for pizza, chicken nuggets and his all-time favorite, mac n' cheese. Even if not, I'm still proud of him for trying it!

We spent several peaceful hours over the course of the week on the pontoon boat in the reservoir behind the house, and the view was just absolutely breathtaking, of course!

Dresden and Auden with their AWESOME grandparents!

Grandpa let me borrow his hat! That Denver sunshine is bright!

We also celebrated the 4th of July out there. It was pretty low-key, no fireworks for us this year because both kiddos were passed out long before it was time for them, but we got to see them over the trees from the back porch, which was just as beautiful. We also attempted a patriotic family portrait.

Dresden has entered an "unwilling to cooperate for pictures" phase. Joy!

And of course they had to have matching Fourth of July outfits!

I was really happy that one of the days we were also able to go and meet my aunt Margie in Georgetown, CO so that she could meet Miss Auden. It was beautiful up there, and actually pretty chilly. Man, I miss Colorado weather more than anything. We went on the Georgetown Loop Railroad train ride, which was a lot of fun.

Me, Margie and Peanut :-)

The river!

Silly boy waiting for the train

All aboard!

Having fun!

This girl could sleep through anything!

Taking in the scenery

Margie with her great-niece (and regular niece, hehe)!

We were sad to leave Colorado when our trip was at an end. It was just so good to see family and the couple of friends we were able to visit while we were there. And did I mention the weather? There was the amazing, beautiful not-humid, not-115 degree weather.

On our way out, we decided to stop at Garden of the Gods, since Alex had taken pictures of Dresden there three years ago before we moved away. It was just as beautiful and impressive as always.

The little boy, all grown up

We had one more nature stop once we were back in Texas but still a long way from home. The Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo, Texas is second to the Grand Canyon in size. It was absolutely incredible, so we hiked around there a little bit until a certain little boy had had enough of the heat!

My little hiking buddies

I am looking forward to many more trips to Colorado in the future. Alex and I really want to make sure the kids have an appreciation for nature and the outdoors, which is really difficult to do in Texas because of the heat and lack (mostly) of any really pretty scenery, so we imagine we will be taking many more road trips back to the place of Dresden's birth. We really do love it there and miss it a lot. In the meantime we are tackling Texas hikes in the cooler months and early mornings as much as we possibly can!

Until next time Colorado!

Love,

Cassie