Back in Colorado... With Style!

We rolled into Colorado around 2:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon, welcomed home by a lonely dad and the same summer thunderstorms we'd left behind! After unpacking an overly stuffed minivan, my mom and I had a tight turnaround and had to head over to the gym where I'd agreed to sub two classes for a friend. After two weeks of vacation, it was just the kick in the pants I needed!

That night we lit off a few fireworks leftover from the 4th of July-- much to my children's delight. This was Elizabeth's expression while watching them. I think she was concerned, but mostly curious!

Welcome home to Colorado! This was our grand finale that Zach had picked out, called the "Haunted House." It was pretty cool! I gotta say, although I love to travel nothing beats sleeping in your own bed. We spent the next few days taking care of business! Running errands, an overdue Costco trip, getting pedicures (suuuuper important), tending the garden, and enjoying Grandma Joanie for another day or two.

She had to fly out Wednesday night, so I thought it was entirely appropriate for us to have a one-on-one brunch date to Snooze since she'd put up with the 5 of us on THE longest road trip ever. It's a killer breakfast nook just north of us, with amazing eggs Benedict combinations and the best hot chocolate we'd ever tried.  

That afternoon we took the kids to see the Littleton History Museum, which is free, and boasts working-farms from 1860 and 1890. This was a real one-room schoolhouse from that era, and Lucy thought it was so cool-- just like Little House on the Prairie! 

Checking out the little homestead with its primitive kitchen appliances. It was really well furnished with so many great antiques-- it really made you think about life back then, especially with no air conditioning! Phew!

There were 8 little piglets in the 1890's farmyard that were so cute! Stinky, but cute. We headed back home and Grandma made us her famous French crepes for dinner. She flew out that night amidst the Southwest debacle-- and finally made it to Boise a mere 4 hours later than scheduled (at 3 a.m.). Incidentally, Whitney would have crossed paths with her in the sky had things gone according to plan, since she flew into Denver (on Frontier) that night as well-- arriving at 11 p.m.

We went for long walks in the morning, she sewed a quilt as part of her "30 Before 30" challenge, she played with the kids, cooked us dinner every night like a boss, pumped it up in my Friday class, and we even knocked out a few rounds of Bohnanza. On Friday night Jon let us get dinner just the two of us-- as a favor since Whitney would be watching all 4 kids on Saturday night for he and I to go on a date. We went to a super random foodie find called "Fins and Noodles" which featured Italian seafood. I got the second best sandwich in a competition that included all of Colorado!

Cheese!

The next day Jon had to work until 5, so Whitney helped me take the kids to Zach's little league game, and then to lunch at Chick fil A. They sure love their Auntie Whitney! 

That afternoon Leah helped me pick some squash. It is exploding out of its planter box and we came home to 4 zucchini and 2 summer squash. 

Our tomato trees plants are exploding as well-- taller than the fence now and waaaay taller than Leah. It's amazing how much they grew just while we were gone! Now if every tomato we have growing on there ripens and gets picked, we'll have hundreds!

That night Jon and I went to Cirque du Soleil in downtown Denver while Whitney babysat. I'd always wanted to go when we lived in Las Vegas, but we never made it, so when Jon was offered free tickets from a dental specialist, of course we said "yes!" 

The set and music were absolutely BEAUTIFUL, although the story was kind of a dud. It was based around the movie "Avatar," and had lots of potential but the general consensus from us and reviews we'd read afterwards seemed to be that it was kinda boring. We wanted more death-defying stunts and feats of gravity!

Intermission selfie!

At least the final scene was so beautiful! The picture doesn't do it justice, but I personally would watch it again just to see all the different sets... Jon, not so much...

Sunday afternoon we all headed to 1 p.m. church and then Whitney helped me make a yummy Sunday dinner with our fresh garden herbs and veggies. Jeremy and Kylene came over with their kids and we played Whitney's new game "Code Names." It was a fun night!

Monday, Whitney was meeting up with a friend in the afternoon who lives downtown, so she decided before she left indefinitely we needed to find the best burger in Denver. After some help from Google,  in two separate lists, Larkburger was ranked in the top 5. It's a burger bar that started up in Vail, CO, and there are now a couple locations around Denver-- with one right by the temple.   

So we tried it out. And I'm glad we did! They're whole schtick is that that everything is super fresh and homemade-- from the bun, to the pickles, to the real Tillamook cheese. It was a great lunch date to cap off another amazing visit from Auntie Whitney. She headed back to Phoenix to get ready to teach another year of school, and we are trying to make the most of the last few days of summer, as well as get back into a semi-decent routine before the school bomb hits us August 8th!