Happy 14th Wedding Anniversary!!!!

Anniversary celebration

Jeff & I returned this evening from our wonderful weekend in Summit County, CO. We left at 3pm on Friday and headed to Cordillera Lodge & Spa in Edwards, CO. When we passed Loveland, we noticed they were making snow, so I HAD to call Terry to tell him. He was 6 feet below ground in a hole working on something at Cascade Mountain, but of course he answered the phone. We had a nice chat until I lost service driving through the mountains. The lodge was amazing... gorgeous views, fabulous service and beautifully decorated rooms. We had dinner Friday night at the hotel restaurant and it was the most delicious dinner Jeff & I have had in a very long time. On Saturday morning, I enjoyed a facial (my first ever!) at the spa. It was so relaxing and my skin felt as soft as a baby when I was done. After that, we headed into Vail for some shopping and lunch. Next, we headed to a small mountain town called Red Cliff to ride ATV's. After riding for 10 minutes, we discovered we had a flat tire, so we had to head back to the ranch to exchange our ride. Once we got that taken care of, it was smooth riding. We enjoyed beautiful scenery and found some mud & snow to get us dirty (that made Jeff very happy). We had such a fun time tooling around on ATV's in the mountains. We stopped at Gore Ranch Brewery for dinner (very yummy!) and then hit the local movie theatre to see Couples Retreat (funny!). On Sunday, we sadly checked out of our hotel room. We headed to Wolcott, CO for our last adventure of the weekend... zip lining!!! Let me just say that the thought of zip lining is much scarier than actually doing it. Once you get a feel for how well the harness holds you in, you get over the fear. It was awesome to look down into the canyon and take in the beauty of the area. Of course, I was snapping pictures & video along the way... I just can't help myself! We headed back to Vail for lunch where we found a sports bar so we could watch the Broncos game while we ate. After a little more shopping, we headed back home. The kids were excited to see us and told us how great Aunt Julie had been all weekend. THANK YOU, JULIE, FOR HELPING US TO ENJOY OUR ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND!!! We had a fabulous time!

Back to Vail!!!

Jeff & I are heading back to Vail, Colorado where we spent our honeymoon almost 14 years ago!!! Julie is literally on a plane right now so she can spend the weekend with the chitlins while we have some much-needed couple time. We really appreciate her generosity for allowing us to have this time together. We have plans to stay at a very nice lodge & spa. I have a facial planned for Saturday morning... I can't wait! It will be my first time, but Julie has assured me that I will enjoy it thoroughly! On Sunday, we are going ziplining. I am THRILLED about this exciting opportunity. Here is the website for the ziplining place. Watch the video!

http://www.zipadventures.com/

As of right now, we don't think Jeff has pneumonia so we shouldn't have to spend any time in the ER like we did on our first trip to Vail! Knock on wood, baby!!!

I'll post pictures when we return on Sunday. Woo Hoo!!!

Sleepy Joshie

Alex came upstairs to go to bed and insisted I go downstairs. This is what I found in the basement...



My Joshie... fast asleep in the bin of blankets. At least he found a comfy spot!!!

A mini-vacation

We took a weekend trip to Glenwood Springs and had a fabulous time! The drive through Glenwood Canyon is amazingly beautiful. Mattea thoroughly enjoyed driving through the tunnels and made us hold our breath every time. (Of course, she doesn't realize holding her breath means she should also be plugging her nose!!!) We spent some time late Friday night at the indoor waterpark after we got checked into our hotel. The water was chilly, but once we got used to it, we all had a blast!

On Saturday, we took a tram from our hotel up the mountain to the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. What a fun place... there was something for everyone! We got day passes, so we were able to do everything (except the cave tour) as many times as we wanted. We DEFINITELY got our money's worth!!! We climbed the rock wall, did the bungee trampoline, ran thru the maze in record time, conquered the Speleo box, took aim at the shooting range, rode on the Canyon Flyer alpine coaster, swung out over the canyon on the Swing Shot, took the cave tour, watched a 4D movie, played laser tag, rode Demon the mechanical bull and watched a gun fight. We rode the tram back down around dinner time to chill in the hotel and grab a bite to eat. We all decided that we wanted a few more rides on the alpine coaster and the kids wanted to bounce again on the bungee trampoline, so we headed back up the mountain. We literally closed the place down. We were on the very last alpine coaster ride of the day!!! We will definitely go back there again another time.

On Sunday, the kids hit the waterpark again until it was time to check out of the hotel. We opted to skip our planned hike to Hanging Lake. As wonderful as it sounded, we knew the kids were exhausted and it would have been too much to pack into the weekend. We will go back again sometime and do the hike because we have heard it's amazing. On our way back home, we stopped in Vail. Ahhhh... the memories. I took Jeff's picture next to the Vail Valley Medical Center emergency sign since we had spent so much time there almost 14 years ago on our honeymoon!!! Josh took our picture in front of the Marriott that we stayed in and then we did some shopping. I insisted that we go home with Vail t-shirts since we hadn't gotten any 14 years ago!

It's always nice to be back home, but I sure wish the weekends were longer!

Signs of Summer

Oh Mattea...

So, Mattea and I are heading out to get some McD's. She asks if she can put on her "clicky" shoes. Since we will be using the drive-thru, I say "Sure, you can." She puts them on and then we have this conversation...

Mattea: "I feel like I'm going with a boy."
Me: "What do you mean? Like a date?"
Mattea: "Yeah. Can you be the boy?"

Oh Mattea...