Leaving Colorado

Sunday, September 19, 2010

I'm not sure that it was good planning to end our vacation on Mike's birthday!  It's not fun to have to leave Colorado on your birthday!  We were sad to have to say goodbye to Ben, Julie, Malachi, Mikayla, and Sylvia...especially since we don't know when we'll see them again.  Of course, Julie and I talk on the phone...but it's just not the same as hanging out in person!  We will not let 3 years go by without seeing each other this time! 

Me and Julie (one of the best friends God has EVER blessed me with!)

One last look at the view of the mountains from Hind's Feet...

And then we were on the road again.  As we drove by Twin Lakes I took a few more pictures out the window...

 

As we were driving towards Buena Vista, we gave Barrett and Brody the souvenir bears that we'd bought for them.  Barrett's is a fishing bear (to remind him of fishing with Daddy) and Brody's is a soft black bear that says CO on it.

As we drove through Buena Vista, we couldn't resist stopping at Bongo's.  This is the coffee shop that Julie always takes me to for coffee.  I wanted to buy one of their french press mugs (and of course some coffee for me and Mike for the road!)

Before long the mountains were just an outline on the horizon in our rear view mirror.  Sigh. 

The boys fell asleep for a little while, so we forged ahead and didn't stop for lunch until 3:00 pm (CST) when we were south of Pueblo.  We stopped at a Taco Bell and Barrett was very thankful for his burrito!

 

Brody, on the other hand, was very sad.  He had a good cry in the car and would start to tear up every time we mentioned Malachi.  He told us that Malachi is one of his best friends and that he's really going to miss playing with him!

 

We finally pulled into Amarillo around 8 pm and gave in to the kids pleas for McDonald's for dinner.  We took the food back to our hotel room and before long the kids were sound asleep. 

Tomorrow we'll drive the rest of the way home.  The boys are already talking about how excited they are to see Daddy Steve and Namaw (who were gone on vacation the week before we left for CO, so the boys haven't seen them in over 2 weeks). 

We have had so much fun together as a family.  Before we left for Colorado, Mike and I were a little nervous about how the boys would do on a looooong drive, camping in the woods, and having interrupted sleep schedules.  They were amazing!  They were great in the car, loved camping, and slept when they were tired.  Of course there where times where they whined and cried...but no more than a normal day at home.  It's been fun to spend so much time together free from the distractions of our normal, every day life.  We can't wait to do it again!

(P.S.  This also means the end of beautiful, landscape pictures.  Rustic Roots will now return to the regularly scheduled posts featuring photos where the main subjects tend to be our children.  Until next time, that's all folks!)