Jayden's Birthday Weekend

Sunday, September 26, 2010

On Thursday night Grammy, Angela, and Jayden arrived at our house for a weekend of birthday celebrations.  We spent the day Friday running errands and watching the boys play.  Friday after work Mark got to town and we all headed over to Daddy Steve and Namaw's for the first birthday celebration of the weekend...Mike! 

Saturday was a rainy day.  They boys played inside, Mike and Mark alternated between playing with the kids and watching college football games, and Grammy, Angela, & I had some girl time!  On Saturday night we celebrated Mark's birthday.

After we put the kids to bed, Grammy, Angela, and I went to work decorating the cake for Jayden's basketball themed birthday party.

 

The birthday party was this afternoon at Chuck E Cheese's.  We were shocked when we pulled up and could hardly find a parking space!  I couldn't believe how many people were there!  We actually had to wait in a line (that went out the door and down the sidewalk) just to get inside!  It may have been mass chaos in there, but the kids didn't seem to notice and they still had a blast!

I think Jayden's birthday cake turned out so cute!

Some of the Chuck E Cheese action....

(Barrett thought it was really cool when he was driving a car with Chuck E Cheese as his passenger and it took his picture and printed it!)

I wasn't surprised to find Jayden shooting basketballs.

 

We attempted to get a group picture with Chuck E Cheese, but this was the best we could do.  Did I mention it was mass chaos?!?

Mike and I were the brave ones who sat at the kids table.  I feel sorry for the workers who have to clean under the tables.  (Oh wait...I think I do that on a daily basis at our house.  Such is the life of families without a dog.)

Did I mention that I was there too?  lol

 

Jayden was really excited about the present Kara (Mark's sister) gave him.  It was so cute when he went to give her an Eskimo kiss!

Before long Jayden tired of opening presents.  Brody was more than willing to take his place!  Brody opened the rest of his presents for him and I think he was as excited about them as if they were his own! 

After presents and cake (which I forgot to mention that the only part of the cake Jayden and Barrett wanted to eat were the M&M's.  They ignored the cake itself and just started picking off all the M&M's! lol) the kids went back to play more games.  Did you know that Jayden can even turn skeet ball into a basketball game?

We tried to get a picture of the cousins in the Chuck E Cheese car, but (as you can tell from this picture) we waited too long.  They were already worn out and ready to leave by the time we attempted the photo.  Jayden looks like he's already asleep, Barrett is probably screaming that he wants to "do it myself", and Brody is looking on with a "what just happened?" expression.

 

Everyone enjoyed the quiet car ride home and then it was time for one last present for Jayden (from Grammy).  Can you tell that he thinks he's pretty cool stuff when he's driving his motorized Lightning McQueen car?

 

Mark's heading back home tonight, but we have one more day to play with Jayden (and Grammy  & Angela).  It's been a fun weekend.  We're glad we got to be a part of celebrating Jayden's 2nd birthday!

When the boss is out of town on his birthday...

his team doesn't forget about it...it just gives them more time to decorate his office!!!!!  You think Mike was a little shocked when he opened his office door on Tuesday morning (September 21st) to find this waiting for him? (click on the collage to see it in more detail)

 

Hilarious!  He was a good sport and left it up all day long.  They wrapped EVERYTHING in pink paper (his computer mouse, monitor, stapler, everything)!  He said it took him well over an hour to take it all down on Wednesday.

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!)

I should've been a detective

Saturday, September 18, 2010

After we put the kids to bed tonight, Mike got on the computer to book a hotel room for us tomorrow night.  We decided to drive all the way to Amarillo and stay the night there.  As he went to finish booking the room he looked at me and asked the question that makes your heart stop when you're on vacation, "Have you seen my wallet?"

We searched everywhere.  All of his pant pockets, our luggage, the cars he'd ridden in today, the couches, and all over the house.  It was nowhere to be found.  The last time he remembered having it was at the pizza place in Leadville.  I hurried to find the number of the pizza place and then waited on the phone while the employee checked the grassy area around the picnic table where we ate lunch.  Nope.  Not there.  Where else could it be?  Where else did he go today?  Arg.  Willis Gulch! 

We hiked around Willis Gulch for hours this afternoon.  He said that his back pocket is kinda shallow and if it doesn't get buttoned all the way it'd be easy for the wallet to work it's way out.  He and Ben talked about all the rocks that we climbed around and over...and the river that we walked through.  Julie and I finally convinced the guys to get their headlamps and go retrace our footsteps from earlier today.  If they didn't find it, they could go back in the daylight, but if they did find it we'd all sleep better tonight!

After they left I started looking at some of the pictures I'd taken today.  I was viewing them on the camera, so sometimes I'd zoom in to see details better.  All of the sudden I remembered back to the time that Brody lost his hat at Cabela's.  I was able to use pictures I'd taken of the boys in the store to see exactly where Brody'd lost his hat!  I started looking back at pictures of Mike throughout the day today to see if I could see his wallet in his back pocket.  It was most definitely there when we were eating pizza at High Mountain Pies.  The next pictures were of us hiking around Willis Gulch.  I could see it in his back pocket (if you look back at the pictures from Willis Gulch you'll notice that I was following behind the guys most of the time...so no, I was not taking tons of pictures of Mike's butt...but if I zoomed in on the picture of him hiking up the trail I could see his back pocket!)

I could tell that the wallet was in his back pocket after we crossed the river and that it was possibly still there while he was skipping rocks (but couldn't tell for sure).  After that I could tell that his pocket was empty.  Just as I picked up my phone to call and tell them where to look, I got a text that said, "Found it!"  I called to ask where it was and it just so happens that it was on the other side of the river (remember me telling you about how cold it was to cross the river while the sun was beating down on us?  I'm glad I didn't go with them and have to cross that river in the dark!  Brrrrr!).  When they got to the other side of the river, the wallet was lying on the ground by where the guys were skipping rocks! 

Am I good or what?!?  I should've been a detective.  Of course, I'd have to work on my timing.  If I'd gotten a hold of them before they found it, I'd've looked like a genius!  Instead, we'll praise the Lord and thank him for helping the guys find a wallet...in the dark...in the middle of the wilderness!

Rocky Mountain Birthday Party

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Are you ready to see our family picture in Colorado?  Here it is.........

That's right.  The only picture we have of all four of us is when Mike was blowing out the candles on his birthday cake!  So sad!!!  (not the birthday...the fact that we didn't get a family picture)  Tonight we celebrated Mike's birthday (which is actually tomorrow, but since we'll be on the road most of the day tomorrow, we'd thought it'd be more fun to celebrate tonight!)
After dinner and cake, the kids spent some quality time in the hot tub.  The views from the hot tub are awesome.  See the water through the trees?  That's Twin Lakes.  Yep, you can see them from the hot tub! 

The kids all loved playing the hot tub.  Julie took Mikayla's pig tails out before she got in the water.  It cracks me up how her hair wants to be in pig tails even without the rubber bands!  I think Malachi was trying to make all the other kids laugh in this picture.  It worked for Barrett!

Before bed, Brody and Malachi had to fight one more battle.  I tell ya, they've played with their stick guns more than any other toy!

 

It was a little sad putting the kids to bed tonight knowing that this is our last night at Hind's Feet.  We've had so much fun with Ben & Julie and, as always, it's been too short!

Staci in Colorado

Saturday, September 18, 2010

While at Willis Gulch, I found a mound of rocks that were surrounded by aspens.  The sunlight was shimmering off the leaves of the aspens and was so vibrant!  I tried to convince Brody to let me take some pictures of him with Mike for Daddy's desk at work, but he was more interested in skipping rocks in the river.  Since Brody didn't want to have anything to do with pictures, I handed the camera to Mike and asked him to take my picture!  He went Austin Powers on me and took about 40 pictures!  I bet this is the most pictures I've been in on one of our vacations (of course, it's all in one place! lol)  Here are some of my favorite.  (Please ignore the raccoon eyes.  You know those big, bug-eyed sunglasses that I strongly dislike?  Well...when you get sunburned they leave really big raccoon eyes on your face!)

Which one do you think I should print to put on Mike's desk at work?

 

 

Willis Gulch

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Julie volunteered to stay at Hind's Feet with the little kids during nap time so that I could go on a hike with Mike, Ben, Brody, & Malachi.  We drove to a place called Willis Gulch and hiked around the river for several hours.  It was here that we captured the most beautiful pictures of our entire trip.  I can't even explain how breathtaking God's creation was at Willis Gulch!  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking...

 

The bridge was out so we had to wade across the river.  Can you say brrrrrrrrrr?!?!?  Don't be fooled by Mike and Brody's attire.  It's not a hot summer day here.  It was a beautiful day (I think it was 70 in the sun), but I was in a long sleeve shirt and the river chilled me to the bone!  I think my feet were numb for awhile after crossing.

 

Ben and Malachi climbed down a rock embankment to get closer to the whitewater part of the river.  Malachi was stoked about it!

Brody stayed up on the trail with me and Mike.

Before we crossed back over the river to go home, the little boys started throwing rocks in the river.  It wasn't long before the big boys joined in.  They threw little rocks, threw HUGE rocks, and had stone skipping contests.  I'm not sure what the fascination is about throwing rocks in water.  It must be a guy thing.  I sat there watching them for at least 1/2 hour before they finally decided they were ready to hike again!

After several hours of hiking around Willis Gulch, we decided to head back to Hind's Feet to check on Julie and the little ones and help make dinner.  (Doesn't the Jeep look like it belongs in the mountains?)

 

Leadville

Saturday, September 18, 2010

This morning we decided to venture to Leadville.  I don't think Mike's legs were up to an early morning hike.  He's sore from climbing Pyramid yesterday!  The first stop was the National Fish Hatchery.  (Sorry for all the sunspots.  I was having trouble avoiding them!)

It's simple.  You pay a quarter for fish food...

then you throw it in the water and watch the hundreds of fish flop all over each other to try to be the first one to the food!

It was rather entertaining.  I liked to throw one piece at a time and watch the fish fight over it while Brody would throw his whole handfull and feed lots of fish at once.

 

We walked through the informative museum and then climbed back in the vehicles for a scenic drive to Leadville.  Mike and Ben had taken the t-tops off the Jeep after climbing Pyramid Peak yesterday and the wind was pretty cold blowing on us as we drove.  The boys were huddled under a sleeping bag in the back seat while I had the heater turned on full blast on me!

The next stop was the new playground in Leadville. 

Next to the playground were some soccer fields.  Malachi had a friend playing in one of the games, so the guys took the kids down to watch the game.  I don't know how anyone could focus on playing a soccer game when the views around them are so overwhelmingly breathtaking?!  It was here that Julie and I left Mike and Ben with all the kids (except Sylvia) to head into town and get some coffee. 

Julie and I got coffee from a local coffee shop (one of our traditions...although it's usually Bongo Billy's in BV or Metropolitan Coffee in KS) and then meandered through the little shops downtown.  While we were walking we started noticing people setting up lounge chairs and blocking off streets.  We finally stopped and asked someone what was going on.  The response had us both laughing so hard!  The stranger said, "Well, we always have so much snow here on St. Patrick's Day that we can't have a parade.  So, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day in September rather than March.  You're just in time for our St. Patty's parade!"  What?!?  Have you ever heard of a town regularly celebrating a holiday on a day other than what's stated on the calendar.  Hilarious! 

 

Way before we were ready, we started getting texts from the guys saying that the kids were hungry for lunch.  We met up with them at the #1 restaurant in Leadville (according to yahoo)...High Mountain Pies.  It didn't compare to Ben's brick oven pizzas, but it was good.  The inside was overflowing with people (probably everyone celebrating St. Patrick's Day!), so we sat out back.  Julie and I got a kick out of the restaurant's playground.  There was a little slide and then two random frisbee golf baskets (is that what you call the holes in frisbee golf?  I can't remember.)  I'm guessing the frisbee golf is for the employees to use on their break rather than for little kids to use.  Can you imagine what the other diners would've thought if we handed Brody and Malachi frisbees and let them throw in the backyard dining area? 

 

After pizza, we headed back to Hind's Feet for much needed naps for the little ones.