Colorado, Part 7

 Before we move on, this picture is very important, because every single minute that we were at the Kemmerlins' house, this is what AK and Lucas were doing...

They were like peas in a pod. They both loved playing "ranch" the entire week.

We drove back from Crested Butte on Friday, and decided to go visit the Air Force Academy. One of the things that AK really wanted to do in Colorado was ride horses, and the Academy had some stables where the kids could ride...

Cutest cowboys ever.

There was also a small petting zoo...

An ironic outfit.

And before we left the Academy we explored a little.

Checking on Owen after he took a little spill...

Aaaaannnndd...he's good.

Vera was still a little concerned about Owen's boo-boo.

 Quite possibly the cutest three-year-olds on the planet.

Sweet sweet friends.

I totally forgot to mention that when we were (not) hiking Pike's Peak with the girls (but thought that we were), AK lost her very first tooth!!!!

Sweet baby Georgia...

And then there was Saturday. We could not leave Colorado without one more jump on the trampoline...

One epic water balloon fight...

And one more dance party.

We left CO early in the afternoon, and pulled into Summerville around 10:00 the next morning, where we got to go to Bo and Bonnie's church. Spencer even got to jump in last minute and fill in for their bass player who was not there, which was kind of funny to watch since he didn't know most of the songs and, well, we had driven all night long.

What a blessing this trip was. First to get to go to this beautiful part of the country, and even better, to be able to share the whole experience with sweet, sweet friends. We are so thankful for this experience!

Colorado, Part 6

Thursday morning we once again rose before dawn, dumped sleeping children into the vans, and this time headed off toward Crested Butte, where Amanda's brother lives, to get a different taste of the Rockies.

On the way we saw some beautiful views.

And we crossed the Continental Divide! That was pretty cool!

When we got to Crested Butte, we headed to the beautiful Lake Irwin.

We spent the rest of the afternoon paddle boarding and enjoying the lake, along with Amanda's sister in law Simone and niece Sloane.

AK and Lucas lending a hand to pump up the boards...

It was too much for Amanda. She had to hop on a paddle board, even though she was wearing a baby.

Simone had to put up with an enormous "seaweed" collection from AK and Lucas.

That evening all the grown-ups surprised Spencer and me with tickets to a performance by a concert pianist. They sent us off to enjoy a date night while they took care of supper and bedtime for all the kids!

While we were out enjoying the evening, Simone helped Claire and Val make brownies...

The kids ate supper on the deck (Look at that view!!!!!)...

Then played...

And then had bedtime stories!

Crested Butte ended up being such a sweet little unexpected road trip. We were so happy to be able to enjoy a little time in another beautiful part of Colorado!