We decided to take advantage of Rebecca's maternity leave this summer and go out to Colorado. It's the first time on 6 years that we've been able to go and I cannot begin to tell you how excited we were to go. After a long, 2-day drive with a stopover in Kansas City, we finally made it out there and were immediately overwhelmed with just how much we'd missed it.
Probably the best part of the trip was that we got to stay with our good friend, Jamie, her generous parents, Dave and Barb and Jamie's adorable children: Trinity, Will, Katrina and Anthony. We were also getting to see Jamie's sister, Kristie, and her 4 children: Josiah, Paige, Tyler and their newborn, Eve, who is a whole 16 days older than Irene. Our kids immediately bonded with theirs and were nearly inseparable the whole time we were there.
Of course, we couldn't go to Colorado without taking as many hikes as possible. The first one was in
Castlewood Canyon State Park, near Franktown.
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| The whole gang of walking children. There were 3 more that were being carried. :) |
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| Ezra got a helping hand or two from the older girls. |
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| The old Castlewood Dam. It was built in the late 1800s and failed in the early 1900s, causing one of the worst floods in Denver's history. |
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| The kids decided they wanted to walk back down the canyon in the stream. |
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| There were some snakes in the creek, but they seemed to only want the fish. :) |
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| We spent a while letting the kids splash in one of the pools along the creek. |
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| Gabe and Anthony became fast friends almost from the beginning. They spent every minute either playing with Legos or talking about what they were going to build with them when they got home. :) |
