Pumpkin Fun

Can you guess what we did last weekend with the grand kids???  What fun we had watching the kids carve their pumpkins and the priceless expressions on their faces!!

Rayna did an excellent job carving her pumpkin - it's nice that she's old enough to do it all by herself!

I stood by and took pictures but Papa  got right into it with the kids!  We even listened to Monster Mash to get us all in the mood!

Kylan was so proud of his pumpkin - his smile is priceless with those 2 missing teeth!

The finished projects with the lights on.................

And with the lights off!

The guys' special day had finally arrived - they were headed to the Broncos game against the Washington Redskins!!  It was a gorgeous day out and they all had a great time, especially with a Broncos' win!!

We headed to the park early afternoon - the leaves in Denver are still beautiful and we all had fun playing in them!

Our action picture of the day - thanks Jessi for catching it with the camera!

Parker got ahead of me as we were walking back from the park - it sure made for a cute picture!!

I took all of the kids to Dairy Queen for their Halloween treat - Parker gobbled his ice cream in a bowl rather quickly and when he finished, started shaking!  I think he just got so cold since he ate it so fast and he just couldn't stop shaking!!  All in all it was pretty funny but Jaime ended up taking him out in the sun so he would stop!

What a fun weekend spending some special time with the grand kids!

Ft Collins Pumpkin Patch

For Robby and Jill's 10th anniversary, we gave them the choice of a nights' stay in a hotel or a granite vanity - they chose the vanity!!

 

When Jill was down the last time, she had picked out the stone she wanted and since it's so far up there, we decided to go ahead and do both bathrooms with the stone - they really turned out nice and we loaded up the new pickup with both pieces and headed to Ft. Collins last weekend!

 

It was fun to ride in the new truck and try out all the gadgets - it took me a while to figure out the programming on the Sirrus radio but I finally did!!

 

Since Robby had a computer job to do on Saturday morning, the rest of us headed to the Pumpkin Patch - I guess we should have checked the weather a little better as we just wore jackets and when we got out there, we realized we really DID need another layer and some hats and mittens - it was DARN cold out!!

 

The pumpkin patch was held at a local farm and the best part about it was that it was FREE!!  I loved all the fall colors with the pumpkins, gourds and fall bounty!!

With coffee in hand, we decided to go ahead and do the hayride as one of our first things since there was NO line and it was only $1.00 apiece to ride - the wagons circled around the corn field and it was actually quite a long ride!

There was a cute hay maze for the kids and they loved running between the bales!

Huge farm tires made for a cute photo!

There were wagons available for you to take to the fields if you wanted to pick out your own pumpkin or pick some of the vegetables!  We didn't need it but Aleah and Parker had fun pulling it around for a while!

I LOVE these huge sunflowers!!

Nothing says fall better than a box full of gourds!!!  Doesn't Aleah look cute sitting with them?

They also had a small area with some farm animals and some play things for the kids to play on - by this time the sun had come out so we decided to sit at their picnic tables and eat our lunch that we had brought - food always tastes better outside!!

This wagon was all set up for pictures!!

After we arrived back at the house, the kids went down for naps and Glenn and Robby started in on the granite - they installed one Saturday afternoon and the other one on Sunday morning.  They had thought they would do tile back splash but then decided on granite back splash so now we must try and find some to match and get it fabricated for them!!

Football was on that evening so after an excellent turkey dinner, Jill and I headed to the basement to watch a movie that we both cried at!!

Jill and the kids and I did church Sunday morning while the guys worked and then during nap time, slipped away to do a little shopping.  We went to Maurice's at the mall to find some jeans for Jill - I have never been SO impressed with a store!!!  After holding what jeans we wanted to try on, a nice gal came over and asked our names and then said she would put our stuff in dressing rooms for us.   And when we were ready to try on, we went over to the rooms and our names were written on cute chalkboards on the doors to our dressing rooms!!  But that wasn't the best part!  After we had tried on and really didn't find the right fit, the sales gal came over and asked us what we needed and proceeded to bring us jeans after jeans to try on - it was wonderful!!!  She also suggested sizes and brands we probably would have never tried on and that's what we ended up buying - a great experience jean shopping and I will definitely go back there again!!

We left at the Broncos half time to head home and luckily traffic wasn't too bad so we made good time!!  Thanks Robby and Jill for a great weekend!!!

Our First Step Towards Retirement!!

Remember when I said Glenn and I both went to the airport that snowy morning?  He was flying to Idaho to drive home our new 2013 Dodge 2500 Ram Truck!!  Take a peek - it is one pretty truck!!

 

Glenn and I have never owned a new vehicle since we've been married!  And we had decided that once we retired, we wanted a new truck to pull a 5th wheel and a boat - after talking to our tax lady, she suggested buying that truck now and leasing it to the company for a tax write off!!  What a perfect solution!!

So Glenn researched what he wanted and we did go truck shopping a couple times in Co. Springs but found that they weren't willing to lower their prices much so we ended up buying one from Idaho at a price lower than in Colorado!

The truck is a Laramie so has every option on it you can imagine - heated and cooled bucket leather seats with even heated seats in the back, a sun roof, large computer screen with navigation on it and the ability to program everything on that screen, a plug in for your computer while you're traveling, and the list goes on and on!!  2 things we did have  put on were the spray in bed liner and the step rails for me to climb on when I get into the truck!!  The stereo system is awesome and I can't wait to take my IPOD and use it when we travel!!

Glenn loves his new truck and he even looks good behind the wheel!

High Rise Shopping in Chicago

It's a good thing I take pictures on a trip or I would never remember what I did!!

 

We slept in Sunday morning and then rushed around to get out the door to take the subway to the other end of the Magnificent Mile!  The subway system still amazes me and I guess if you lived in the city and took it all the time, it would be easy - but it was confusing for me and I'm glad Teri could figure out how to buy the tickets and get where we're going!!

 

We got on the last car of the subway and noticed there was only one guy sitting there so thought it would be a great place to sit - NOT!!  As soon as we sat down, there in front of us on the seat and mostly on the floor is a pile of vomit - yikes - not a great way to start the morning!!

 

Breakfast was at an extremely popular and busy place - we chose to sit outside where we could get served faster and the meal was excellent!!  Then it was off to Sprinkles, a cupcake place where we picked out a couple of cupcakes to the tune of $3.50 apiece to take back to the room and later enjoy!  Who knew that cupcakes would become so popular????

 

Instead of coffee this morning, Teri took us to Ghiradelli's Chocolate where we all ordered a different type of cocoa and sat in the sun and enjoyed it!!  They had every type of chocolate imaginable in this place and I could have easily bought a LOT of chocolate there but I refrained!!

 

Next was just walking down the street and peeking into all of the fancy stores!!  We walked into a few like Saks and Tiffany's but actually felt quite out of place!!  Patty found a dress that sold for around $5700  and we would have looked further but a nice gentleman was standing there watching every move we made - kind of unnerving.............

One shop was American Made things and this wall of old sewing machines was something else!!  I've never seen so many in one place before!!

It was strange going into stores and knowing that instead of being all spread out on one level, the places were tall and skinny and went up!!  WAY UP!!  A lot of them had at least 12 floors!!

After all that walking, we needed something sweet so stopped and indulged in ice cream - yum!!

The old building below is one of the few remaining buildings that survived the Chicago fire - it's strange to see that against the modern skyscrapers.

We actually dressed up a little bit late afternoon and walked to the oldest Italian restaurant in Chicago - the atmosphere was delightful - the drinks were great (I had Sangria) - and the Italian food was yummy!  We toasted to Patty's upcoming birthday and we all shared tiramisu for dessert.

And then we were off to see The Book of Mormon - going to a Broadway musical is always fun and getting to see one in Chicago was really special!!  The singing and dancing was fantastic - language was a little rough at times - but all in all we thoroughly enjoyed the production!!  What a fun evening it was!!

After walking back to our hotel, we decided to have a drink in the bar - I think the copper on the bar was a little much for my camera, considering it was pretty dark in there!!

Tired but happy, we all slept great that night and woke up knowing that the suitcases had to be packed!!  We found a great little place for breakfast and then walked a couple more blocks to get some coffee before our last walk around the park!!

More cute art work - whoever thinks up these creative ideas??

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the subway station again where Patty and I said our goodbyes to Teri - she headed to take the train and Patty and I headed to the Chicago airport!

We arrived way earlier than what we needed to but enjoyed having some lunch and just visiting!  Patty's plane kept getting delayed every time we looked and by the time I boarded my plane for Denver, I thought she would be stuck there for another couple hours!!  But they did find another plane and she actually got home the same time as she expected to!!

What a great 4 day weekend with 2 of the best sisters ever!!!  Lots of memories to relive and more to look forward too!!

Touring Chicago

Saturday was TOUR DAY!  But not before breakfast...............Teri suggested eating at the Corner Bakery for breakfast and I'm glad she did - it was excellent!!  We found that by usually ordering just 2 items and splitting them, we didn't end up with hardly any leftovers and also didn't feel absolutely stuffed!!  It was warm enough to sit outside which is always an added bonus!

 

Our first stop was at the bean - at least that's what Teri calls it!!  It's part of the artwork in Millennium Park and it really is a cool structure!  You can see yourself walking up to it as it's all reflective - and now that I think about it, we had COFFEE in hand so we must have stopped at Caribou before we headed here - YES YES YES - Chicago has Caribou coffee!!!  I was one happy camper!!

Now isn't this a cute statue?  There were lots of them all painted differently lining this particular section of the park! 

We also walked by an outdoor cafe which becomes a skating rink in the wintertime - and a part of one of my favorite movies was filmed at this location - The Lake House!!

Did I forget to mention that my legs were really hurting when I got out of bed that morning - my poor feet are NOT used to walking on cement!!  The trick was to KEEP walking and not stopping to take pictures - ha ha!!

Chicago even has a river walk!

While we were waiting to meet our tour group, we watched the bridge being lifted up to let several boats through - many were large sailboats heading to their winter mooring destination!

Our tour was a walking tour with a guide - we didn't walk far but at each stop, our guide would tell us all kinds of neat facts and stories -  it was hard to imagine that the portion we were at was once a swampland!  Chicago sure has a LOT of history behind it!

I love the reflection on this building!

Our tour also included a brunch which was delicious!  We finished up our walking tour hearing about the great Chicago fire!

Next was a boat tour!  We just happened to walk over to the tours to see if we could get on one since the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day - and a boat was just about to leave so we paid for our tickets and jumped on!  We were on the Chicago River and then later went out into Lake Michigan.

Again, the narrator for the tour was fantastic - she was very informative about all the things we were looking at from the boat so we really enjoyed the trip!!  Here's the skyline!

Ah, 3 sisters enjoying the sunshine and the tour!

Here is one of the cute fire plugs painted around the city - they're all painted differently!

I think we were totally exhausted after our 2 tours and lots of walking - and now it's coming back to me, it started raining!!  Yes, we got to use our umbrellas in Chicago and walking amongst other pedestrians with umbrellas can be a real challenge at times!!  We decided once we got back to the hotel that we just needed to stay in for the evening!

At dinner time we ate at the restaurant in the hotel which was very good - and because we had all brought different kinds of chocolate to eat, dessert was in our hotel room!!  To Be Cont'd.........

Way Up High!!

The skyscrapers are REALLY tall in Chicago - I kind of felt like a small town country gal in this city! 

We went for a walk not long after checking into our hotel and this was the first fountain we came to - as you can tell from the sky, it was pretty cloudy out so the gray skies sure didn't do this picture justice!

There is an entire park with these silver statues - they are not gender based either - just spread out over a large area in different positions, mostly standing - kind of strange but certainly unique!

Because there was rain in the forecast the next day, we decided to go ahead and see the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower).  103 stories up - lots of history to read before you get on the elevator which I have promptly forgot but I do remember that it is the tallest building in the US.  It was still cloudy up there and you couldn't see as far as you should have been able to on a sunny day but it was a great view!!  The amount of steel and concrete is amazing!

Here is the absolute best thing at the top of the tower - glass ledges that you can walk out on!!  Creepy?  YES - it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would (I am scared of heights) so here's the picture looking down.........down.............down...............Those little blobs on the street are cars!

Teri didn't like standing out there at all so I quickly shot their picture!!

Another view........

Just to give you a better perspective, here's a shot of the other ledges taken from the ledge I was standing on!

I did my shopping at the Sears Tower gift shop - my Christmas ornament of Chicago and a book mark - DONE!!

Do you have jeans that don't fit any more?  This is what you do with them!!  I LOVE it!!

I was amazed amidst all the concrete that the city really does make an effort in the greenery department - there were loads of flowers and bushes and many parks!!  Hooray for bringing a little bit of the country into the big city!

It's kind of strange that when you're deep into these tall, tall buildings that the sun doesn't reach you - not that there was any sun that day anyway but other days we really noticed it!

A photo shot at a neat fountain!

After walking quite a while, we decided to eat deep dish pizza since that's just what you do when you come to Chicago!!  Teri had picked out a great place to eat and we relaxed with some wine and beer before eating some delicious pizza!!

Our waiter was great - he even brought us a fantastic dessert, even though we were stuffed!!  And to think we ate the WHOLE THING!!!

We took our time walking back to the hotel that night and walked by these tall structures that not only were waterfalls but had pictures of peoples' faces on the one side at times!!  They were beautiful to watch but of course the camera didn't capture the beauty!

Did I sleep well that first night??  Unfortunately no - I am used to total silence and it seemed the sirens were going all night long.............I know they weren't!!  Since Patty had shoulder surgery recently, she got her own bed and Teri and I shared a bed - I even think it was a double as it was pretty small but no matter, we did just fine!!  To Be Cont'd..............................