Denver - Again?

 Absolutely!!  When a family asks for help - we are more than willing to help out!   Jessi had let me know quite a while ago that Gary and Evan were heading to Crested Butte on a Friday afternoon for a XCountry meet on Saturday and she was heading to a seminar that had been booked for quite a while!  And of all weekends, Kenzie had district track meet and Gwyn needed a sitter!

Glenn and I got up super early and headed out - and on the way up, Jessi texted that Gwyn wasn't feeling well - oh no!  But I said no problem, if she didn't feel well enough to go to the track meet, I would stay home with her and Glenn could take Kenzie!

Sure enough, she looked pretty pale when we arrived and I knew her and I wouldn't be going to the meet!  Jessi got left - Glenn and Kenzie got left after repacking the lunch bag for him and I stayed with Gwyn!  Here's Kenzie in her track uniform!  (And you can bet she didn't wear that sweatshirt long when they got to the meet!)

After about an hour and 1/2, Gwyn's color came back to her face and she felt just fine!  Maybe she just didn't want to go to that track meet - ha!!  We had a wonderful day together - making bracelets, coloring, drawing, working on her Christmas list, going to the park a couple of times and doing puzzles!

Meanwhile, Glenn was sweating at the track meet!!  We had been to that field before and it's situated so that not much of a breeze ever comes through!  But he survived!!  Kenzie did great!!  She ran the 800m and 2 relays.  One of her relays took 1st place - awesome!!  And Glenn took her to DQ after the meet!

Jessi had put roast and potatoes in the crockpot before she left and the 4 of us ate early - Evan and Gary eventually got back and finally Jessi!  We all talked a mile a minute before we headed to bed!

After breakfast, Glenn and I headed on back home - another memory in the books!

Fall Trip Flop

 WOW - didn't think I would EVER say that a fall trip was a flop - not a complete flop but definitely not a great one!

It's always hit or miss on the fall leaves and I had a feeling this year our trip was going to be way too soon for those aspens - and I was right - we've had hot weather and lots and lots of rain and I think that all contributed to a later fall.

Glenn had decided he wanted to go over by Montrose - he'd heard there were LOTS of aspens (not!) and he wanted to scout it out for hunting - I said sure - he decided he wanted to stay west of Montrose, basically on the other side of the Uncompahgre  National Forest!

Nucla he said - it's a tiny town but let's stay there or Norwood - OK - Norwood had nothing but Nucla actually had 3 different places that were available.  I found an old house that had been restored and looked pretty cool so booked it for 3 nights!

It's always fun to stop in Johnson Village to have coffee and look at the mountains!  Unfortunately when we went over Monarch Pass there was no gold, just some ground cover that was starting to turn.

We met our friends in Gunnison for lunch and enjoyed visiting with them - then it was off to the road construction, hoping that we would hit it right so we wouldn't have to wait!  But that didn't happen - we sat there for a good 1/2 hour and then finally our line of traffic started moving.  It's a super slow process driving through the canyon of this pass with all the construction going on and it takes about 20 minutes to get through - sigh - and the trip continued.

Stopped at one place in Montrose to see if there were peaches any cheaper - nope!  Guess my freezer won't see any this year!

Glenn decided he wanted to drive on a forest service road across the national forest - the road wasn't bad but we were in the truck, pulling the razor on a trailer so it was quite bumpy - and you couldn't go over 30 mph.  I was just DONE when we finally got through!  There had been a sign part way through that Nucla was 27 or 37 miles away!  So I guess I expected the town to be there when we got through the forest but that was a NO!!!  We still had another 45 minutes........

Absolutely no cell phone service or coverage, even once we got into the little town!  I was surprised that cellular data wouldn't work!  It was raining by this time and we saw the ONE restaurant as we were looking for the street for our place but the place was closed - no surprise as it was a Monday.  

We found the house - and it was OK!  I have a hard time finding places that meet my expectations of cleanliness but oh well.....  It was old fashioned inside but renovated enough to have a modern kitchen and bathroom!  No king or queen bed - just doubles!

I had brought hamburgers to eat one night with plans to eat out the other 2 nights!  Glenn grilled them and we enjoyed the evening there, although were surprised there was NO cable or dish or any way to watch TV except with the DVD player and some old movies that were there.

The forecast was NOT good for the next couple of days and for once the weatherman was right!  We headed out the next morning to the national forest to ride and it was gray and cloudy and cool!  Although the landscape was pretty (in a different sort of way), the dense clouds didn't make for any pretty pictures!

We headed over to a lake called Buckeye Lake and the tall trees were great to see over in this area!

But there was hardly anything left of the lake - what a shame!  There were several small campgrounds there and it was a pretty place but I'm not sure it gets much use anymore due to the drying up of the lake.

It started to rain a little as we headed down this horrible road - so many rocks and so rough!  We had several spots like this!  Yes, I got off each time!

We kept going down and down and got to a super bad spot!  At that point Glenn said he wondered if this road was going to take us to private property where we couldn't get through!  I said really???  You didn't check this out before we started down this LONG, ROCKY road????  So he checks his phone and sure enough, there's private property at the end of it.  Since it was only about 1/3 of a mile till the property, I offered to just walk down there and see if we could get through as Glenn didn't even know if he could get turned around it was so bad!

So I walked down and sure enough - locked gate with huge signs saying no trespassing!!  I walked back up and Glenn had decided there was no way he could get turned around and was already high centered and needed help.  He finally got down, turned around and we began the long journey back up this rocky path - not fun!!

By this time it's raining - we had stopped and put on rain clothes (as the doors are off the razor) and we made it back to the truck and got loaded up!  We made it back to Nucla and I had him stop at the restaurant to check the times as it looked dark in there - yup it was closed.  The place closes at 2:00 each day - wonderful.

So we went home and had leftover hamburgers for dinner that night!!  

The next day was no better - rain in the forecast and lots of clouds - we headed out but only lasted a couple of hours as the rain was coming down and there were flash flood warnings out!

I guess the only GOOD thing about coming in early was that we could have lunch at the restaurant!!  We had a good meal (the place was packed!!) and of course I still had 1/2 of mine for dinner that night but Glenn didn't!!  So we stopped at the little grocery store and he got some brats to eat!

We finally figured out the DVD player with the TV - an entire page of instructions for using it!!  Glenn watched some old westerns while I read and then we watched a good movie together! Luckily I had brought the laptop so Glenn had plenty of browsing time!

The beds were comfortable and we slept well so that's a positive!

We packed up early the next morning and headed out - going back on the highway around by Ridgeway which was absolutely beautiful - the leave were just starting to turn and there's a pretty river alongside the road so it was a nice drive!  And in Ridgeway I found a great coffee place which made me smile!

I always told the girls I would have loved to have a bookstore and coffeehouse together!!  We had coffee and a muffin and continued our journey home!  Luckily we hit the construction just right and were one of the last cars to make it through before they started stopping people!

Monarch Pass was starting to turn with colors so that made the drive home pretty, even though it's a long one!  Next year - closer to home - there are lots of close places that have beautiful leaves and hopefully the timing will be better next year!

Just Roaming Around

 Monday - it's so nice to NOT have to get up and go to work - I LOVE being retired!  I went for a walk early that morning - it's always fun to get out when it's cool and walk on sidewalks instead of gravel, dodging the sprinklers that are going off!

The kids and Jill leave early -Glenn and I ate some breakfast and then headed out!  Our first stop was at Ziggy's so I could get coffee to go, and then we headed to Loveland to walk around the Sculpture Garden.  Glenn wasn't too thrilled about going but he LOVED it once we got there and started walking!

It was pretty chilly for a while as we went early but it soon warmed up!

Jill had taken me to this place last year I belive and I loved it!  If I lived close to it, I would be taking a morning walk every day!  It's a beautiful place and we only covered about 1/2 of it!

And then we were off to the Gardens at Spring Creek!  Jill and the kids and I had went there one time during the Christmas season - it was all lit up with lights on the paths and fun places to take pics!  Santa was even there for the kids!  So I recognized a lot of the places!

There were a lot of plants and flowers still, even though it's getting close to fall!  

Once again, Glenn enjoyed his "plant" app where he would take pictures of unknown plants and flowers and see what they were!  But it was HOT with that sun beating down!  There weren't a lot of shady places to stop!

After we toured the gardens, we headed back into the gift shop area to go into the butterfly pavillion!  I love watching butterflies!!  This place was great to go into and we picked up a plaque of the butterflies that were in there and tried to find all of them - we saw them all but one!

We headed home by early afternoon to eat lunch - I had leftovers from the night before so enjoyed them and we both relaxed till it was time to head to Aleah's volleyball game!  Robby took us and Jill just met us there - Parker had football practice!

The girls ended up winning one game and losing the other one - it was sure fun to see Aleah serve and play and she did a great job!

Pizza was on the agenda for dinner and then it was a night of relaxation!  We got up quite early the next morning and headed out before anybody was even up - missing that awful traffic was a priority and we didn't do too bad!

Thanks Robby and Jill for an awesome 3 days in Ft. Collins!

Ft. Collins Bound

 It was a drizzly cold morning as we drove to Ft. Collins - Jill had texted the night before that there was a possibility that Parker's football game would get cancelled because the field was so wet from all of the rain - and sure enough, we got the text on the way up that it had been cancelled.  DARN!  We were sure looking forward to seeing him play tackle football this year, as the past years have been flag football.

So I borrowed a picture of Jill's since we won't make it back up there for the rest of his games!

I'm not sure why Glenn is pointing his finger at Robby?  They spend a LOT of time on the computer and shopping at the "manly" stores!  HA!

Since the weather was lousy, the girls decided to go shopping!  It's always fun to go to Sam's (since I don't have a membership there) and we also went to Kohl's where I got Glenn a couple of things!  Our final stop was at a consignment store that I've been to before - very nice stuff and I actually got a tank type top for Mexico that I had been looking for - awesome!

Aleah (especially) and Parker LOVE to play cards and games - we spent many hours over the couple of days we were there playing rummikub and the "7" game and skipbo.  I think we may have even done a 5 Crowns too - always fun as I love to do that also!

Sunday Jill and I did church and the kids headed to a fund raiser at the golf course - it was a beautiful day for that!

Jill and I picked them up and I took them all out for smoothies!

Late afternoon we headed to the Lonestar to take Jill and Robby out for their anniversary!

We all had great meals - I had shrimp, Glenn had salmon and Jill and Robby had steak!  YUMMY!!!

After we got back home, Glenn helped teach Parker how to shoot his bow!  

And that was the weekend - but one more day in Ft. Collins as Aleah had a volleyball game on Monday - we tried to hit as many of the kids' activities that we could when we came up!

The Fun Continues

 After resting up a little while, we headed to the football game!  It was nice and warm out as you can imagine and I actually sat there the entire evening with just a t-shirt on!!  Not sure I've EVER done that at a football game!  

Evan played in the pep band and they put on their full unforms and did a Star Wars 1/2 time program which was excellent!  He was on 3rd quarter break here so didn't get him in his band uniform!

And this little one, did a couple of cheers on the field during 1/2 time - it was cute as can be!

The whole gang at the game - minus Kenzie who was off with her friends!  Such a fun evening!

Friday morning the crew was up and going to work and school!  I walked with Jessi to take Gwyn to school and then Jessi headed on into work, after taking Evan and Kenzie to school!

Boy the house is quiet when they're all gone!  But Glenn and I had big plans - we were headed to The Museum of Natural History in downtown Denver - takes about 45 minutes to get there too!  We had reservations for 9:15 and I discovered they had a coffee place inside the museum so after getting there, we headed in and had coffee!

The museum was fantastic as usual - we always love the wildlife exhibits and the huge displays that look so real - this is one of my favorites since it has the aspen trees!

Glenn acting like he's sneaking up on this elk - silly guy!

Their gems and mineral display is out of this world - a lot of the gems are from our county so it's always fun to see Teller County and Florissant displayed in some of the places!

We had a wonderful day and headed home early afternoon to escape the bad Friday traffic!!  After dinner that evening, we played cards and games and got packed up to head to Ft. Collins that next morning!

The weather completely changed and it was VERY cool and rainy out that evening!

Here's Gwyn with her HUGE display of lego arrangements - she sure enjoys playing with them!

It was a jam packed 2 days at the Keppys but staying busy makes it fun!

A Late Birthday Gift

 For my birthday, Jessi had asked me what I wanted to do and I told her I wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens up in Denver - never mind that it took 2 months to get it on the schedule!  But it was FINALLY time to go!  Since Glenn absolutely loves plants and gardening, Jessi said he could come too!

We headed up to Denver at 6:00am on a Thursday to beat some of the traffic and we actually had no slowdowns!  The 3 of us got coffee to go and headed to the gardens as soon as we arrived!  They do reservations with staggered times and our time to go in was 9:20 - it wasn't crowded at all so that was nice!

I love these colored pepper plants!

Glenn had gotten a new app on his phone that you can take a picture of a plant and it shows what it is and all kinds of things about the plant - he had a ball taking pictures!

The water garden features were amazing - they were my favorite!

I love this plant - to me it looks like a finger up in the air!

This is a Chihuly display when you first walk in - I LOVE his glass work!  I told Jessi she matched so had to take a picture in front of it!

Another beautiful flower display in the water!

I did like that there were several shady spots to walk through and even sit down if you needed to!

This display was amazing - those huge round things with the edges lifted up are actually water lily pads!  Aren't they cute?

Jessi and I decided this was the PERFECT spot to bring our books and sit and read - it's tucked away behind all this foilage!

This was inside  - a lot of the tropical plants were in here and it was beautiful!!

Was it hot at the gardens?  OMG - we wore VERY cool clothes as it was supposed to reach 95 degrees!  When we left, it was 102!!!!  Gosh that air conditioner in the car felt great - we were DONE with the heat!

Jessi ended up taking us out to lunch at The French Press, a place she had been wanting to try!  It was great and I enjoyed eating the rest of mine the next day!  

I walked with Jessi to pick up Gwyn after school and wasn't even sure I was going to make it back because it was SO HOT!!  It's funny how it affects you when you're not used to it!  We ate an early dinner and then it was onto the evenings activities!!

Sunday Fun

 It's not often that I get to take 2 of my girls for coffee!  Unfortunately Jaime was unavailable that morning so we headed to Wild Horse without her!  They have a huge sand volleyball court so since both Aleah and Kenzie are on teams, we asked if they could toss the ball around down there - and it was no problem so they enjoyed the sunshine!

Coffee was wonderful!  It's always fun to just sit and talk the morning away! 

We had forgotten to go on their wi-fi and without it, there is no service at all!  In the meantime, Glenn was doing Chipper Days for the homeowners association and it was quite hot out!  He apparently got overheated and didn't feel good at all but made it back home and went to bed for a while!  Gary had tried to text us and let us know what was going on but it all worked out OK as Glenn was fine when he got up!

Jaime, Brad and Kylan came over that afternoon - it was sure hot by that time so we ended up putting the cornhole game on the cement under the front - worked out great!  We had teams and had a great time playing!

Happy hour was in the midst of all of this!

While I was getting dinner ready (gosh I spent a LOT of time in the kitchen that weekend!!) Glenn told everyone they could go smash this expedition that he had bought to pull the motor out - the front end was already bad and after Glenn got the motor out, it was just going back to the junkyard to get smashed!  I didn't get to see any of it but here's Jaime in the skidster ready to bash into the vehicle!

Aleah took a turn with the sledgehammer!  Anybody else need to get some frustration out of their system????

We all had a fun day together and everyone left for home that evening to escape the horrible traffic the next day which was Labor Day!

And as an added note:  Glenn DID get the motor out and just a few hours ago, the tow truck was here to take the car down to the junkyard!  He's putting the motor into another vehicle  -  yes, another projecet!

But to be fair, the tractor is ALSO sold and is just sitting here waiting to be delivered to some very nice people who are moving nearby the end of the month - and that was the deal - the tractor and the jeep had to be sold before any more vehicles were bought to fix up!