Fun Times With Gwyn

 What's NOT to like about Gwyn - she's sweet and kind and compassionate and fun - if you ask her to do anything (even if she is in the middle of a game on her IPAD) she jumps up and does it - she loves to play cards and games - she loves drinking special hot chocolate (with whip cream, marshmallows and caramel syrup on top) while I'm drinking my coffee - she loves being outside - and she gives the best hugs!

We really enjoy our time with her - yes, she is the youngest and there may be a time when she doesn't want to come to Nana and Papa's because she is always here by herself  BUT she does get special attention when she's here!

Coffee time on the front deck - pastry for me, cinnamon bread for Gwyn!

Game after game after game of Sorry - good thing I DO enjoy this game!

Gwyn's second requested meal was Papa's fish - always yummy!

Once again, Gwyn got to ride a horse over at The Wild Horse camp - she rode around the arena and the wrangler also took her out on the road and over to meet the other horses!

Nana and Papa even got to be in this picture!

After the ride, we raced home and ate lunch and then headed to the Food Pantry!  Gwyn got to put in strawberry milk!  It was a fun afternoon for both of us!

Luckily it didn't rain late afternoon so we could have a campfire - this was one of the things Gwyn wanted to do but it rained Saturday and Sunday night!    Not sure what they're doing in this picture but it's classic Papa!

Just a sweet picture of a sweet girl!

Tuesday morning we were up fairly early so we could meet Jessi in Co Springs at our favorite coffee place - but when I got there, I was so surprised to see the name had changed!!!  We wondered if the coffee would still be good or if we would have to find a new place but no problem, the coffee was great and Gwyn's smoothie was good too!

What a fun few days we had with Gwyn!

Gwyn's Turn

 Gwyn and I had been looking forward to her time to stay for quite a while - trying to find a time on the calendar with the Keppys' busy schedule is sometimes hard but we DID get it on the calendar!

Since Glenn and I both needed adjustments, we decided to head up to Denver early Friday afternoon - and that won't happen again till tourist season is over!!  OH MY!  We left the house at 12:30 with 2 very quick stops to make - when we got to Co. Springs, I checked the maps app to see how long to get there as it's usually 45 minutes to an hour - the app said 2 HOURS and 45 MINUTES!!  ARE YOU KIDDING?  Needless to say we took the back way which does take longer - it was much better but still had some stop and go traffic!  Boy was I glad to finally get there!

After dinner and a walk, we just hung out and talked before bed - we headed out by 7:30 the next morning as I needed to be home to watch the online funeral of my niece, Amy who had passed away a week ago.

I fixed Gwyn some hot cocoa and she headed out to be with Papa for the next hour while I was on the computer!

Per Gwyn's request, it was cheeseburger soup for dinner along with fruit salad - 2 of her favorite dishes that I usually make when she is here!  Yes, it's lengthy to make but she loves it so much that I wouldn't consider NOT making it!

We brought the craft box up from the basement and I dug out some of my creative memory supplies and she had a ball using the stickers and punchers - and in between, we played a LOT of cards!

Gwyn wanted to sleep in the queen bed in the guest room and have it ALL to herself, along with her own bathroom down there - but she couldn't get to sleep and was a little nervous about being down there by herself so about 10:00 that night, I brought the mattress and covers up and made a bed on our floor - she slept like a log that night!

Sunday morning it was time to head to Wild Horse Cafe for breakfast, coffee and a smoothie!  I always love their country playlists that come over the speakers in there!  A great breakfast and coffee!

Since we were out and about, we decided to go ahead and drive into Divide to go to the play park - Gwyn had made a list of everything she wanted to do when she was at our house!  Since Sundays the traffic heading back down to Co. Springs gets pretty crazy, this was a good choice to go in the morning!

I had forgotten that I had the game "Sorry" in the closet - but when I saw it, I knew Gwyn could play it so brought it to the table and she absolutely loved it - I can't tell you how many times we played it!  And it was even more fun when Papa sat down and played a game with us!

Gwyn and I took a walk that evening while Papa rode his bike - it was a gorgeous evening out! She tried to find a long stick to walk with (since I always use my hiking stick) but none of them worked very well - ha!

Ice cream bars were on the agenda that night before bed - and once again, she slept great!

Summer Guests

 Having company is always a lot of fun - a lot of work too as you always want your home and outside to look good!

We had made plans a couple weeks ago to have 2 sets of our close friends from Mexico to come for the afternoon and evening and it was such fun!  Appetizers and mango daiquiris for the women, beer for the guys - such a great time!

We ended up playing corn hole with couples against couples and we sure did a lot of laughing!

Needless to say, Glenn and I came in 3rd place - HA!

We had a great dinner - I made stuffed Mexican shells with Becky bringing a yummy spinach salad and Jo bringing a lemon pie!     Becky and Larry live east of Co Springs and Jo and Norm live in the CORA Campground between Buena Vista and Fairplay (their main house is in Mexico).  It was so fun to all be together and we're planning an ATV trip soon!

Then a day later, Karen and Jeff (originally from W. Pk and who now live in Prescott, AZ) came to spend a night with us as they were back in Colorado to see their son!  We talked a mile a minute till we all went to bed - and then continued the next morning until they left!  Great friends!

Hopefully I'll see Karen again this fall if we can work out a time for four girlfriends to get together!

70 And Fabulous!

 ...so says my sash that the girls gave me in Tulum!  And why not?  I'm alive and healthy and so blessed so turning 70 is no big deal!

Jaime had my birthday off and since we're usually in Denver or Ft. Collins on my birthday, this was wonderful to hear that Jaime could be with me on my special day!  She said to think of something fun to do - hmmmmmmm - I pondered that for a LONG time before it hit me - let's go out to tea together!

I checked at Glen Eyrie Castle for tea - yes, there were plenty of openings at 11 through 1 so no problem - I checked with Jaime the next morning and she said yes, that would work out great!  But when I went back in to reserve, all the times were gone......darn!

And then I remembered there was another place in Manitou Springs that did tea - Miramont Castle!  And they had an 11:00 opening - perfect!  And I had never been there!

We dressed for the day in dresses - and found the place easy enough!  I posed at the front entrance before we headed into the tea!

The place was lovely inside the tea room!  We each chose a tea - Jaime had a lemonade flavored one and I chose mango tango!  They were both delicious!  Our first course was a wonderful mixed summer fruit cup along with a scone - now many scones I have had at teas are hard and just not that great - this one was fantastic!  It was served with herbed butter, devonshire cream and homemade fruit jam!  YUMMY!

In reality, I don't drink tea - but I STILL love to go to tea houses and drink it!  As long as there is a fruity flavor, I'm fine!

2nd course were the sandwiches - oh my they were good!  My favorite was between the cucumber which was nice and tangy and the egg salad with the edible flower!

It was the perfect setting and we luckily were given a table by the window!

Last course was dessert - again, very good and filling!

Because we did high tea, we could each choose a 2nd flavor of tea if we wanted to - we both chose a strawberry that kept getting darker, the longer it sat - it was very good!  I LOVED the little elephant teapot!

There were 2 hat stands with lots of hats to choose from if you so desired!  I'm not fond of wearing a hat all the time, but after we ate, I found us each one to match our dresses!

The colors were perfect for our dresses!

What a wonderful time we had at tea - and my only wish would have been to have Jessi and Jill along too!

I enjoyed many calls, texts, and cards for my 70th birthday which made it so special!  I didn't care at all that we weren't planning a big meal out but Glenn decided we should just go to Divide and have a burger at Russ's place - so we headed in!  Unfortunately they were setting up trivia inside so we knew it was going to be loud so we opted to sit outside - yes, it was CHILLY!  Luckily I had brought a jacket!  Our neighbors below us showed up so we all sat together and it was fun to catch up with them!

Glenn ordered a burger and fries which is what we both usually get - but I wasn't hungry and saw mac and cheese on the menu so ordered that!  I've been with other people who have ordered mac and cheese and it always looked so bubbly and good, coming out of an oven!

Our food came - and I was totally shocked to have a small bowl of Kraft mac and cheese put in front of me - REALLY?????  Oh my gosh - I didn't even THINK to ask if it was baked - I just assumed!  It was probably about 1/3 of a box - and the price was $6.00!  I was expecting a small bowl for that price but had no idea it would be Kraft!   So much for my birthday dinner...............

Here's to being 70!!!!!

Camping With The Mosquitos

 A chance to camp again - yay!  Summer is 1/2 gone and this would only be our 2nd time to camp!  But fantastic news on our old 5th wheel!  After NOBODY had come to look at it, one interested guy had sent a msg while we were out camping so we responded!  He wanted to come look at it that weekend - and he came Sunday WITH MONEY to buy it!  Said it was exactly what he wanted and I waved goodbye as he drove away with it!

Back to camping - I thought we were staying at Snow Blind, the little campground that we stay at which is at the bottom of Monarch Pass!  But we pulled off before we got there, unloaded the razor and drove around looking for a spot - Glenn had a couple he was interested in and needed to see if they were taken!  Nope - both were empty!

I drove the razor back up to the one Glenn picked out and Glenn brought the 5th wheel!  This 5th wheel is a little longer AND taller and he went to get into this spot, and realized he couldn't make the corner - he needed to go down another pathway but a huge branch was in the way so got his chain saw and started in!  BUT the mosquitos and horse flies were HORRIBLE!  Glenn told me to get into the 5th wheel and wait but it was locked so crawled into the truck to get away from the mosquitos!  I didn't know it at the time but did get bit on the neck by a horsefly!

Glenn FINALLY got the 5th wheel into place and we got all set up - it was a race to get into the razor and drive it to get away from those pesky mosquitos!

Yes, there's snow still on the high mountains!

The wildflowers are out in full force, probably from all the rain we had in May and June!  The columbines were beautiful!

It was a short drive that afternoon - we were supposed to have hot dogs and brats over the fire that night - but the mosquitos were so bad, I refused to go outside!  Glenn put on a hooded sweatshirt and did the sticks over the fire but there was sure no sitting around the campfire that night!

He went for an evening drive - I chose to just RUN past all the mosquitos and got over on the main road so I could take a picture of the sunset!

We did the loop the next day - going over to Pitkin is a nice drive through pretty country!

One of our favorite spots to stop for lunch - I like this road to ride on before we go through the mountain!

Pitkin is always a great spot to stop at the General Store - they have internet there and we always get ice cream!

Going back home is a TOUGH ride as the road is pretty much solid rocks for many miles - so it takes a long time to drive it and you bounce around and around!  By the time we got back to the camper, we were both stiff and sore - Glenn sure earned his nap that day!

He grilled steaks for dinner amidst the mosquitos but no campfire that night as neither one of us wanted to fight them off!  There was a good radio station that we could get in the camper and it played the old country tunes - we had fun trying to guess who the artists were on some of them!  I sure would love to get that station here but tried it and it doesn't come in!

We took a couple hour ride the next morning before we packed up!

All in all, a great camping trip, despite the mosquitos!  I don't think we will ever camp in that spot again as it's just too hard to get into!

July - The Birthday Month

 Yes - it's July which brings 4 birthdays and an anniversary!  

First up was Aleah's 14th birthday, along with Robby and Jill's anniversary - #20 this year!  Since both of those fall on the 4th of July, they celebrate all at once!

Aleah got a new Apple watch!

Next on the list is Jessi who celebrated her birthday by working and going to volleyball tryouts for daughter Kenzie!  Oh well - such is the life of a mom!

Jill celebrated her birthday by having a massage and relaxing!  AND eating her gluten free bundt cake!

My birthday will have a separate post - stay tuned!

June Photo Dump

 Time to post the June photo dump since we're 1/2 way through July - how can life get SO BUSY?????

Glenn opened up his Father's Day gift from the girls and we enjoyed playing it when they came down that weekend!

Just relaxing by the firepit!

Love this huge cloud over Pikes Peak with the pink cloud on top!

I missed Jill's lilacs - I missed Jessi's lilacs - and I ALMOST missed Woodland Park's lilacs!!  Everything was so late this year due to all the rain in May and June!  So this was my only small bouquet to enjoy!

When the girls stay, they are required to pick up a garbage bag full of pine cones to start our wood stove with!  Jessi, Gwyn and I decided to help them!

Even though Kenzie is scowling, it really didn't take long at all to pick them up!  I think we have thousands over our acreage!

And that's a wrap for June!

2 Grandkids and a Nana Headed North

 A while back, Jill had asked me if I would consider driving up to Ft. Collins to deliver Aleah after our girls time, and staying a couple of nights to babysit them and Parker!  It was Jill and Robby's 20th wedding anniversary in July and they wanted to get away for a couple of nights!  How could I refuse?

SO it actually worked out just fine for me to take BOTH girls (yes, Kenzie got to come too and extend the cousin time a couple more days) and stay for 2 nights!  We headed out fairly early - stopped and got me some coffee at Human Bean - and then off to McDonald's to get frappes for the girls - or so we thought!

The line wasn't long at McDonald's - there was just one car ahead of us - but we waited and waited and waited to finally get up to the order place - who KNOWS what that car ordered!!  But it was to no avail because they had NO frappes, no smoothies, no NOTHING ice cream wise!  GEESH!  I think it's been since Mother's Day that they can't make frappes!!

So we headed back to Human Bean to get smoothies - and of course everywhere I drove I had to backtrack to get the right direction - summertime traffic is hideous in W. Pk so you just have to get to a light to be able to turn!  FINALLY we got back there and smoothies were ordered!

I'd like to say it was a nice, peaceful drive to Ft. Collins but of course it NEVER is with the horrible traffic!  I ended up taking E-470 all the way around after dealing with stop and go traffic on I-25.  We FINALLY made it to Jill's house - her and Robby had already left of course and Parker was there to greet us!   And Penny - we musn't forget Penny!

We played at least 4 games of cards or rummicube - everybody got to pick 1 game and the others were required to play - it's funny how these 3 have their FAVORITE and also at least 1 card game that they dislike playing!

Jill had left a pretty detailed list for me since there were 3 different activities that I had to drive the kids to!  Wed. night was youth group at the church - that was easy because I've been to the church many times and it's easy to get to - they were serving pizza that night so I didn't even have to cook - I just ate leftovers!  

The next morning was Aleah's training and conditioning time - Jill had left me written instructions how to get there but I just used the GPS in the car which of course took me a different way!  After dropping her off, I decided to use Jill's directions to get back home as it did seem closer but I no sooner took the first turn and then hit a detour where the entire road was shut down - so once again, GPS took me back the way I had come that morning!

For lunch the kids decided they wanted McDonalds - really????  The only thing I ever order at McDonald's is their caramel frappe - but after begging and pleading, I said I would take them!  BUT I told them we were going in to place the order but would get it to go!  They were APPALLED that I wouldn't go through the drive-thru but I had no idea what I wanted so they finally all walked in with me!  I tried to take a picture and this is what I got!

As everyone knows, I have NO sense of direction but I did know how to get back on the main road - so I'm in the turn lane to turn left and Parker yells, no you are going the wrong direction - get back over and turn right - luckily nothing was coming so I swerved over 2 lanes and turned right!  FOR ONCE I was right as this was the opposite direction - Parker was indeed wrong!!  I finally got turned around and we headed home to eat! (and my hamburger and fries weren't too bad!!)

I had dinner ready at 5:00 because Aleah had volleyball practice in Loveland!  And wouldn't you know it, the GPS in my car said there was no such address - WRONG - it was a valid address but a newer building so my GPS did not recognize it - darn!!  I used my phone and Kenzie kept reading the directions as my phone is synced to the car and doesn't say the directions (there's a way to do it but I always forget)

Anyway, it was a good 20 minute drive and we made it just in time!  Kenzie and I just stayed there for the 2 hour practice (sitting on stools with no backs!!) but it was fun to see them scrimmage!!  I'm glad it's summer and it stays light for a long time as it was getting dark by the time we got back home!

The girls roasted marshmallows over the fire pit and got to eat their strawberries with them!  Even though Jill had the backyard sprayed for mosquitoes, some must have came over from the neighbors as we all got bit!   Oh well, the perils of summer!!!

After saying goodbye to Aleah and Parker on Friday morning, Kenzie and I headed to her mom's office in Denver - I got a much needed adjustment and then headed on home before the awful 4th of July traffic started!

Jill and Robby had a great time in Steamboat Springs and I was glad I could help out with kids!