Colorado Vacation - Friday - Day 2

We woke up at Sleep Inn and had contenental Breakfast (a big bonus when you have kids).  We loaded the car, which by the way takes forever when you have kids too, and headed to see Aunt Phyllis.  The most exciting part of the drive this day was when we passed "Wind Turbin City"  Those things are so amazing to see.  Me and Mike talk about them the whole time.  It really helps pass the time on the drive through the exciting land of Kansas.  We had several pit stops this day.  We finally got to Phyllis's house early afternoon.  We were so excited to see her.  She showed us around the house while the boys stretched their legs.  We unpacked the car and just visited about the trip until my parents arrived about 2 hours behind us.  After a delicious dinner of grilled chicken and baked potatoes, we headed for walk.  Phyllis has a park not far from her house so we decided to walk to the park.  It was a great walk and felt great to just be out and about in Colorado.  Below are some pictures from Day 2!

  Wind Turbin City

 The closest one to the car

We made it to Colorado!!!

Tried the spicy chicken mcbites!  Spicy....but good!

The boys with another good behavior prize.  Max got a spiderman car and Alex got a vibrating teether.  These were their "big surprises".  They definately bought us some more time.

The vibrating teether worked!  Alex was soundly sleeping after a few minutes.

Even Max had to take a nap right before we got to Aunt Phyllis' house.

We saw these HUGE tires.  I had to take a picture.  They were crazy big.

Phyllis just got back from her trip to Russia.  We got to watch a really neat DVD of her trip and talk all about it.  It looked like a really fun trip.  She brough back "matruska dolls"  That's not how you spell it I'm sure, but it is how you pronounce it.  Anyways....each of the 5 grandkids got one.  They are little wooden dolls that have smaller dolls inside of them, and even smaller dolls inside of them....it's like a puzzle.  The kids love them.  My mom has had one at her house that we have all played with for about the last 20 years. Now all of the grandkids have their own!

Me and Mike got a candy bar from Germany....yum  We ate it all before we got back from Home.

I made Phyllis a patriotic wreath.  We would be visiting over 4th of July so I thought this was a cute idea, but of course she can pretty much hang it anytime between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend.  I'm glad it turned out.

I know it's sideways, but I had to include it because it's a cute pic.  Max and his aunt Phyllis.

Alex took a nap during dinner.  We wore this kiddo out!

Max walked with Aunt Phyllis to the park

 The whole gang headed for our walk

The view of the big Colorado Wildfire from Phyllis's house.  We kept a close eye on this the whole time we were there.  I am so glad they finally got this thing contained and save so many houses and great landmarks of Colorado Springs.

Alex had fun swinging at the park

So did me and my dad

Alex thought the slide was pretty funny.

Colorado Vacation - Thursday - Day 1

We had an absolute blast on our vacation.  I decided to blog it one day at a time.  Since some days we fit so much stuff into just one day.  We left Thursday when Mike got off work.  He worked through lunch so we got to leave a little early.  My mom came over that afternoon for an hour or two to help watch the boys so I could get the car completely packed.  By 4pm I had the car on, cooled down, boys in the carseats with tons of toys and a movie on, popcorn, juice, a drink for me and mike, icechest iced down.....needless to say we were ready to go.  Mike got home, took about 10 minutes to change, go to the bathroom, check the house....and than it was off we went on our trip.  We were all beyond excited.  This was our first big vacation as a family of 4.  We left the driveway knowing we would all spend every day and night together for the next 11 days.  It was a great feeling.  We made great timing and made it all the way to Salina, KS where we made that our pit stop.  Salina is about 6 hours from Aunt Phyllis's house known as the half way point. We chose Sleep Inn as our hotel.  Found it in Salina.

Here are some pictures of the drive:

The boys opened their "good behavior prizes". I'm not sure how I came up with these, but Max is big on surprises and will pretty much do almost anything for a surprise no matter what the surprise is, so I thought these would come along handy on the trip.  I went to the Target $1 section and found a few items at Walmart.  I even found a few things for Alex that he already had (That can be our little secret).  I gave the boys their glow in the dark prizes as we were nearing Salina.

  The boys on the couch with Wolfy and Wilfy.  (My mom got them for the boys.  They are the macots of The Great Wolf Lodge which we were headed on vacation).  They joined us for the trip.

  Alex helped pack the icechests.

Alex helping us unpack once we got to Salina.

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!!

This Saturday my parents celebrate their 40th Wedding Anniversary.  I can't believe they have been together 40 years!  Here are a few picturse from when they first met.

 

Pictures from their Wedding Day

July 21, 1972

Pictures over the years

Celebrating 40 years in Hawaii

I am so thankful for my parents and love them so much.  They have made so many sacrifices for each other, and for our family.  I am so lucky to have them as my parents and grandparents to my boys.  They have worked so hard on their marraige and raising a family. I'm just so thankful that they never gave up on each other or on us.  Because of their hard work and dedication to each other and our family we have made so many happy memories through the years.

They have taught us what it is like to raise a family, and how important it is to have faith, pray, and be part of a church, to always be there for your friends, to always be there for each other.  They have taught us there will be tough times along with the good times, but to support each other no matter what.  I am so thankful they have been such a great example of a Christian marraige for me and Mike. 

So HAPPY 40 YEARS MOM AND DAD!!!!

Here's to many many more years of Happiness together, and many many more memories to come.

Alex can wave!

It's the little things right? Over vacation, on the lazy river actually, we discovered Alex knows how to wave!! The lifeguard waved at Alex, and he just waved right back!
......And he has been waving ever since. It's the cutest little thing. Below is a picture of Alex waving to me tonight. He was climbing on teh china cabinet, I looked over and said hey and he just started waving.


- Ashley

Alex tries a breastmilk popsicle for the first time.

I'm a little late on uploading some videos - but I just got around to clearning on off our video camera before heading to Colorado. 

Here is a video of us cutting upen our Pineapple straight from Hawaii!!! So excited.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa it tasted delicious!!