Let's Run Away...

...and never come back.  At least that's what we were telling ourselves after a wonderful trip to Colorado at the end of July.  Thanks to some very generous family friends and some continuing education classes for the hubster, we had a great little family/friend vacation to Breckenridge (with a couple day stopover in Denver).

First of all, let's just say that all of our kiddos are traveling rockstars!!  We left ETex at 4:00am.  Yup, that's right.  In the morning.  After going to bed at like midnight (us, not the kids), waking up to start driving 16-17 hours was difficult.  Met up with the rest of the crew for lunch in Amarillo [side bar: it's probably just me, but I can't think of Amarillo without singing George Strait's Amarillo By Morning.  Perhaps that's a side effect of growing up in Texas.]

(this iPad holder is awesome.  It'd be more awesome if I wanted to shell out the cash for bluetooth headphones, but I didn't.  These corded, ear protecting ones will work just fine)

(probably can't tell, but this is a giant wind turbine propeller.  It was ginormous!)

When we finally rolled into Breck - I think we fell in love with the weather instantly.  Something about going from 100 degrees to 65 degrees in 16 hours will do that to ya.

Each day was glorious.  We could take walks in the evening without sweating!

Even mundane things like eating at Chipotle are better in the mountains.

Picnicking by the river. Water was freezing.  But we braved it for a family photo.  First one since Christmas, I presume.

We braved the rec center for swim lessons.  Kaylynn had 4 good days - Ben had 2.  Every other day he flipped out.  Not sure why.

One day, we had to take him in a white t-shirt and a diaper.  He was not thrilled.  But he got in the pool.  Have I mentioned that I'm a sucker for little boys in white t-shirts.  Or this little boy in a white t-shirt.  Probably because it reminds me of his dad, who wears white t-shirts.

We headed up the Gondie (gondola) or as my kids called it, the "oval gondowa" to the fun park.  Still not sure what this place was called, but the Alpine Slide and coaster were awesome!

Ben took naps on the chair lifts. Did a little fishing. Or rock throwing. Or picture taking in the mountains. OH, and geocaching! And we fed chipmunks organic cheerios. They weren't fans. They were jealous of chocolate sprinkled donuts. :) And then we made it to Denver for class, where we saw awesome urban gardens and ate sushi. Denver's not bad, I tell you. We were all bummed to head back to Texas. If we could just run away and hide out without no one knowing where we were - we'd do it. So if we ever go missing - look for us out west.

Flyover State Tour

When you work for yourself/father-in-law, you don't get too many opportunities to travel for work.  When the random chance to head to Wisconsin came up, we jumped at it and extended it to Cleveland to make it a little family vacation.

Our route took us up through Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin to our destination in Madison.  Madison is a nice little city.  Big enough to have everything you need, small enough to actually get around.  Plus, they have fun accents.  :)

When we were driving through Iowa, I saw a sign that mentioned something about bridges in Madison County in a couple of exits.  A quick google search taught me that these were THE Bridges of Madison County, as in the movie!  So I made Brian take an hour detour.  He wasn't happy, but when are we going to be in Iowa again???

The little town (that I'd have to go back and google what it was called) was the birth place of John Wayne. I have a picture of that, on my phone. I got in trouble for using my phone to take Instagrams instead of the "fancy camera"...so I got the thing out and snapped these of the town.

And here they are, in all their glory - The Bridges of Madison County.  Brian was unimpressed.  I thought they were cute.

And a shout out to Coldplay!

While we were learning, our nanny-in-tow (aka, my mother) took the kids around to the local zoo and children's museum.  Both were a hit! (by the way, posting these pictures of the zoo are the first time I am even looking at them.)

This one cracks me up. She is reading that map, oblivious to the fact that her most favorite animal is standing right behind her!  

And I can imagine Ben yelling "Water Buffalo" the whole time. :)

 

 And here, "fingos STINK!"

So we spent 2 days in Madison, had the most fabulous meal at 8 Seasons Grille, and then headed out on our trek to Cleveland. I really wanted to stop in Chicago at the "bean" thing, but instead, we paid an extravagant amount of money in tolls and kept heading east. I did get a little stop off in South Bend, to see Notre Dame (and have our first Five Guys hamburger experience). 8 hours from Madison and we made it to Cleveland! It rained most of the time, but we did get to have some outside fun at Aunt Melissa and Uncle Angelo's new house!

  Like herding cats, man. It is impossible to take a picture of 4 toddlers. :)

Besides getting to see cousins, aunt/uncle, and Gigi, one of the main reasons of the trip was to celebrate Dominic's 2nd birthday!

How many toddlers does it take to open the birthday boy's presents? 

Don't remember why she was pouting, but it's cute. :)

The birthday boy!

We had a great time playing and we can't wait to go back and visit at Christmas!