7.10.15 - CO summer trip

After we visited MO we flew directly to CO. Neil and Everett took the same flight out as us. Ellen was already there as she had been apartment hunting the weeks before. Julie and her family drove out so they could bring Charlie with them.

The CO trip was also too short and a bit hectic, but also had a lot of fun points. Highlights:

• When we first arrived at the house, the gigantic dining room table was covered in a feast of leftovers, including a spinach quiche, ribs, and a cream cheese pie (plus tons of other stuff). It was all delicious. It reminded me of the feast scene in Hook.
• Dad got Jack, Clara, and me a hotel room so we had a quiet, peaceful place to sleep each night. The room included a California King bed, which was wonderfully spacious and big enough for Clara to sleep between us with still enough room.

• The hotel had complimentary breakfast each morning, and since I had to wake up at 7am to pump anyway, the first morning we all three got up and went to get breakfast. While down there we found the Julie et al (who also had a hotel room) and we got to hang out with them for awhile, which was nice.

"Baby-off" with the Wolks during breakfast.

• The weather was pretty cool and rainy the whole time, which I loved, again, because of how dry California has been.
• It's really sweet to see how well Sola looks after all the younger kids. Apparently at some point Jill paid Sola for helping babysit, and Sola used the money to buy Zoey and Rocket gifts. What a sweetheart.
• One of the gifts Sola got Rocket was a big foam dice. Rocket and I played a game where we both just throw the dice and whoever rolls the higher number wins. He kept trying to orient the dice to land on 6 and drop it straight down, but since it's foam it would still bounce. It was funny to watch. He got pretty excited about our never-ending competition.
• The first night we were in town, Dad and Jill hired Ms. Kristin to watch the kids, and all the adults went out to sing Karaoke. I nursed one Angry Orchard the whole time (so I wouldn't have to worry about pumping and dumping) and we sang all night. Dad and Jill had hired the karaoke DJ for that night, so our group sang nearly every single song without having to wait. So fun.

• At one point Bryon picked "Come and Get Your Love" and somehow that evolved into Neil and Everett singing back up as if they were in a heavy metal band.
• The 2nd day a lot of the adults went to the ranch, but I stayed back with Clara and Jill and the kids, and I was glad I did. The house was much more peaceful. I sat in the family room and watched some Pokemon, and noticed Rocket subconsciously singing along to the theme song at the start of each new episode. Pretty cute. Later the bigger kids went to play in the backyard, and I went and sat on the front porch swing with Clara in the relative silence and sang to her and enjoyed the view. The front porch is my favorite part of that house. So peaceful and relaxing and pretty.
• After everyone came home, later that night, Neil, Everett, Ellen and I played DOOM for about 3 hours. It was such an absolute blast--possibly my favorite part of the entire trip. I was laughing almost nonstop the entire time, and so were they. Everett especially makes it more fun because he makes such ridiculous squeals and weird noises of desperation and laughter when he's trying not to be killed. At one point he and I were both on the "roof" of the level, which is a big open space, and he was trying to shoot me with the single barrel shotgun and he missed all 12 shots. I laughed so hard I cried. There were tons of hilarious moments like that, and we really only stopped because it was midnight and Jack and I needed to go back to the hotel and get Clara down.

• The next day the guys helped Dad pour concrete walkways in the backyard, and then all the siblings and their kids got to put our hand prints in the concrete next to the trampoline. Nostalgic.
• At some point Matt (who couldn't join us for the trip this year) sent a huge tin of caramel and cheese popcorn, and I munched on that throughout the whole trip. Delicious.

• The third night Ms. Kristin babysat again, and the rest of us went to the rodeo. It was raining really hard and Ms. Kristin was kind enough to lend us her car, since the Jeep had a window out. The seats for the rodeo were stadium style and covered, though, so the rain wasn't a problem once we got there. I got to see the every end of mutton busting, and then all the rest. Jack was really into it, cheering super loud. Neil and Everett were cracking jokes the whole time, and Harrison and Rocket were goofing around behind us and laughing pretty hard. It was a lot of fun.

Rodeo selfie.

• After we got back from the rodeo, Neil, Ellen, Everett, Jill, Sola and I played the paper game. It was Sola's first time, and she did a great job. Her drawings were hilarious and her descriptions included details she inferred herself, which always makes the game better. Even though we were all kind of tired, we had a lot of fun reading the results, and we played two games.