COLORful Colorado!!!!

Hello everyone!!!

We have spent the last 2 glorious weeks in beautiful but VERY hot Colorado. Our time was spent relaxing and spending a lot of quality time with our family out there. We enjoyed lots of hours with our adorable nephew, Prince Jonah, Debbie and Jeff (more on that in a bit). We took in a Rockies game at Coors Field on a beautiful sunny afternoon. And we even went to an amazing Ben Harper concert opened by Trombone Shorty and Jessi Wilson at The Mission Ballroom, an exciting new venue in downtown Denver.

Our first stop was at Cherry Creek State Park just outside of Denver, for a couple of days. Greg and I thought it would be a blast to get everyone together our first weekend back in Colorado. We excitedly scheduled a fun family outing for a few hours that first Sunday afternoon, to sail on a pontoon boat around the lake. Unfortunately, a storm rolled in and we had to cancel. Resourceful as our family is, we headed to a Hanger 101, for an afternoon of great fun and laughs! It's a local restaurant/bar/game room/bowling alley (yup, it had everything under one roof!). The place itself was really cool with old airplane parts scattered around and it was so wonderful having the cousins all together! We were thrilled that cousins Seth, Savannah and Charlotte were able to join us after their soccer tournaments. We've shared delicious dinners (as usual!!) at the Valdez house a couple of evenings with cousins Venessa, Johnny, Tiana, and Anisa. We loved hanging out laughing and catching up with everyone. One night I even got to try my hand at Spit (a card game we used to play when we were kids) against Anisa. A game I used to be quite good at, clearly not anymore as Anisa kicked my tush! We celebrated cousin Tara's birthday (with a cool 80's theme that Tara and Seth rocked!!) at a fun rooftop place overlooking the RINO area in downtown Denver.

The rest of our time was spent between one of our favorite camping spots, Chatfield State Park in Littleton, Colorado and our most favorite place, the Wittreich-Gopstein household! We spent many hours hanging out with my baby sister (I know she's not a baby, but she'll always be my little sister!), adorbs brother-in-law Jeff and wonderfully, delicious, adorable baby Prince Jonah!!! We enjoyed several breakfasts, lunches, dinners, (yes, a lot of eating took place), bottle feedings, nap times, playtimes, walks and laughs. Greg and I babysat for Jonah a few times, we simply could not get enough of that little guy. It's hard to imagine he'll be walking and talking the next time we see him, he's growing so fast!!

This past weekend, Debbie, Jeff, Jonah, Shea (their adorable puppy), Greg and I took a drive west to Glenwood Springs Colorado. We stayed at Glenwood Canyon Resort; the kids in a cabin, us in the camper at a spot along the Mighty Colorado River. Our first afternoon there, we took a short drive into town to walk around the shops (although once there, found most stores closed 😒). We took the opportunity to have yet another meal and enjoyed a yummy Yelp recommended bbq dinner, followed by a beautiful walk across the bridge. The main attractions in the area are some of the best Colorado hot springs, which we ventured to the next day. The place we went to boasted 16 different mineral pools of varying temperatures ranging from a cool 90 degrees to a sweltering 107 degrees. Shockingly, even in the hot (95 degrees) weather, they were refreshing and relaxing. Cutie Jonah was even offered his first ice cream cone from one of the employees who couldn't resist our Princes cuteness.

Sunday morning we headed back into the outskirts of town for some breakfast (yup, food again😄). We enjoyed a delicious breakfast with a Mexican flair before heading back to camp to pack up and get underway. It was a glorious but extremely bittersweet morning. While we were excited to get on the road and continue on our journey, we were devasted to say goodbye to some of our most favorite people in the world 😢. Debbie, Jeff, Jonah- we started missing you guys the second you drove away. We will cherish every moment we spent with you guys over the last 2 weeks! To the rest of our Colorado family...we miss you and love you all dearly! But have no fear...we will be back!!

As we continue 'Livin' the Dream', our journey over the next week will take us to Utah and Wyoming. Stay tuned for our next update. Until then, we love and miss you all!!

Laura & Greg