Our First Family Vacation!! (Days 1 and 2)

I am writing while relaxing in a gorgeous mountain home in the Rockies.  It is AWESOME out here.  Ryan and I have been wanting to come back ever since I came to visit him in 2007 while he lived here.   Before I talk about this trip, I'll have to give a little background info.  After Ryan finished college, he came out to Evergreen, CO to live with a family and be a part of the Rockland Fellows program.  He did an internship and took seminary classes through the church.  We had only been seeing each other for three weeks before he left for the year, but the long-distance relationship was going well, so I came to visit him during my Spring break.  Now we say that it is the place that "sealed the deal" for our relationship.

5 yrs ago at Hanging Lake

We left Aurora at 9:30 on Friday night and arrived around 2:00 Saturday.  The drive went pretty well, although around 3:00am I was convinced that we would never drive through the night again.  Ryan drove most of the time, but I decided I could drive for a while since he was getting pretty tired.  I got in the driver's seat at 5:00, and by 5:30 I was already telling Ryan I was tired...  Parker did such a great job!  Ryan figured out a way to turn Parker's car-seat around so it could be reclined and then he slept much better.  Once Parker was awake, he had a blast playing with a baby laptop that one of my students lent me, reading books, and playing with his firetruck.

Parker driving at the rest-stop.  You can tell he's concentrating since his tongue it out.

When we were already in Denver, we let him watch a show on the portable DVD player, but he wanted to push the buttons instead of watch ;) We are so proud of him for doing such a great job in the car!  Now I know we can do this again!

We arrived at the Judge's beautiful home around 2:00pm and hung out with them for the rest of the night.

Our bedroom for the week with GORGEOUS views!

 Sunday morning we went to Rockland and then relaxed for the afternoon.  Parker liked playing with Jon and Ty on the trampoline.  He also became minorly obsessed with "driving" their snowblower/tractor.

The Judge's left for their vacation, so it was up to us to take care of the house for the next week.  They are such generous people and Ryan and I have been very blessed by our relationship with them.

Sunday night we headed up to Dave and Corinne Wright's house. Another amazing home in the mountains.

They are an awesome and incredibly active couple that Ryan spent a lot of time with while he lived here.  While were were chatting, we saw a fox outside and made friends.  Parker kept calling it a puppy.