Denver Trip

The Friday I returned from Girl's Camp, we headed off to Denver. He has a brother who lives in that area and we haven't been able to visit him, yet. We finally had it planned to go in July, but realized it was when Colby was at Scout Camp. We both looked at schedules and finally his brother changed his work schedule to get off Friday (7th) and Monday (10th). He was supposed to have the following weekend off (14 & 17th), but three of our kids start school on the 17th. Even Steven and Jackie (Doug's son and his wife) were in town. She had been in the hospital with a kidney infection and is expecting a baby in October. So they stayed around until Monday night.

On Saturday, we went to the Denver zoo. Brigitte (Casey's sister-in-law) was surprised to see so many animals out and active. She said they rarely get to see certain animals. One of the baby giraffes was gallopping (if that's what giraffes do), kicking up his legs, and running around. The other baby giraffe was just watching him. It's a large zoo and has some interesting animals that I haven't really heard of. We were there about 4 hours and still didn't make it around the whole zoo. Maybe next time. That night, Doug and Casey took the kids to the swimming pool in their subdivision.

Sunday we went to their ward. It was interesting because two ladies in the Relief Society actually moved out of my old neighborhood only a few years ago. There were only 17 of us in Relief Society and 3 of us were visitors. That number included the presidency. It was a relaxing Sunday. We made s'mores in their little firepit that night.

Monday we split up. Doug and his kids, Steven, Casey, Colby, Chandler, and Shelby all went to Water World. They had a great time and would love to go next time we come. Brigitte, Jackie, Emma (Jackie's little girl), Shyann, and I went and bought some beads at Michael's and went to lunch at Olive Garden. Then we just hung out at the house. Brigitte didnt' think Shyann would enjoy Water World because she's more timid. Casey agreed after he got home, but said she would probably be up for it next year. They didn't get home from Water World until 6:00. After dinner, Steven and Jackie left for home. We stayed up until almost midnight visiting.

Tuesday morning, we took the kids to the Hammond's candy factory. Chad and Chelsea came with us. After the tour, we dropped off Chad & Chelsea, packed our gear and headed for home. We left around 1:00. On the way home we stopped at Rock Springs for Dinner and at Grand America (it has it's own exit) for ice cream and let the kids play on the playground. We didn't get home until 9:45 pm.

We had such a fun time! It was great to see them and are going to try and get over there again next summer, only this time we will spend a full week. On the way there, we hit a storm. We saw the thunder and lightning, but didnt' expect the hail. That's what hit us first. We ended up having to pause the kids movie because it was so loud and the kids couldn't hear their show. Doug said that area is usually worse for storms during the winter. They advised us not to drive to Denver from Sept. until May. Maybe we'll find cheap flights for sometime during the year.