Milestone Celebration Trip

In some ways it seems so long ago that we welcomed this sweetheart into our family, but in other ways I can't believe that

this girl is 4!!! 

We went to Colorado to visit my awesome parents to celebrate.  We started the day off with balloons and a pancake breakfast.

Next was bowling!!! Her favorite. Kraig and I must really love this girls because we are willing to humiliate ourselves and bowl gutter balls in order to please our girl. I actually lucked out and did pretty well this time - even got a strike - and Mikayla got a strike too (with a little help from the ramp).

Help from G-ma 'Lessie'

A li'l dance w/ daddy....

After bowling we did cake......and it had to be her favorite color.....I'm sure you can't GUESS what that might be.....RED! So red velvet cake it was. We kind of did a red theme for the day.  Here she is pouring on the red sprinkles.

As one of her presents from us, she got her first Barbie dolls.  They had to go along with us to dinner, at the Spaghetti Factory....which also happens to be  a RED building!

Actually, she chose the Spaghetti Factory not because the building is red, not because spaghetti is red, but simply because it has a train inside.  And her latest ambition is to be a train conductor when she grows up.

We walked around downtown Denver after dinner.  The horse-drawn carriages were a big hit with Ashlynn. She kept yelling, "Neigh!!!" and running around giggling.

We had a great time!!!! Downtown Denver is fun.  Haven't been here since I was a little kid and we lived in Aurora, Co.


BTW....THIS is the reason we got her barbie dolls.  She has been asking for a doll house for a few months.  We found this one (which is like 4' tall!) for a great price, but it's so big that the dolls that fit it are barbie-sized.  She LOVES it.  She had to wait to get home to get this big b-day present. It even has a working elevator.

August 20th was our 7th Anniversary, so we planned a little overnighter while our kids were content to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's.  We escaped to a quaint little mountain town in the Rockies, 'Georgetown'.  They call themselves 'Colorado's Victorian Town' and they have a steam engine you can ride and see gorgeous scenery and you can even have an elegant dinner on Fridays and Saturdays.  They also have many original buildings from the 1800's that they have preserved and restored over the years.

This is the Chalet we stayed at, "Chateaux Chamonix". A French woman owns and operates it and makes homemade croissants and 'pan au chocolate' every morning for the guests.

Our view from the balcony

We went out to breakfast at 'The Happy Cooker' which was a little outdoor cafe that served brunch and breakfast foods all day.  It was relaxing to sit outside and enjoy this quiet little town.

Downtown Georgetown

After exploring the Victorian buildings and doing a little shopping, we went on a scenic drive that ended at about 11, 000 feet and a trail head to one of Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks.  We didn't have time or the gear to do the full climb, but it was nice to do part of it.  We ended up hiking for about 2 hours and it rained on us for the last half hour, but we didn't care.  It was great to be outdoors with my man.

When we got back to my parents' house, the kids had been really good and really happy.  I'm grateful for my parents and how much my kids love them.