Quick Colorado Trip

So we took a "quick" trip to Colorado to register our new Suburban in our state of residency. We left the Thursday before Mother's Day and got to Rhonda's condo before it was too, too late. Overall the trip went well, despite having no DVD player. (We had that installed this past Friday, so it's in place for our next trip--hopefully to Idaho for Commission.) We listened to a GREAT book on CD, The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech. I HIGHLY recommend it, whether reading or listening! The CDs were nearly 5 hours long, so that took us a good chunk of the way. Everyone except Arden and Kenna (and of course Lucan) was enthralled with the story. Tobin didn't want us to stop it, even when we needed to pause for food and gas and potty breaks! We also listened to several of the Amber Brown books, though I think most of us fell asleep before they were over. Ted's the only one who made it all the way without sleeping! Lucan did quite well on his first road trip.

Friday morning Ted took care of the car stuff, and after naps in the afternoon, we went to Bill and Mellisa's apartment to visit with them and their 3 kiddos, whom our kids remembered from our visit at Christmastime. Bill was still at work when we arrived. Mellisa and the kids took us along the trail by the nearby creek, and we got to see a beaver lodge and dam, baby ducks, a caterpillar, and GREEN foliage!! It only intensified the longing we have to leave Las Vegas! (And made me redouble my prayers for a house in Dayton with a wonderful back yard/outdoor play area for the kids to explore!) The kids also played at a nearby elementary school playground until time to head back for dinner, which Bill picked up on the way home. We enjoyed visiting for a couple more hours and then headed home for bed.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, so it worked well that we had planned a trip to the zoo. (To see pictures, go to my Facebook album.) Lucan did well in our new baby sling and slept pretty much the whole time. Joel, Sarah, and Anders met us around lunchtime. We saw quite a bit, considering how big of a zoo it is and how tired the kids started to get. Tobin especially is whiny and not much fun when he's tired! Kenna was delighted by all the animals and kept hopping in and out of the stroller. We had planned to attend the Saturday evening church service with Joel and Sarah, and we ended up having to go pretty much straight there instead of heading home for baths first. We did have a little extra time, so we stopped at Sonic for treats, which gave Kenna a chance to finish the nap she had begun in the Suburban. It was so nice to be able to have Rhonda ride along with all 7 of us with no one being squished!

Mother's Day dawned gray, cloudy, and cool. We were glad we had gone to the zoo on Saturday. We had a pancake breakfast with strawberries, and then after showers, etc., Rhonda and I went shopping for our Mother's Day dinner. Our trip was rather short notice, so we didn't give her much time to plan! I needed some snacks for our return trip home anyway, and she and I enjoyed some time together before heading home to prepare the meal. This photo shows the sunflowers Ted and the kids bought me. I left them in CO, so I took a picture to remember that I actually did get some Mother's Day flowers, LOL. (Notice I'm not in the picture?! Ah, well. The maker of the scrapbooks doesn't make many appearances in them!)

The one bummer about a road trip to CO for Mother's Day weekend was that I ended up having to give up my scrapbooking retreat that was held the Friday and Saturday before Mother's Day. That was going to be my gift to myself, but when we decided we should register in CO to avoid paying NV state taxes on the Suburban, we had a small window of time in which to get it done. It was fun to visit with family, and I have to say that road trips will be much more enjoyable with all the extra space. Hopefully someday I'll be able to get away for my own little scrapbooking retreat! (I'm sure it won't happen before we move, though!)