Arkansas to Colorado.........

Once again, I find myself with far to many wonderful photos to post so I'll forgive you if scroll quickly! The last 2 weeks have been so fun filled and busy but we loved every minute of it. Most of the time was spent in Montrose, Colorado with my sister Michelle and her family, along with my brother Evan and his wife and cutie-pie baby. Eldon said that after a week of vacation with Brian he needs to go back to work for a week so he can rest :) :). We had such a good time though and I know that a LOT of work went undone because they chose to hang out with us instead.

When we left Arkansas it was raining and raining and raining. Eventually we drove out of it and then by the time we got to Hutchinson, KS it was so hot and humid that we just wanted to sit in the air conditioned house! We parked at Eldon's cousin Marlin's for the night. Much to our disappointment, Heather happened to be in Maine so I didn't even get to see her but we did enjoy our time there anyhow.

Building a tent.

Wrestling. Because........boys!

We walked down the road and picked mulberries!

All our children except the little boys, Blake and Ethan.

We pulled out Thursday morning and headed west on hwy 50. There were some nasty clouds building up but thankfully we stayed ahead of them and didn't get into much wind or rain. We spent the night at Lake Pueblo State Park and it WAS cold and windy there! However, the views made it worth it! Emily had never been in Colorado before and it was so cute to see her walking around with a huge grin on her face exclaiming over the mountains and reminding us that "I've never, ever been here before!"

The campground

Due to time change, and our wild excitement at getting to the Montrose area, we were on the road before 7 the next morning! We made excellent time and our Excursion did good going over the mountains. Well, if you call creeping up at 33 miles an hour and stopping to let the brakes cool on the way down good. But we were thankful for how it went. And yes, there was snow on top of Monarch. As in, 4 inches of fresh snow that morning! The children were ecstatic, especially Ethan who couldn't stop eating it.

They were all to distracted for a good picture.

"It looks just like Christmas" -Makayla

We spent the money to ride the tram to the top of the mountain. The children thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world. I thought it was cold and Eldon was just thrilled that he convinced me to go along :) .

At the top! It was to foggy to see much but it was still fun.

My snow monster.

Within an hour we were in nice warm weather again!

Blue Mesa Reservoir

Finally at Brian and Michelle's!!!

Brian promptly introduced the children to dirt bikes......

No one told Michael how to stop and the poor guy crashed right into the camper. No one was hurt but we sure did laugh!

The view from our dining room window!

The pond they made. It's a lovely place to relax!

Saturday we went to this amazing playground in Grand Junction.

Logan and Michael

Nakita and Emily

There was even a zip-line there!

Both Sunday and Monday night we had a picnic at the pond and both times Evan's and Neil's joined us.

Getting the party started.

Boat rides!

Monday night was Nakita's birthday party.

She is 5!

4-wheeling up Ute Mountain. Looking into the Black Canyon.

These 2 did so well on their dirt bikes! I was just a passenger and I was freaking out multiple times!

Looking over the edge very carefully.

Coloring together.

Thursday morning Michelle had errands to run and I spent several hours with my childhood friend Emily. It was wonderful, by the way. Eldon happily volunteered to stay home and babysit and the children were happy too :). 

Mud! Wonderful Mud!

Playing pig.

They played for hours........

 

After baths. What can I say, he kept them happy!

These pretty little flowers are a favorite of mine!

We finally convinced her to go up this big hill!

Wild child.

She is to small for this one but thinks that Katelyn's goes to fast :).

The children throw water balloons while Eldon and Brian install an air conditioner.

Eldon moved the playhouse down to the woods for the children and they played and played with it!

Pretending to fish! If only they would have lasted this long at the lake!

Katelyn taught Makayla how to hand sew. She has more patience then me!

More clean-up by the pond. 

On Friday we went to Ouray and did a few short hikes. It is so beautiful there!

Feeding the fish near the hot springs.

The fish

My beloved mountains

Gorgeous flowers!

Our pretty little children all in a row, minus Ethan.

Emerald Cascade. Not a hard or long hike. Unless you have a 20 pound baby strapped to you and are trying to hurry.

Us.

Them.

The mist from the falls was so cold!

Lovebirds.

Our next little hike was to the Baby Bathtubs. This was on a bridge we walked over, while tightly clutching the hands of our children.

Amazing how the water rounded the rocks off.

Pretty little stream!

I passed the baby off to Eldon and then realized how much harder it is to hike with him! That altitude is no joke either.......

Wading in the frigid water.

Logan carefully takes Emily across. His kind and gentle heart blessed me many times this week!

 

Makayla and Katelyn

Dirt bike rides!

These 2 are only 6 weeks apart. Nakita is older, much to Michael's dismay.

There is many things that I didn't get pictures of but we have the memories! Watching Ethan and his cousin Alex together was a personal highlight for me but I have no pictures. We also helped Evan's move out of their house and clean it, Eldon helped Brian clean the chicken barn out, we cleaned 50 pounds of strawberries one day, checked out a frozen yogurt place, fishing and out for breakfast, walks, talks, and just being together. I'll admit, it's hard for me to be so close (3 hours) but yet so far away! After making the drive from Montrose to Cortez I am not wanting to do that anytime soon with the camper again! The views were stunning but I was to busy worrying about what-if the engine or brakes overheat, leaning the opposite way from the cliff so we didn't fall over, and keeping Ethan from howling to enjoy it. 

We are now happily settled into an RV park in Towaoc, Colorado (10 miles from Cortez). It's very dessert like so it's hot but there is still mountains to admire! We are looking forward to doing lots of exploring in these parts in the next few weeks.