Anniversary and 4th of July Fun

Abe and I were so excited to be able to spend our second Anniversary together. Abe was in Iraq during our first, and it'll be another Anniversary apart this coming July. Since we know there will be years we'll be apart, we went all out for our second Anniversary. We got a room at the Broadmoor Hotel, which is a 5 star hotel built in the early 20th century and is still in its original state. This last summer the US Women's Open was held at the Broadmoor. It was also there that President George Bush realized he had a drinking problem and turned his life around... Just an interesting little tid bit. It was a very neat place to stay. However, Abe and I both felt a little out of place when we were escorted to our room and had to tip the escort. We prefer casual accomadations, but we still had a great time.

We enjoyed an amazing dinner at The Tavern restaurant. Abe got a buffalo steak, and I had incredible green chile macaroni and cheese and almonde creme brulee. Our meals definitely left impressions on us. (Joe and Ande, this is a place you should try to see if our ratings are up to your status!)

The next day we enjoyed a morning swim in the Broadmoor's infinity pool and headed to the Royal Gorge. It was amazing to walk accross the bridge which stands 1,053 above the Arkansas River. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Abe also surprised me with a beautiful floral arrangement. It was a very nice Anniversay, and we still had more to look forward to.

The evening of July 1st, a bunch of my family started coming into town. We were so excited to show family our first house. Jeremy, Rachel, and their kids came in on that evening. Derek, Jenny and their family came up from Albuquerque early the next morning, as well as my mom, Jimmy, Brandi, and Connie. We had a full house but had a great time.

Saturday was when everyone finally arrived and we were all together. We went to
the Colorado Springs Zoo with everyone.

Chloe sporting her sunglasses

Adrienne feeding the giraffe. Take a look at that tounge!

Cute little Chloe and Jeremy

We pretty much roasted in the sun, even going earlier in the day. We had a good time, but after a few hours we were ready to leave. We then enjoyed a nice dinner at Famous Daves. My favorite part was watching little Chloe (13 months at the time) suck on all the rib bones. She made her dad proud by loving all the meat!

It was fun with all the sleeping arrangements. As you can see, we have a big sectional. We put an air mattress in the middle and made the couch/air mattress one giant bed for the kids to sleep on. It took a while for the kids to settle down from all the excitement of being in a new place, being with all their cousins, and from being on such a cool bed. It was fun, though, looking down on them all from the little lookover upstairs. One of the highlights of this weekend was seeing my sister-in-law, Jenny, spooned inbetween Caleb and Dylan. Dylan wouldn't sleep without her there... so she says! It was a pretty funny sight to see!

All the kids and Jenny snoozing!

Sunday, Abe made a great breakfast for everyone, a bunch of us went to church, then we came home to get ready for a hike up Red Rock Canyon. Everyone LOVED this. It was the perfect hike for taking little kids. There are always exceptions, though. We had to give Caleb a hard time because he kept very calmly saying, "Can we go yet?" "I want to go." It was actually really funny. Caleb's not much of an outdoorsy type kid, and I think by us teasing him he actually enjoyed the hike a little more.

Jimmy, Brandi & Adrienne enjoying the hike

Family picture at the Quarry

Kids climbing down the steps from the Quarry

Nieces and nephews- Hunter, Chloe, Adrienne, Caleb, Dylan, Kaitlynd & Ethan

Jimmy and Brandi

Derek, Jenny, Kaitlynd, Ethan, and Dylan

Jeremy, Caleb, Adrienne, Chloe, Rachel & Hunter

Abe & me

The rest of the day we enjoyed watching Nepoleon Dynamite and playing games together. My family LOVES playing games. It felt good to be out of the sun and enjoy each others company doing what we love best.

Everyone watching Napoleon Dynamite

Ethan, Caleb & Hunter hanging out

Monday, the 4th of July, we had a big pool day. We first went and enjoyed Five Guys/Jason's Deli. Abe LOVES Five Guys. I think they have very good bacon and cheese hotdogs, incase you want to try something different. Jimmy and Brandi had to leave after lunch to get back to their jobs. It was so sweet of them to make the effort to come. We went to a fun, very kid friendly pool that had lots of waterfalls, a whirlpool, and a lazy river. The water didn't get deeper than 4 ft., so we didn't have to worry about any kids jumping in the deep end and not being able to touch the ground. It was neat because my Great Unlce John and Aunt Beatrice were able to come meet up with us at the pool and for dinner. I never knew my Grandma Cecilia, so it's been fun getting to know my Uncle John, her brother. We all went to a pizza buffet afterward and just visited. Uncle John and Aunt Beatrice left after dinner and we all went back to the house for the evening. We have a perfect view of the golf course and a good portion of post, so we were able to watch fire works from the back yard. It was perfect.

Best picture we got... Sorry!

We played more games that evening. One thing that we'll all never forget was when Abe won the game, everyone else was determining if they took 2nd, 3rd, 4th place... and Abe called out, "If you ain't first, you're last!" Easy for him to say! After games we started winding down. We were all a little sad knowing everyone would be leaving early in the morning.

Tuesday morning everyone basically just packed up and left. It's always so sad to say goodbye to family. We had such a wonderful time and were so happy so many were able to come and see us. We love the memories that were created and to be able to see our nieces and nephews before they get too much bigger. We definitely missed everyone who couldn't make it. Family is so important to both Abe and me. We feel so lucky to both have such good families.

Looking for little vacation? Come to Colorado! Abe and I would love to host you whether you're family or not!