Colorado

Back a number of months ago Kristy asked me if we wanted to go to Colorado with the kids this summer. We had not been to Colorado since Hannah was about 6 months old so I thought it was time we visited. It would also give Nana and Grandpa a chance to see the kids before they returned to Virginia in November. It was going to be just the mom's and kids. Dads were staying home. Who thought this would be a good idea?! We purchased tickets for the six of us to travel together. Part of the convincing my sister did was that she would be able to help with my kids since her kids are older now and can, for the most part, take care of themselves in a way. When purchasing the tickets we were trying to take in many factors: cost, connection times, leaving time. Evidently not the arriving time! A few days before leaving for the trip I looked at our itinerary and could not remember what we had been thinking. We were leaving Roanoke at 11:00 and getting in to Grand Junction at 6:30 (8:30 EST). That would be 2 hours past Hunter's bedtime. One good thing about having a routine at home and having your kid be able to put himself to sleep is that when you are at home, things are wonderful. When you are flying across half the country and want him to try and sleep on the plane, not so helpful. He is not used to me holding him to sleep or lying his head on my lap. Needless to say, he did not nap well. He did fall asleep just after we landed in Dallas so I kept him on the plane as long as possible before having to wake him up to let the cleaning people clean for the next flight and for us to get to our next gate. All in all, the kids did really well. They both fell asleep on the way to Delta which I had expected and they went back to sleep fairly well once we were at the house.

Willow was great at sitting with Hannah and keeping her company!

First flight, he was making sure he knew what to do in an emergency

First flight smiles

Charlotte airport

Willow liked pushing Hunter. Lest you think I did nothing, I had about 50 lbs of baggage on me!

Fell asleep just as we touched down in Dallas

On the way to Delta. She was tuckered out!

One benefit to having such a long first day was that they converted to Colorado time fairly well. Hunter is still getting up at 5:00 but it is not the 4:00 I was anticipating. This should hopefully help a little on the return flight since we land in Roanoke around 10:30 pm (8:30 Colorado time).

The kids have been having a lot of fun playing together and running around. It is best to play outside early in the morning before it gets too hot. Luckily the first day here it was overcast and did not get too hot. Some scooter fun outside. Hunter got in on it as well. We went to a local park and had a picnic. The kids also played in the Hippo kiddie pool in the back. While I was running that first morning they also went and visited the cows and goats. Hunter was fascinated by them.

Hannah in action on the roller skates. And Hunter.

Thursday we went to another park in Montrose and had another picnic lunch. We also fed the ducks and geese at the pond. In the afternoon we went to the pool and the kids had a blast! I do not have any pictures of that since I was with the kids the whole time but Hunters face was all smiles!

Grandpa enjoyed watching the sunrise with Hunter

We also got in a few runs together and a few solo for me

Friday we headed up to the cabin. I will post about this separately. It was a great trip and Hunter slept on the way up as well as on the way back. Hannah also got in a nap on the way back.

Saturday we headed to the library in the morning to get some new books to read. That afternoon Joel, Grace and Augie came over the mountain to visit. It was great to see them and catch up! I believe they see Hunter as what they have to look forward to with Augie! They stayed through dinner then headed out to Rifle and then they were going to Glenwood Springs for the hot springs.

A little dress up time!

The chalk city drawn by Kristen and Willow

Augie did not like the cold!

Grace, Augie and Joel

Sunday we went to church with my parents. The kids did great in the nursery. They had a ton of toys to play with! That afternoon we went to the local pool. It has a great shallow pool for the kids. Both kids were fine as long as they were standing. Hannah only went under once and swallowed a little water. She came up and then said "I forgot to swim!" Hunter also went under once while I had my eyes averted momentarily to watch Kristy go off the diving board. You can not take your eyes off of him even for a second!

Monday we headed in to Grand Junction. Initially we were going to go to Dinosaur Valley which I thought Hannah would enjoy. Evidently the dinosaurs can be very loud and when she heard that, she did not want to go. Instead we went to a nature place at the mall which had fish, turtles, birds, and snakes. There was a small carousel just outside the entrance that they kids wanted to ride. The nature place was pretty interesting though it did not hold Hunter's attention for that long. He was more interested in running around. We then had lunch at Dos Hombres, a Mexican restaurant that we would eat at when we lived there. Then the kids and I headed back to Delta since Hunter was needing a nap. We always needed to take two vehicles due to the number of people and car seats which actually ended up being nice since Hunter and Hannah were on different schedules than their cousins.

Tuesday Hannah woke up with a fever. Not good. She was up before any of the other kids which was not her normal. We went to an urgent care just to have her checked out and make sure it was not strep. She was complaining of a sore throat. The rest of the day was pretty much spent at the house since she was not well. We had hoped to get to the Montrose pool one more time but it just was not in the cards.

Wednesday was the day we were flying back to Virginia. That morning Hunter woke up with a fever. Owen also had a fever some time during that day as well. Never really fun traveling with kids, let alone kids who are sick! I knew it was going to be a tough day. Hunter had not slept well the night before and when I saw he had a fever, I knew why. He did get in a nap on the way to the airport. Our first flight was OK. We then had a few hours at Phoenix. We had arrived early and Hunter had fallen asleep while we were waiting on the tarmac to get to our gate. I let him sleep as long as possible before leaving the plane. The flight from Phoenix to Philadelphia was long but we each had individual screens to play games or watch movies. Hannah was sitting with Willow so they were watching some of a number of movies. Hunter was with me and did sleep some on the plane which was nice. The kids held it together pretty well on the flight. When we landed in Philadelphia we were a little late landing. Our connection was not that long. We were the last ones off the plane and for some reason, our stroller was not ready once we were off of the plane. None of the strollers were ready. I ended up sending Kristy on to the next gate with her kids and Hannah and I stayed behind with Hunter to get the stroller. Once I had it I ran through the concourse to catch the shuttle to the concourse we needed to get to to catch our next flight. Once I got there we found out our gate had changed and then, ultimately, our flight got cancelled. I admit, I about lost it. You can ask Kristy how close I was. It was already 9:30 at night and we were going to end up staying in a hotel. By the time we got there it was almost 11:00 and we would be getting up at 5:00 to get back to the airport to fly to New York and then finally home. Luckily the kids were able to sleep but did not enjoy be woken up only 6 hours later. Hannah usually sleeps 12 hours at night! She ended up sleeping at the airport before our first flight and then slept on the way home as well. Hunter slept on both flights which was nice. It was a long two days but the kids kept it together as best they could, especially not feeling well.

Hannah making a puppet out of the barf bag!

The morning after our night in Philadelphia, getting a little extra sleep while we wait

On the ride home from the airport

Both are out!

Since we have been back the kids are still adjusting and still trying to get well. Hannah has been catching up on her sleep. Evidently Hunter does not need to catch up! It was a good trip when we were out there but I do not believe I will be flying with the kids any time soon!

Here is the link to Kristy's blog which has a few different pictures and other videos.