Denver and Family

Jonah and his singular cousin, Jeremiah, eating giant lollypops from the Garden of the Gods

One of the last stops on our trip was a visit with Michael's brother and sister-in-law and their son, Jeremiah.  It was a relief to park somewhere for a relatively extended period and to have a house to have dinner and sit around a big table with family.  Jonah and Maeryn loved playing with the dog, Rosie, and we had a multitude of adventures the too few days we were together, including a double date where our children had an actual babysitter for the first time in almost a year! 

One of the first things we did was to take a walk around Golden, CO.  We stopped for ice cream and fudge and the kids climbed trees and threw rocks into the river at the park.  They were so excited to have a playmate who was as active as they love to be.

That night, Maeryn lost a tooth, but it happened after every else was asleep (after midnight).  She was disappointed in the morning when the tooth fairy did not come.  We assumed it was because she'd lost the tooth on the next day, technically, and we tried again that night.  She was gifted with a note from the fairy explaining her absence the previous evening and quadruple the silver coins normally found under her pillow.

One of our day trips was to Garden of the Gods, where we climbed rocks and Maeryn and Jonah got to take turns walking the dog.  They cannot wait to get a dog to call their own.  I have some trepidation...

The next day we went to Boulder, CO and toured the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory.  Jonah purchased his own kids' version of Sleepytime Tea with grape flavoring.  We all got free samples of their mint tea and had fun exploring the gift shop after our tour.

Also in Boulder we got some bison hot dogs and browsed the shops while serenaded by a variety of street musicians. 

We also saw this awesome sign:

 

On Sunday we decided to stay a bit longer so we could attend church with family and have some sandwiches before headed out into what would be our first experience with driving through a snowstorm.

As a result, we decided to skip our planned visit to South Dakota, and continue east to Missouri.

Everyone was a little sad that our time with family was ending, but looked forward to the quickly coming future.