Stephens' Stories: Road trip to Colorado

Yes, that's right we went on a road trip to Denver with a 4 month old and an almost 3 year old. When I say, "we", I mean my saint of a mother in law and myself. David gladly flew on an airplane to meet us there for 3 1/2 of the days. The trip went as well as you would expect with an infant and an active 3 year old. We took our time on the road and stopped when we needed to feed Campbell, feed ourselves, us the potty, etc. We left at 5am on Saturday August 2. My thought was that Campbell would sleep most of the morning and Austin may or may not go back to sleep once transported to the car. He didn't, but was quiet for the first hour or so until the sun came up. I bought some new things to do in the car like a Where's Waldo book, travel size Hungry Hungry Hippos, and even a couple of apps on the ipad (Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder). I drove for the first 3 hours (to Waco) but didn't realize this would be my only stretch to drive for the whole trip. Mary drove the rest of the way there and back and I sat in the backseat in between the two carseats. We made it to Dumas Texas the first day and spent the night there. Austin and MiMi even went swimming in the hotel pool and we ate at the 287 Roadhouse - a local favorite. The next morning we took our time getting up and made it to Denver around 4:30 pm. We stayed the first 2 nights at David's cousin's house (Christy, Corrie, Hayden and Maddie). They were very generous to let us take over their basement. It worked out perfectly for Campbell to be in the pac n play in the room with me and Austin to be on the floor in the room with Mary. Hayden and Maddie were so nice to play ball with Austin at their pool and also in their front yard. We had dinner and went swimming at their pool soon after we arrived. The water was much cooler than a Houston pool in August but Austin still had fun!

The next morning (Monday) we decided to drive to Georgetown (45 miles west of Denver) to ride the Georgetown Railroad loop train. It is a real old time train that runs in the mountains. We hit traffic and missed the originally planned departure but luckily made it in time for the next one and even got a covered, open air seat. Thank goodness because it did rain on us the 2nd half of the 1 hour ride. Campbell even nursed on the train in the mountains! Ha! Austin really enjoyed the train and seeing the engineer and conductor - just like in Thomas! That night we ordered pizza and ate in with cousins and had lots of soccer time. We enjoyed being able to eat outside on their patio and not be sticky hot or have mosquitoes biting us :)

On Tuesday morning, we met my good friend Pippa and her 1 year old daughter Ashley at Wash Park. MiMi played with Austin on the playground while Pippa and I visited. It was so fun to see her and meet Ashley. She and her husband Matt are expecting their 3rd girl in December! We napped at the Jones house and then that evening we moved to the rental house which was only 4 blocks from Wash Park! The Barretts also arrived in Denver after traveling the country. They were going to stay in the rental house with us for 3 nights as the last leg of their summer vacation. We had a low key evening at the new house unpacking and such. On Wednesday morning, the boys and I went to Arvada to visit Rachel and Brody. We met them at their neighborhood pool, swam and ate a picnic lunch. Austin had a blast playing with Brody who is 6 months older than him (but about 4 inches shorter). It was so fun to catch up with Rachel and I miss hanging out with them on a regular basis. She is also pregnant with her 3rd baby due in November! That evening we walked with the Barretts to the south Gaylord area and ate at Reivers restaurant for dinner. David flew in late that night and Mary was so kind to get him at the airport.

On Thursday we spent the morning at Wash park (I even got to run there by myself (sans-stroller) thanks to David and Mary) - playing on playground, renting a Surrey which Austin insisted on driving and pedaling, both of which even Summer was too short to do, but David and I pedaled around 1, 2 mile loop with him. He had fun! We also drove by our old neighborhood and house. It looked the same except that they must have been putting a new roof on the garage because it was covered in a tarp. No neighbors were out to say hi to but looked like the same people lived on that great block of South Humboldt. That afternoon/evening we went back to the Jones cousins' pool with the Barretts this time and swam, ate dinner, and celebrated Austin and Summer's birthdays (her 7th was July 25 and Austin's 3rd was August 9th). I bought cupcakes from the Big Fat Cupcake in Cherry Creek (which is the same place I got cupcakes from for his 1st birthday party). On Friday morning, David and Mary took the car to Blackhawk casino from about 9am-3pm. The Barretts had left at 5am that morning to drive back to Houston and I took the boys to Wash Park to feed the ducks, play on the playground and kick the soccer ball. It was a cool morning and felt great! I love that park! We had lunch at home, napped and when David got back, we headed back to Arvada to eat and play with the Roons. We made a stop at the Burkes house (who were supposed to come to eat at the Roons but their baby #2, Mack, arrived a couple of weeks early) to say a quick hi and drop off a gift and some baby boy clothes that Austin wore - things that are way too thick fleece and winter-like for Houston, plus the wrong size for Campbell. I hope baby Mack can wear them this winter in Denver! We had a crazy, fun, "all-boy" family dinner at the Roons, including kicking the ball in the "dining room" and playing golf outside with Brody's real metal golf clubs. Just like old times in 2008/2009, plus 4 BOYS under 4. Mary enjoyed a nice, quiet evening back at the house. On Saturday, our last full day in Denver, we celebrated Austin's 3rd birthday! He woke up to a sprinkle-covered donut with a candle and a balloon. I snuck in one last run at Wash park and then met my friend Michelle for coffee at Devil's food on South Gaylord near our house. We then met Rachel and her boys at Wash Park for more play time. There happened to be a FARE (Food Allergy org) race going on so we scored some free samples of "Don't Go Nuts" soy butter and granola bars. It was delicious and I want to buy more for Austin as a peanut butter substitute. After nap we walked to Bonnie Brae ice cream for a birthday ice cream - we were fortunate because a rain storm rolled through as we were under cover eating our ice cream but we were able to walk home without getting wet. That night, Ryan and Kelly came over for pizza from the Garlic Knot - they are expecting their baby girl on September 10th. It was great to see them and give them a dose of baby chaos! On Sunday, we walked to Devil's food for mommy to get coffee and the rest shared a cinnamon roll. We packed the car and headed to DIA to drop David for his 12:30 flight. The rest of us hit the road for the 19 hour drive back to Houston. It went well but was not quite as "fun" as the way there since we were heading home to August in Houston. It was a great trip to Denver. Thanks MiMi for driving with us crazies!!