By working a little extra in the week, I was able to duck out a few hours early on Friday so as to make it back to Fort Collins, pick up Kate from work (though she "made" me help finish some projects), and gather up our overnight bags. We took the E-470 toll road to bypass the Friday afternoon rush hour through Denver - and actually made good time down to the Springs. We stopped at Whole Foods to have some soup and bread for dinner then headed over to my sister's house.
We hung out with Heath, Dianna, and Joe (Heath's chum) that evening - mostly just gabbing back and forth. Kate and Dianna went out grocery shopping (getting in at 1am!) while Heath showed me and Joe how to play "Rock Star" for the Playstation. (My only comment is that it's a good thing I didn't try to go into music!)
Heath and Dianna's cats (Grey, Sally, and Simon) also kept us company:
On Saturday, Kate and I took Julie and Everest out as a late birthday present for Julie. We gave Julie the choice of either the zoo or the library and the park. She chose the library and a visit to Cottonwood Park.
At the library, Julie picked out a couple videos and a handful of books for herself and a couple more videos for Everest. She was very focused on acquiring her items and getting checked out. She even knew how to use the self checkout machine all by herself.
We then stopped in at Cottonwood Park (actually it was supposed to Palmer Park, but I got locations mixed up) and let the kids play around for about an hour or so. They seemed to like the slides the best. :-)
Here's a compiled vid of the kids (mostly Everest) going down the slide. My apologies - it's my first go at using Windows Movie Player. :-)
After the park, we dropped Everest off at home for his nap then Kate and I took Julie out to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. There was a birthday party happening in the back so the cow mascot was roving the place - which delighted Julie, who got a hug and a pink balloon.
We dropped Julie off after lunch and headed over to my parents' place. When we got there, we found out that Mom and Dad were working on a new tent-style gazebo for their deck. We offered to help out with the 'roof' of the gazebo and got most it taken care off - just before the wind really kicked in! :-)
That evening we all went out to the Olive Garden for dinner and then most of us came back to Mom and Dad's place to hang out and play a rolicking game of Monopoly. (Kate won - even though she was half-asleep at the time.) :-)
On Sunday, Kate and I joined Dianna for services at Pulpit Rock Church. Afterward, we came back to Mom and Dad's place for some really dynamite chicken and shrimp scampi. (Mom, I may need that recipe!) Then we finished up the gazebo and played around with the kids.
We headed back to Fort Collins late in the afternoon, did a little grocery shopping when we got into town, then came home and crashed. :-)
It was a great weekend - just what we needed. I'm not sure if I'm quite rejuvenated enough to go through another work week, but I'll give it a go anyway. :-) Thanks to the family for showing us a good time!
And as always thanks to all of you for reading! Hope you're having a great day!
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1 comment:
Mike & kate,
Thanks for the visit. Really enjoyed our time together. Appreciate the helping hands with the gazebo. Don't think Mom and I could have managed by ourselves!
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