Colorado trip!

 We were able to go to Colorado this summer for a week and we certainly kept ourselves busy!  Ready?  Here we go!

The flight is about 2.5 hours from California to Denver.  We happened to fly out of San Francisco for this particular trip.

 We arrived on our cousin Jace's birthday!  We were excited to share his special day with him.  After all, turning 5 is a big deal.

Happy birthday Jace!  We were still waiting for Pippa to arrive but this is the rest of the cousins.

Shayli and Pa had a picnic on the back patio together where they pondered many of life's mysteries......and thanks to the rain, Lamar was the greenest I've ever seen it!

We also were able to fit in a night of sleepovers.  The big girls at Aunt Amber's and the boys at Grandma's!  Sleepover's are super special since they don't happen very often. Jace has super sensitive eyes.  Which explains the pained expression.

 The men took the kids to the shooting range for an afternoon.  They proceeded to learn the finer points of aiming and it sounds like we had a couple of sharp shooters in the group!  And it wouldn't be complete if the pictures weren't edited to look like a WWII zone.  Trust me.  Much bigger impact.

Lexi and Dad

Kendri and Uncle Darren

Kyson and Uncle Darren

 We had several water activities planned for the week since it was August and Lamar is known for is scorching summers.  Imagine our surprise when the week rolled in rain storm after rain storm.  We didn't make it to the lake but we did find some fun at the church house!  Pa and grandma took the kids to run around in the gym and play.  Here they are having a "plank contest".  The winner managed to make it to some absurd time, like 2-3 minutes.  Ouch.

 They also played dodgeball - grandkids vs grandparents.  I think we know who won.

Shayli and Grandma made sure to get in some snuggle time.

And the rest of us made sure to get some competition in.....Stratego was a big hit.  I'm not sure who ended up being the champion but I'm sure I was in the top 3.  ;)

Uncle Travis and Aunt Jessica live just down the road from Grandma and Pa so it was fun to see them while we were out.

More games.....

The tournament continues.....

And it wouldn't be complete without at least one trip to the bowling alley.  Too bad Uncle Philip wasn't there to let us stay all night!

We made it out to Two Buttes for a day.  It was a family tradition for my family to go there every 4th of July when I was growing up.  This was the first time my kids have been out to see it.  They loved it!  Except for the bugs.  We could have done without all the mosquito's.  I came home with something like 30 bites.  And that was after applying insect repellent.

We hiked to the top and the bugs just got worse.  I think because of all the rain Lamar was getting.  It's usually super dry and in a perpetual drought.  So we stayed at the top just long enough for a couple of pictures then headed down to the Black Hole.  Sounds ominous, no?

This is the swimming hole.  There are several rumors that go along with the Black Hole.  Like no one knows its depth.  And a giant caterpillar (the heavy machinery, not the insect) was swallowed up and never found.  All very strange.  There's also the signs that warn people away because of the "itching disease".  Huh.  Obviously none of those things has ever stopped the Hall's.  If my Grandpa had been there he would have scoffed at all that nonsense and told us we were immune to the itching disease because we have Two Buttes in our blood!

 And now so do my children.

If you look closely at the cliffs you can see people standing on them.  These are the jumping cliffs.  Actually there are several different ones all varying in height.  But these are the most used.  I started my cliff jumping at age 8.  And I also told my 8 year old and 10 year old that they were NOT allowed to jump off that cliff.  I don't think they wanted to anyway.  They did jump off some of the smaller ones and had a great time!  And I didn't have a heart attack.  But I did allow my husband to leap off the higher cliff.  I actually had to goad him into it.  There was a lot of false starts before he actually made it off. ;)  Good job Ryan!

And of course, Colorado wouldn't be the same without Pa's famous milkshakes!

We got to see Grandma Lu.  She always makes the kids feel loved!

And on the very last day, the sun came out one more time and we were able to make it to the city pool!  Thank goodness!  The kids have been wanting to try the giant water

slide for years now.  We are usually in Colorado during the winter or spring.  They had been counting on it since they found out we were going to be there in the summer.  And then it rained all week.  But it worked out in the long run!  Phew.

Pippa was there visiting at the same time.  It sure is fun to get all the cousins together! Shayli and Pippa lounged in the zero entrance area while the big kids tackled the slide.  Although the little girls did go down the slide a fair amount of times too!

Uncle Daniel climbed the stairs to the top of the slide a zillion times.  An adult had to accompany the kids who couldn't swim because life vests weren't allowed on the slide.  He manned up to the responsibility like a pro!

Matching buddies!  Orange is in.......but only if it's neon.

Shayli would only go down the slide with me.  Her daddy and Uncle Dano weigh more which means they went down a lot faster.  And as you can see, I was fast enough!

After the pool we headed to the Robbin's new house (they were moving in the day we arrived) for a barbeque.  Uncle Dano brought water guns and Pa brought home-made ice cream.  It was declared a success!

 Later that night, we went it over to Uncle Travis' and Aunt Jessica's house for a last hurrah.  Aunt Jessica had a fun activity planned with glo-sticks for all the kids.  Talking about squeezing it all in!

We put some music on and had ourselves a dance party!  It was a lot fun watching the spooky skeletons show off some mooooves.....

After the dance party, we walked over to Grandma's in the dark.  We managed to get a couple of honks from some passing cars.  The kids were trying to spook the neighbors!

And we left the next day barely remembering to celebrate Twin Day! This was right before we headed to the airport.  Good thing we snapped a shot!

And sometimes, we're just plain tuckered out after vacation.  Good-bye Colorado......until next time!