Crested Butte, CO Trip - Days 1 and 2 : Off We Go

A week ago on Sunday, we headed out bright and early to begin the very long drive to Crested Butte, CO. Kevin and Julie have been there many times and invited us to go with them this summer.  I had never been to Colorado before so I was pretty excited to go.  We had a lot of fun and adventurous activities planned.

Crested Butte is about a 14 hour car drive away.  We rented a Ford Explorer for the week so we would have a comfier ride in the car. I'm glad we did because we had a lot to bring.   On the drive up, we made a pit stop in Lubbock to show the kids the Texas Tech campus and then made the hour drive up to Amarillo to stay the night.  Shawn and I took turns driving, so it wasn't too bad.

I hadn't been back to Lubbock in almost 9 years and a ton has changed.  It was crazy to see how different the area around campus looked.  The kids weren't as excited to see the campus and go on our trip down memory lane as Shawn and I were, but at least now they can have a picture in their heads when we talk about Texas Tech.  We had lunch at Spanky's right across from campus and then took the kids picture in front of the seal.  We drove through the rest of the campus, through Greek Circle and by the apartments Shawn and I used to live in.  I'm glad we took a detour and stopped to visit.  Maybe one day we'll take the kids back for a football game.

Lauren and Natty informed us they will be attending OU (where Julie went) and not Tech.

After the hour drive to Amarillo, both of the kids were excited to be out of the car.  The hotel we stayed at had a pool, so we let the kids swim for a bit and then headed out to dinner.  We forgot it was Father's Day which meant all the restaurants were really busy.  Luckily we were able to get in to eat at the Red Robin next to the hotel and the kids did pretty well.  Evan may have been laying down a lot of the meal, but that's beside the point. 

And just as a side note. . .Evan weaned himself off his paci this trip!  I brought his only paci with us and the first night at the hotel he bit the end of it and didn't want it anymore.  I had warned him and told him that I didn't have any more with me and we wouldn't be buying more.  He did it anyways, so into the trash it went.  He fussed for all of 5 minutes and never asked about it the whole trip.  That was way easier than I expected!  :)

We were up bright and early Monday morning to finish the 8 hour drive to Colorado.  After being in the car so long the day before, this was a long day!  Shawn and I split up the driving just as we had the day before.  The kids overall did really well in the car. Thank goodness for the DVD players, kindles and ipad! 

The windows were down which is why my hair looks crazy!

We stopped at the grocery store in Gunnison, CO (about 30 minutes outside of CB) on the way in and bought some food to keep in the house.  Poor Evan had told us he had a potty accident on the drive, but since I knew he had a pull up on, I assumed he was fine.  However, once we got to the grocery store and I got him out of his seat, I realized his pull up had leaked and his shorts were soaking wet.  Ugh.  So I got him all changed while the rest of the crew went in the store.

Once we got all the groceries, we made the short trip up to Crested Butte.  We made it to the house shortly after 4:00 and took a look around.  The house was super nice and in a great location.  Since it was summer time, we decided to stay close to town instead of on the mountain.  I think that was a really good decision!  We were able to walk to all the shops and restaurants and when we did go up to the mountain, it was only a short 10 minute drive.

I grabbed these pics off the rental website because they were much better than mine.

There is no picture of the back deck, but it was super big and nice!

Kevin and Julie stayed in the master downstairs.

Shawn and I took the upstairs master.  Loved all the windows in the house.  We slept with them open most nights.

Em and Evan shared this room the first 2 nights.  Then the last 2 nights Em moved into the girls room and slept in her sleeping bag and Evan slept in our bed.

Lauren and Natty's room.

After we got the cars all unpacked, we walked to Teocalli Tamale and picked up some burrito's to go and walked to the park to have a picnic.  The kids gobbled up their burrito's and then played on the playground while we finished up ours.  The kids loved being able to run around and stretch their legs after being in the car for so long.  The weather and the view was amazing.  It was warm in the sun, but once the sun went down it cooled off quite a bit.

Loved this view!

We headed back to the house after the kids played for a while so we could all get some rest before our action packed day we had planned on Tuesday. 

It's Recital Time Again

Last weekend, Em had her 3rd annual dance recital.  This year she was in a 4-5 year old ballet, tap and jazz class and they did a tap routine for the recital.  Em loves recital time and counts down to it the whole year.  Their number this year was to "Shake Your Tail Feathers" from the movie Rio.  It was super cute.  I wasn't sure what to think of her costume at first, but it really went well with the number.

The Thursday before, Em had her rehearsal and that's when I was able to take these pictures.

I tried my best to get a good pic of these 3, but this is the best I got. . .

The recital was on Saturday afternoon and Em had lots of family come to watch her. . .Mimi, Papa, KK, Grandpa Joe, Papa Mike, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Julie, Lauren, Natty and of course Mommy, Daddy and Evan. Em did awesome!  She was front and center and never missed a beat.  I'm so proud of her.

Em and her friend Grace.  Grace lives down the street from us and these 2 will go to Kindergarten together.

Em and Grace.  Grace didn't really want to take a picture.

This was Em's last year of combo classes, next year she has to choose a style. . .tap/jazz, ballet or hip hop.  I think she'll be going the ballet or tap/jazz route.  I don't really see her as a hip hop dancer, but you never know.  Can't wait until next year's recital.