Colorado 2011, part 1

I figure I'd better start blogging this trip soon before I forget everything!  Several months of very little consecutive hours of sleep have turned my mind to mush and we're lucky I still remember my name at this point.  Go to sleep already Sawyer!!!!

We decided to just drive a full day and get it over with.  I'm not gonna lie, it was brutal.  Sawyer has never liked the carseat and I was not looking forward to 13 straight hours with him in it.  We left early enough that he slept for the first couple of hours but then true to his usual form he didn't sleep much after that and screamed pretty much constantly for the last 3 hours.  Good times. . . luckily my memory is not what it used to be and I'm already forgetting it.  I do remember that Maddie was SUPER helpful and played with him a lot.  Thank heaven for her!!  I've said it a million times but I'll say it again: "I don't know what I'd do without her."

The first morning we were there the first thing on the schedule was a horsey ride!  The "Newts" finally together.  :)

And that was pretty much the only thing that happened that day.  :)

There was a lot of 4-wheeler riding (and not always with Granny in her bathrobe.)  I even took it for a spin around the block.  I never rode it last year when Pops bought it since I was so preggo.  It's much more fun to drive it than to be the passenger.  Josh took me for one ride up on M mountain and that was the last time I will be his passenger.  :) 

Granny and Pops also introduced us to the wonderful world of "Ticket to Ride."  Maddie and Ryley liked it a lot.  Cash . . . not so much.  He mostly just talked our ears off the entire time.  Poor Pops was the conductor and ticket man and was on the same team as Sir Talks-a-lot.  Talk about multi-tasking!  He still managed to beat us all though.

Us grownups decided to play a game of it one night too (all except for GG.)  Poor Papa had the misfortune of sitting at the end of the table with Mom and Josh next to him.  At one point Mom ended up knocking her cup full of ice cold water all over him.  It was really pretty funny.  After we got it all cleaned up and we sat back down to play Josh knocked over his water bottle onto Papa.  You should have seen Papa jump!  Luckily the lid was still on the water bottle but it was pretty darn hilarious to see him jump like that. 

Papa's garden was full of cucumbers and zucchinis this year.  Papa would come in with buckets full of cucumbers every morning and GG and Mom would moan, "Oh no, not more pickles!"  And then they would go make more pickles and tell Papa, "Don't pick any more cucumbers!"  The next morning Papa would walk in with more buckets of cucumbers and the conversation would start again.  I don't know what the final count on jars of pickles is, but it's a lot.  I even brought home two cases for Brianne and I.  We let Sawyer sample one of the cucumbers and he had lots of fun chewing on it while we got everything ready to make more pickles.

 

We were all quite entertained by him contemplating the cucumber.

We spent lots of time outside enjoying the beautiful weather.  GG, Mom and I spent some time sitting in the shade and watching the men work on the addition.  I think Josh and the kids may have been on a hike or something because it was just us ladies and Sawyer out there.  I got some good pictures of this little cutie out there in the shade.  He loved crawling around in the grass and chomping on sticks or whatever he could find.  He didn't care a bit about getting dirty or the feel of the grass - much different from my other kiddos.

He kept crawling right for the camera so GG went and moved him back once.  He was NOT happy about it. 

He'll smile at you all day long, but he gets quite offended if someone other than one of us picks him up.  Little stinker!

 

We went up to Granny and Pops' property one day and had lunch.   Sawyer got his first taste of licorice. 

The kids and Pops built a little house for themselves.  Maddie put Pops to work moving stumps from all over the property.  They had chairs and a table for all of them set up. 

Sawyer spent a little time with Granny since I had left for a minute to grab my camera.  As soon he turned around and saw me it was over. 

After lunch and some 4-wheelin' we packed up and headed off to find a spot on the river that we could play in. 

I think they were investigating some moss on the rocks in this picture.

That water is mighty chilly but Sawyer didn't mind.

Even upside down he is a happy baby. 

I had to get a picture of everyone on the river.

And then one of what they normally look like.  :)

It was such a fun trip!  Stay tuned for more though - this was just the beginning!