Hiking in Vail

So we arrived home in Colorado and began unpacking and getting settled right... WRONG!

You can't be in the mountains and not take a hike + plus we needed a few Walmart supplies and the nearest one is Vail... So on Saturday morning we went to Vail and took a Gondola ride up to a peak where we proceeded to hike three miles through beautiful terrain!When it was over we went to Walmart! Maybe we will work on settling in tomorrow!

Travel Day 4... Heading Home...

Day 4 of our trip starts in Golden, CO and ends at home on top of the world in Leadville!

We woke up and had breakfast with Chad's supervising Pastor, Pastor C. It was great to finally meet him and we are excited to see what this year holds for us and the churches of Breckenridge and Leadville.

Then before heading up the mountain, we went to Dinosaur Ridge where you can see Dinosaur footprints in the rock.
Following a little hike to see the footprints, we got back in the car and began our trip up the mountain! Along the way we stopped for this picture (and anyone with young boys knows that the real reason for this stop was a bathroom break... we just happened to get a picture after that was taken care of!)Later that afternoon we drove into Leadville, CO!
Welcome HOME!

Travel Day 3...

Our trip today took us from Kearney, NE to Golden, CO...

Our stop for today was at the Buffalo Bill Estate. The boys had a chance to see some Bison, sit on a saddle and play with some wildlife.
After driving through the Plains (and I believe the reason they call them the Plains is because of how plain they are... Did I mention yesterday that we saw some corn and some windmills)... We were all getting a little tired of the car. Turns out DVD players are more entertaining than just for watching movies... Check out Seth's headphones...
But our trip was not over and as we approached Denver we began to see our first signs of the mountains...
Tonight we are sleeping in Golden, CO!

Travel Day 2...

We left Des Moines, IA this morning to begin the next leg of our trip to Kearney, NE where we will spend the evening with a friend of mine from college and her family.

The trip was much smoother today and, though the terrain of Iowa and Nebraska is pretty much the same (corn fields and windmills), we did find a Union Pacific Railroad Museum which was interesting and informative!
Tonight we are visiting the Bogus Family. Alexis and I were prayer partners in college at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay... For years after we graduated we didn't see each other and then, 4 years ago, when we were moving from Hawaii to Indiana we stopped in to see them for a couple of days and now we were able to spend some time with them on this trip as well. They even taught us to play the game "Settlers of Katan." We may be hooked.

Travel Day 1...

From Wild Rose, WI to Des Moines IA....

We left Wild Rose early this morning with a trailer packed and loaded to pull behind our van. We got off to a rough start when a little over an hour down the road the trailer blew a tire. Thankfully we had a spare and in the next town we were able to replace the spare and have it fixed.
About half way through our day we stopped in Austin, MN to tour the SPAM museum. The kids loved the free miniature SPAM Mobile they got as we left. We also had fun learning about the history of SPAM.
About 6:00 we pulled into our hotel in Des Moines and hit the pool for some family fun before bed.

The Potts Family...

The last stop, before our journey to CO offically started was the Potts Grandparents... We were there just in time for Wild Rose Days...

There were bouncers and slides...
A train ride....
And BINGO!
We spent Sunday afternoon, Monday and then left on Tuesday morning.

The second Family Reunion...

Chad arrived home from his summer Air Force Training on July 22... On the 23we began our journey to Colorado. The first stop was a trip to pick up the kids from his parents house. We left on Friday morning and arrived to hug our kids (I had been gone for 9 days and Chad hadn't seen them all summer)... Boy we both missed them.
The next day we went to my parent's for a second family reunion. At this family reunion the entire Breeden Family turned out and we had a fun picture in front of the huge evergreen tree in their yard...
From Left to Right you have the Meyers (Daryl and Rebecca), The Jeff Breeden Family (Jeff, his lovely wife - Jess, and their kids Ali and Carter, The originators of this clan (Jim and Mary), the Potts' (Chad and I, Zeke, JJ, Noah and Seth, and the Jim Breeden Family (Jim, his lovely wife - Amy, and their kids Samuel, Isaak and Grace).
Then we went to church Sunday morning and said Goodbye to the Breeden family (several of whom will be visiting CO this year)... Here are all the kids before church on Sunday.

Fun with the cousins...

The first leg of our journey takes us to Wisconsin to spend some time with Uncle Jim, Aunt Amy, Samuel, Isaak and Grace.
We stopped in to see them on our way to Grandma and Grandpa Breeden's. The kids had a great time hanging out at home, parks, and the zoo...
Then we went to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Breeden's for a family reunion, but after taking this picture, I forgot my camera at Jim and Amy's... Oh well, I will have to try to get some family reunion pictures from others!
This is the point where Michelle's journey went back to Fort Wayne for some intense packing. 9 days with no kids and nothing but a house to sort, pack, clean and prepare... And yes, I finished it all with a day to spare! I even had time to get my hair and my toenails done!

The Summer of Goodbyes...

With our upcoming move to Leadville and our friends who are also leaving the Fort for a year we have had to say a few goodbyes this summer... Our friends Diana and Adrian did a great job of hosting cookouts, but I never took any pictures so you will just have to trust me on that one.
One of the families that I and the boys will miss is the Gerdes family, so in preparation for the move, we gave the kids a little extra time to hang out. We went to the beach with them, and then later Cedric spent the night (poor Eliah was not feeling well so he couldn't join us).
Then right before they left town they spent a couple of nights with us so they could hang out again... When the time came to an end we said, "See you soon..." as we anticipate returning to Fort Wayne in a year and hanging out again....
The night before the kids went to spend a week with the Grandparents we made sure we also got together with the Ingall's family. They are still in Fort Wayne and we are hoping that they will get a delayed Vicarage and will still be there when we return. Time will tell. The kids getting a little silly....

Tin Caps Game...

This summer we got two Tin Caps Games... The Library also gives tickets to the kids for reading and I ventured out with them to the ball park for a HOT, HOT, HOT afternoon game... Look at those seats... I was a little nervous we would get hit with a foul ball!Even with the sun beating down, we had a great time and stopped to pose for a picture with Johnny before heading home.