Day 10: Our Last Day -- comments by Aunt Char

This was a trip of many adventures, challenges, and opportunities to learn new things. After packing up the basement beds and putting the room back to it's normal state, we decided to walk Waneka Lake and visit the wildlife preserve there for our last morning's exercise. Boy, did it pay off! A fisherman there caught a huge catfish just as we were approaching; we watched him reel it in slowly and patiently so as not to lose his prize catch. Heaven only knows how Jora spotted the frog amongst all the "green stuff" floating in the water at the preserve, but she did. We saw more ducks that we'd ever seen there; they were beautiful. Once we'd had lunch, we stopped off at the Seidels to say our goodbyes and then the girls got in a bit of swimming at the rec center. Their new friend Lauren was there with her day camp group, so they got to see her one last time, too. Carol whisked us off to the airport and got us there a little close to the wire. The long lines at the check-in were frustrating as was the security line where they found a little pocketknife in Ryn's bag that was never detected when we flew out and we did not know was there. After 3 searches, they finally found it tucked into a seam under the cardboard bottom insert of the bag. They confiscated it and we took off running for the gate (which of course was the second-to-the-last on the concourse!). The door was closed but they let us on and we breathed a sigh of relief once we caught our breath. We made it home just before a big thunderstorm. What a trip!

Day 9 -- comments by Tai

This morning, Erynn, Noah, and Karsten came over and played with us. Eliz joined us for lunch. Afterward, we played in the sprinkler -- Lauren even joined us for a little bit. We played Webkins all afternoon while Karsten and Ryn (and Jora, sometimes) watched Ice Age. Once Chad was home, we went over to the Seidels house for a quick dinner and played there. That's about it!

Day 8 - comments by Jora

Downtown Boulder has a really cool shopping area. We hit 2 t-shirt shops, 2 toy stores, a gallery of local artists with really expensive but neat stuff, and the spice shop. We tried freeze-dried corn and loved it, and it smelled really good in there! Everybody got t-shirts and some souvenirs, too! I got a locket key-chain that holds a picture, and a charm; Tai got a keychain and a charm and a Colorado pin; Ryn got two keychains for her collection; and Domino picked out a charm and a moose keychain. That night, we had pizza and a concert at Waneka Lake. This time, our new friends Lauren and her mom, Anne, went with us. Erynn and K showed up, too! This band was as good as DejaVu!

Day 7 - comments by Domino

What a cool pool! We went to the Bob Berger Rec Center where they have two slides, a diving board, a lazy river, a waterfall, and a swing rope. I went down the slide many, many, many times! The waterfall was really fun. When we went down the small slide, that was fun, too. The pool was 10 feet deep at the diving board end, and the swing rope dumped you into the same area of the pool. At the beginning, the swing rope was kind of hard, but toward the end, we got really good at it. We had Mexican food for dinner (it was delicious!) and watched Edward Scissorhands. Our treat was from Good Times: Frozen Custard! Some got vanilla, some got Oregon Blackberry. Yum!

Day 6 -- comments by Domino

Today we went up to the Rocky Mountains. We stopped in Estes Park for lunch with the chipmunks and saw a deer, too. After that we drove to Moraine Campground to meet some friends. We climbed rocks and played in a hammock. It started lightning so we had to get in the car real quick. Then it started hailing!!! After about 5 minutes, the sun came out we got to play some cool games. We stopped at Bear Lake on the way back and Aunt Char got a huge mosquito bite, but she killed the mosquito and it bled all over her fingers! Next was souvenir selections at the Beaver Meadows Visitors Center. After a late dinner, we discovered a flood in the basement because the faucet upstairs broke while we were doing the dishes. Aunt Char went to WalMart and bought all the stuff she needed to clean it up. We didn't get to bed until after midnight!

Day 5 -- comments by Jora

We went on a walk to Coal Creek with Eliz. We found a lot of ladybugs there and saw prairie dogs playing in the fields. As you can see from the pictures, the dandelions are HUGE! They must be taking their vitamins! Then we went to Boulder and I got a souvenir monkey and we had lunch at Wendy's -- chicken nuggets, of course. We watched two movies today: Monsters, Inc. and Yours, Mine, and Ours. I really liked the second one.

Day 4 -- comments by Ryn

Our first activity was a class at the Rec Center called "A Bug's Life." After a short class, we walked around collecting bugs and then got to show and tell the rest of the class about what we found. In the afternoon we went to Rhythm on the River in Longmont. We got to climb the climbing wall; bungee-trampoline jumping; played on slides, mazes, and obstacle courses; and each of us built our very own birdhouse from scratch. Then we were off to the Seidels for a BBQ where I FINALLY lost my tooth! K really had fun playing us, and we had fun playing with him, too!

Day 3 - comments by Tai

On Day 3 we went to Chautauqua and hiked 1.3 miles. It's at the foot of the Boulder Mountains. We (Domino and I) took a lot of pictures that we can't post on the blog because we can't download to Aunt Char's computer! Then we got lunch and had a picnic in the Boulder Mountains. Afterward, we found rocks we could climb and we had a great view of the Rockies! When we got home, we read our library books while waiting to go to the family picnic and hike at Heil Valley. Before dinner, my sisters and I went and played on the rocks there. After pizza, we hiked with Eliz and Aunt Char. It was 1.2 miles this time and not as challenging as Chautauqua was going up! Day 3 was a day full of great hiking!

Day 2 -- comments by Ryn

Today we went on a creek walk with Erynn, Noah, Karsten, and Eliz at Coal Creek. We threw some rocks and sticks in the water, and Domino and I made a boat from bark and floated it down the current. In the afternoon, we played in Charlotte's big back yard with the activity bag. We all had homes and Aunt Char lived with me. We made food out of the grass that we could easily pull up, and we made it into salads and invited each other over to share. That night we watched Princess Bride on the wall -- it makes the picture pretty big! It was a fun day!

Rocky Mountain High! Day 1 -- comments by Aunt Char

DAY 1
We spent our first day flying to Denver International Airport. Aunt Char's good friend, Carol, picked us up at the airport along with her co-worker Wayne and drove us all home. We headed straight to get some groceries followed by a "Create Your Own T-Shirt" activity at the library where the girls designed some incredible shirts! We sped home for lunch, went to Costco to pick up rotisserie chicken and noodles for dinner, and then off to see the Seidels! What fun! We wrapped up the day with a concert at Waneka Park where the girls played on the playground and danced their little hearts out. Walked back home and hit the sack after orange scream ice cream and wafer cookies. What a day! We all slept 12 hours and got up to do a bunch of fun stuff on Day 2!