We kept it a secret for 2 months because our luck is such that if we have something fun planned, someone either gets sick or something happens that prevents us from going. And I didn't want to get the kids all excited about something this big, and then have it come crashing down in their face....which it almost did. A week before we were scheduled to go, Jason's tech died suddenly, very suddenly, in her sleep. It was devastating. Not only was there a chance we wouldn't be able to go because of work schedule, but it also felt kind of wrong to want to go. I felt so sad that we were going to be off on our merry way enjoying our time together as a family when her family was struggling to even make it through a day. But Jason's co-workers encouraged him to go and covered everything with only a couple of people. They are some of the best people I know, and I'm grateful that Jason's time away from us is spent with them.
Anyways...when I say we kept it a secret from the kids, I mean didn't tell them until the morning we left. After doing that, I didn't feel right about just waking them up and casually saying that we were going on a vacation today. So after packing all their stuff while they lay asleep in their beds the night before, I made up a treasure hunt. At each clue they found a word that made up the sentence "We are going to Laramie and Denver". They were so excited and pretty relieved. While they didn't know that we were going on vacation, they did know that Jason had several days off in a row, and he joked with them that we were going to spend the time picking up rocks and doing yard work. After the screaming and shouting and hugging, we loaded in the car and headed out of town.
It only took until Greybull for the kids the kids to start asking if we were there yet and how much longer it was going to take. Katelyn and Jacob have become weak travelers. :) When we lived in Laramie and drove to Lovell all the time, they could do that drive no problem. Thankfully Dallin and Kinlee took turns napping and the older kids found things to entertain themselves and we made it to Laramie safe and sound. We went back and forth about whether to get a motel or stay with my sister Bethany, but all the kids wanted to stay the night there so we figured we'd better too. It was fun to visit and hang out with Beth who has been on rotations for the past 4 weeks.
Dal trying to hold his breath through the canyon :)
We spent some time on Friday driving around looking at the apartments we used to live in and showed Katelyn her school. It is crazy how much has changed in the 5 years we've been gone. I thought I would be homesick for Laramie and want to stay once we were there, but enough has changed that it didn't even really feel like home. There are several new businesses which means more people stick around for the summer. When we lived there, Laramie didn't feel that much different than Lovell as far as busyness goes but that isn't the case anymore. For dinner on Friday we went to Applebees and then back to Beth's house for popcorn and movies.
On Saturday we took the kids to Burger King for breakfast. If you have been reading my blog since the beginning, you will know that Burger King was kind of our home away from home when we lived in Laramie. I always took the kids there to play while we ate lunch or had an ice cream cone (when the weather is only nice a few weeks out of the year, you find other ways to get out of the house :)) They have totally redone everything, but it was so nice and the kids loved playing on the slides. After that we went to the Rec center and let the kids swim and play on the indoor playground. They tried to swim in the outside pool and slides, but it was only 58 degrees while we were there and the wind blew like crazy. A welcomed addition to Laramie was a DQ in the walmart. So after swimming we swung out there to visit with Jason's old coworkers, eat ice cream, and get things for Sunday lunch. For dinner that night, Bethany got Little Caesars Pizza and hung out with Katelyn, Jacob, and Dallin while Jason, Kinlee and I went to Corona Village...another place we frequented when we lived there.
For Sunday we decided to visit one of our old wards. It was fun to see so many people we knew. That part did feel the same and like home...even Jacob said he remembered being there. While I made Father's Day lunch, Jason packed up the car and got us ready to head to Denver. The kids liked the drive to Denver way better than the drive to Laramie. :) Even though we knew the gates would be closed, we took the kids up to see the temple. It was beautiful and we all loved walking around the grounds.
We didn't book a hotel prior to going to Denver because we didn't know what area we wanted to be in, so we just drove around and found something that looked nice. We lucked out big time. It was an extended stay suite so it had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and kitchen, a basketball court, an outdoor swimming pool, and a fire pit. The kids were in heaven and so was I because it made for perfect sleeping arrangements. Kinlee was able to sleep in her own secluded area and the older kids were able to stay up late watching TV in their room. The weather was really nice in Denver so the kids got good use out of the outdoor amenities.
First thing Monday morning we headed to the zoo. It was supposed to be almost 90 degrees that day and we wanted to beat the heat. All of the kids had fun, but Kinlee LOVED it. I thought for sure she would get sick of it after a while, but she held interest longer than any of the other kids. She loved bird world, the elephant show, and the fish tanks. Her excitement and love of it, makes me want to go back again right now. The zoo was one of our favorite memories from living in Laramie. We stayed at the zoo for about 6 1/2 hours so the kids were ready to come home and swim and relax at the hotel after all that walking.
On Tuesday morning we packed up the car before heading to take a tour of the Mile High Stadium. I knew we couldn't go to Denver without doing something Broncos so I was glad to find out that they did guided tours and gave lots of information about the stadium, field, and team. I knew Jacob and Jason were going to be on cloud 9 (which they were), but I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun Katelyn and Dallin had with it too. We won't talk about Kinlee...it was that bad!
Don't you just love this picture's background :)
visitors locker room
After picking up a couple of souvenirs at the Broncos store, we loaded in the car and started for the long drive home. We stopped and ate at Olive Garden. We stopped in Cheyenne and showed Jacob the hospital he was born at and the school I did my student teaching in. We stopped in Casper for a potty and snack break, and then pulled into our garage at about 11 p.m.
It was kind of a whirlwind trip with lots of driving, but I think our first family vacation was a success. The kids had a good time and we made lots of memories! We're already making plans for what we want to do next year!
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