The Robertsons Spring Breaking in Denver

Jeff's parents snagged some super cheap plane tickets a few months ago and made plans to come up to Denver during Carol's spring break. It was fun to see them again, and fun to have a little time to see Denver with them. The last time they came up, we had just moved into our house (three days prior), so it was bit chaotic.

We went to Boulder on Wednesday and Thursday we decided to check out the Colorado state capitol. The Robertsons had been there before on a visit when Jeff and Sam were young, but it had been quite awhile. The tour is free and it was actually pretty neat to see. The building is busy with all kinds of people since the state congress was in session. Here's a few pictures of the tour.

Main area where you meet for the tours.

The dome of the capitol. The blue tarp near the top is

 for some repairs they are doing to the dome/

The Colorado Supreme Court Chambers

The House of Representatives chambers. The Senate was full of politicians 

as they were debating a bill while we were there.

Jeff's parents were nice enough to watch Boone for a night, while Jeff and I went to Winter Park to ski. It was a fun, quick getaway and they seemed to do well with Boone while we were gone. Once we got back on Saturday, we hung around the house for a bit while Jeff did some projects with his dad in the garage, and then we went to check out White Fence Farm in Lakewood, CO. We had seen an ad for the restaurant, but didn't know what to expect. It was a huge place and we got there a half hour after it opened for the evening and it was already packed. The best way I can describe the place is if you took a lot of things in Branson, MO and jammed them into one restaurant. You had fried chicken and lots of comfort food, a petting zoo with farm animals, a big playground area, a little lake with ducks, live country music and lots of random things to buy in their store. It was fun and we would definitely take Boone back again.

Checking out the goats. When we got there we were given the #207 and I think 

they were seating #140. We were told it would take about an hour to get seated and 

I thought that would be horrible, but the wait flew by with all the things we had to check out.

Grandpa Robertson bought some goat food for Boone to try out. 

He wasn't even shy and got right up to feed the animals. 

Robertson guys checking out the tractor.

After a huge dinner, we burned off some energy at the playground.

 I think Jeff enjoyed this toy more than Boone. But he has done a great job indoctrinating

 our child into the world of trucks, construction and building.

Jeff and Booned climbed to the top of the tree house at the playground. 

At one point Boone stuck his head out of the window and made the funniest noise and face. 

I don't think Carol or I caught it on camera, but it had us all laughing.

The restaurant has served over 5 million chicken dinners.

Checking out the ducks. 

A fun truck outside the restaurant.

We had a great second visit with the Robertsons. Looking forward to summer and more adventures around the area.

Exploring Red Rocks

My brother decided to come visit us for a quick weekend after he was on a business trip in Minneapolis in the middle of March! He arrived Thursday evening and headed out Sunday afternoon, so it was a quick trip, but we packed in a lot of stuff!

Friday we decided to head to Red Rocks to check it out and do a little hiking. The weather was sunny and a bit cool, so pretty comfortable while you are hauling Boone around and hiking up hills. There weren't a ton of other people there, but you could tell that there were lots of people there doing their morning workouts. Everyone was climbing up and down the stairs. If I lived closer, it would be a fun place to go every once in awhile to do something different than normal running.

After we checked out the actual amphitheater, we took one of their short hikes around the area. It was a fun morning, and a neat place to check out. I'd love to actually see a concert there, but from what I can tell, the tickets for shows there are hard to come by.

After our hike, we went to lunch and went and checked out Golden for a bit. Then we picked up skis for John to use the next day when we all went skiing.

 

Overlooking the actual seating area

 

 Uncle John had the task of carrying around Boone. It is harder than it looks. And Boone looks really tired! Ha!

 

At the top of the seats. You can see some people running the steps in the background.

 

More beautiful scenery.

 

On the hike.

 

Tired and almost done. You can barely see Boone in this shot.

One more beautiful shot. 

A really pretty place and definitely worth the short trip out of Denver.

 

Had to get a picture in front of the big sign in Golden.

 

 On the ski lift the next day! It was a cold day of skiing, but it was fun to ski with John. 

After church on Sunday, we had just enough time to enjoy the sun and beautiful weather with a picnic at the park. I think Boone really enjoyed having his Uncle John around for a few days. 

We love having so many people up to visit us and see the beauty that we are blessed to live near!

Ashley's in town!

A day after Brett and Casey headed back to Missouri, we welcomed another visitor to our home! Ashley was my college roommate and a bridesmaid at our wedding! She's a dear friend who had a work trip scheduled in Denver, so it was so nice to spend a few days together after she finished up with work! It had been years since we had that much time together, so we did lots of catching up and laughing and also fit in a little exploring around Denver!

Boone didn't take long to get Ashley reading to him.

Randomly later in the afternoon, we decided to explore the crawl space under our house! There was nothing down there except what I call a useless, short, half-as-tall-as-needed basement! :)

Monday, we checked out the Flatirons in Boulder! Such a pretty day!

We hiked to the first lookout point and found a pair of binoculars someone 

had left behind, so we had a little fun with them!

Boone along for the ride!

The three of us!

On Tuesday, we decided to venture downtown and check out 16th Street Mall. I didn't really get many pictures, but I did get one of the Big Blue Bear at the Denver Convention Center. 

You can see the people standing at the bottom right of the picture to show how big the bear actually is.

So... can you tell we've been busy?! It has been so fun to have so many people visit us! Lots of excuses to get out and see our new hometown.

Thanks for reading!

The Robertsons

Weekend at Breckenridge

A few weeks after we moved to Colorado, our friend Brett and his girlfriend Casey made plans to come up and visit. We decided to go up to Breckenridge for a few days and ski! We had great weather and skiing and such a fun time with friends! On our last evening up in the mountains, we decided to do something different and try a fondue restaurant! It really wasn't an ideal place for Boone, but the waiters and owners were so nice to us. They even took him off our hands a few times and walked him around the restaurant (don't worry... it was a small place and we could see them the entire time!)

Here's a few pictures of our weekend!

Jeff on the slopes

Brett and Casey at lunch

The Robertsons!

Oh... did I mention these two are engaged now?! Congrats Casey and Brett!

My guys! Love these two so much!

Kisses!

In the middle of dinner! It was delicious! Casey and Brett were sweet enough to treat us to dinner for our anniversary that night. Totally unexpected and we were so grateful!

Our waiter trying to entertain Boone! They were so great to us!

My friend Melissa, that I grew up with in church, lives about 15 minutes 

from Breckenridge, so she met us at the end of dinner! It was so great to see her! 

Hopefully we will see her again soon!

It was such a fun weekend up in Breckenridge! We are so blessed to have friends to come see us!

February Family Visit (Part 2)

A week after Jeff's parents came to help us unpack, my parents arrived for their first visit to our new home. By the time they got here, we had almost everything put away, so we got to explore with them a little and see some things around the area.

On Friday, Jeff had to work, so my parents, Boone and I headed to Boulder. We checked out the Flatirons and then walked around Pearl Street Mall. It was a bit chilly, but it was fun!

In front of the Flatirons!

On Saturday, we decided to head up to Winter Park and walk around the area. We had planned to eat at a restaurant that my family had gone to all the time when we used to ski in Winter Park, but it wasn't open for lunch. We were bummed, but it was still fun to check out the town.

Winter Park added a mini gondola that travels between two areas in the resort, so we took it for a little ride.

We were anxious to ski because we hadn't been yet at this point.

All three of us on the gondola.

Walking around the village at Winter Park.

They had these neat wagons you could borrow to haul your kiddos and ski gear through the village. We decided to give Boone a little ride.

On Monday, my parents and I decided to head down to Colorado Springs. We wanted to tour the Olympic training center and take them by Garden of the Gods. We had a great time at both places.

The Olympic training center in Colorado Springs is the location for sports like swimming, wrestling, volleyball and men's gymnastics. Athletes can start living at the training center at 16 and must stay in the top 10% of their sport to stay at the center.

Volleyball gym.

The training center also hosts the shooting sports. It was neat to see their indoor facilities.

Indoor shooting areas

One of the gyms in the center

At the end of the tour. It was a pretty neat thing to see for it being a free tour. And it was neat to see it while the Olympics were actually going on.

And it was a great afternoon to swing by Garden of Gods. My parents had never been there, so it was fun to walk through there with them and the weather was great.

We were so thankful to have both our parents in Denver within our first month of living in our new place. They are so faithful to always make the effort to come and see us!

We are loving our new home!