A Very Colorado Weekend

We took a VERY quick trip to Colorado this weekend. We left Friday, partied Saturday, and drove home Sunday.

 

On Saturday we visited Chase, Caden, and Jordan's school. Kailyn is now a middle-schooler and attends a different school. Chase showed us his classroom



and the line you need to stand on to line up to go in.

All of the kids were totally stoked to show us all the things they WEREN'T allowed to do when school is in session. Climbing on the rail: NO!

Riding on the dinosaur with your baby: yep.

Hoisting yourself to the top bar: NOPE!

Showing off your dance moves: absolutely.

Sitting on the high bar: NYET.

Climbing the plastic rock wall: A-ok.

Climbing on top of the slide or parking yourself in the middle of the slide: Nope and, uh, nope.

Playing on the swings: good!

Swing your baby sister: also good!

Taking a cat (or in this case, bear) nap: lovely!

Showing off your bball skills: approved.

Snuggling with mom: of course!

Zooming down the slide: only if Dad will catch you.

Hanging upside down: Kailyn, don't you know that will make all the blood rush to your head and make your head burst???

Swinging with dad while big sister tickles you: that's a must.

Doing the splits:

well...as long as I don't have to do it too.

Next to the school is a cute little park.

Did I tell you Koen is the handsomest, mellowest, happiest little boy I know?

This park also has a zip line that mom can fling you down.

FYI: metal hammocks aren't all that comfortable.

Grandpa trying the zip line. Since we did it in Cancun, we consider ourselves pros.

Handsome Chase.

Here's one last NO: never, EVER let Grandpa look at your loose tooth. It will soon be your missing tooth. See that space on Caden's right side? Yeah....

Did I mention how happy and cuddly this fella is?

Koen even laughs with convincing sincerity at Grandma's silly faces. Can I keep him?

On the way home, the kids ran into the mailman who gives them a sucker if they can guess which color he has.

Amazingly, the postman seems to almost always have the color they come up with,

and will even let them guess again if they get it wrong the first time.

Here's the reason for the trip.

I love Caden's excited little face.

You can see the Joneses are a little bit outnumbered by the Bassetts. Ken has a brother and a sister that live in the area, and like us, Gma and Gpa Bassett made a quick trip down. Shelly and Scott, you two need to get your siblings to join you in Colorado. Stan, WE need to join them in Colorado, don't you think?

 

What a great family!

Is fun to have a reason to pop in on the Colorado kids.

These two cousins are four months apart. You can just tell they're going to be the best of friends.



Hannah was more than willing to give Koen her toys and slobber all over his toys.

 

On Sunday before we left, a box or two of Lucky Charms magically showed up on the Bassett table. Seriously, who would feed their beloved grandchildren junk food for breakfast?

These kids have a mysterious way of growing up between visits. It's shocking! Hannah showed off her new-ish walking style. She wasn't even crawling last time we saw her.

Here's another surprise: the Bassett tree looks a lot like ours did 20 or 30 years ago: childproof on the bottom.

Grandpa brought Hermie, the magic silk

and mystified and delighted the grandkids with its ability to completely disappear down the hanky hole.

Even Ava 

 

 couldn't figure it out.

Grandpa talked to baptism boy Caden about the value of things (like baptism or money),

and gave him Grandpa's Silver Dollar You Get When You're Baptized.

I produced The Quilt Grandma Makes For You When You're Eight, and we headed out into the cold for that long drive home.

More about quilts in an upcoming post.

 

Bassetts and Joneses, it is always so much fun to visit! If we don't make it back soon, we will see you in another 6 months!