Category Archives: colorado

Road Trip to Colorado – Part 2: Caravanning to Durango

Surprisingly, when it came time to get back into the van the next day and drive another 6 hours, the kids were fairly cooperative.  They settled in for the drive and we didn’t even have to make that many stops… granted when you’ve got two cars and four kids, rarely will everyone have to use the bathroom at the same time. Ha ha!

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I didn’t take nearly enough photos overall in Durango, but it was so nice to see family and friends and to actually hang out with everyone at one time.  We stayed in a hotel the first two nights, but it was right downtown so we were able to walk around with the kids a bit since they do NOT like being cooped up for too long.

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Road Trip to Colorado – Part 1: Driving 15+ hours with 2 small kiddos

When we discussed driving to Colorado from Minnesota, we were both a little nervous about how such a long drive would go.  Heck, vacation in general can just throw off small children, and ours are very used to routines and in some ways, rely on that routine.  We both knew that there was a high risk of no one getting enough sleep and potentially grumpy kiddos, but when all is said and done?  The trip went so much better than we could have hoped.

We left on a Wednesday night after dinner and after giving the kids baths and dressing them in comfy clothes, so around 7:00pm or so.  As expected, both kids were excited about the change in routine and we let Enzo watch a movie.  The one downside to having the sun set so late, however, is that while Phoebe had no trouble falling asleep at a reasonable hour, Enzo was up until the sun went down. After that, though… they were pretty much out until the next morning.  Phoebe woke up briefly at around 4:30, and Enzo not too long after, but both took mid-morning naps.  We stopped once it was light out so we could grab some breakfast and let the kids stretch, but Enzo wanted to keep on going and didn’t want to stop at a restaurant, so on we went!  We made one or two more brief stops (the kids are unsurprisingly big fans of gas station junk food and Phoebe stole my Fritos when I foolishly forgot to keep an iron grip on them), but ultimately arrived in Colorado Springs at a decent time and despite some shyness, both munchkins warmed up fairly quickly to their cousins, especially after a nice long nap.

Thursday morning we did make the decision to flip Phoebe’s car seat around so she could watch a movie with Enzo.  It was easier and she was much less fussy.  I realize that it isn’t as safe to ride forward facing, but she is on the larger side, and there were fewer distractions coming from the back seat.  Fewer distractions for the driver means we’re a lot less likely to get into an accident.

On that note, here area few cell phone pictures from the drive until I have time to finish going through all of the other photos from our trip.

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After a rough January, I decided I needed to see some family, and since I haven’t seen my mom or sister since Enzo’s birth, it seemed like a good idea to visit one of them… so both my mom and I flew to Colorado Springs to stay with my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew.  As a bonus, my brother and his wife drove up from Durango.

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Enzo was super excited to meet his cousins, and he and Dustin were immediately smitten and buddies.  Aubrey warmed up pretty quickly to Enzo and they all got along pretty well considering the age differences.  It was funny to see Aubrey treat Enzo like one of her baby dolls and Dustin was like a big brother showing him all kinds of fun stuff.

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Because of the nice weather (I miss Colorado weather and warm winter days) we were able to go to the zoo.  You can tell how excited Enzo is about his first trip to the zoo. :p

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I think he had fun and he’d look curiously at a lot of the animals, like the giraffes.  I think he was also just busy taking in all of the people as well.  It was fun, though, and we got to see a baby giraffe as well as a baby gorilla!  So cute!

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Their tiger exhibit was also really neat – she was really close to the fence at one point and came right up to see everyone. So close that people had to move because she was… er… spraying everything.  A lady she’s not.

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As for the flight getting there… it wasn’t nearly as bad as I though it would be even though we were one of the last to board because we arrived a bit later then we meant to.  Enzo was a little squirmy and then dozed off for the entire flight.  The flight back?  That was a different story.  The wee man is teething and refused to nap… if you ever want to know what it’s like to fly with The Hulk in baby form, this was pretty close.  Would it have been different had Josh been there?  Maybe not, but it might have been easier to handle with two.

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Maybe the little man was just sad to have left his buddies behind, which doesn’t surprise me. He’s a pretty social kiddo, and considering how much he likes his friends at day care, it’s no wonder he was thrilled to have friends to play with that he didn’t have to leave at the end of the day.

We’re getting a little back on schedule now, though teething is still making him a little cranky and he isn’t napping much. Plus, he may have gotten used to sharing a room with me as ever since we’ve come home he’s woken up in the middle of the night and not wanted to go to sleep… until we bring him to bed with us and he almost immediately passed out.  Yeah, probably not a good habit to get into, but… it’s only temporary? :p

Road Trip!

We’re off to Colorado in just a few hours and I’m so excited – not only for a road trip, but to see my little brother get married. I’m behind on all of my various picture posts, and I’m bound to end up with a ton of pictures after this trip. My camera bag is packed to the brim with every option for every photo opportunity and my new tripod and wireless remote are ready for action as well! Now, time just needs to fast forward and the clouds need to part so we can get going!

Ho hum

It’s so hard to come back to reality when you’ve been on vacation for over a week. I’m slowly getting back in the swing of the things, but yesterday was difficult – my first day back at work at both jobs. As can be expected I had a full inbox and I’m still working through it. I did, however, have time on Monday to put together a slide-show from our trip to Colorado. I may go back and tidy it up a bit, but for now, here is the link.

2009 Road Trip from Heather Pennington on Vimeo.

We had such a good time and I wish we could have stayed longer. I didn’t get to see half the people I wanted to and didn’t get to spend enough time with those we did get to see. It was also nice to do a few things I hadn’t done before and Josh got to see some new sites and do some touristy things he had never gotten the opportunity to do before including going to Mesa Verde, the hot springs in Pagosa and riding the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which thankfully we decided to only do one way. I had forgotten what a long trip it is.

I don’t think I’ve cried or laughed so much in a while, though. What a mix of emotions on this trip! It looks like my little brother might beat me to the altar, but I couldn’t be happier for him and Crystal getting engaged. I wasn’t expecting that surprise when we stepped out of the car! I cried – what a girl! Then sadly, Buddy the family dog was put to sleep a couple days later, so that definitely put a damper on things. He was a good dog and had a long life, though. That is the worst part about having pets – watching them go. On the plus side, after spending as much time as we did in the car we didn’t have any arguments – just me getting irritable at times or plain crazy after being couped up in a moving vehicle for so many hours. I got pretty squirmy towards the end. :p

It’s pretty amazing that we’ve never had an an actual “argument” or “fight” in the almost two years we’ve been dating. We might have come close once or twice to arguing, but that’s it. Mostly Josh is just awesome and lets me have space when I’m irritable or grouchy or tries to make me laugh which may or may not work. :p He’s definitely had a calming effect on me, and my mood swings are less frequent, or at the very least they don’t last as long. I’m a lucky girl to have found such a good man. He’s calm and doesn’t get angry or yell and doesn’t take his irritations or frustrations out on anyone else (something I need to work on a lot), he’s understanding, and fun, and everything a girl could want. Josh – I love you. 🙂