Big Mama, Big Man, Big Papa

September 2-3, 2012

 

Our final Colorado destination was up north in an area less traveled.  Lucky for us, the trees were already starting to turn yellow.  Truth be told, these yellow aspens distracted me from my moose hunting by making me look up instead of down.

 

We did see this dude though.  He was attracted to my dewlap and gave me a kiss.

I eventually stopped looking for moose altogether that day, which is when we found them.  Well hello there, mama and baby moosies.

 

That mama moose, let's call her Big Mama, wanted to kill me for looking at her.  Mark turned off the car and left my window down, leaving me defenseless against Big Mama.  I was pretty sure she was going to charge me, stick her head into my window, and eat my face off.  But she didn't, thank goodness, and I was able to take a few pictures of her and her baby before some seriously annoying people scared them off.  (No, we were not the annoying people.  I never approach wildlife, because I am not a moron.)

 

 

If you know where this is, then you know where we were.

 

Shhh, don't tell.

Parents on vacation.

Just say yes to a porch swing, a comfy sweater, and a cup of coffee.

Man find big rock.  Man climb big rock and think he big man.

 

After man climb big rock, man grill brats to make wife happy.  If wife happy, man happy.

Bunny climb rock.  Bunny feel like big bunny.

Finally, on our morning drive toward home, we encountered three bulls chilling near one of our favorite Colorado spots.  This guy, let's call him Big Papa, made me even more nervous than Big Mama, even though he was farther away.  It was his stare.  Oh my, what a stare.

Big moose seriously big.

 

It was a fast trip, but it was fun.  Yay for Mommy-Daddy time!

One Day in Denver

Taking the long way to Colorado meant a very long day in the car, but when we finally arrived in Thornton, we were so happy to be able to hang with the Paltes.  Double date!

 

Mark and his date Chris.

After our lovely night stay at Hotel Palte, we were greeted by such pretty morning smiles.

 

Oh how I miss those girls, and we didn't have much time with them, because it was time to head to Denver for our show.

 

When I saw that The Book of Mormon was coming to Denver on its first National Tour, I was all over that and somehow miraculously managed to score us two tickets to see the funniest show I've ever seen.

 

We arrived to our show early, so we could walk around downtown a bit. But then something terrible happened...

 

 

Mark almost got squished!

 

Honey!  Look out!  And don't drop my coffee!

Denver is one of my favorite cities in the country.  It's so easy and relaxing and clean.

 

We had a blast.  I've never laughed so hard at a musical.  I've never laughed so hard ever.  I was highly caffeinated while I watched the show too, so I'm surely going straight to Hell.

Genoa Jerry and a Rickety Old Tower

Not to be outdone by its neighbor, Colorado has its own quirky spots.  We visited one place in particular on our last trip that jumped straight to the top of the coolest places EVER list in my head!  The Tower Museum in Genoa, Colorado.

Meet Jerry Chubbuck.  And meet him you will if you enter the Genoa Tower looming above I-70 in eastern Colorado.  At eighty-something years old, this man is far from normal.  He greeted us at the door and wouldn't let us out of his sight until he had shown us at least three bizarre things from his collection of oddities.  I'm still not sure what they were,  but I'm fairly certain that walrus "tusk" was not in fact a tusk at all.



When I asked Jerry if I could take his photo, he made me wait until he put on his hat and grabbed his snake.

You stop at the tower for the view from the top, or so you think, but the real treat is well, everything else.  Room after room is packed full of the rare, the unusual, and the completely insane.  It's awesome!

A collector?  A hoarder?  A madman?  A genius?  Who cares?!  Jerry is one of a kind, and all his belongings are treasures to say the least.

Up, up, up we climbed.  More than once I thought the building may collapse under our weight, but dang it, we couldn't stop climbing.  We had to see the next room.  And the next.  And the next...

I finally drew the line at the top.  All I could do was stick my head out.  Good enough.

The stairs were extremely steep and narrow and very difficult to climb in flip flops.

Because who thinks they'll need steel toed boots at the Tower Museum?

Once you climb all the way to the top and back down again, you realize there about a million more rooms to explore at ground level.  You feel like you are in a dungeon as you wind through a maze of Jerry's treats.  I remember thinking, "Well, if this dude is gonna murder me, at least he amazed me first."

Believe it or not, but this place used to be a hot spot for travelers back in its heyday.  There is even a stage with an old organ buried underneath other curiosities.

There are people all over this place.  They're not real, but still.

Why not collect meat grinders?

Visiting the Tower Museum in Genoa was really a one of a kind adventure.  Unfortunately, it looks like Jerry may be selling his gems soon and the tower will close.  Thank goodness after all these years of wondering about it, I finally got to go inside and share in the experience with good ol' Jerry before he moved on.  What a rare treat it was.  Thanks for the experience of a lifetime, Jerry.  Loved every step I took. 

Update:  Jerry Chubbuck passed away on August 6, 2013.  The fate of the tower has yet to be determined.

Best Friends and Princesses

Before heading over to the Sebrings for our final evening in Colorado, we napped, snacked and played a bit with Emily and Addison.  We just couldn't get enough of their perfect little smiles!

Snack time was quite exciting.  Rose and Addison bonded over grapes and milk, and Rose kept trying to get closer and closer to Addison.  I'm pretty sure these two gals would be BFFs if we lived closer.  They had a lot of fun.

Rose:  NO!  Nnnnot!
Addie:  I didn't do anything.

Rose:  Busted.
Addie:  Uhh, what's happening?

Rose:  Got it!
Addie:  Hey, I'm gonna need that.

Rose:  You win this time, Addie.
Addie:  I WIN!

Off to the Sebring house...

Vivian practically jumped into my arms and begged me to cuddle her.  Let's face it, Aunt Wendy is her favorite.

See how happy Vivian is in Auntie Wendy's arms?

 

New toys to play with!  Claire and Vivian's kitchen set was so fun for all the girls.  Greg even had a imaginary tea party for all the kids.  They loved it!

Proud Claire was very cooperative when it came to posing for pictures.

Vivian loves her big sister so much and lights up when she's around.

We crowned a new princess...

Or two...

Or three.  There can never be too many princesses, right?

Emily makes a beautiful princess.

Thanks for letting me invade your house again, Abbey.  And thanks for letting me cuddle your precious new bundle, Greg and Jenn.  Love you guys so much.

A Year Older in Boulder

It's hard to believe it's been a year since we visited Chautauqua Park with the gal pals.  Emily and Addison could not yet sit up, and Rose was unable to run away from her Mommy.  Oh how things have changed.

Emily held Rose's hand all on her own.

The day was gorgeous, perfect really, and I was almost giddy with excitement just thinking about being there again with my beautiful daughter and our beautiful best friends.

Emily loves the Flatirons.

After a quick pre-lunch photo shoot, we were off to our shady picnic spot.

This scene does not look as messy as it was.

Mommy love.

And then the Sebrings arrived!

Vivian was all snuggled and warm.

Trent brought his Mommy, Heather, along for the fun.

Claire and Vivian were looking so cute and happy, so we took a few pics of the new sisters.

Claire is thrilled to be a big sister.

There was a collective "aah" when Jenn put this hat on Vivian.

Before we left for naps, there was one thing we had to do.  Did we seriously think we were going to be able to pull a group photo off?

Trent wanted to face everyone, Rose wanted pretzels and Emily just wanted to practice escaping.

These gals all look out for each other.

Future Mommies of America.

Jenn seems so peaceful with a new little one.