Denver, CO

 

We finally made it to a place I'm familiar with! We ended up staying near Golden, CO in a super convenient campground. One of our first activities was to visit the Hammond's candy factory. The oldest handmade candy company in the country! It was a real find for a weekday as we were the only ones on the tour on that particular day. Hint: go at lunch on a weekday! They make candies like the big candy canes you see that are a slew of different flavors. They also make the nostalgic candy ribbons. If you've ever seen the chocolate spoons in Starbucks...Hammonds! Their most famous are called Mitchell Sweets, which are marshmallows covered in caramel. Truly delicious!

The tour is free, you get samples and you end the tour in a shop of all the candies they make. As you can imagine, we walked away with a bag of goodies! 

But our travels are not always bringing us adventure as some might imagine. A lot of the time, we're living our normal lives that we would be at home, just in 200 square feet. 

We spend time in the morning with God before those little rascals wake up.

We learn to cross stitch! The  kids are always watching me do it and they wanted to learn to "stitch". In Denver we finally made it by a craft store to buy them each a starter kit. Naturally, Caroline chose an animal (Llama) and Gray chose the American Flag. Gray made us laugh as he is "stitching" and calls out that we should have a "stitching party" to celebrate their first time "stitching". Lol.

We wash dishes...a lot. No dishwasher here!

One of the highlights of our visit to Denver was seeing an old friend of mine and her family. Kristen and I were suitemates in college coming up on 20 years ago. She graduated before I did and moved to Denver. After I graduated, my first job was in Denver and there I went and there she was! She and I continued our friendship over the next few years attending the same church, being a part of the same small group and just in general hanging out like friends do. It was special how the Lord continued that friendship. Over the years, as I moved away, started a family, as she also did, we lost touch a bit. But it was wonderful to see her and her family again. They welcomed us into their home with open arms, we broke bread and connected on a new topic! She too was homeschooling her three this year. She had so many great ideas! It was great to see how she had organized it and how she was teaching them. Always good to glean wisdom from others!

A highlight of a hike during this entire three months was a great hike in Estes Park. It was rated as "hard" on All Trails and was 4 miles round trip. It was a toughy on the kiddos, but was so proud of them! They did and they loved it! This hike was a steady uphill with some rock-climbing, snow and even some spots we had to pick the dog up and lower him down to be able to keep moving. 

The view from the top of the mountain was spectacular.  We could actually see the famous Stanley Hotel (you know, the one from The Shining). You can tell from Caroline's face that it was quite cold up there.