Friday Morning we woke up early....I mean EARLY.....We had packed up the night before and only had to wake and feed the baby, load a few things up and were able to hit the road at 3:30am. I told you it was early. It was a great decision though, Isabella slept for the first 4 hours and I stayed awake to keep Eric company as we drove through the dark. What was especially cool was reaching the Windmill Farms around Sunrise. It was magnificent and a little War of the Worlds ish to see these giant machines churnning through the air. Once Bella woke up I moved to the very comfortable back seat and kept her company (and joined her for a couple of naps on the way) until we arrived in Colorado around 12:00pm mountain time. Connie was home to meet us and take the baby so we could take a nap, I love Grandparents! That evening Heidi, Chris and Gabe came over to enjoy an incredible meal of fried tomatoes, proscuttio wrapped asparagus, and steaks. Connie, Heidi and Eric really outdid themselves on excellent cooking. Isabella and I spent our time catching up and playing with Gabe.
Here is the family after our incredible meal.
Gabe apparently doesn't like socks and firmly believes that Bella should share his dislike. He made sure to take hers off. I'd put them back on and Gabe would take them off again. I'm with him though, barefoot is the way to go!
The next day we hauled the crew up to Castle Rock for some beautiful outdoor shopping. They have an Outdoor Mall with lots of fun shops including a Carter's Outlet ( a very dangerous store for mommy!) Gabe and Bella got matching jean jackets from Grandma and I bought Bella a few new things as well. Here is my preppy daughter on her first outdoor mall crawl. 
We then headed to Red Robin for lunch. The kids were both a bit tired and cranky but managed to get through lunch pretty well. Now that Isabella is eating solid foods Eric decided to tempt her with a cheeseburger. 
Yeah!!!!!......Burger.....
NO! Of course I didn't actually let my 7 month old eat a cheeseburger, she had green beans for lunch. After lunch we attempted to get a Grandparents and babies picture. We got at least one good one.
And then the attention span ran out. 
We headed home and rested up. That night we left the kids with Mimi and Grandpa and Eric, Heidi, Chris and I went out for Sushi. It was really good food and a lot of fun to hang out just as siblings and spouses. When we got home Connie and J.P. looked exhausted but seemed to have a good time with the kids.
Sunday Mimi, Grandpa, Bella, Eric and I headed to Garden of the Gods to hike and check out the rocks. Hiking was a bit more difficult in this altitude with the baby strapped to you but I was happy for the exercise. Isabella really enjoyed the walk and the beautiful Red rocks. 
Bella LOVES water bottles. Here she's going after mine. We wanted to amp up the hydration to combat the altitude. Bella did great with it though, I think she's a traveler like us.
Our little Rock Climber.
After we hiked we got in the car and drove to through the park stopping at Balancing Rock. 
The drive eventually dropped us in Old Colorado Springs were we enjoyed a nice Greek lunch. Bella had Applesauce from Grandpa. And ice cream for desert???
That Night we went to Eric's first place of employment Fargos. It's a fun pizza joint where Eric spent his awkward teen years hoping that people would leave him a "green dollar" tip for busing the tables. We were joined by Chris' parents and nephews. Chris' mom Kay loved playing with Bella, so far she has all Grandsons and enjoyed lavishing attention on our beautiful girl. It was a blast hanging out with the Wells family and the bonus was great food.
Ahhh Grandpa's sweetheart, It's true.
On Monday everyone had to go back to work so Eric and I took Bella up to Breckenridge. It was fun because I had never been. Plus we were able to get a sweet condo for a reasonable price since it was the off season. This place had a separate living room, flat screen T.V. and full size kitchen. We walked around Breckenridge and had lunch before heading back to the Hotel for swimming and dinner. Bella took a nice nap on the river walk.
Tuesday Morning we woke up and headed out of town. The drive back was long (11 hours total) but not too eventful. We even got home with some time to enjoy our evening. It was a great Vacation and Isabella was such a good traveler. I can't wait to get away on our next road trip.
That concludes our Summer Adventures. I'm back at school and Bella started daycare. All is great so far, although a bit hectic while trying to get into the swing of things. I have great classes and a really fun first theater activity of the year planned. It's going to be a great year.
~That's how we put the BOOM in Neuteboom.
Trish
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