July 31

Starting to gather things for Kat to take to college. She wasn’t allowed to bring a microwave or mini fridge to SC. We had to rent theirs. We also need to get her a bathrobe and shower caddy because her new dorm has communal bathrooms.

July 30

These machines at Sam’s Club crack me up. I guess it is a floor cleaner?  It is automated.

Yesterday afternoon and evening I helped set up and pass out food for a church recreation event at a roller skating rink. Lucy enjoyed skating with her friends. I was too busy with the food to get pictures of her skating. It was 105 degrees outside with the heat index, so I put the fan around my neck to try and stay cool. It did help, but only to a point. It. Was. Hot.I looked ridiculous, but I didn’t care! 

Elliott was hanging out with our neighbor, Braxton. Braxton’s mom sent me this picture of the boys making brownies.

July 29

We hit the ground running yesterday. We got home at 2:30am and then woke up at 8:30am. I am not sure which time zone I am on right now. I threw out all the food in the fridge, went grocery shopping, and did all the laundry.

Clay and Elliott went to Kat’s house to get her yard cut and weedeated. Clay called me while they were there. He had left the batteries for the weed eater and blower on the counter. He left Elliott to cut the grass and come home to get the batteries when my van got a flat tire. So he changed the tire while I brought the batteries to Elliott. Never a dull moment!

After they came home and showered, Clay took my van to get two new tires and I headed back to Kat’s house to help her deep clean (think inside refrigerator, tub, toilet, sweeping, mopping, etc). All but one of her roommates had already moved out and had done little to nothing to get the house ready for inspection. Kat is depending on getting her security deposit back to pay for school, so we tried to leave it better than when she moved in. Hopefully her landlord will be happy with the condition. 

Clay brought us dinner and then unclogged the bathroom sink and bathtub drains. Then we moved her back home. Long day! 

In the middle of moving Kat, we had a storm. The sunset after the storm made the whole sky orange.

Kat spent the night unloading everything. She is home for two weeks before we move her to college. Moving her out was hard, but it does seem like she has grown and learned a lot. Pray that these next two weeks are peaceful and happy. 

July 28

We drove the rest of the way home yesterday. These are pictures that Clay and Lucy took of our trip. 

We ordered a Giordanos pizza online, picked it up, and had a quick picnic on the way home. 

Our country is massive! This trip we saw IL, IN, KS, CO, WY, SD, MN, and WI. We drove around 3,500 miles including all our day trips around CO. Each of us experienced new things like white water rafting, mountain biking, a moose, the Manitou Incline (which the kids and I don’t want to experience again), two National Parks, and one National Memorial. We are all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds again. 

July 27

Clay got off work early yesterday so we decided to head home. At the last minute, we decided to head to Mount Rushmore and the Badlands. The kids were not too thrilled with adding 6 hours onto our drive time to “see more rocks”. This picture is somewhere in Wyoming. 

Elliott was particularly grumpy when we got to Crazy Horse and it was not finished. They have been working on Crazy Horse since the 1960s and have his face and one hand done. I don’t think this will be completed in my lifetime.

A Lakota man was telling stories and singing songs/playing the drum. He was interesting.

Next stop was Mount Rushmore. I am glad this was a side trip and not the main thing we traveled to. Can you see how thrilled Elliott was?

Our final stop was the Badlands National Park. We got there just before sunset. It is pretty cool. Both kids like it better than the Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw bison, some sort of goats, and prairie dogs.

After driving from around noon until almost 9pm, Elliott started driving and put in home as our destination… we are FAR from home still…

July 26

We picked Peggy up and headed to the U.S. Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs. She makes the kids look so tall!

The second largest collection of Olympic torches.

Peggy treated us to ice cream. It was so good to see her. Colorado must have a fountain of youth because Peggy hasn’t aged! 

Elliott wanted to hit golf balls while we were in Colorado to see if he could hit the ball farther due to the altitude/less dense air. We can confirm that he hits further in Colorado than in Kentucky.

July 25

We met up with a friend and her sons yesterday at the Wings Over Rockies Museum in Denver. Becky and her husband Jeff were in our Sunday School class many moons ago. They have since moved to Colorado. 

While Clay worked, the kids and I rested/napped and then went to a mall close to our hotel. For dinner we ate at Bob’s Atomic Burgers in Golden. We sat outside and enjoyed a beautiful view.

July 24

Happy Birthday Bapaw!

Lucy and I headed 115 miles into the mountains for a relaxing afternoon at Glenwood Hot Springs. There were six pools, varying in temperature from 52 degrees to 104 degrees. They had 15 different minerals in them. Both of us felt nice and relaxed after 3 hours.

Also, I-70 West of Denver is the most scary and beautiful drive I have been on. Each mountain looks so different from the next. Some have red rock, some are covered in pine trees, some look like we were in the dessert, and others in a canyon… and all right next to each other! It kept the drive exciting. Lucy wouldn’t humor me by taking pics. I had both hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. Driving through mountains is scary. 

We dropped Elliott off at Clay’s job sight late morning. They left for an afternoon of mountain biking in Breckenridge. They only got to go down the slope once before lightning caused the park to close the ski lift. Ski lifts take the bikes and riders up the slope to the trails. Instead, they found some trails throughout the town and had quite a surprise.

Elliott had to slam on his brakes and veer off the path so he wouldn’t hit this moose meandering down the trail. 

They got caught in a downpour.

Dinner in Golden. Delicious!