Spring in Denver

Dane and I planned a trip out to Denver to see our cousins and friends before they move.  We thought that it would be wonderful weather given that it was May... We were proven other wise.  

 We stayed with Brett and Jess for most of the weekend.

 We got to know their Nicole a little better.

And played with Ashley...  Dressing as a princess, with huge feet.

On Thursday we headed down to Colorado Springs.  We are so glad that we went.  We hung out with our cousins Kathryn and Austin and got to see their beautiful new house.  It was so fun hanging out and chatting it up in a way the way that our family does.

We also went to the Air Force Academy.  It was so cool. We drove up to the campus which has a security check point at the edge of campus.  We rolled down our windows and heard the soldier asking the car in front of us questions like, "do you have any weapons in the vehicle." They got the go ahead and we approached the soldier.  Dane handed him his military I.D. The soldier took a look at it, handed it back with "thank you," no question asked and saluted Dane! Clicked his heels together and everything!  It was Dane's first time being saluted.  We were not expecting that since Dane is part of the Army, and it's never happened before.  Dane didn't quite know what to do, so he said thank you with a wave and we drove off.

 The famous Chapel. It has 17 spires.  I don't know if there is any symbolism with the number, but it is supposed to look like plane wings.

 Inside was so cool.  Along the "edge" of the "wings" is stained glass.  Below is a panoramic picture taken from the ground up.

 This is in the protestant chapel section of the church.  This church also had a Catholic chapel, Jewish synagogue, and a Muslim mosque. The Academy has a strong focus on helping the cadets be faithful people, regardless of the religion.

The next day we headed to the Cherry Creek neighborhood with Brad and Camille who drove over from G.J. to come see us!

 We when to the "Cherry Cricket" for burgers.  We had slightly higher expectations for our experience.  But it was fun regardless. We went window shopping and couldn't imagine spending $245 on a throw pillow.

On Saturday we got to see the Bernals who had just gotten back from vacation.  That afternoon we headed to the park with Fer and Liz, Brett and Jess, Brad and Camille, and Austin and Kathryn and families.  Little Dane had so much fun in the swings, and potty training in the bushes.

We had a BBQ and played kick ball with the family.  When the kids were up there was a lot of pointing and yelling "run here" or "don't chase the kickball, run to the next base."

Little Dane getting coached by his dad. Where to run next, even though it would be useless once the next person kicked the ball.  He would just go chase the kick ball.  It was so funny.

 The pano-pic from our get together.  Brett stole the show with this one.  :)

 Cousins!

 Little Dane was so happy to be with Big Dane and his dad.  He's so happy to be with them both.

That night we headed to Coors Stadium to cheer on the Rockies.  They were playing the Rays and dominated.  My dad had sent me plenty of texts before the trip to remind me where my loyalties are.  Trust me Dad.  My children will wear Red Sox gear.  But marriage is about compromise, so our children's NL team will be the Rockies.  Yes, we do plan on getting them started young.  At the game we had a ton of home runs.  Dane told me it's because the air is thinner in Denver than other stadiums.  We even saw a grand slam.  It was so fun enjoying the game with the gang.  It was a great trip, and we are so glad that we went.  Thanks family for letting us stay with you and hanging out with us! It was a blast!