Colorado trip 2008

So our trip to Colorado was awesome!!! Matt went up the Tuesday before for a conference in Denver, on Friday night, after the baby was picked up by her dad, Brenden, Cricket, and I jumped into the car and started driving. We spent the night at the worst Motel 6 EVER!!!! I don't think they knew what a vacuum was and the shower was a joke, there wasn't even a tub!! I barely slept because, well I was too grossed out to. I had us all out the door by 6:30am with no showers. We arrived in Castle Rock at about 2:30 and were very glad to be there. I let Brenden go wild while I took a shower and got myself prettied up. I left Brenden at his cousins for the night and I went to Denver to take advantage of a free hotel room, and a night on the town. After a wonderful dinner at PF Changs, we took a nice walk and returned to the hotel for a well deserved sleep. That was my very first night away from Brenden, and I slept like a baby. I had no one waking me up to let them out to pee or take them potty. It was reminiscent of the life I once knew, where sleep was my own. As fun as that life was, I still love the one I currently have way better. Saturday morning Matt was off to his last day of the conference and I was left to my own devices till noon. My phone had died and there was no way to contact me, it was weird. I did find a Verizon store where I bought a new battery and was having it updated. As I left the store trying to figure out what to do with myself for the next 45 minutes while they had my phone, I turned right and started walking. At the corner I noticed the shadow of a man following me, I decided to cross before the little walk light lit up and the man stayed in step with me. As I adjusted my purse, realizing that I had no phone, and no keys (to stab with) I decided to look for a store or the map to the outdoor mall, once I spotted the map I tried a sly look over my shoulder to see if this guy was following me and then discovered it was Matt!!!! Apparently he had walked out of the hotel at the exact same moment I left the store (the doors to both were directly across from each other), realizing that I hadn't seen him, he decided to follow me and see how long it would take for me to notice. Once I realized it was him, I punched him in the shoulder as hard as I could, my heart was racing!!! All he did was laugh. Once we were done with our errands in Denver, we returned to Castle Rock to enjoy our vacation. When we pulled up we found Marlin out front with the two little boys (Brenden and Dawson) and Cricket. When Brenden saw us coming he broke down and freaked out, screaming that he didn't want to go home and that we needed to go away. It took him several minutes of hysterical crying before I could convince him that we were all staying and sleeping there for more nights. Once the melt down was over we were then able to enjoy our vacation. While there, we were able to see Brynn in a volleyball tournament, which her team won, hung out with the kids, watched movies every night until 1am (older kids included), and the pinnacle was going shooting. We drove up a beautiful mountain and there was this range full of shell casings and shattered beer bottles, old printers, cell phones, computers, basically anything you have ever wanted to shoot or destroy was there. We brought along some pumpkins, eggs, and jugs of water and milk. Once all the targets were set up (we used some of the leftover junk too) I was the first one to take the gun and start shooting. We shot with about four different weapons, starting with a Glock, then the AR-15, then the 22 rifle. In the photo's you will notice I got down on my knees and was resting one elbow on my other knee, this is because I inherited the Poulton shake (thanks dad). I was being laughed at because I couldn't steady the rifle. I tell you that scope/sight was going all over the place. I am pretty sure the military would not take me for a sharp shooter, maybe not even to cover anyone, I would end up hitting them instead!! All-in-all I had a lot of fun. I think everyone else did too. Matt was so happy that the next day, I finally lost the battle (after nearly 9 years) of no guns in the house. I don't mind though, I always knew that it was a battle that I would eventually lose (thanks Obama for making it happen a lot sooner than it would have). Anyways, after several nights of "gonna get you" in his Halloween costume, Brenden was ready to go. We left on Thursday, after getting their first snow of the season, and were able to enjoy a couple of nights at home before Matt was back to the grind. We had a great time!! Thanks Steph and family!!