Colorado (finally!)

About a month ago (December 7th), we took a trip to Colorado. The main point of the trip was to attend my youngest cousin, Daniel's, college graduation but we decided to add a few extra days and make a vacation out of it. I mean, how often do you get the opportunity to go to such a beautiful place? You have to take advantage of it. 

We arrived in Denver on Wednesday evening and by the time we got our rental car and drove to our hotel, it was already about 7:00 Colorado time (9:00 our time) so we just grabbed some food to go and went to bed early. The next morning we checked out the Denver Children's Museum and had a great time there playing and exploring before we left for Boulder. It was the perfect size - small enough to explore everything but plenty for Olivia to do. Here are a few pictures from the museum.

We arrived in Boulder Thursday afternoon and checked out the Pearl Street Mall, which we really enjoyed. Boulder was a quaint, beautiful town with amazing views of the mountains. Here are some pictures from Pearl Street.

Awesome independent bookstore on Pearl St

View from our hotel room - pretty amazing!

My parents got in on Friday and we met up with them in Boulder that afternoon. We had lunch on Pearl Street and walked around a bit before heading to Chatauqua State Park. It was beautiful and Olivia got a chance to try out her new snowsuit and snow boots. Unfortunately, right around the time we got to Colorado, I came down with bronchitis so that held me back from being able to do as much walking around and "hiking" as I would have liked. Here are a few pictures from Chatauqua State Park.

Friday night we headed to Greeley and didn't do much besides eat dinner and go to bed. Saturday was Daniel's graduation and we met up with the rest of the family - Sarah, and my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  We hung out and visited in the morning before heading to the graduation.  Here's a picture of all the cousins with the graduate!

Olivia with her godfather

After graduation, we headed back to Daniel's house, had cakes, and he opened his presents. We visited and some of the group took a tour of campus while others of us hung back and rested. We all had a nice celebratory dinner together at a restaurant of Daniel's choosing - a delicious Middle Eastern place.

On Sunday, my parents and sister had to fly back, but the rest of us didn't have to leave until Monday morning, so we had lunch and did some exploring. At Daniel's recommendation for something outdoorsy, but not too intense, we checked out Devil's Backbone. For lack of a better way to describe it, it's beautiful sandstone formation that looks kind of like a backbone. Here are a few pictures from that hike.

After our hike we stopped at Starbucks for some coffee and tea to warm up and then had some Italian food for dinner. Back at the hotel after dinner, Olivia got to open her Christmas present from Daniel - the yellow UNC Bears sweatshirt she is modeling in the picture below. She also got a book from my aunt and uncle which she is reading with Daniel in the picture below.

We had a wonderful time in Colorado visiting family and taking in the beautiful scenery. Hopefully, we'll make it back there again some day! :)

Christmas

Last year at Christmas, Olivia was only three months old so we didn't bother taking her to see Santa. We thought we'd give it a try this year. As you can tell from the above picture, she wasn't too thrilled to see him and to be honest, he doesn't look too thrilled to be there either. Oh well! :)

We had a great Christmas season. Both Sarah and my grandma came into town a few days before Christmas. We spent the day before Christmas Eve making Christmas cookies (6 different kinds!). My grandma played with Olivia while the rest of us baked, which worked out really nicely for everyone. Here's a picture of my mom and sister during the cookie making process.

We went to Christmas Eve Mass with my family in the afternoon and then had dinner at my parent's house. Here's a picture of the three of us before church and a picture of all of us after church.

Here are a few pictures from dinner.

When we woke up Christmas morning, the three of us opened presents at our house before heading over to my parents to do presents there. After lots of present-opening, we headed home for a nap before heading to Yusaku's parents for MORE presents. A few hours later, everyone (both my family and Yusaku's) came over to our house for dinner. Here are some pictures from all the craziness fun. :)

A few days after Christmas, we got to visit and exchange presents with Leslee, Jon, and Quinn. Olivia and Quinn had fun playing in Olivia's new ball "pit." Here's a picture of the whole group.

Here a few pictures of my sister and Grandma before they had to head back.

The week after Christmas, we went to Indianapolis to see Paul. We had a nice lunch at Bazbeaux's followed by a cold, windy walk over to White River Gardens to see an orchid exhibit. Here are some pictures from our visit.

We are very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. We are thankful for all the gifts we received as well as for the time we got to spend with everyone. Having said that, though, it is nice for our lives to return to "normal."