Whirlwind trip

After an almost two-week vacation in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, Kiera and I are home. We had a tremendous trip, although extremely busy. We started out in Colorado where we stayed a night with our good friends, Jon and Chelsea, who moved from Portland to Denver. The next day we met my sister-in-law Carmen and nieces Kaeley, Megan and Sawyer at the Denver Zoo. It was a beautiful day and Kiera was pretty much attached to Kaeley’s side the whole, entire time….

Kaeley and Kiera

 We stayed at the zoo for more than 8 hours, which is pretty insane. But it was so much fun!

Meg, Carmen, Kiera and Sawyer waiting for the zoo train.

Kiera and Sawyer (and someone's hand :))

Carmen then took us to Cheyenne where we had a fun evening (although way too short) with my girls, Michele and Kelly. We only had a few hours together, but there was a whole lot of laughter packed into that time. And not a moment of silence.

Me, Michele and Kelly

 

The next day I had to work (blah). Well, not really blah since the work was for my good friend Andrea and it was so fun to see her. And I didn’t get a picture of her, but we got to catch up a whole bunch after my meetings. Anyway, we spent the afternoon playing in the park, swimming and cuddling Kelly’s little Claire (well, mainly that’s what I did. I didn’t share her very much, according to Michele).

My dad picked us up that night and after dinner with Deb and Margot where an amazing magician twisted a stainless steel fork right before our eyes and turned a five dollar bill into $50, we went to stay a few days with him.

Snuggling with Grandma Deb

 We rode in the Jeep, had dinner with my Grandma, ran through the sprinkler, checked cows and water and went to a parade. Kiera also got to cut hay with Grandpa and pet a newborn calf which she thought was all pretty NEAT. She talked Grandpa into (not that it took much convincing) riding a horse several of those days. 

Riding bareback

Happy little girl (and Grandpa :))

Dad said she was smiling and talking the WHOLE time.

Riding all by herself.

She no longer wants to be a teacher, she now wants to be a cowgirl.

   
After a few days with Dad, Kiera and I headed to Sheridan (about five hours from my dad’s to Dave’s parents). I had a few work appointments there, but for the most part, we just enjoyed the sunshine and being together. 

Grammy and Kiera, happy together.

Coming from 60 to 70 degree weather in Oregon, the 90 degree days seemed so extremely hot. We went to the park a lot, went swimming, ate ice cream in the park almost daily, jumped on the trampoline with a sprinkler cooling us, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a bonfire and shot off fireworks. 

Hot dogs at Kendrick Park, which was followed shortly by delicious ice cream.

Playing with Grandpa.

Fountains at Whitney Commons.

 Kiera also got to ride Skipper (another horse) and play with her cousins.

Jumping on the tramp with Randy and Steven.

 

Fireworks with Grandpa.

One last hug...

We then headed to Nebraska for a family reunion. It’s about a six hour drive, but we got to stop in Casper and see my good friend Sarah. Which was great for me but also for Kiera who loves to play with Elayna.

I think this was the only time they stopped running and playing.

 

We stayed a day with my grandparents in Bridgeport, Nebraska, and then went to the family reunion in Scottsbluff. My mom and Don were there, which I hadn’t been expecting until a few days before our trip, so we were so happy to see them. And all of my extended family who I miss so much. They should all visit us in Oregon. Hint, hint.

Grandpa and Grandma Keim

Baby Tripp and Kiera

Me, Mom, Grandma and Kiera. (Yes, we are all looking at different cameras!)

We spent two days at the reunion, playing volleyball, board games, and mainly just talking. We had some entertaining games of bowling, shot off too many fireworks to count and ate way too much. We did climb the Scottsbluff National Monument, which was fun. And hot. And really, some us only went about a quarter of the way, before we ran into other family members who looked way exhausted. So we decided that was enough. And that this was probably the better way to enjoy the monument…

Uncle Mark and my cousins David and Paul

I don’t think there were very many nights during the two weeks that I was in bed before midnight, and one night my Mom, my Aunt Brenda, and my cousins Trisha, Kyle and Paul stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking and playing with Tripp (who is still extremely happy at that time. Cutie).

My Dad, Deb and Margot took us to the airport early Sunday morning and after a layover in Boise (which seems so random), we made it home! 

Our last night.....Kiera's blank stare kinda shows how tired she was....

 Kiera was so excited to see her Daddy. I realized on our trip that a rotation where Dave would not be home for three months would not exactly work. Kiera missed him WAY too much during two weeks to even consider a three month separation. Anyway, the next day was the 4^th of July, we slept late, played a game or two of mini golf and then enjoyed fireworks with friends (after vegging on the couch a WHOLE bunch).  Wow, just writing about what we did on our trip makes me tired all over again. If only Kiera still had nap time……