The Stotts Family: Weekend #3 of travel!

So we are done with our travel craze!! We drove out to Aspen, Colorado last week to spend time with the Stotts family - Theresa & David and Rick & Brienne (who announced they are getting married January 14!!!)! Rosie had planned to come but wasn't able to make it last-minute (and she was missed!), so it ended up being just the kids. We stayed at a house owned by some people that Theresa works for - don't know that I can/should share their name, but we know that some very important people have stayed at the house that we were at... so it was extra fun! The house was about 20 minutes from Aspen, set back off the main road - so very quiet and peaceful! We basically had no cell phone reception, so it truly was a quiet week! The house had 6 bedrooms (so more than enough for all of us!) and three levels - so we could easily put our boys to bed at night and then head upstairs to hang out with the rest of the gang!

the whole gang, at the hickory house in aspen - yum-o!!!

We had two fun/competitive nights of Cranium, girls vs. boys - girls WIN! :) It was a really fun time to bond and hang out. We enjoyed s'mores by the fireplace, dinner outside on the deck most nights and great weather, overall. (We had one rainy day, but I think everyone was ok with having one napping/reading day!) We got to Skype with Rick (jake's dad) the night before his birthday - the connection wasn't the greatest so the call was cut a little short, but it was great to see him and hear his voice!

As I was packing before we left on Friday, I felt like Noah - packing two of everything (two tractors, two monster trucks, two of everything we could fit in, so that each boy could have one to play with.) Our boys did great for traveling that far. We traveled through the night on the way out - decided later that's the way to go! We made it to Denver in about 9 1/2 hrs (only stopping three times for the driver!) and then rested a bit in Denver at David & Theresa's before doing the final 3 1/2 hrs to Aspen. Josiah slept almost the entire way from Denver to Aspen, which is good because we were going UP into the mountains, which I'm sure would have bothered his little ears. Roman watched a movie most of the time. Jake and I were talking quietly at the front of the van, and all of a sudden, Roman *yelled* from the back, "Turn up the movie, please!" I looked at jake and started laughing, shocked that he was talking that loud! Jake started laughing and told Roman to take a drink - reminding me that his ears probably hadn't "popped" yet. Roman yelled a few more times, then eventually quieted down after taking a few more drinks :} Driving home was a little different... we left at 8:30am (Colorado time) and got home around 12:30am (Iowa time) -- it was a lot of daytime for the boys to be stuck in a car seat, so think we'll opt for the night travel if we do something far like that again.

We had a really fun time on this trip -- was great to get to know Brienne better, and fun to have some quality time with family that we only get to see a few times a year! We voted that this could be a fun "annual" get-together, if it works out (NO pressure, Theresa!!) ... or something else like this, if the Aspen location doesn't work out. Fun time with the Stotts fam, for sure!! :)

Here are some memories from our fun week... **It was REALLY hard to choose just a few pics.... **

enjoying "backyardigans" on the drive from denver to aspen. josiah would soon conk out...

a little taste of what we saw all week long!! breathtaking...

the house where we stayed for the week - beautiful house, great accommodations! (thanks, t!)

roman stotts with the horse he named "roman". (the black horse to the left he named "josiah".)

jake and his boys...

josiah before his first hike.... excited, right?!?!?!!! :)

getting ready to head out on a hike. after about 5 minutes of walking, roman informed us that he's "not a good hiker" - with his shoulders slumped forward while stating this, it was too hard not to laugh. he got a piggy-back ride soon after...

roman and uncle david, checking out the fish!

josiah getting to know sol (soloman), rick's dog, a little better! josiah loved doing this! :)

family pic at the aspen kids park - fun time!

theresa & david, people-watching in aspen!

theresa & rick trying to get roman to come a little closer to the water, which would randomly spray up out of the grates in the ground. cheap entertainment for kids on a warm day!