Colorado Cousins Reunion

How do you get a bunch of Arizona cousins to make a trip to Colorado?  Have a reunion and offer your house as a place to stay at.

This is exactly what Lisa and Ken did (our daughter and son-in-law).  It was something they had planned on doing for quite a while.  They put a new second story deck on the back of their house, made meals and offered bedroom space to all the couples.  Younger kids and teenagers either had to sleep in tents or find a place on the floor.  The remaining group (aka Senior citizens) stayed in their own trailers at Cherry Creek State Park and Uncle John stayed at the Motel 6 in Parker.  It all worked out.  This is what their front yard looked like as we drove up.

 And right by the front steps was a deer!  This was her area, and she wasn't giving it up, tent or no tent.

 Doris stopped to take a picture before we headed inside via the garage.

We were the last group to arrive, and there were people everywhere....out on the back deck,

 in the kitchen,

on the back patio telling stories and "chewing the fat"..

 and running around in the back yard.  The ages of our group ranged from 8 years (Micah told every one he was eight and a half) to 77 years young.  There were 3 generations, including 6 grandparents.

Lori, our nephew's wife, was involved in a conversation with McKenna, Ayla, Kyla and Nate.

 Ella, the only grandchild of ours who loves to have their picture taken, was peeking through the spiral staircase with a huge smile on her face.

 Sandy and Jerry's grandson, Wyatt, was sitting on the lawn with his sister Ainslee and cousin Lauren.  They never even knew I had taken their picture.

 Meanwhile, Doris and John found a quiet place to have a glass of wine or beer.  The house was well stocked, with Ken having his own beer fridge.  It's a beer connoisseur 's dream!

See what I mean??   Even with the well-stocked beer fridge, there were additional runs made to the store for more wine, beer and pop.  Keeping 31 hungry, thirsty people fed and hydrated was a task.

Looks like Jerry was deep in thought and wondering if there was a life without beer.....

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, stories were being told by Stacy and Lisa.  Somehow, their childhood memories didn't coincide with mine, Heidi's or Greg's!  I just wish I had kept a journal of those days when my kids were little, and I babysat Greg and Stacy during the week days.  I could have published a book about those two!

 Heidi took her turn at recounting the various antics of Lisa and Stacy.

And we even brought in Greg so he could back us up!  Can you see him smiling as Lisa and Stacy were telling the rest of the group various renditions of their memories?!  It did involve a lot of laughing.  The young teenagers were somewhat astounded at times.  After all, I did load the 5 of them in our station wagon each summer and "forced" them to go to Vacation Bible school, take swimming lessons and attend the weekly PG movies at the theater (without popcorn).  It was a hard life.

Even though we had a lot of teasing going on, we know we are all loved by our wonderful, sometimes boisterous, family members.  I still got a nice hug from my favorite niece, Stacy.

Give me some more "S'mores"!

What do all campers do when camping (beside making a fire)?  They make S'mores!  Patty and Ron, our camp host friends, have taken it an extra step.  They use Reese's Peanut cups instead of the ordinary Hershey bar.  For people who love peanut butter (not me), this is a wonderful concoction.

In the evenings, as the rangers pass by on their nightly rounds, the temptation to stop and try some is unavoidable.

Looks like Sandy is turning around to see if she heard what the ranger said correctly.  There are tales to tell here!  Crazy people are everywhere these days.  It makes summer here very interesting.

 Charlie, Patty and Wyatt are all focused on their individual S'mores.

"I think you could get a little closer to the fire, Wyatt.  The marshmallow will never get done that way!"  It's good to be cautious around fires, but he either had to move closer or get a longer stick!

Sandy burned her finger while trying to get the marshmallow on top of the graham cracker, but the good news is that she has since recovered.  All her digits are back to normal.

Kyla is probably wondering how to eat the gooey mess without getting it on her.  She somehow managed and even went back for a second round.

So, next time you are camping, think of us when you reach for the bag of marshmallows,  graham crackers and Hershey bars or Reese's PB Cups.  Or even better, come and join us one evening at Boyd Lake.  We'll leave the fire on for you!

Fabulous Fort Collins

One of our favorite places to eat breakfast is the Silver Grill Café located near Old Town Fort Collins.  This was on our bucket list as one of the things to do when Doris got here.  Jerry was the only one who had the humungous cinnamon roll, but many of us had French toast made with the rolls.  Everything was excellent and we were all satiated when we left.

 After breakfast, we wandered around Old Town, and Kyla even played a short tune on one of the many painted pianos located all over Ft. Collins.

Then it was on to Swetsville Zoo, a local place just south of Fort Collins.  People have called it the place where Jurassic Park meets John Deere. The price was right for our crowd: admission is free.  But don't call us "cheapskates"....we did put money in the donation box.

The "zoo" used to be bigger than it now is.  We were there 6 or 7 years ago, and there were many more creations.  Bill Swets, who created all these unique metal sculptures, has since passed away and his family has auctioned off many of them.  In addition, flooding during the summer of 2014 washed away or damaged many of the whimsical creations.

 "Watch behind you Wyatt.  There is something that looks like it's going to bite off your head!"

 Huge wind chimes clanged against each other as the wind blew.

 The old golfer above looks like he lost his way when the rest of the dinosaurs became extinct.  Or maybe it just took him that long to find the golf ball!

 This really is a VW BUG, with long spider legs.  The two VW bugs that Bret had in high school were much better looking.

 Jerry was checking out some other creations while Doris and Sandy stood by the dragon flies balanced on a long, movable pole.

The story behind Bill Swets is quite interesting.  He was a man of many talents.  He was a farmer and a talented welder.  In addition, he was a volunteer fireman for the town of Tinmath for 22 years and built all the tankers and engines for that fire department.  I hope that his legacy of Swetsville will live on for many years, and not be sold out to encroaching businesses along the I-25 corridor.

Hooray for the Beignet!

What could be better than a homemade beignet?  Not much.   At least that is the case for our group when Jerry White comes with his own bread maker and decides to whip up dozens at a time.  We had them twice, once in early June and then two weeks later, when they returned from the Dakotas.

He cooks them, Sandy rolls them in powdered sugar while they are hot and the rest of us line up to partake of the soft, pillowy, delicious confections. 

 Oh, oh!  Here come the park rangers!  Our group is wondering why they are coming over here...

No problem!  They've come to enjoy the beignets too.  It's always good to have the rangers on your side when you're camp hosting.

Nate's checking his shorts for tell tale signs of powdered sugar.  He would eat one, and then return back to the cooking table for another.   He must have eaten well over a dozen, but that I guess is to be expected of a growing teenage boy.

Even with Nate, there was leftover dough the first time.  So, the second time around we not only had family and friends, we invited the other camp hosts.  Our site looked like a mini convention.

Mmmm...

Nate and Wyatt again are staking out their territory close the cooking table!

 "Jerry, hurry up!  The line is starting to build up again!"  Even the camp hosts were getting anxious, hoping they wouldn't all be devoured by the younger kids.

Amazingly, there was even leftover dough after all was said and done.  Good job, Jerry!!

Boyd Lake Days

This has been the summer for having relatives visiting us at our summer home, Boyd Lake State Park.  It has been wonderful to share the amazingly beautiful sunsets that we see from our camping spot with them, as seen below, among other things.

 First to stay next to us was Roy and Char Beyer, the parents of Kim, our daughter-in-law.  They came to Colorado for Nate's Confirmation and were able to snag the spot right next to us. With them is their dog, Ginger, who had licks for anyone who came near to her!

Roy enjoyed fishing almost every day, getting up sometimes at 3:30 AM to be sure he could get his fishing favorite spot!  That is way, way too early for me.  But he was successful in catching a Walleye and made it for the 4 of us one night for dinner.  I had never eaten Walleye before and it was delicious!

Here they were, about to leave for Utah, but at least we knew they would return a second time on their way back to Wisconsin.

Sandy, Jerry and their grandson, Wyatt came in a couple of days later.  This was one of their stops on the way up to North and South Dakota. When they left the first time, they missed seeing Roy and Char by only one day.  It was almost like a revolving door, with people coming and going for our first 6 weeks here.

Wyatt enjoyed catching Ladybugs here at the park, and they seemed to like him too.  I was able to get a cute picture of him with the Ladybug tickling the top of his nose.

Our granddaughter, Kyla flew in from Phoenix to stay with us for 10 days.  She helped entertain Wyatt, who was getting bored at times being around us senior citizens.  There was plenty of bike riding done around the camp ground by those two.

Time for a hearty breakfast before the day begins!

Then along came Doris, who had driven with her trailer all by herself from Tucson.  As you can see, we had matching horse shirts.  That way, if one of us got lost, all we had to do was look for someone in the same exact shirt!  We did get a few comments, but at our age, being silly is all part of the fun.

 

She enjoyed going on bike rides with us, and taking the various paths to the north end of the lake and into Loveland.

Time for a minor seat adjustment along the way.  We were one bike short, so it was like musical chairs.....one person was without while Don and Kyla rode whichever bike was not being used.  It all worked out.