Anna and I headed to Colorado for a week of relaxation and fun with my mom from October 8-14. This was Anna's second trip on an airplane and she did wonderfully! Our flight was delayed almost 2 hours due to bad weather out of southern Colorado but we had fun playing in the airport. I just sprawled out all of her stuff in a corner near the window and we got some solid fun in along with some tummy time. After feeding her and boarding the plane, she looked like this for almost all of the flight! The way home was a different story...
My mom's flight landed an hour or so before ours so as soon as she got her hands on Anna, it was evident she didn't want to give her up. I let my mom feed her as we were waiting a few minutes for Stephanie and her mom to pick us up at our terminal. It was literally freezing when we landed and SO cold. Anna doesn't have very many winter clothes so I had her dressed in pants and a long sleeve shirt along with an adorable winter coat we borrowed from Jessica and Rowan.
Once we hopped in the car with Steph and her mom, we headed to a local coffee shop to grab a quick drink before a 3 o'clock dress fitting. Stephanie and her finace', Jon, are getting married next July in Denver so of course we jumped at the opportunity to go dress shopping with her. Sadly she didn't find a dress so the hunt continues. I can't believe I didn't snap any photos of the afternoon event or any of her mom. What was I thinking?! We headed back to Steph's apartment for a glass of wine and ended up staying for a few hours just chatting away. It was getting close to Anna's bedtime so we loaded her up and headed out to Evergreen, Colorado. The house is about 30-45 minutes away from Stephanie's place so we picked up a pizza and some more wine on the way for a yummy dinner. We we drove up to the house, it was dark by this time and I found the "hidden" key and tried to open the front door. I put the key in the hole, turned it slightly, and the key broke in half, leaving the long part of the key still inside the door. Luckily I was able to pry out the broken piece and then we were left with a dilemma...it was cold outside, snow on the ground, and we were stuck standing on the front porch with a sleeping baby. I quickly called the neighbors who take care of the house (Tamme & Gary) and they came to our rescue with another key...thank goodness! Once we finally got inside and put Anna to bed, we stayed up until almost midnight enjoying our wine and catching up. It is always so much fun to see Stephanie and I hadn't seen her mom since Keith and I got married in 2008!
Stephanie holding little Anna
This is a picture of the house the next morning when the sun was shining and the small amount of snow was melting. I had to make a quick run to Safeway to stock up on diapers and wipes for Anna and the windshield of the Tahoe was completely frozen and so were my hands after working on window for a few minutes.
The story of the house: My great grandmother (Annabelle and also known to us as Peachie) bought this house in the early 1940's when she was visiting Colorado by herself that summer. The house was a "spec" house that wasn't quite finished and she bought it on the spot. She later called her husband back in Dallas to tell him the news and he immediately hopped in his blue Cadillac and drove all the way to Colorado to see what his wife had just purchased without his knowledge! The family calls the house Pinecrest and it sits on San Souci Ct, which my family named, that means carefree. My dad and his siblings grew up spending many summers at Pinecrest and also many ski seasons. We are now quite a large family and have to schedule our visits via an excel spreadsheet! This visit was the first in a very long time where it didn't fall during ski season so we could truly just relax. My mom hasn't been to Pinecrest since 1986 so it was a treat for her to be able to spend some time at the house. There is a vacation journal that has been ongoing since the late 1970's and every time someone visits the house, we write in the journal. It was fun to go back and read the first entry my mom wrote way back when I was 6 months old as this was my first of many visits to Pinecrest.
We had such a relaxing time, had fires going each day, worked on projects, read and lounged in our pajama's until almost noon each day. My mom's good friend and my godmother, Marcia Foley, joined us Sunday through Wednesday to participate in some R&R as well. Each day we ventured out of the house for little excursions. One day we drove up to the Red Rocks and ate at a fun little restaurant in Morrison along the river and walked into some boutique shops. Another day we decided to walk around the lake in Evergreen which took about an hour. I think poor Anna got sunburned but it was quite nice to get out and do something active. We ended up eating lunch at a beautiful restaurant right across the street from the lake to enjoy the sunshine and a fabulous glass of wine! Marcia's daughter and grandson joined us one night for dinner and sadly I forgot to take pictures. Little David is 15 months old and has another little brother on the way in December! Stephanie and Jon came over for dinner on Wednesday evening and yet again...no photos! Oops.
Mom and Marcia in front of the lake...they have been friends since grade school!
Standing in front of a huge Remington statue...I can only imagine how much this is worth because his smaller statues and still thousands of dollars!
I love this picture of her pretty blue eyes!
What a life!
We were able to eat lunch the last afternoon outside at the house. We had to dodge a few bees or wasps but it was so beautiful and serene. I can't wait to visit next fall with my mom and Anna (hopefully Harriet) again!
Anna taking her last nap at Pinecrest and I think she looks so much like my sister in this picture.
My mom dropped me off at the airport and she headed to Laramie, Wyoming for a college reunion weekend and it was also Wyoming's homecoming football game. I checked into our flight and asked the ticket agent if the flight was full and if not, if I could have them save the seat next to me so that Anna could sit in her car seat for the flight. I was assured the flight wasn't full and that she saved the seat next to mine. Once I got to the gate, I asked the gate agent again and she even moved me up a few rows and gave me a new seat and saved the seat next to mine. The plane had a row of 2 seats, the aisle and then a row of 3 seats. Anna and I pre-boarded and got all set up and then this rather large man walks down the aisle and tells me that my baby is in his seat. I look at him kind of in shock because I was told just minutes before that Anna could have her own seat. The plane was jam-packed at this point and there were 20 people behind this man trying to get to their seats. So I had to take Anna out of her car seat and as I stood up trying to walk her car seat to the front of the plane, some nice man a few rows in front of me offered to gate check it for me. Whew, huge sigh of relief. Of course Anna was sound asleep until I had to get her out of her seat, she then had a huge dirty diaper I couldn't change because we were about to take off and then she started crying. I was sweating and almost crying myself but we made it through take off, I quickly changed her diaper and then she fell asleep on my shoulder for 45 minutes. The man next to me ordered a double bourbon drink and I asked him if my baby was driving him to drink and thankfully he said that it wasn't her, it was his job! My arms were sore until the next day after holding her for the entire plane ride but we made it home safely and Keith was waiting for us in baggage claim!
