Colorado (part 3)

Or "What we did in Cheyenne 

other than track down 8 foot tall boots."

 Well, we had to go to the library, of course.  

The Cheyenne library is called the Laramie County Library,  but the town of Laramie, Wyoming is actually in Albany County which is about an hour northwest of Cheyenne.  No wonder I was confused.  

It was the coolest library though.  It had a huge children's area that more resembled a park than a library.  The kids loved the conveyor belt thing.  They watched the tiles go up the conveyor belt and then fall down those over-sized flower petals... over and over again.  

The Historic Cheyenne Train Depot.

This was a very neat map of the railway expanding west, imbedded in the floor of the train depot. 

Logan's showing us how the train would "chug, chug, chug" down the track. 

Cheyenne puts on a Gunslingers Show for tourists like us.  It was pretty cheesy, but Logan thought it was great. 

Put 'em up.

Oh no!  They've been caught! 

We checked out the Wyoming State Capitol building.  Sorry all these pictures were taken when the sun was at it's highest.  See that little round window up there by the top of the flag?  We got to look out that window.

Inside the capitol, looking up at the dome.  

Logan and Taylor were very good during our little tour and were interested in the stain glass, murals and architecture. 

 

We even went into Nebraska! (just long enough to get this picture, but still).

Bucking bronco statue outside the Cheyenne Frontier Museum.  We didn't actually go into the museum.  My kids were awesome in the state capitol building and I didn't want to push my luck by going into a museum.  

We also found a couple of fun parks to run around in, but I feel like there was still so much that we didn't get to.  We'd love go back again and explore some more.   My little cowboys and I really loved Cheyenne!

 

Colorado (part 2)

One day during our visit to Colorado, the kids and I drove up to Cheyenne, Wyoming.  We'd never been there before either.  It's a really cool little town.  

 They have these 8 foot tall boots all over the town.  Nineteen of them actually.  We were on a mission to find every last one of them. 

 

The boots had all been painted by local artists and then auctioned off to various people and companies in town. 

 We got a map from the Historic Cheyenne Train Depot, with the locations of all the boots.  And we were off...  

"Where the Deer and the Antelope Play"

It was a lot of getting in and out of the car, but it was also a fun way to get to know the town of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

  It was a hot, sunny day, but we were determined to find them all.  I don't know who was more determined, Logan or myself.  I think we took turns having moments of determination, keeping the others going.

This one was tricky.  It was actually inside a car dealership. 

Most of them were outside though, like this one, outside the Frontier Museum.  

"Springtime in Cheyenne" (in the heat of summertime).

 

"Outlaws of Wyoming" 

No, not Logan & Taylor.  It's the name of the boot, painted with real outlaws such as The Wild Bunch which included Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Kid Currie.

This one's about the rodeo.

And this one is in front of the library.

 We did many other things while in Cheyenne too, like play at parks, go inside the state capitol building and go to the library, but that's for the next post. 

 By the time we found the last boots it was getting on evening time. 

We ended up finding 15 of the 19 boots.  Two had been removed to who knows where and the other two were inside places that weren't open (like a Catholic school that was closed for the summer).

We left Cheyenne with Logan & Taylor both wanting cowboy boots and hats.  Logan says he wants to be a cowboy now.  Taylor says she's already a cowgirl!  

Yee-haw!

 

Colorado! (part 1)

We got to go to Colorado and visit my sister, Elizabeth! And her family too, of course.  And my parents who were also visiting.

 We were so excited to go.  We've never visited her in Colorado before and she's lived there for 9 years.  It was a long overdue trip. 

The kids went on their first airplane flight!  There were so many reasons for excitement surrounding this trip.  Here they are with their new luggage, entering the airport. 

 

When the pilot and co-pilot of the plane found out that this was Logan & Taylor's 1st flight, they invited and pretty much insisted on having them come sit in their seat.  

That's where the enjoyment of flying ended.  

Then we had to go find our seats; myself, the 2 kids and they each had a carry-on, plus my backpack and purse.  (I got our seats as close to each other as I possibly could, but we weren't all going to be in the same row.  Someone was going to have to sit in front of the other two).  

We were one of the last ones on and the plane was late already and the flight attendants were trying to hurry people along and Logan started getting scared and whiny when he found out I wanted him to sit in a different row then me and the lady we had to crawl over wasn't happy with us and she really got upset when we asked if there was anyway she could switch seats so that Logan could sit by me.  

I was stressed and upset and feeling horrible the entire flight.  I was a little nervous anyway because the last time I flew was Sept. 10th 2001, the day before 9.11!  I was very relieved to get off that plane and even more relieved the next day when there was no sign of a terrorist attack. 

The big reason we went to Colorado when we did...

was for this very special event.

  

My dad was baptizing my nephew and niece.  It was a very spiritual baptism and confirmation. 

We could hardly get everyone to stand still and be serious long enough for a photo, but the baptism was wonderful, in spite of us all.  

 Then the kids got down to business, petting cows, 

riding the zip line, 

making homemade pizza in a real brick oven,

 tie dying shirts,

playing outside, 

 

and swimming, 

 

swimming, 

and more swimming.  

And just plain goofing off in the water.  

The kids loved every minute of their visit with their cousins.  They started the week not really knowing who each other was, but they instantly bonded and ended the week best friends. 

Cousins in tie dye and flip flops!

Moving on

So, we live in this little apartment complex, a group of townhouse style duplexes really.  It's a nice, semi-quiet place.  We know several of the other families in the complex from church and school.  There are many children here too.  My kids love it. 

Yet there were no boys Logan's age for the first year.  Then, not one, but two boys moved into the house right next to us!  Logan was in heaven.  Anytime they were outside, Logan just had to go out too.  

They played all sorts of "boy" stuff, like swords and Star Wars and Ninjago and who knows all what.  

The brothers' dad was a 4th year optometry student, who was doing all his rotations locally.  So Logan and his friends had an entire year to play together.  

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end.  The father graduated and the family was going to move... far away, clear across the country.  

Logan was pretty heart broken.  This is the first time he's had to say good-bye to a friend, knowing he'll probably never see him again.  When we moved to Forest Grove we said good-bye to good friends, all the while planning when we'd see them again.  This time it felt very different.  

Logan made them some chocolate chip cookies, all by himself.  

We also gave the kids a little goodie bag with toys to help keep them occupied on their long, long, long road trip.  (Someone did it for us when we moved and we thought it was a great idea).  
 

This family had it all, even a little girl for Taylor to play with. 

Seriously though, we're going to miss them.  We wish them well in their next adventure in life and a safe journey to their new home.