Colorado, Rocky Mountain High....

We had an awesome Thanksgiving week spent all the way in Colorado!  We've travelled up the east coast and to Michigan with the boys a few times, but this is by far the furthest we've ever gone with all three.....and they did awesome!  We have experience nearly every travel catastrophe out there, so we were over-prepared for the flights-- we were like FEMA--prepared for disaster.  And no disaster struck.  In fact, we were in disbelief about how well it went.  It went so well the Notre Dame game was actually streaming on the airplane for free.  Jamesie and Annalisa slept while Sean, Cody and I watched the Irish beat Wake Forest. 


Super-dad on the flight to Denver with three kids at once!

When we got to Denver we drove up to Ft. Collins to visit my cousin Jeff and his family, including two little girls Mckenna, exactly Jamesie's age, and Elin, 2 months older than Annalisa.  Our good friends from Charleston, Luke and Andrea, recently moved to Ft. Collins, so we got to spend some awesome time with them as well!  Jeff and Shannon live 2 miles from Luke and Andrea and they actually all go to the same parish.  It was awesome to see all of them and have all the kids play together.  Unfortunately, didn't bring our camera over to Luke and Andrea's :(.

Our guys had a blast with cousins Mckenna and Elin.  

Two of Jamesie's favorite things--something with wheels to push, and a baby.  Score.

These guys are just 12 days apart.  We think they have similar cheeks and smiles and bedhead.

Smiley babies Annalisa and Elin!

Mckenna has her very own swing set (with a double swing) at her house.  This blew Sean's mind.  Later when I asked him what was his favorite part of Colorado he whispered in my ear "Mckenna."

 

Down in Denver, we saw Buffalo Bill Cody's grave, and hunted for some buffalo ourselves.  I told Sean the night before we were going "buffalo hunting," meaning we're going to look for the herd of buffalo that hang out by the highway outside Denver.  He responded "I should have brought my bow and arrow if we're going buffalo hunting." 

We visited Red Rocks where Cody, Sean and Jamesie climbed all the stairs!  Well, they all went down and Cody carried 2 boys all they way back up!  Given this was our second day in Denver, the conditions were perfect for getting altitude sickness, which hit Sean pretty hard the next day after running around for hours at Red Rocks and Buffalo Bill's grave.  He described that his "forehead hurt," and "I know I'm sitting up straight, but it feels like I'm sideways."  For the next 3 days he maintained a steady diet of Gatorade. 

Cody and Sean at my aunt Pat's, where we stayed in Denver. This was our view every morning.  I think Sean is feeling sideways in this picture.

Between all of my first cousins, there were 4 babies under 8 months.  So, there was lots of this to be seen.  As soon as one of us got up from this picture the fourth mama actually sat down to nurse as well!  I guess there is a universal 11:00 a.m. feeding for babies :). 

 

We had 51 people total for a Wednesday night celebration and a few less for Thursday Thanksgiving, but still a ton. All of the people in this pic are my aunts/uncles and first cousins and their kids.  My mom is 1 of 9 children, with 8 still living.  7 of the 8 made it to Denver this year.  It was a really special gathering!