Monday
It was a busy day, but a really fun day all the same. For one I was feeling a lot better than the previous days and I seem to just be getting progressively better. I am also no longer contagious which is good and I'm hoping that the antibiotics will clear all of this up in the next day or so. :) The only bummer was that John had school all day - from early in the morning until 5:30pm since this is his long school day. Then he had to work from 9pm to midnight, so he basically was unable to join us for anything, but Tuesday he'll be coming with us to the aquarium and everything for my parents' last day. I'm glad, because I miss my husband.
Johnny got some money for his lion bank from his papa & grandma. He had fun putting it in his bank all by himself.
We got on the road in the late late morning and headed back to Estes Park on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park. We stopped in Lyons where my mom looked around at some different stores and garden shops and then we stopped for some ice cream at this old-fashioned diner-style ice cream shop. The ice cream was delicious and it was a neat little place. The owner was really friendly too. :)
Johnny kept petting this frog pot in the garden shop.
Johnny & papa getting dirty in the mud.
Johnny & papa waiting for us at the ice cream shop after we were done shopping.
They were playing with a beetle.
After we left Lyons, we continued on to Estes Park - the same drive we made the day before. We made sure to stop at the Estes Park sign that we all got photos in front of earlier and get pictures of Johnny in front of it too. We ended up hanging out at that little parking area for a while letting Johnny stretch his legs and watching chipmunks. My dad decided to put a cookie out to entice them, and they came in a huge group and ate them. One chipmunk apparently ran onto my foot and stood up begging for more, but I was too preoccupied taking photos of the mountains to notice, which my parents thought was humorous. Another chipmunk lunged at Johnny when he had a cookie in his hand. Not even five minutes later and an even braver chipmunk actually leaped into Johnny's lap while he was sitting on the ground eating a cookie!!! I happened to be taking a photo of him at the exact instant that the chipmunk landed in his lap and as I clicked the button, I saw it and screamed. The chipmunks ran away, my son tried to scurry away, my parents laughed at me, and then Johnny handed his papa his cookie with a look as if to say, "no thanks, no cookie is worth dirty rodents climbing in my lap, thank you very much". We watched the chipmunks some more, I lathered my son in hand sanitizer, and then we hit the road again.
THE squirrel.
Estes Park was a cute little town but we didn't have time to really look around, but I hope to go back with John soon. We continued on to Rocky Mountain National Park, which we have a 7 day pass for now. Can I just say that we've finally found a beautiful part of Colorado? A couple of hours away from Denver, I might add. I loved it there! We had fun driving on the roads that were open (some were still closed from winter) and looking at trees and mountains and valleys and rivers. A lot of the peaks still had snow on them and it was very beautiful. There were elk everywhere! We stopped fairly often and hiked around a bit and got photos. I even hiked up a closed road and looked at a bunch of stellar snow-capped peaks; it was really peaceful. We only explored a tiny bit of the park because a lot of roads were still closed due to snow and the park is so huge that you can't adequately explore it in only a few hours. We saw as much as we could before we needed to head back and on the drive back from the park and through Estes Park, Johnny napped in the car. The little boy was exhausted from all of the fresh air and getting dirty!
The giant boulders on the hillside are the Twin Owls - they definitely look like owls huddled together (though hard to tell in this photo).
For my husband, because he loves VW Buses and wants to own one someday.
We stopped in Lyons again on a whim to eat dinner since Johnny woke up and was grumpy and hungry. I'm glad we did, because we tried out this Blues-style grill and brewery that was really unique and had great food. It was called Oskar Blues Grill & Brew. I ended up eating a cup of green chili: potatoes, slow-cooked pork, mexican green chiles, and spices, as well as a caesar salad. Both were delicious! :) It would be fun to go back there sometime with John. The music was all blues and it was great to listen to as well. We were in the top part, which was the family restaurant. The bottom part of the restaurant was a bar and apparently they have live bands there frequently, which I think would be cool to check out, sans child.
After dinner we drove the last hour of the drive home so I could see my husband for the first time since the morning and say "goodbye" real quick before he left for work. I'm so happy he'll be able to join us Tuesday for some fun activities, and we'll definitely be going to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park together very soon. We love to hike and camp and do things outdoors, so this will probably become a favorite place of ours within driving distance. It has been an exhausting day, but a really really good day. We're planning to go to the Denver Aquarium next and eat Bubba Gump's for dinner. Then my parents will be going to bed early since they have to leave at 2am Wednesday morning. I'm very grateful that my parents were able to come visit us, and especially that they were able to stay until Wednesday morning rather than leaving this morning. Johnny is having a lot of fun with his grandparents, and we're going to miss them until we (hopefully) see them later this summer. :)
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