Back from MO!!!

Are you kidding me. I finished this post a month ago, and it took me forever. And I'm just now seeing that it's a DRAFT?????? Bugger.

So, you'll have to excuse the smaller than normal pictures. Just know we had a good time, I have a lot of pictures to share, and it's ALL. IN. ONE. BLOG POST!!!  

I know.

A miracle.

Buckle up, here we go.

Some images from the road. See that rainbow? Crazy.

Why does she do this? She put her blanket on her head and fell asleep.

I love Utah.

 The most common joke on the trip.

We started out in KC, after we drove one day, then drove for another almost 24 hours!!!  NOT my idea! But I did have the joy of driving the last 3 1/2 hours!

THIS is what Aaron was looking forward for weeks before we got to Mimi's and Papa's. The Gator. The kid would barely let anyone else drive.

MOST of the Kitley girls.

Time on Papa's golf cart with Aunt Tinney.

Copper enjoying her grooming.

We played frisbee with Papa.

And kite flying!


And went to Chick Fil A. Rumor has it one is being built in Tacoma.  YAY!!

And we celebrated Aaron's birthday with Mimi and Papa.

 
Then we go to STL. On our way we stopped by Chuck's college roommates parents house. Got that?? He wasn't there. But his dad's farm equipment was!!

Pretty much as soon as we got to my parents we loaded up to head downtown for a ballgame!!

Rain delay. But doesn't she look so cute??

And it continued to rain. Until we left.

Chuck wasn't happy that we were making him stay. :)

All the lights were bouncing off the rain-soaked concrete and really lighting up the arch. Stinkin' street lights.

 The next morning Dad and I headed off for a ride north of St. Charles. A.K.A. where the flooded river lies. This is what we ran into.

And again down the road. We basically had to ride in a 4 mile circle a number of times...

When we got back, Aunt Dana had come and set up a scavenger hunt for Aaron for his birthday. She's too good to him. He LOVED it. Then we went to lunch for Aaron's birthday.

 This is a long one!

And then we went to dinner for Aunt Dana's birthday!!

There was a lot of BUBBLES!!! And bike riding. And crashing.

Of course we went to the zoo. And there was a new elephant!!  Another one!

This is the one from last year.

And Kami and Preston came with the kids to meet us!!

And we actually got to go into the sea lion exhibit. Last year it was brand spankin' new so the line was super long and we chose to forgo the actual exhibit for the show.

 

Then it was time to head back to KC.

Some pool time. Yes. They live on a lake.

And Aaron got a couple more birthday presents when it was time to head to Uncle Chip's and Aunt Rachel's!

Chuck and baby Charli.

And time for some fishing!!!

I'm not sure she was excited to go fishing.

I will want this for proof of how long she stinkin' sucked her thumb. And she's still not done. So frustrating!

Yes. The kids wanted to go fishing.

And Aaron wanted to go swimming! By himself! (as long as he had his life jacket on) He did amazing!!

Then some time at the playground.

And more swimming.


And for our last night, Strouds.

And some popsicles.  I learned. As little clothes as possible.

After KC we headed off to Denver and stayed the night with Joanne and Randy, which was GREAT. The yummiest burgers!

Smoke from Colorado Springs.

Aaron called this a castle. Haha!

 Afterwards we drove through Boulder and then up through Estes Park and then to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Amazing.

Seriously, sheer drop offs on the edge of the highway.

And this was one crazy dude!! At least he was going down. But there were plenty of people biking this road! Nutso! You'll see why in a bit.

Nice pose Aaron's been doing, huh?

And this was our rig.

Lunch while we stop at Trail Ridge. It was so windy I thought our rig was going to fall over!

This wold be why we are feeling light headed and tummy aches, and the kids are a tad crabby...

Hmmm. No way would I cycle a two lane highway with no shoulder up a mountain with sheer cliffs when the wind is blowing 29 MILES PER HOUR!!!!!

And then we saw a nice big elk on our way out.

Everyone was tired...

 We think this was base camp for the fires that were going on.

And a crazy looking helicopter.

On the way to our next stop we went over the Continental Divide.

And then through Steamboat, CO.

It was fun!

This was at our first campsite. They had a nice play area for the kids, which was good because these kids were stir crazy!!

Then it was time for Dinosaur Monument.

And some antelope.

A forest fire in the park.

Most of the land was open for ranchers.

Amazing, isn't it??

And we got to meet some fire fighters that were on our side of the river guiding the fighters near the actual fire.

This is the part of the park where we actually see dinosaur bones. Quite a ways away from the previous area.

After Dinosaur Monument we headed to Wyoming.

Then our stop for dinner (so tired!!!).

Which was right next door to campground. Convenient.

So pretty!!

Delaney showing me her doll.

So Aaron had to show me his airplane.

Then Delaney HAD to go to the bathroom. In the middle of Nowhere, OR. AAAAAND comes #2... Ugh.

The Columbia Gorge! The last leg!

The last beautiful sunset of our trip because we are bustin' it home to WA.

And that's a wrap!!  Whew!  Tired of looking at pics?? I feel like I just finished last summers trip (probably because I practically did). But, all in all, this blog post took 3 hours!!  Got lots of other stuff coming up!! Random things so they won't take as long to post. ;)