Fantasy vs Reality (civilization!)

I'll start off with a recap of yesterday. We decided to stay at the Boulder County Fairgrounds instead of parking in front of my parents house. That had seemed like a great idea before we drove Phillip The Inferno. Reality set in and we realized the next best thing is The Fairgrounds, which we will stay at on our way home Aug 4 & 5 (take note mom & dad) and it will truly be "the fairgrounds" on those nights. Could be a major blast or a couple of sleepless nights? Or both! According to Tina (our new friend that runs the joint) there will be teenage boys with contraband beer driving their dad's trucks wreaking drunken havoc upon the world. This just may be sweet justice for us both to be in the thick of it.

Back to yesterday....Tim got the day off and was able to go fishing all day - which was a dream come true. That's the fantasy part folks, maybe not what some would call fantasy (ie Robert) but for Tim it was right up there. He caught 24 brook trout on a secluded stream in Estes Park. The kids and I spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa took Ryan to see the prairie dogs, Wendy's, NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) and back home to play Roblox all afternoon. Grandma was kind enough to take Kylie and I to civilization - The Container Store (believe it or not those 4 trips the 5 days before we left still didn't get us everything we needed) and Whole Foods - Holy Cow, that was an AMAZING store!!!! I need to check out the "new" Plano store and see if it compares.

One of the best things was being able to use a shower at my parents house that actually felt like you got clean vs ours that sort of piddles on you - we need a better shower-head. Ah, it's the simple things....Oh, and I got to go to a very new, huge SuperTarget this morning! After shopping at small town, crowded Walmart's THAT was a big treat too!

Today we arrived at Chatfield State Park, which is in Littleton. It is wonderful!!! Great, spacious site, lots of bike trails, fishing, beaches and I won't torment you with the temperatures except to say that I was wearing a light jacket on my bike ride at 5:30! We are here for 5 nights and are loving it. Finally got to do the whole set-up. The Caver's, William's and Auciello's would be proud (wish you were here!). We have an outdoor carpet, rope lighting, little lantern lighting, a shade canopy over the picnic table and finally had a big enough spot to drop down our patio!!!! Ross - Tim did a great job setting all this all up without help, it can be done - when necessary!

Ryan and Kylie keep asking when they will see Izzy. I'm including an adorable picture of Ryan and Izzy hanging out (it makes me think of the movie Grease and the song "Summer Loving"). So Traci & Ned be prepared, we will be calling you to come out here for dinner :)