Our oldest daughter was working from home today, so we had a great opportunity to meet her for lunch. We picked up some sushi and headed down to Colorado Springs. Our youngest daughter and her boyfriend were going to meet us there so we could all be together, even if it was for just a short time, during this family time of year.
It was a gorgeous day, with the sun shining, no wind, and temperatures in the 60's. You certainly can't beat that in November in Colorado. So while our daughter continued to work, the rest of us set up lunch in the back yard.
When she got to a good stopping point our oldest daughter came down and joined us, although we somehow didn't get her in any pictures at all. And her husband was at work today, so we only got to see him for a few minutes too. But we'll take any time with these kids that we can get!
Here's our sushi platters. Super yummy, and nice to have a light meal the day before Thanksgiving.
After lunch our oldest daughter went back to work and our youngest daughter decided to take Albert the Adventure Cat out for a little walk, but he wasn't having any of that!
She finally decided to help him walk. Maybe he forgot how... He's so stubborn!
We only got to see our oldest daughter for a short while today, and her husband for an even shorter time, but we were so happy to have this time, and we will see them again tomorrow at our son (in-law's) parent's house. They were kind enough to include us in their Thanksgiving celebration even though it is their year with the kids for Thanksgiving! We are so lucky to have such great people in our family!
As we drove back to Denver, we enjoyed this beautiful sunset near Larkspur, Colorado. We don't get to see beautiful sunsets like this in Colorado very often because we are so close to the mountains, but this one was spectacular!
We didn't expect to get all four of the kids together this trip, so this was a very special day!
Today was our final day of landscaping, and we are proud of what we all accomplished while we were here.
I am done sifting through rocks, and am pleased to say that there is no longer any pea gravel in their rock.
And the boys finished their deck and really tied the back yard together. It looks so pretty! And even better than that, it is now really functional. You can get to the lower level of the yard very easily. Good job boys!
So to reward ourselves for all our hard work, we went to a little restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs, called Red Gravy. It is a really cute little Italian restaurant with a great happy hour! If you ever go, order the appetizers, they are great.
Our oldest daughter is back in town now, so she is joining us for dinner. Our youngest daughter isn't off work yet, so she'll be joining us soon.
All the appetizers are half price during happy hour, and they are a lot of food!
Bread and drinks to start...
And then once our youngest daughter joined us, it was time for some appetizers for dinner.
Red Gravy was a delicious reward for our hard work, and an even better way to spend our last day in Colorado Springs.
We got up early this morning to get back to our landscaping project. The boys completed the frame for the deck area they will be installing. And starting putting it into place.
I continued to sift through big rocks and little rocks.
And then, of course, it started raining. Not what we were hoping for, but I guess it gave us a much needed break.
Then after about 45 minutes, it was time to get back to work again. The boys starting laying out the decking on the frame and starting figuring out how the stairs would fit in. It is looking great!
Albert wasn't much help, but he looked cute and really enjoyed himself.
Another day of work, but we definitely making progress. Hopefully tomorrow will do it!
Our kids have been working so hard on their back yard this summer. They have moved rock, added privacy structures, laid pavers and started a fire pit to turn their steep back yard into a back yard paradise. So we are heading down to help them with one final project; tying all of their levels together with a small deck and stairs.
As we drove down, it was really rainy...again. This certainly isn't great weather for landscaping, but I guess we'll have to just do our best.
But when we got down there, the weather had cleared. It was cloudy, but no rain, so we quickly got started on the last piece of their back yard landscape. At this point, we are so thankful for a few hours without rain.
The boys went and bought all of the lumber and hardware they would need for the deck and then got to work.
The boys decided that there really wasn't enough work for three people on the deck project, so I went looking for something to keep me busy. Out in their front yard, they had an area where their landscape rock had gotten mixed with pea gravel. So I decided to tackle the job of figuring out how to separate them. Oh my, where to even start...
I tried so many different methods, but finally decided that a hand rake and gloves worked the best, digging through the pea gravel to find the large rock, and then pulling them out by hand. I would then throw the pea gravel into the buckets to dump into the back yard.
Our son (in-law) was kind enough to empty the buckets for me. They were really heavy and I just wasn't strong enough.
We all worked really hard all day, so when evening came, it was time for some fun. The kids all have memberships at a place called Rock City, where they have climbing walls, slack lines, balance boards, and so many other fun obstacles. So we went over so they could do some climbing. Our oldest daughter was out of town with her work, so it was just our son (in-law) and youngest daughter that would be climbing.
Our youngest daughter did mostly vertical climbs.
Our son (in-law) kept trying the inverted climbs.
It was all very impressive. They have so much upper body strength!
When their upper body would get tired, they would switch to slack lining while they rested. Starting out on the low slack line, and then working their way to the higher ones.
Then back for some more climbing.
Our son (in-law) would watch other people to see how they would navigate the inverted wall, then we would try it again.
Then back for some more slack lining.
City Rock is huge, with walls for all levels of climbers.
When the kids were tired from climbing, we headed home to call it a night. We set up an air mattress on an articulated frame, where we would sleep, and our grand kitty Albert immediately crawled under. He loved it under there and pretty much lived under there until we tore it down.
We got a lot done today, there is still a lot more more to do tomorrow, so good night for now.
