my trip to colorado

We're back from Colorado and now it's time to snap back into reality!! It was a fun getaway, I learned a lot, but it sure feels good to be home!!

Not that many care, but for my own journaling purpose, here's a day-by-day summary of our trip:

Tuesday: We left at 4:00pm. We were able to stop in to see Eric and Heather for dinner...and then they ended up talking us into staying the night instead of driving through to Colorado. It was super fun to see them and their cute new house (and the darling dog Oakley!)

Wednesday: Left Rock Springs at 8am after eating a quick breakfast. I slept a little bit right at first, but then started to read my book club book, "Prisoner in Tribekistan," which I'll review on my book blog. We arrived in Denver at Elitch Garden's (6 flags) at 2. It was stormy, windy, and a little rainy. We bought tickets and ended up going on all of the crazy roller coaster rides. I wanted to have at least one picture of us together at Elitch's, and got a caricature drawing of us, which I'll take a picture of someday to post here. After a mere 4 hours of rides and walking around the park, we agreed we were too old and tired to continue and went on one last ride--the swings--after which I became nauseous and barely made it out of the park without loosing the red icee I had eaten. Ben was an awesome navigator to the hotel in Westminster, Colorado--just out of Boulder. When we were in the lobby checking in, my teacher pal came out of the elevator to wait for some others to go to dinner. Ben and I decided to tag along for dinner at Johnny Carinos--yum! After dinner, we settled into our room (super nice suite with a king size bed, a little sitting room, and mini-bar) and then met two of my teacher friends at the freezing cold pool! We spent a bit in the hot tub, but I was really ready for bed!!

Thursday: We (Ben, me, Adrienne, and Rachael) went to the Denver Zoo. It was HUGE. It was better than Hoggle! It was super fun! We saw loads of interesting animals and enjoyed near perfect weather. We were there for a few hours then headed back to Westminster to get ready to go to the opening session of our conference. Ben dropped us off at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, which was really nice! We met up with a bunch of other WL teachers and listened to our opening speaker, who was kind of weird! After the session, we went to the welcome reception for snacks and drinks, then headed back to the hotel. Ben and I went to dinner at the best seafood restaurant--Pappadeux Seafood Kitchen--and spent WAY too much money on food. I ate crab and pasta and alligator. The dessert was tasty, too! I crashed that night in the hotel!

Friday: Conference session began at 8:30. There were great classes that I went to. I learned lots of new class management strategies and language arts strategies. The resort provided lunch. We were out of there by 3:30. At 4, Ben and I left to Engelwood to meet up with his cousins and aunt and uncle for dinner. We spent the evening with them, which was really fun, and went to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant. We got back to the hotel at 11 and crashed.

Saturday: Conference sessions from 8:30-3:30. After getting back to the hotel, I went on a walk with a few other teachers on a little path behind our hotel. We saw bunnies! All of the WL teachers and their families met for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. The best part was that we didn't have to pay--the school paid!! We had a fun time eating wings and watching Ben play a video game with other people in the restaurant. Most of the WL people met in the pool/hot tub after dinner and had a fun time. I was in bed by 11.

Sunday: We got up at 9 and packed everything, ate breakfast at the hotel, and were on the road by 10. We arrived in Sandy at 6:00 to pick up our dog, visit family, and made it home by 8. Our dog did a great job at Ben's parents house, our house was in-tact, and we both slept swell in our own bed!!