Christmas Vacation

After a memorable first Christmas with our daughter, we packed our bags and headed out East to Colorado for a visit with my parents. It was so nice of them to invite us out since it had been 2 years since I'd been home. Having Dan and Kylie there with me this time made the trip back the best one since I've been out of the house.

To make our travels a little more convenient, Dan's parents (Jan & Frank) offered to house/dog-sit. It was so comforting knowing our other babies were in good hands and receiving lots of good care from their grandparents. They were in good company too, as Lucky, Sparkly and Chico came to hang out with them.

Grandpa Frank was perfecting his photography skills during his stay. Check out these great shots of Kylie and the gang. These few were taken before we left. Kylie was looking cute as always...

The remote lights up. She loves it.
Rise and Shine Kylie Ky. Here's Daddy feeding Kylie a nutritious breakfast before we head out.
Mom and Son.

...And we made it to Colorado! We made it in a day's drive, but got in pretty late. So the first night, we went straight to bed. The next morning was filled with some major reunion time. It had been 5 months since Grandpa G had seen his granddaughter, and a few months for Grandma. They were so happy to have her with them and see how much she's grown.
Kylie found a new favorite toy during her visit. She loved banging the measuring cups together and moving them in the air.
She took them basically everywhere for the first day. Here she is helping my parents wrap some presents.
Besides seeing everyone, one of the best parts of being back in Colorado was the food! We had been missing the crispy chile relleno's - so of course the first restuaurant we went to was 3 Margaritas. We ate there our first and last nights in CO. Mexican food is far superior in Colorado than Idaho - no question about that.

The Denver Zoo holiday lights were so beautiful. Most of the animals were alseep, but each section of the zoo had awesome light displays to represent the animals that lived there. For example, there was a penguin display that showed a littly guy in various stages of standing to jumping into a pool of water to swimming. Unfortuantely, we were too excited about the show (and a little too cold) to bring out the camera to capture all the different lights, but trust me - they were so cool.

Here's Kylie meeting the Greeter Bear.
My family under one of the light displays. Apparently, the bears (bottom left) and monkeys (right) lived in that area.
Flamingos...

There was a train that took guests on a mini-tour of the zoo. We didn't take a ride, but my Dad, being the avid train enthusiast, had to check out the engine.

The hippo's and the elephants were the only animals awake. We took some pics, but felt so bad for these guys because there "home" was so small. Especially when you compare the space to the great endless terain they can cover in their true habitat. This was one of the best nights of our stay. The time with my family, and being back in Colorado made me very happy.

Back at home...Grandma G enjoyed feeding her at least once a day.

Sans high chair, we made due with what we had for her other feeding times. She didn't mind and liked checking out everything around her while she ate. It was actually harder on me trying to get the spoon in her mouth!

Another great Colorado restuaurant. Dan's favorite in college. We love Big City Burrito. Yummy!

Another great afternoon was spent at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. I used to love coming to this mall growing up to hang out, eat, or check out the cool unique shops. We went into a natural gem store that had amazing one of a kind pieces from the owners travels around the world, and many art galleries which showcased work from local artists. We also ventured into this crazy kite shop, and thought it would be a fun place for a few pics.

They had a black light room. As you can see, Kylie wasn't so sure about it.

The view from the back of the store.

Outside, looking onto the mall. You can see the City Hall on the right in the distance and some foothills in the back. The mall has amazing beauty with it's red brick flooring and Colorado natural surroundings. (Although, you wouldn't be able to tell from this picture...)

My mom and me.

Danny and I.

Kylie warming up back at the house, and being cute.

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Meanwhile, back at our house...the lights were on...

The boys were happy and content.

Chico was relaxing.

They love hanging out together.

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...And back in Colorado, my dad was showing us his prized Union Pacific model train. This thing was pretty cool, because it looks and sounds like the real thing. It even blows steam! Kylie enjoyed watching it go round and round. Whoooooooo Whoooooooo!

Check out the video.

Like I mentioned earlier, being back in Colorado with my parents and my family was so much fun. I loved showing Dan where I grew up and going through the pictures of me from baby-hood to high school. We loved hearing about my Dad's adventures in Bangladesh and receiving the beautiful necklace, purse and blanket. Hanging out, watching movies, seeing the sites of CO, visitng friends, and eating great food all made the trip so much fun.

I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but we took back a lot of memories from this vacation. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa G for everything!!

And then we were back on the road. A long 11 hour drive with Kylie and I in the back seat, with little to do to entertain ourselves. As you can see, we got a little silly.

What I love about having house-sitters is the feeling of coming home to a house that's been lived in and loved. Not neglected and cold. The extra bonus was that it was Frank & Jan watching over everything, enjoying our home, and being bright and friendly faces to welcome us back.

I was a bad Mommy for not trimming her nails regularly on the trip, so she gave herself a couple bad scratches. Now, it's back to trims every other day.

But she's still so adorable.

Tony was so happy to see Dan. We missed our boys so much.

She makes the silliest faces.

Santa missed Dan too.

Isn't Lucky the cutest thing?

My family, minus Santa next to Kylie's first home.

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This is the "catepillar" my mom made for Kylie. She really enjoyed sucking on the ties on the ride home, and I'm sure it will be one of her favorite toys when she's a little older.

This Baby Einstein piano was a Christmas present from Grandma & Grandpa G. It plays in several modes and musical instruments, but her favorite is playing the number and pressing it again to play a classical tune. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!