Fort Collins

After leaving Monument, our family drove to some really dear friends house that was supposed to be 3 hours away. Not too bad, you might say? Well, as we got on to the freeway we very quickly concluded that that was not going to be the case. The traffic wouldn't move more than 3 feet every 5 minutes! My dad checked his phone, and saw that there were 3 accidents on this 100 mile stretch of a 6 lane highway. So after about 20 minutes of going super slow, we finally reached an exit and got off to have lunch...and pass some time : )

We ate at the infamous Wendy's, and tried calling our host to see if there was an alternative route. There wasn't really much of one, so we just waited to see if the traffic would clear up...which of course it didn't!

Eventually we made it to Fort Collins with a thunderstorm at our tail, but it took us 6 hours of driving instead of 3. Here are some pictures from the drive up there:

Dominic hardly ever smiles nicely for a picture, so when I finally got this one he was mad : )



The storm's a comin'!

The middle row: Anthony, Julia, and Levi

Micah

Our host house! We have been good friends with the Douglas family for about 15 years. They have 4 boys, and while we were there, had another boy who is an EMT renting the basement.

The day after we arrived, was July 4th and they had planned for us to go to their annual party in the park that evening. But first we had to play some basketball, a good hard game of soccer which later included an asthma attack, and dehydration, and then before leaving, a game of 'kick the ball into the net' with Micah and the oldest Douglas son, Pierce. During that time it started raining but we left anyway hoping it would clear up.

Here are some pictures on the way there:

The cupcake lady at the 4th of July party...not sure what her reason for dressing this way was! She must have woken up sideways that morning : )

Our tent to keep out the rain. Julia and mom in the pink, and Pierce right next to them.

Mr. Douglas (Jim) our host

Mrs. Douglas (Christy)

Julia and I the twins.

Joe (15) in the red, Kobe (13) in the front

Pierce (20) holding up our tent

I never got a picture of Marshall who is 17, since he was already in his own apartment and we didn't get to see him much.

...the worst of the storm coming in

Micah and Levi

frosting face!

Of course my favorite thing of the day...the fire truck.

We ended up getting soaked, and totally rained out from down pouring, drenching rain, wind gusting to 30 miles an hour, tents blowing over, and temperature dropping 15 degrees.

So we went home and watched Despicable Me 2 while listening to random fireworks going off. After we were done with that, we laughed our heads off about old funny stories and Despicable Me reenactments, while eating peanut butter and chocolate chips on graham crackers for a midnight snack.

I'm disappointed that I didn't get many pictures here, but I guess I was trying to save battery and also having way too much fun playing around-the-world ping pong (the best game ever!), kicking the ball into the net, basketball, and hanging out with these awesome people.

We stayed with the Douglas's until Sunday, when my dad had to speak at a church an hour away. Then we spent the night in Denver at a sweet older couple's house, who's husband just had heart surgery 3 days prior to our arrival. We were spoiled to pieces!

That is where we picked up my grandparents for a family reunion in

Steamboat Springs! That is the next stop, so stay tuned for next time...

He is worthy and greatly to be praised

 Olivia Grace