Graham Does Denver

In a completely unplanned coincidence, I have taken each of our kids on a solo trip to visit my college best friends' families when they were five years old. Since Sarah has moved to Denver, she had a baby, started a new job, and it was due time to visit my friend. Graham is now five, so he got to join mom on this visit. 

Sarah's littles on the left,
Graham rocking his Pikachu shirt on the right

Sarah and I are great friends. We are dedicated to getting our families together. We are very bad at remembering photos during these visits. 

We went on an hour long hike starting from her front door, and walked to a restaurant that had Graham's favorite macaroni and cheese. We met approximately 400 of their neighbor kids, all that have their very own electric scooters. Then we took the kids to Centennial Center Park where they dug up dinosaur bones in the sand and stared enviously at the other children whose parents brought swimsuits for the splash pad and water park.

We revisited an art installation from my past. Back in 2019, the 2nd gen lady Gills got together in Santa Fe, NM and visited a place called Meow Wolf. It's indescribable. And Denver has one all their own. Sarah's kids knew their way around the place, but for Graham, it was an experience like no other. Colors. Lights. Interactive Museum displays. Luckily, he had Lydia to show him the ropes. 

Graham + Meow Wolf = Happiness

Sarah's husband won a gold medal for the following day, where he offered to keep all three children for the Whole. Day. while we had an adventure of our own. Separately, Mr. Josh took the kids on a real live train ride, and then to a restaurant that had a Golden Tee arcade game. This is the highlight of Graham's trip to Denver. Golden Tee. Josh for the win. 

While they were Golden Tee-ing, we were on The Royal Gorge Railroad! 

Sun and Friends and a Train!

This was the greatest of all tourist traps! We had a full multi-course meal on the train, with white table cloths and full service. It was the best way to catch up with my friend! Hours of great views, pondering about who built it and how it could operate so close to the surrounding rock, and a quiet, intimate place to talk about life while someone else serves a meal was exactly what we needed. 

We sat inside with windows all around, and when we wanted fresh air, there was an open top car for that too. It was a dream! 

Open air car selfie!

Lucky for me, some of my favorite cousins live a short drive from one of my best friends. I wanted so badly to introduce them and unite two incredible families that I love! We had a great opportunity when my 2nd cousin Aisley was having a celebration for her 8th grade graduation the same weekend that Graham and I were in town! This 8th grade graduate attended our wedding as a very young little miss. We took the opportunity to crash her party and I introduced some of my favorite people. As an added bonus, my little man got to see his Uncle John and some of the cousins we would all love to see more!

Jonathan & Graham, cut from the same cloth

While we were living the Colorado life, Jon was managing things at home. The Texas life is different than most other daily life. This weekend was no exception. I got a text message that something was looking back at Jon from the pool skimmer. 

Look closely. Do you know what that is? A little pointed snout, a long rat tail, a football shaped body, and a pool. Maybe you knew it was an armadillo, but did you know that they can swim? Nope, me neither. 

This sucker has been digging up our landscaping for weeks! He danced too close to the fire and must have fallen in the pool. Jon found him in the skimmer and helped him get his weird little armor body out to dry land. Though you are not welcome here. Please dig for grubs elsewhere. 

Denver was lovely. Graham was hoping to see snow, which is a tall order in May, but we might just have to return for a snow filled winter season. While we have armadillos, we don't have a whole lot of winter. Thank you Sarah and Josh for hosting us and showing us your community!