Adventures in Denver & Stafford

I guess it's been about a week since I've been back from my most recent adventures. The journey with the family began on the 16th, as we headed for Denver, CO (the brother was quite a trooper in agreeing to spending 10-ish hours in the car on his birthday). We are blessed to have cousins in the Denver area, who let us crash at their house for a few days. I was also thankful to enjoy someone else's good cooking! The weather was spectacular. Cool evenings and mornings. Warm days. No humidity. I'd forgotten how nice it is to be able to do your hair in the morning and have it stay that way all day. I definitely enjoyed doing X2-Yoga outside the evening we arrived. Simply wonderful. 

On Monday afternoon, we went down to the flagship REI store...I could do serious damage there...and then walked along the South Platte River in Confluence Park. It's a great little area. Complete with little beaches for tanning. On Tuesday afternoon, we headed into the Cherry Creek area to hit up some local eats. Lunch was at The Cherry Cricket, which has been on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" and "Man vs. Food." It's basically a pub, known for it's build-your-own burgers. I asked the waitress what she recommended and ended up with a turkey burger with bacon, jalapeños, and cream cheese. It was good. We shared an order of "Frings" (half fries, half onion rings), and those were good too...and usually I'm not big on fries, so that says something. We went to the Cherry Creek Mall for a bit. It's a pretty great mall. We polished the afternoon off by going to the Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Shop. Oh my goodness. Seriously the best. There's tons of flavors to choose from. I ended up with tiramisu. And it tasted exactly like a really good tiramisu. Except it was ice cream. Mind blown. 

On Wednesday, we headed for Stafford, Kansas (a very small farm town) for a family reunion at Prairie Oaks Inn on The Flying M Ranch. Same place as two years ago. There were over 50 of us. Plus several animals. Serious excitement.   

This is Lou Brock Field. Also where the brother and I ended up doing Combat on Thursday afternoon...as there was no place inside to do it. I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my life. And it gets pretty toasty doing Zumba in OC's Barn. 

One of our mornings was spent on a picture scavenger hunt. The last part of the hunt was to find something unique and take it back to where we were staying to be judged. What my team wanted to do was borrow the sign in the picture above. It's funnier if you've been to Stafford. What we ended up with is in the picture below. While going out to get the sign, I ended up in the mud. I had to clean up some to get back in the car, so there was considerably more mud on me than what's pictured. This does not happen. I was never a kid who played in the dirt. So, my muddy self ended up being our group's unique thing...and we won!!! 

The day before we arrived at the reunion, one of the cousin's miniature schnauzers had puppies. Nine. That is a lot. So during the week, we all got to help bottle feed the little guys. I remember, as a kid, wanting to have a litter of puppies or kittens... I think I'm good. It was definitely fun helping out, but I wouldn't want to be the one responsible for feeding 9 puppies every couple hours. They are really cute though...

I admit, I stole the last couple of pics from an uncle. The first one is just of the sandy, gravely road that the ranch is off of. It makes for a pretty run in the evening. On our last night, I managed a 4 mile run around the square mile of land the ranch is on. I hadn't run in forever. I'm not a runner. The most running I've ever done before would be a 5k (like 3.1 miles) on a treadmill. But I hadn't gotten to work out that day, and, at that point, running was really the only option...so I went for it. I was surprised at how well I managed. It look about 40 minutes, which isn't epic, but I was going against 20+ mph wind and sand on the 3rd mile. It feels great to be fit enough to say, "Hey, I don't run, but I'm going to go run 4 miles now just because I feel like it." Thank you, P90X and Insanity. I actually really enjoyed my run. Had some good tunes going. It was rather peaceful. 

   

This last one is just a pretty picture of the sun setting over the pond at the ranch. The pond is great for kayaking, fishing, paddle boating...some people like to swim in it...not so much me. I went to the pool. 

I think there may be an announcement of sorts tomorrow...