Ivie Family: "Col-Oh-Wado!"

We decided to make a trip to Colorado before I return to work and while both girls can still fly free. I had been wanting to visit my mom's sister and my cousins and their kids. Mom really wanted to see her family and I wanted Chris to meet everyone too. I knew Ryan would have a blast because between my 3 cousins there are 8 kids! And four of the kids are under the age of 3! Flying with both kids sounded a little scary, but we had a good ratio. 3 adults to 2 kids. And the double stroller to contain Ryan and make it easier in the airport. That is what we planned on. That is until we got to the airport (with zero time to spare), hopped off the shuttle, opened up the stroller to discover that a front wheel was missing! What the heck!?!?!?! Chris and I looked at each other in disbelief as the shuttle drove away. We had no time, so I rushed inside with mom and I juggling both kids to check in, while Chris tried to call the shuttle. Amazingly we only had ONE bag to check for our four day trip. I think that is pretty good since there is FOUR in our family, not to mention that packing for babies is tricky. (I have to give myself a pat on the back sometimes for my packing skills- I did forget Emma's diapers though!) After we checked in Chris appeared with the terrible news that the shuttle driver did not find our missing wheel. It must have fallen off in the transfer from my car to Chris' truck before we left. That meant that the stroller was totally worthless. So, we had to run throught the airport carrying both kids (Emma in a car seat), with all of our carry-ons, diaper bags, purses and backpacks. All the while pushing the giant double stroller that was worthless! I still can't believe that Chris didn't just ditch it! We barely made the plane and unfortunately were put in row one, with zero carry on storage and me sitting in the aisle seat. Not ideal for nursing Emma! We had a brief moment of panic when we thought bunny was lost. Luckily, we found him moments before Chris asked the flight attendant to make an announcement! I think I would have cried as hard as Ryan if bunny was lost. Thankfully that was the end of the disaster. The plane ride went great. Emma nursed and then slept, and Ryan behaved beautifully. Thank heavens!

We had a wonderful time in Colorado. Ryan loved playing with all of the kids and Emma got lots of loving from everybody. We ate delicious meals that Aunt Tris cooked and played lots of card games. I also beat Chris in every single ping pong game we played. I think we played about 12 games! We took the kids to the Butterfly Pavillion one day. Ryan loved seeing all of the butterflies. My cousin Tiffany took Chris and I to Red Rocks one morning for a workout. It was beautiful scenery and a challenging work out. The kids slept well and Ryan even slept in a queen size bed by herself. She put herself to sleep amd stayed in bed all night by herself! It was a fun trip and I hope we get to go back again soon.

Here are the pictures from our trip. I failed to get a good one of our entire group all together.