A quick trip to Colorado

I made a quick trip to Denver this week.

A couple of girls from church were going to fly out of Denver to go to Haiti.  They needed a ride and I was available.  Plus, I thought it would be a great time to see my daughter too!

Good-byes were said.

We had a great time talking and laughing.  They were so excited to go back to Haiti.

My granddaughter and I had gone with them in Dec. 2016 to serve at Maranatha Children's Ministries.

 

 Oh, Hannah, how much you have grown since this picture was taken!

 And now Jayden and Hope were returning and taking lots of donations with them.

We got to the airport without much trouble.  But once we got there, there was a bit of a bind.  We had several tubs of donated goods, but just a couple of days earlier, there was an embargo placed on plastic tubs being sent to Haiti.  Really??  The girls had a long ordeal (like 3 hours!!) of trying to talk to the airlines people to figure out what could be done.  In the end, they had to purchase some bags to put the items in and then were not able to take the same amount of weight limit that they were originally told.  I had to return with all the tubs and 80 pounds of donated goods that we will have to ship out another time.  I finally got to my hotel close to 3AM to sleep for a few hours.

Another glitch.  Mindy started getting sick the day before and was tested to have influenza B.  

She's been doing a lot of sleeping.  You might notice that she is sleeping with a trophy.  She won the Graber Challenge March Madness Trophy.  It is her year to hold on to it and display it in a prominent spot, but right now she is proudly sleeping with it we are told.  Ha!

So, with her being sick, our time together was not going to happen.  She was going to take me to a coffee house that has cats roaming around.  You can sit on chairs/sofas and pet these cats on your lap while you drink your coffee!

It is called the Denver Cat Company and they have foster cats at their cafe that are available for adoption!  Mindy says Jason won't go but she knows how much I love cats.  How much fun that would have been!!  Next time!

I headed on back to Kansas.  Good-bye mountains!  Mindy is so lucky to be able to see them right outside her window every day!  I'd love to see the ocean right outside, but mountains are a quick 2nd!

I found a new hole-in-the-wall.  We usually stop in Colby for Starbucks and to fill up.  When I got off the road, I noticed that gas was cheaper on the north side of the road so I pulled in over there.  And attached to this gas station was this place.  Thought I'd try it out.

Oh my goodness!  I think this just may be a place we will have to come back to!  Since it was already the afternoon, and this burger SO big! this was both lunch AND supper.  The onion rings were so very, very good!!  All this from scratch, not freezer made.   I didn't get a shake this time, but definitely next time.  They serve shakes with many, many flavors!  Coffee-peanut butter- chocolate will have to be on the order!

I'd sure like to know the history behind this house.

When people think of Kansas, they often mistakenly think it is a very flat state.  It isn't flat.  Of course there are parts that are, but there ARE hills around!

Kansas isn't even in the top 5 states for flatness.  Florida is the flattest state in the nation!  Then Illinois, North Dakota, Louisiana, Minnesota and Delaware.  Kansas ranks 9th. 

And Colorado is not the most mountainous.  West Virginia holds that title!

It was a fun trip and I know that Hope and Jayden are having a wonderful time with those sweet little kiddos in Haiti!  Those children will be hugging and loving on them!

Time to go home

Sunday after church, the family did a little ball playing.

 They decided to do a few weird moves.

 Time to leave.  Everyone doing the silly waves.

 On the way home, we called Jill to wish her a happy birthday!  First time in many years we haven't been together on her special day.  Boo hoo.

We were running into rain clouds.  We have experienced a drought so this was so very welcome!

 And wouldn't you know it, we ran out of the rain as we got close to home.  But we got to see a beautiful rainbow!

Luckily, during the night, we did get rain!

Prier "Hotel"

Generally when we visit the kids, we stay right next door at Staci's parents' house, otherwise known as the "Prier Hotel".  We get along quite well and one evening the 4 of us stayed up until 11PM talking!   Way past time for grandparents!   

They have deer that wander about their acreage.

 And lots of birds too!

Saturday was St. Patrick's day.  Al and I wore green.  Eli claimed he was wearing green underware!  Dan and Lisa's friend is in an Irish band that was playing at a little hole in the wall so we had to go, of course!  Irish music and barbecue!  Good combination!

Saturday afternoon was a good time to shoot off Eli's rocket that he got for Christmas.

Oh NO!  We didn't get far enough away from the trees!

A tree gobbled the parachute up!

It reminded me of Charlie Brown's kite eating tree.

 The boys fixing dinner later that evening.  Josh is a good cook!  We ate pretty good this weekend!