Colorado | August 2023

This year (since we still have the daycare gap before school starts), we jumped on some cheap flights to Denver and planned a trip around that!

We stared with an overnight in Fort Collins. Shawn took the boys on a hike to Horseshoe Falls while I caught up with Michelle at her house. Then we went to Odell Brewery. Shawn had also made a quick stop at New Belgium Brewing with the boys for a beer and lunch beforehand.

We spent the evening at Michelle's. The kids played, and chatted, and giggled, we ordered food in and it was all in all a fantastic evening :) So fun to catch up with my old college roommate who Shawn and I have both known for 23 years!!

The next morning, we slept in a bit, had breakfast at our hotel (in Fort Collins) and then drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park. We were lucky to get a time slot the night before - probably due to the unusual rain Colorado has been having. We had a few raindrops and mist during our hike, but it actually made it very comfortable and beautiful. 

Since we were essentially driving through, we chose one hike to do in the park before heading through to Grandby. We hiked to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Emerald Lake. We saw lots of chipmunks (which Brecken loved and named!), we saw three Elk, and lots of birds.  

Brecken and his love for animals!




One of my favorite parts of the hike was when we made it to Emerald Lake, the clouds parted for a short time and we were able to see the giant mountain peaks way up in the sky above us!

In an effort to keep the overview of our time in Grandby brief, some of the highlights include:

Pickelball at our Sun Outdoors Resort (formerly River Run Resort):

Swimming and hot tubbing in the late afternoon / evenings:

Our day at Winter Park - playing mini golf, doing the ropes course multiple times, the climbing wall, laps on the alpine slides, and taking the gondola up for a hike with the mountain bike trails all around us:

Whitewater rafting on the Colorado River - and the unexpected hot springs and cliff jumping!

Kayaking on Grand Lake (on of my favorite things on the trip!):

Panning for gemstones at the resort:

And spending lots of time on the porch of our tiny house with Shawn in the mornings and evenings - and our one night of cribbage!

(Watching the storms from our porch!)

We flew back on August 30th, so the Delta crew was kind enough to announce his birthday before take off :) Such a beautiful part of the country and a great time to travel and spend time together before the start of the school year.

Duluth Date Weekend

Last weekend, Shawn and I were fortunate enough to get away - just the two of us!! The kids were on board with this idea since it meant Auntie KK got to stay with them for the weekend.

The kids did a Friday night movie in the park, Maple Grove Days auto show on Sat, lots of time at Fernbrook and some scootering at the skate park. 

Shawn and I jam-packed our weekend with the following:

Arrived in Duluth around 6:30pm, checked into the Canal Park Hampton Inn and quickly headed out for dinner at Fitgers Brewhouse. We had done the walk a number of times in the winter, so it was a treat to walk in the summer heat!

After a delicious dinner and a few beers, we walked to Sir Ben’s for some live music.

We started our Saturday with breakfast at the hotel, a walk along the canal and then a 9 mile skate along the Lakeshore boardwalk. We hadn’t skated in forever! And we loved it!! We made sure to wear helmets, given Shawn’s recent incident - also, there were a few crazy hills.

We grabbed a quick snack and then drove up to our next adventure spot - mountain biking at the Lester River Trails (flowy terrain), including Amity East and Amity West (technical uphill). So beautiful for how close to the cities this is!!

After biking, we were starving. But, we drove past the new Lake Superior Brewing location and had to stop in! They weren’t open for the day yet, but still poured us a pint. Super cute little spot with a good looking menu!

After chilling there for a bit, we grabbed Jimmy John sandwiches, our cooler and headed to Park Point for some time at the beach. 

The water was freezing (I went in a bit anyway), Shawn took a nap and I read a magazine. So nice!

Our next stop for the evening was Blacklist Brewing Co for drinks and axe throwing! Took me a bit to get the hang of it, but then it was a great matchup! Still waiting on my massage for taking the win…

We had a delicious dinner (and a jalapeño margarita!) at the Lyric Kitchen, followed by one more drink at Rathskeller before calling it a night.

For our last day, we started off with a hot tub soak and breakfast at the hotel. Then we went for a hike at Chester Creek. The water levels were so low that it felt quite different than some of our hikes in the past! A great short hike though with the incredible smell of pine and lots of stories from Shawn’s college days.

After the hike, we packed up our gear and headed to Mission Creek Park for one more mountain bike ride. Other than the straight uphill ride to start, these trails were my favorite!! We finished around 3pm. 

With the goal of squeezing every bit out of the weekend, we stopped at Moose Lake brewing on the way home (not too far out of Duluth).

We are so thankful to have Mikayla’s help so we could spend a weekend adventuring together!! Pretty rare to get 1:1 time these days!!