Kiefer and I decided it would be fun to visit Colorado before Christmas. So I contacted my dad's brother and sister and let them know we were coming to visit, and planning to stay in a hotel. My Aunt emailed me back as soon as she heard, and informed me that Kiefer, my daughter and I were all invited to stay with her and her family (my uncle, two cousins, and my grandmother) on the farm. They own a beautiful farm on about 40 acres (which I'm always going on and on about to my friends and coworkers) where they keep the following menagerie of animals:
- 24 goats (+/- periodic boarders)
- 4 Horses
- 2 Dogs
- 5 House Cats
- 2 Barn Cats
- "some" fish
Friday, December 17th, 2010
I spent the morning doing mundane pre-vacation chores like washing the bedding, and folding laundry (we were already packed) until it was time to pick up my daughter. This is where the true fun began! We had spent the week prior to this baking cookies and packing so we would be prepared for our hectic schedule, so when I picked Kate up we were all ready to go.....deliver cookies at my work! Katie put on her best Christmas dress when I picked her up, and we made our rounds at my office delivering Christmas cookies and Christmas cheer. Everyone was very cheery to see her in her little red dress with white fuzzy trim.
From there we headed for the OC to pick up Kiefer from his mom's house (That crazy man rode his motorcycle to work in the rain so he could leave his car at our house!). The drive was...dreary. It was pouring rain all day in Southern California, and it is supposed to continue to do so through Thursday last I heard! After picking the Kiefer up, and a blessed episode of NO traffic between his mom's house and the airport we made it in time for our 8:08 pm flight....which ended up being delayed by 30 min. /facepalm
I Had a gourmet veggie sammich, and Kiefer had a deli multi meat sandwich for dinner. I allowed Katie to have a happy meal, since I know those were pretty hefty ($9!!) sandwiches, so she had "chicken nuggets" for dinner, and proceeded to devour the entire thing. The flight was 2 hours, and wasn't too bad. Kate read book 6 of Chugo Chara (Santa apparently heard that she was running out of books to read, and slipped one in her backpack at some point! What a clever Santa!), watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with Chris on the mini TVs, and followed it up with some Scribblenauts . She made it ALL THE WAY to when we were taxiing in to the gate before she started to fall asleep.
Backstory here: Kate is a VERY heavy sleeper. She sleeps like the dead. You can pick her up and move her, or make loud sounds, or turn on all the lights, and nothing will wake her. I like to say she'd sleep through the nuclear holocaust.
We made it to the rental car depot to find that the 20 Subaru Outbacks that had been there when I was last in Denver on business in April 2010........were all gone!!! So we looked, in the 25F chilly night air at all the cars. Chevy Malibu, Chevy HHR, VW Bug (no way our luggage will fit in there!)...and one Nissan Altima...which was already being sat in by another family. DANGIT! So we decided the HHR was our best bet, since it has room for us. Fortunately it gets GREAT gas milage, but I hate it still. Wussy little car...and the seat is impossible to adjust! That reminds me... I need to look up the owners manual. Anyhoo...we headed to our hotel.
Saturday, December 18th, 2010
We stayed in a hotel overnight, which was fantastic, had our delish breakfast, and then watched Four Christmases in our hotel room. This was a funny/frustrating movie, check out IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes for reviews..as that is not really the premise of this blog! We packed up our stuff and headed for......TARGET! Because I forgot my belt! We had lunch at this gourmet burger place called Diego Zhane's, and it was fantastic. It was a total pain in the butt to find, but we found it, and it was yummy! I had a tasty salmon burger, Kiefer had his first Buffalo burger, and Kate had unlimited grilled cheese sandwiches. I also had some of their tomato basil soup. YUM!
Then right to my aunts house. We got ourselves situated, and had a lovely dinner with my family. I had forgotten how much I love spending time with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. I think after dinner we visited grandma (she lives in an apartment below the main farm house.). We finished up the evening by watching Home Alone (which my daughter had never seen before). This turned out to be an excellent choice, and everyone laughed. Then we went to bed!
By they by, dinner was accompanied by home made goat cheese. It was fantastic. We had a pepper jack, and a chev with honey. Oh and btw, the honey comes from their friend's bee hive. Fresh made cheese, fresh gathered honey. Amazing.
Sunday, December 19th, 2010
Today was very exciting! We started off the morning with a hot breakfast of cream of wheat topped with fresh honey, raisins, and fresh goat milk. Yum! My aunt also makes fresh yogurt, but I haven't gotten around to trying any yet. I'll have a snack of it before we leave =D. Next we proceeded to take the goats for a walk!
We are already getting to know the goats. This one reminds us of our friend Sean...we call him "One Horn"
We ended the night by introducing my uncle to Top Gear, and watching the pilot episode of Firefly with my cousins.
The plan for today is to visit the Denver Museum of Science and Nature. Grandma gave us tickets for it, which is extremely helpful! Time to make sandwiches!
Look for more posts later!
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