Amy and David: Family in Colorado

The breeze picked up in the mountains when we arrived in Palmer Lake late in the evening, and we felt a chill in the wind we hadn't felt since we were married in San Francisco. David’s sister Victory greeted us with warm hugs and took us inside.

In the morning, Victory and the family were already out and about while we awoke to the most fantastic view of grazing horses and tree-lined hills. David constructed a treasure hunt for the kids, Johnathan and Gaby, and we grazed on homemade muffins. Before the gang came home for a day of play, we went to town for coffee and a quick oil change.

Our morning view from the bedroom window is a dream of grazing horses and tree-speckled mountains.


David ghostwriting for a monster who needs a little help finding his lost toys and friends!

We grab a free sample of berry-flavored regret while waiting for our coffee and oil change.

By the time we got back to the house, the kids had constructed a treasure hunt for us. We followed some riddles and searched around the house to find pendants of beautiful handmade glass!

Shortly after, we piled into Victory’s car for a driving tour of old Palmer Lake before heading to Garden of the Gods for some rambling and bouldering. Colorado’s Garden of the Gods was once a sacred meeting space for warrior nations to hold council. In the shadow of Pike’s Peak, Garden of the Gods has been a public park and museum ever since the family of Burlington Railroad magnate Charles Elliot Perkins donated his 480 acres – property for his summer home – to Colorado Springs in the late 1800s. The park is filled with, towering formations of rich, red sandstone. The rocks once formed the base of the inland sea, but have since eroded into a dramatic landscape.

At the visitor's center:

Gaby and Uncle David

Jonathan, Gaby, and Uncle David

Jonathan took this one!

Rambling:

Sister Victory and family

A rare sighting! David and Jonathan rambled far and left the girls to their own expedition.

The Garden of the Gods is not all rocks – our next stop was the Trading Post. The building, which dates back to the 1920s, has a large floor plan filled with arts and crafts from local artisans, a patio café and banquet hall, and a fudge stand with generous samples. Roughly hewn lumber supports the load of the ceiling, and the exposed timbers make the building feel more like a lodge than an adobe. For lunch, it was southwestern style jalapeno buffalo cheeseburgers. We had a few fries before Jonathan and Gaby fed most(ly all) of them to the squirrels.

In pursuit of squirrels.

On the long ride back home, the kids became fidgety and ready for jokes and storytelling. Gaby told us of a baby with a full diaper abandoned in a car in the woods with no umbrella and no mama during a rainstorm.

Somewhere in her story was a chair full of pins, and some classic potty humor. We reminded ourselves to study up on knock-knock jokes. Jonathan knows a few. Before dinnertime, we kept the little bugs (and their playful neighbors) busy with bikes, glow-in-the-dark dust, and 3-D chalk artistry in the street.

Les came home from a long day of work at last, and helped Victory prepare a bountiful dinner spread of barbecue, veggies, and toasted marshmallows.

The kiddos are cleaned up from their day of play. Gaby asks Amy to braid her hair and Jonathan starts on some barbecue dinner.

Jonathan learns to capture photos on his play phone.

Quiet marshmallow roasting and Thomas Jefferson talk while the kids go upstairs to brush their teeth.

This is bedtime:

After the kids have gone to bed, we get some quality time with the parents and watch some Olympic swimming. Then, its a little bit of hotel-searching for us while the third child, old Max, enjoys the peace and quiet.