Happy Birthday Autumn!

Smiling Birthday Girl with her diet Coke! How lucky to have a birthday in September!!

Card and the Classic Candle.

Well wishers in the parking lot...with a ginseng plant. We enjoyed a great dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. Autumn, did you ever finish that huge T-bone?

Baron and Donette said, "Congratulations, Abram, on passing the Bar Exam," with a gift of Legal Music...themes from Perry Mason, Matlock, Law and Order and so on!!! Clever idea.

Sunset on the Great Salt Lake, taken near Saltair.

Colby's Birthday #5 & Picnic at Woodland

Mr. Birthday with a look of excitement wearing his crown and badge! It's hard to believe Colby is 5!

Presents, utensils, drinks and THE CARS CAKE. Airie did a great job with Abram's idea...Kerchow!!

His eyes how they twinkled, his dimples how merry...Colby is enjoying his birthday pizza.

Fun Dr. Suess game from Auntie Autumn.

Reading a birthday card.

Three tall tales from Mater.

Airie's classic card and the Cars Garage from G&G B.

Baron assembles and adds stickers to the Cars Garage while Colby reads a story.

These two were so busy having fun with cars that they didn't notice anything or anyone else for the rest of the evening!

Time to blow out the candles and eat the chocolate cake.

The Birthday Boy gets a hug from Dad.

McPuddy gets a pet from Autumn. (Sorry there are no photos of A&A. They somehow avoided the camera.)

The poster says it and we were happy to share in the fun. Thanks!

On Sunday, Autumn brought the kids out to Farmington. She was babysitting them while Baron & Donette were on an overnight getaway to the City of Rocks. Of course the kids wanted to drive the Jeep.

Brie's turn to drive.

Brie trying out the piano.

Next we went to Woodland Park for a weenie roast. We owe everything to Autumn the Fire Builder...no paper, no lighter fluid, only a few matches. Hooray for Girl Scouts!

Baron and Donette arrived just as we were getting started. Here's Baron intent on a perfect dog.

All the trimmings and of course we toasted marshmallows for S'mores.

Perfect day weather-wise and fun to eat outside. Woodland has changed since the days Briton and Baron were young explorers here. Now there's even a huge bowery and parking area at the bottom and a real bathroom up top.

Swiiiiing Batter!

Denver Conference Plus

Denver skyline and fountain at sunset from The City Park.

Daytime skyline from the other side. My office sent me to the National Prevention Network Conference in Denver for 3 days. The conference was pretty decent and the Hyatt Hotel was very nice. Dad enjoyed tagging along and we had fun in the evenings and we stayed on through the Labor Day weekend. Here are the photos in 5 blog installments.

The hotel was right across from the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. We've eaten at the one in San Francisco and in Florida somewhere and the food is great. So, of course we went...Dad also ate lunch here one day. Our table was next to an open wall.

I didn't hold back. I ordered the Shrimper's Heaven...4 kinds...fried, coconut, chilly and tempura, with coleslaw, fries and dipping sauces!

Dad had Acccidental Fish & Shrimp...Mahi Mahi & grilled shrimp in lemon butter and Jasmine rice.

Dad spent his days walking around downtown Denver...taking photos of weird things.

He also toured The Mint where coins are made (lots of pennies)...no photos allowed inside...they made you take your batteries out of your camera.

Another view of The Mint.

Denver Broncos' Stadium.

Colorado state capitol with real gold dome.

Dad on the capitol steps.

Mom with feet on the capitol step that is exactly One Mile High.

We went geocaching at the City Park.

Fountain at City Park.

Dinos. There was a zoo and a science and natural history museum at the park, also.

Cramner Park with a cool sundial.

This is a cache location called "2 Adults 4 Kids." Can you see the 2 tall thin parents and the 4 short, chubby kids?

Here's a photo at Wash (Washington) Park. We came here to see the flower gardens. Be sure to check out all the awesome flowers in the final blog.

Mt. Evans and Echo Lake at Idaho Springs, Colorado

After the conference ended at 2:00pm on Friday, we drove to the little gold mining town of Idaho Springs, west of Denver. We spent the rest of the day driving up to Mt. Evans and back, on the highest paved road in North America. Fun!

Looking over lots of mountain ranges from the high tundra above the tree line.

Here's the parking lot and the switchback trail to the top. It wasn't long, but it was slow going. Oxygen was in short supply!

On the tippy top...14,260 feet. Evidently there are 54 peaks in the Colorado Rockies that are above 14,000 feet! The highest is Mt. Elbert at 14,433. Oregon's highest, Mt. Hood is 11,239', Utah's King's Peak is 13,528' and Washington's Mt. Rainier is 14,410'. (Then there's Alaska's Denali at 20,320' !!!)

Dad at the top...a bit cool and breezy.

Mom on top with Pike's Peak in the center of the faint background (way back) with the "castle in the sky" and the Denver University Observatory on the left behind the parking lot.

Looking the other way is Summit Lake.

Closer view of the "Castle in the Sky."

Friendly mountain goat.

Lots of goats.

Smiley goat.

Chubby marmot.

On the drive back down we stopped for an evening stroll around part of Echo Lake.

Nice reflection and pines.

Calm Echo Lake at sunset.

Dad in the woods.

I had a great trout dinner at Echo Lake Lodge, built in 1926.