The Slade Family: Great Week in Denver

I was totally planning on spending some of my time while in Denver catching up on this blog, but I didn't end up having as much time as I thought for that because we didn't have internet at the second hotel we stayed at - for most of the trip. But, that was okay, because we had a wonderful time and it was SO nice to be there with my boys! :o) I am still recovering from the traveling... I've been very tired lately and hardly know where to begin with the house cleaning, unpacking, etc. It's also weird to think we'll be moving in probably three to four weeks. Makes me just want to start packing up everything but then in our little apartment there is no place to put full boxes so I don't really want to be in that 'moving stage' for over a month! So we will see what happens... :o) I just cleaned up the kitchen after lunch and am in the process of making brownies for the Christian group's meeting tonight at Mesa State College. (They asked people to sign up and make snacks for them whenever we could, so I have done it a few times. I know how much I grew while attending that group, so I love to do whatever I can to bless those students who are attending the group now.) ANYWAY, there is so much to talk about even back before leaving for Denver, but I think I will just focus on our trip for now because I am a mommy and never know how much time I'll have on here! :o)

We left for Denver late Tuesday morning, a week ago. I didn't do any packing the day before because I was busy with other things and I'm still not quite used to how long packing a little baby and us for a week will take. But, it all worked out and we DID get out and only forgot a few things that we came right back for. :o) The trip over was fun and fairly uneventful. We stopped for lunch and to feed Daniel in Glenwood Springs (I know... definitely didn't get too far), and then made it almost to Denver before having to stop again for me to feed him. We drove straight over to the Renaissance Hotel where Scott's conference Wed. was. Fancy dancy, is all I have to say! :o) I'm definitely not used to staying in quite that nice of a place. Lol. Scott hung out with us as we got everything all settled for a little while before we realized that we had left part of Daniel's swing at home!! Goody, goody! :o) Just so everyone knows Daniel hardly knows how to nap without his swing! He is very much a soothing through movement baby unless he is really tired at night, because then he doesn't mind sleeping in his crib. Well, I was very worried at first but then got into my determined mode and knew that we had to get through the week somehow WITHOUT going to Walmart and buying him another $150 swing! :o) Sooo, Scott left for his first meal / time at his conference and I hung out with Daniel, as I did the rest of Tues. and all day Wed. I enjoyed the time overall, although we definitely had some difficult times with Daniel not wanting to nap and being extra fussy. I took him on a few drives around the area so he could nap in the car and he napped on me quite a lot, too. Other than that we watched TV and he played with his new toys that I had bought him before the trip. Those times were fun. He would play for hours in front of me on the bed! So cute! :o) HIs favorite part of the hotel was the BIG, soft, kingsized bed of Mommy and Daddy's! He took some of his naps and slept part of the night on there when no where else was good enough for him. :o)

We definitely missed Daddy, though, so it was very nice Wed. night when we were able to join him and all the other Marathon people to talk and hang out. Everyone loved Daniel and it was nice to finally meet many of the people Scott had talked about from ND and TX.

Thurs. morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then left for our next hotel... the Embassy Suites in the Cherry Creek area. That hotel was very nice also, and we were very happy to have a suite so Daniel could actually nap and sleep in a different room. He did much better there... mainly napped on Daddy, but slept all night each night!! That was very nice after being up the 3 to 4 times the first two nights!

We went to the Cherry Creek Mall for lunch and much of the afternoon, which was fun! I got a beautiful necklace and earrings, but otherwise we just looked around at all the cool stores and walked, walked, walked. We ate at Noodles and Company for dinner (we LOVE that place) and then headed back to hotel where we got into our swimsuits and "swam" for a little bit. It was more just standing in the water for a few minutes, because it was not that warm so we didn't want Daniel to get too cold. Although he did love it! He splashed up a storm! :o)

Fri. we spent much of the day driving and walking up and down the 16th St. mall area downtown. We hung out in a coffee shop for awhile where we played some games and went to lunch. The rest of the day we really just rested at the hotel watching HGTV (not having any TV here means we love watching it elsewhere... I've always loved HGTV, and now Scott does to now that we are getting a house). :o)

Sat. was another super lazy day. We didn't do too much because Daniel was very tired most of the day, so we went to Babies R Us, where we got lots of stuff for our little one (all I have to say is it's probably good we don't have one og those in GJ). We took pizza out to Parker for dinner where we hung out with our awesome friends, Jess and Jenn! That was definitely one of the highlights of the week! It was a lot of fun to see their place and catch up!

Sun. was supposed to be just our traveling day, but Scott made it super fun because he took us up over Loveland Pass on the way back which was beautiful, and then we stopped in Silverthorne for 3 hours of shopping and walking all over the place going to the outlet stores! I got new shirts and sunglasses at the Columbia store and we got Daniel lots of cute clothes from Carter's. He is going to be one cute baby this winter! :o)