Ben's mountain house

With the trip before Tante's departure, and MeeMee's bonus week, we were blessed to have three trips to "Ben's mountain house," this year.  This final trip :( brought the most visitors we've had in one week and perhaps the most delight, (except for missing Tante.)

Ok, so I'm admittedly biased against Nebraska drivers, but why are they ALWAYS hanging out going slow in the left lane?  Kansas didn't behave much better and the Lineberry's made the same NE comment without any inherent bias. ;)

Amy wrote a couple days before we left and asked if they could crash our party Sunday.  We welcomed the guests and even obliged Amy's request for crepes in town and the HOUR AND A HALF wait that came with them.  We also fed the fish and played downtown before heading back to swim and hot tub.

We had SO much fun and will absolutely go back for the crepes-when the line is shorter.

Thanks to a borrowed laptop, I was able to catch-up on 3 months of blogging back-log.  It was starting to feel insurmountable and I'm so glad to be caught up and feel free to write when it moves me.  It's fun again. :)

On Tuesday, Ryan and Ben enjoyed the fun park at Peak 8.  I had resisted taking Ben there in June with hopes it might be a great Dad-date in August.  I planned to possibly join them for a couple rides but was a place-holder instead.  With prices nearing those at Disneyland, I left the fun to the boys and tried to optimize their fun.

 

Thanks to Ryan's smart thinking, they had done this at opening with almost no line.  This time was an HOUR wait but obviously worth it.

 He just couldn't get high enough.  The attendant stopped after this to add more bungee so he could go higher.

 

The attendant had remembered him and his fearlessness. 

In the afternoon we found this kiddo tubing with a short line.  There were actually 2 lines and a magic carpet ride with tube in tow.  I was literally chomping at the bit that Ben needed help and would never stand in line or carry his tube on his own.  Ryan literally held me back and reassured me that Ben would sort it out-and he did!! Twice! While I cried under my sunnies.  New settings and long lines and rules are not Ben's forte but he owned this and earned a whole new level of ability in his mama's eyes.

Here's the ride up

 

 

And the fun.

Brandon had been up for a bit Saturday and returned Wednesday along with Pat and Jim for lunch and swimming.

Wednesday night worked for our annual visit to Empire Burger and lots of fun hearing about Brandon's previous lives.

On Thursday morning we spent some time enjoying Brandon's stand-up-paddleboard.  I had tried it at the beach last year so I happily let everyone else play, (it was windy and cold.)

Ben kept saying he was surfing, which is a daily request in our house.  

He watches Jack Johnson surf on repeat.

He was SO COLD and still elated.  He went into the frigid water twice. 

 

MeeMee was a natural paddler.  I'm confident this won't be her last go at this. 

Ryan gave it a go.

On Thursday night, we followed Brandon down the hill to the Milky Chance and Walk the Moon concert at Red Rocks.  The opening band, Hippocampus, was great as well and Milky Chance was incredible.  We left before WTM's encore and missed some favorites but also had a quick drive back up the mountain. Tante was supposed to be with us, and she was missed, but we were glad to show Brandon how to correctly attend a Red Rocks show.

On our final moose hunt in Cucumber Gulch, Ben talked MeeMee into a couple piggyback rides.

Grand Lodge has more and more activities all the time and Friday afternoon included home-made ice cream, poolside.

Oh, these two!!

Ben's second attempt at Luke walking was still not without tears, but try-try again.

I happily take Luke duty in the mornings. :)

Ryan and Ben perfected the flip on this trip.  Ben has started asking to do flips off the diving board so I'm hopeful this will tide him over for a while (or a year. :)

On our last evening, Ryan and I discussed how blessed we are to have such an incredible home away from home and how lucky we are that MeeMee made this investment.  Thank-you MeeMee for another year of giggles, sun, and fun.  I challenged Ryan to ski with Ben at least three times this year and make use of bonus time or day-use.  He happily accepted. :)