August 6 - “One size fits all”

Two full-grown does joined Bambi in the yard. They obviously were not afraid of humans. Didn’t consider us predators at all. We watched them munch on the backyard vegetation for a long time. AnnaGrace and Christi and camera-bug Chris were especially enamored.

 

We went for a special breakfast treat. Come to find out, one of the best bakeries in Estes Park is inside that same Shamrock station where we got the nostalgic burgers. They were pretty good, too. Luke stuffed himself and would have gone in for more, but Mom controlled the donut strings, so to speak.

 

After breakfast we went over to the post office to mail a few cards, and what business should be sharing the same parking lot?  The used book store we wanted to go to the night before!  We spent an hour in there browsing and did make a few purchases.  Chris found a cook book and some random children’s books. I grabbed a few of the four-for-a-dollar gems.

 

Our park entry ticket was for between noon and two p.m.  We loaded up and headed that direction around 12:30. We went straight to Sprague Lake and did the hike there. The boys shed their shoes and waded out as far as they could to a big rock (with only minor wetness accumulating upon their pulled up, diaper-esque shorts). We also saw some actual fish, so maybe these fishermen have a chance after all. On the hike we met some folks who recognized Christi’s Magnolia hat. The daughter was in college at Baylor. She lives with her parents in Dallas during the off season (aka summer).  We chatted with them for a few minutes before continuing on. Just as we finished up the hike and had a quick snack, the regular afternoon rain shower hit. Cooled things down quite a bit. We drove on from there to another lake outside of town. The hike wasn’t hard at all, but the views on the way to the lake and back were amazing. Again, just after we finished the hike, the rain began. But this time we saw that we would be under a flash flood watch. Back to the cabin post haste.

 

Packing for the trip home officially began when we got back. Well, for the adults, anyway. We gave ourselves a departure goal of 8-8:30. We’ll see. And for dinner? The kids wanted to go back to the Shamrock station. One size fits all, I guess. So we loaded up both cars to fill them up, too. Then we went back over to Fun City for one more night of fun.

 

Once that ran out, it was over to the Rocky Mountain National Park entry sign for our family pictures. As tends to happen, another family was there, and they took the pics for us. I guess that officially closes the door on that part of the vacation.

 

But the fun wasn’t done yet. Back at the house the card games began. Zak was the champion rat killer. AnnaGrace pretty much held court at Exploding Kittens.  Nani and Josh did face off in the last game, though. I’m still not sure who really won. Hotly contested debate there at the end.

 

After the games, some went on to bed. Others stayed up to watch a movie. Others of us chose the best of both worlds - dozing in front of the TV screen.

 

2 Corinthians 10:7 says, “You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.”

 

Father, it has been a really good week. Thank you for the amazing variety you put in your world. Amen.