A Weekend Away

Last weekend Danny and I were able to get away. BY OURSELVES. It has been nearly a year since our last time away. It was so restful and healthy for us. 

We went to beautiful Golden, CO. We walked around the small historic area, read books, walked along the river, had a few drinks, had a wonderful dinner, talked as adults without being interrupted, ‘slept-in’ until 7am. Ahh…

It was nice to not have to be responsible for any little people for a few days. It was nice not having to remind my fellow diners to take more bites. It was nice to not have to talk about going to the potty. It was nice to do whatever I wanted.

My wonderful husband!

Great little cafe for breakfast

Original log cabin in the historic park. There was also a barn with chickens and goats, a root cellar, schoolhouse, lots of veggie gardens, etc.

Lady playing clarinet in the park

My sweet husband indulges me be letting me take a million pictures of him

These are from the Golden City Brewery. We did NOT visit Coors

And it was also nice to come home to see my kids. That is to say, on Monday morning I was ready for them, but not on Sunday afternoon when we actually got them back. I think they were happy for a break from each other (they each stayed with a different set of grandparents, to whom we are eternally indebted to). Sunday evening they were bickering with each other non-stop. They might have been a little spoiled from their time away from us. Which is exactly what grandparents are supposed to do! And I will gladly take some spoiled children if it means I also get to have a weekend of being spoiled.

While we were away M&M (aka Sweet Pea) started fully walking. She had been taking a few steps here or there when coaxed, but she was not very interested in walking as a mode of transportation. I guess she just needed some Grandma motivation!

Rooni (aka The Blobster) also had a great time without us. The report is that he was sweet, helpful, and full of energy. That last part sounds about right!

Heavenly Day

Oh heavenly day, all the clouds blew away

Got no trouble today with anyone

The smile on your face I live only to see

It's enough for me, baby, it's enough for me

Oh, heavenly day, heavenly day, heavenly day

Tomorrow may rain with sorrow

Here's a little time we can borrow

Forget all our troubles in these moments so few

All we've got right now, the only thing that

All we really have to do

Is have ourselves a heavenly day

Lay here and watch the trees sway

Oh, can't see no other way, no way, no way

Heavenly day, heavenly day, heavenly day

No one at my shoulder bringing me fears

Got no clouds up above me bringing me tears

Got nothing to tell you, I've got nothing much to say

Only I'm glad to be here with you

On this heavenly, heavenly, heavenly, heavenly

Heavenly day, all the trouble's gone away

Oh, for a while anyway, for a while anyway

Heavenly day, heavenly day, heavenly day

Rocky Mountain National Park - anniversary weekend June 2011

Family Visit

We recently had some family visit from South Carolina. It was really nice to spend some time with them and get to know our nieces and nephew a little better.

Here they are: Honey, Heaven, and Tom - we caught them playing Angry Birds on Danny's IPAD

The girls took some time to go shopping in Old Colorado City. It was fun to have some girl time. The boys went hiking while we were shopping.

Heaven and Honey are very into music and are really talented. We were able to get them to sing for us a few times. They were nice enough to let the Blobster play with them too.

We had a nice celebration for Honey, welcoming her into womanhood. She is so pretty! (Another girl time! I think the boys were playing in the dirt. Seriously... they were in Bobcats)

We all got dressed up. The girls sang for us again; a lovely treat. We were going to have tea, but it was too hot, so we had punch instead. Susan used her grandmother's china - it was so fancy! I hope Honey felt like a princess.

Here is everyone. From left to right in back - Gage, Danny, Honey, Heaven (sorry you got covered up a bit!), Susan (holding Mia), Don. In Front - Sarah, Greg (Danny's brother), Tom.

Aside from our shopping, and girl time, we also had everyone over for dinner at our house, a bbq on July 4th, and dinner out. They also took a trip to the Royal Gorge and the Air Force Academy. I think overall they had an action packed trip.

So the Hankins' clan keeps expanding, and we are richer to have them all in our lives.

back home

We just got back early on Thursday morning (2:30am) from Mexico. It was a nice, relaxing vacation. We didn't do much but swim in the ocean and swim in the pool. I tried to get tan, but even my tan is not very tan compared to most people. We were there with other salesmen from Danny's company, although I hadn't met most of them since they are all from other locations. They were all the hardworking ones who exceeded the sales goal last year. Congratulations to them! 

Yesterday I slept in, picked up my dog from the Rents, and worked on cleaning my house. We didn't leave it very nice before we went to Mexico, so I just wanted to get it back to livable standards and make it a place I'd like to lounge in for the next couple days without the visual stress. I also cooked a meal...it was nice to get back to my kitchen after vacation! I didn't make anything fancy, but I had inspiration from Chez Pim. After dinner Danny agreed to play cards with me (amazing!). It is nice to be home.

...but then I look at the picture of me in the pool again, and wish I was back there! sigh...

The Trip

It was the trip of a lifetime; what more can I say? 

The boat was great, the water was beautiful, and it was fun being with friends. 

Getting Ready

We are getting ready for our sailing trip! We leave next Saturday and it couldn't come soon enough. I'm so looking forward to a vacation! A relaxing, warm vacation.

I'm getting very excited! Tonight we are going shopping for a few things, then we need to pack our bags and do a test weigh in. You see, we can only bring 20 lbs per person. That's right...20 lbs. But that should be ok because we will be wearing swimsuits the whole time that weigh next to nothing...but I want to take my big camera, which might be challenging. We already mailed a box of books and sunscreen down so that we don't have to fit that into our bags.

I think one of the things I like about vacations is the anticipation leading up to the event. Getting new music, making playlists, getting new bathing suits, new books, looking at the map and plotting the course...all of that leads into something exciting. It's something to look forward to. There's also some nervousness...will we catch our connecting flight that has a short layover, will the airlines cooperate and run our flights at all, will everyone get along for 7 days? But these things also help provide a sense of adventure.

Happy New Year!

We spent New Years in Grand Lake at a cabin with some friends, Luke & Jamie. It was nice and relaxing. It snowed a ton while we were there and yesterday the interstate closed, but we were content to stay by the fire and watch the winter wonderland (it helped that Danny brought 5 cases of beer). But today it cleared up and made for a beautiful drive home.