{Grand Junction, CO}

The kids and I packed up our things and the car and headed out to Grand Junction, CO to go visit Daddy while he was there on a rotation. He was missing us terribly and we him. So we left Wednesday evening

and drove half way. Lucky for us we have family that lives at the half way mark so we spent the night with them and their sweet kids. We were all so excited to see Daddy and made it safely to Grand Junction on Thursday afternoon. The kids were great travelers as usual. Thursday night we just hung out at the house where Tyler was staying. Friday morning, Tyler went to work so the kids and I took our time getting ready and then ventured out to the Mesa Mall to see what it had in store for us! They had a play place there where the kids got to play a little and then we shopped around a little.  We came home put Trey down for nap then Addie and I played outside in the yard until Daddy got home. The fun thing about where Tyler was staying was that they let us stay there with him. It was a fun house with a big yard so the kids loved spending time out there.

Since Tyler didn't have to work on Saturday or Sunday we really jam packed our weekend with fun things to do in Grand Junction. So, first on our list was was to hit up Pufferbelly Restaurant.  We had heard they have the most amazing breakfast particularly their biscuits and cinnamon rolls. So that is exactly what we ordered and we were not disappointed! The cinnamon rolls were about 7 inches in diameter and their biscuits and gravy were amazing. This restaurant is located right next to the train station in Grand Junction. So you can see and here the trains coming. The kids loved it!

 Next on our list was the Studts Pumpkin Patch and Corn maze! We were so excited to have a pumpkin patch to go to. We very much miss the pumpkin patches in Iowa so this was quite a treat for us to go. Although, it wasn't as good as the ones in Iowa, it was still very fun and we all had a great time.

There were endless pumpkins to pick and gather. Which Addie took full advantage of our cart and piled it high with pumpkins. She was quite disappointed when we couldn't take them ALL home with us. They had all sorts of pumpkins. Some very cool looking pumpkins that i had never seen before.

They had this huge orange Bubble thing that you could jump on that the kids and Tyler had a fun time playing on. I would have loved to have gotten on too, but tramps or bouncy things were just not made for pregnant ladies!

 Although, the big orange bouncer was a lot of fun, Addie and Trey had the most fun going down this 24 ft. long slide into a huge corn kernel pit. They loved playing in the corn and getting buried in the corn. Needless to say, I kept finding corn kernels all around the house after we got home due to the kernels being inside pants pockets, coat pockets, shoes, etc.!

 They also had animals there for the kids to feed such as sheep, goats, chickens, and horses. While we were there feeding the animals this red truck pulls up and 3 people got out and headed to the tail gate. Next thing we know these 3 people are hauling out a HUGE pig out of the back of this truck. Well huge to me and the kids. And they just set it down and let it roam the pumpkin patch. Addie thought it was the funniest thing. Trey was deathly afraid of it. Tyler put Trey on the pigs back which i think scarred trey for life. The pig could careless if you were around it, touching it, sitting on it, taking pics of it!

(**Notice the death grip trey has on tylers jacket as ty is holding him while pretending to sit on the pig!)

 Whew! what a busy and tiring morning. We all came home and took naps except Addie of course. After we had all rested we headed to Grand Junctions little Main street. It was full of fun  little shops, places to eat and sculptures. Some of the sculptures were designed for kids to play on like the gorillas that Ty and Addie are sittin on. The coolest sculpture was the huge mountain bike!! We even passed a little ice cream shop called Gelato Junction. I had never tried Gelato before and although we hadn't eaten dinner yet and it was pretty cold that night to my surprise Tyler said, "well lets go in and get some!" What? Tyler never does this! And usually I will talk myself out of it saying, ''No, we really don't need it!" But tonight was different! We did it! We went in tried about 7 flavors of Gelato ice cream then finally settled on one for all of us to eat! It was so fun and SOOO yummy! Then we grabbed a little ceasers pizza on the way home and were all exhausted from the day.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church and then were invited to a members house who earlier in the week met at McDonalds for an early dinner! We felt much gratitude for this invite and appreciated all their advice about the area and such. They were so kind to have us over and feel so grateful for their generosity. Later that afternoon after dinner we took a family drive up to the top of Grand Mesa. I think its the largest mesa in the U.S. (not completely sure!) Anyway, it was absolutely beautiful! We got up to the top just as the sun went down. And yes, that is snow where Addie is standing. It was 36 degrees up on top. The view coming down the mountain was even more spectacular because you had other mountains and mesa to the north, east, south and west of you. Sadly enough, our trip was coming to an end. Tyler would start up work again on Monday and we were heading home. Tyler hated seeing us go knowing he still had 2 more weeks away from us and we didn't want to leave him. At least, us going out to visit him made his stay out there more bearable! We had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it!

Thank you Daddy for a great time in Grand Junction, Colorado!