Flying to Orange County

I travel to California almost every week, but I don't make it to Southern California very often, so I consider this trip a bit of a treat. I have a massive amount of work to do tonight, so I won't be able to do much, but I may try to find a little seafood place on the ocean for dinner tonight so that I can eat, enjoy the scenery, and get work done. If I can make it work, I will be sure to add some photos in my post tomorrow.

I just had an incredible weekend with my family. I took Friday off and we spent the weekend with Steve & Alisha and their 3 children. It was so nice. The kids played so well together and it was so nice to be able to relax a little and play with the kids a LOT! Here's a brief re-cap of what we did this weekend:

• Friday - we slept in a bit, did some things around the house, then we went out and enjoyed the lake - did some kayaking, swam for a bit, and basically enjoyed the day. It was pretty hot outside - Steve and I even played a little 1-1 basketball. He actually beat me 2 games out of 3, but it was still fun. He was just really shooting well. For the evening, Steve & Alisha volunteered to watch all three children, so Amy and I made reservations at the Chimney Park Bistro in Windsor and we enjoyed at $150 meal together. Wow - tons of money, but luckily, we had a gift card from Greg Sonntag that he gaves us an owner gift after finishing the basement. Here are some photos from dinner that night:

• On Saturday, we took both families up to Estes Park. We hadn't been up there in over a year, so it was nice to go up again. I love that little place on earth and it was so nice to see the beauty and wonder of that place. It was also incredible to still see the aftermath of last year's flooding! Wow! I was amazed. Our activities in Estes Park were pretty simple - we ate a picnic lunch at a park by Lake Estes. It was very cold and windy at first, but it turned out great. Some photos at the park are below. We then went up into the park to hike Alberta Falls. Great little hike, but it started raining right when we got to the top, so we hurried down the trail. Next, we went fishing at the trout pond. We stayed for about an hour, but we didn't catch anything - real bummer, but it was fun to fish with the kids. Finally, we had dinner at Mama Rose's. Very expensive and honestly, the food wasn't that good - will never do that again! Here are some photos of Saturday's trip to Estes Park:

 

 

Before closing, I need to share a quick story - on the hike, Ashtyn was having a really bad time. She was grumpy, she was being mean to others and it was starting to get annoying. I took off to the side to talk to her and I actually felt the spirit asking me to be kind and soft to her - to not lecture her, but to try to be constructive with her. I learned a ton from this experience. I asked her to make the decision to be happy, to choose the right and to change her attitude herself. Well, she did just that! The picture above is Aubrey wearing Ashtyn's jacket because she was cold. She volunteered that to Aubrey without being asked and it made her feel good and happy. It changed her entire attitude and she had a blast for the rest of the day. What an incredible experience!!

We just landed - need to close. I will try to report on Sunday (yesterday) in a different post. It was a great day!

 

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