Our Anniversary Celebration

As you could tell from my previous two posts that yesterday was our anniversary and that we've had a "bug" in our house. Because of the "bug", our plans changed how we were going to celebrate our anniversary, we couldn't send our kids to a babysitter.



As a surprise, Jeff came home for lunch and informed us that he took the rest of the day off and lets go to the mountains. He at first was thinking of going to Maroon Bells which is Aspen area but when he saw that it was going to be over 3 hours one way he decided against it. We then decided to drive Loveland's Pass and go through Eisenhower's tunnel, because how unbelievable it is, none of us have been through it since we've moved to Colorado.




Eisenhower tunnel is between the two exits of Loveland's Pass so we decided we would drive Loveland's Pass and then on our way back home we would go through the tunnel. On our way out we watched our temp. gauge go from 88 degrees to the low 50's. We had a beautiful drive and it was very peaceful for the first 30 - 45 minutes because some of the kids fell asleep. But then the questions began! When there are four kids there can be MANY questions, and they all seem to spur each other on, linking one question to the next. (FYI - Two of our kids and especially Preston, is just like their daddy, they can talk!) Jeff is driving and trying to answer all their questions to the best of his ability and when there is silence he fills it with his own questions and explanations of things. I finally had to say, "Everyone be quiet for 10 minutes and look for animals." Of course the younger ones jumped on the silence of the older two and decided they had free reign with their own questions now.





It wasn't long after the silence that we made it to the top and we got out and looked at the Continental Divide. It was cool and a little rainy but it was still beautiful. We then continued on our drive on Loveland's Pass and drove by several ski areas and they were pretty with the green slopes in the midst of all the trees.

















We then hopped back I-70 headed back to Denver then IT happened. We hit traffic at a stand still. On the east side of the tunnels they were re-paving and so there were three lanes of traffic cyphering down into one lane. It took us TWO hours to go around 7 miles! Thankfully I had a book and for the most part the kids and Jeff handled it all pretty well. When we finally got to the tunnels that is when I realized we weren't going to go through the Eisenhower Tunnel we were going to go through the Johnson Tunnel...oh well!











We then stopped in Idaho Springs and ate at the famous Beau Jo's Pizza. Can you tell how thick the pizza is from the picture? After having our fill we returned home just in time for bedtime. It was not the typical anniversary celebration but it was a great time with the family and it was definitely unforgettable for all of us.


















These last pictures are of the card Preston made for us, he put in some of his own money for us! He was so proud and so giving, and we were definitely proud of him for his thoughtfulness and his sacrifice he made, to show his love.

Pictures: 1) & 2) are the beginning of the trip; 3) The Continental Divide and the warning to us that we should have turned around and not tried to go through the tunnels from the west.; 4) Tanner, Landon, Kaylie & Preston; 5) A small glimpse of the traffic we were stuck in.; 6) The Johnson Tunnel; 7) & 8) Beau Jo's Pizza; 9) & 10) The card Preston made for us.