Our trip out West....finally!!!

So, we took a last minute (we had a couple weeks to prepare) 2 1/2 week trip to Colorado and Wyoming in July.  It was totally a "God thing".  He provided 110 % for this trip.  It was truly amazing to experience!  There was really one purpose for the trip but we managed to squeeze three things into one, a week of family therapy with Nancy Thomas at her ranch in Gypsum, Colorado, two days in Yellowstone National Park, and 5 days in Douglas, Wyoming visiting old family friends of my husbands on their ranch.  We also were able to spend a few hours in Cody, Wyoming on our way from Yellowstone to Douglas.  Nancy Thomas is an attachment expert and has tons of experience in her field of work.  I would be more than happy to answer anyone's questions regarding our time with them.  My email is acwalsman@gmail.com.

We took probably 2,000 pictures on our trip.  I think that is part of why I've not blogged sooner.  I have been overwhelmed at the prospect of picking from those photos.  So I decided to just go ahead tonight and just post pictures from our time at Nancy's.  The other's will come later!  

On our way!  Benjamin's first airplane ride!  He did really well.  God provided us bulkhead seats so he had room on the floor to get down and crawl around a little bit.  Then I was able to nurse him and he slept for over an hour.  At about three different times though various drinks were spilled into my lap, soaking me all the way to my underwear.  (Ironically this happened again on the plane ride home.  Something about an energetic toddler with wild swinging arms I think :)

This was an old gold mine that just looked cool.  We didn't pay to go in but just stopped for a few minutes!  

Here is our first look at the mountains in Colorado.  This was my first trip to Colorado.  I was so amazed by how very very beautiful it is!  When we first arrived in Denver it was rainy and overcast.  The fog was so thick that I couldn't see any mountains.  I was so disappointed but within a couple hours the cloud cover lifted!

God provided a very nice van for us for our entire 2 1/2 weeks for only six hundred dollars!  Steve used to travel a lot with his work so he had a special status with the rental car company.  Otherwise it would have been 2,000 dollars!  We logged over 2,000 miles in this van during our trip.  Thank goodness it had TWO DVD screens and I had brought some old episodes of the Duggars that my dear friend Daphne loaned me (thank you Daphne!).  In reality, we probably only watched about 4 episodes during our driving.  I wanted the kids to focus on the beautiful scenery that was everywhere!!!

Aspen trees.  So pretty!

We drove through lots of this on the road to Nancy's Ranch.

We were able to stay in an apartment on Nancy's Ranch that was right on the Colorado River.  Nancy had this huge rocking horse!  The kids got a kick out of that.  

Here we had just walked out of a therapy session and Andrew came running towards us.  One of the difficulties was that we had a lot of therapy and our younger boys had to stay with Nancy's hired helper.  She was wonderful, but the boys are homeschooled and they aren't used to be apart from me for so long! 

Here we are in Nancy's kitchen.  They had such a houseful much of the time!  Nancy is so hospitable and loving.  We felt so taken care of and loved!  

Here is the view from our bedroom in the apartment.  The picture doesn't do it justice!

We stepped out of therapy and saw these beautiful sights...

Midweek, Andrew tripped and hit a metal bed frame and knocked out one of his front teeth and knocked the one next to it backwards.  We really were out in nowhere, yet God provided amazingly and once again, an amazing pediatric dentist.  He took great care of Andrew!  He had to have his other tooth removed but all is well now.  He will just look 2 years older than he is for a while!

We usually give our kids one dollar for each lost tooth.  He got extra.  :)

Silly boy!

One afternoon, we took a break and drove to a beautiful sight along the Colorado, River.  

Benjamin learned to drive on the Ranch!

I just love this picture!

The boys did a few more chores than they are used to.  It was good for them though!

This is called trust falling.  The boys had to close their eyes and fall back into our arms.  It was pretty neat!

Andrew had a hard time with it though!

We also did an obstacle course with each of the boys while they were blindfolded.

Mr. James is in the background here.  He is a therapist that works closely with Nancy.

Equine therapy!  Very fun!

This is where we ate a lot of our meals.  We sat there looking out on the river.  It was so pretty!

We fell in love with Nancy!