Rocky Mountain Reunion

My grandma (Gigi) has lived in Boulder, Colorado for many years and is now in a nursing home there. My siblings and I haven't seen her for several years and so we all decided it would be fun to have a Wilkinson family reunion in Colorado. Everyone flew into Denver on Thursday, June 19th. My parents and brother Matt's family were on the same flight from Vegas. They landed about 20 minutes after we did. The cousins were so excited to see each other. After hugs and kisses in the airport terminal we ate at McDonald's (there wasn't much to choose from). After lunch we all got on the tram (I think that was the highlight of the whole trip for the boy cousins) to baggage claim. We had A LOT of luggage, we were quite a sight. Finally we made it to the shuttle bus so we could pick up our rental cars. After getting our cars we drove to Boulder to see Gigi.

Amanda's family was already there (they arrived in Colorado a few days before we did for Jordan's family reunion). It was great to see Gigi. The last time she saw Tyler he was 2 months old and she had never met Kaylee before. We got to visit with Gigi for several hours that first day. The weather was beautiful so we went outside and let the kids play and climb trees while
the adults talked and shared memories.

Spencer & Ellie climbing trees

Some of the great-grandchildren with Gigi

Gigi & Kaylee

After we left Boulder we drove up to Estes Park (about 45 miles northwest of Boulder) in the Rocky Mountains. It was heaven on earth. So amazingly beautiful. Trees as far as you could see. Clear blue lakes and the weather was perfect (high's in the 70's). We checked into our assigned condos (they were so comfortable and decorated really nice) and settled in. The next day, Friday, we all went fishing. All of the boy cousins were really excited about catching a fish. We went to a stocked trout man-made pond and they had everything there for you....fishing poles, bait, no license needed, etc. We thought this is great....we don't have to pay for anything.....WRONG. For every fish you catch it is $0.95 per inch. Well this place puts huge trout into their pond and don't feed them very often so you can imagine our surprise when the first kid pulls out a 15-17 inch rainbow trout. That is one expensive trout!!! Of course all the kids thought it was awesome to catch such a big fish that they all wanted to do it again; but all the parents put the kabosh on that idea because we were already paying about $15 per fish.

Austin's fish

Tyler's fish

We also did some fabulous hiking.

Here are some other fun pictures of our trip:

Kaylee enjoying her spaghetti dinner!

The cousin's in the hot tub!

The view from our condo. If you ever visit Estes Park stay here http://www.maryslakelodge.com/

Sunday afternoon with Gigi, Kaylee & Tatum (my cousin's little girl)

The girls: Ellie, Maren & Tatum

Some of the boys playing soccer in front of the nursing home.

We had a great time! It was so fun to see Gigi and some of my cousins on Sunday too. I am so glad that we went! We made some fantastic memories!!!