A Time to Remember

Today was a blessing in many ways.  Before we started on our excursions, we all had breakfast together.  Well, Nicole noticed the sticker on one of the bananas that cracked us all up - especially since the kids used to do this with the stickers from bananas ALL the time when they were little.  Check out Nicholas' demonstration:

After we cleaned up from breakfast, we all piled into the car and our first stop was Red Rocks Ampitheatre, which was a great memory of enjoying an Easter Sunrise service there when we lived here in 1997.  The only drawback of our time there was all the people working out there (running steps, doing push-ups from one step to the next, broad jumping from one step to the next all the way up) - I felt very inadequate!  We had only been there a few times before, and I have never seen people working out there.  But there were easily 50 people (probably more) there today exercising, so it was a bit intimidating.  Except to Nicholas - he joined in with them!  He ran the length of each row of the whole ampitheatre, which someone told us was 2.5 miles.  Maybe we have a track star on our hand?   It was also very hot at only 11am there, so after getting a picture together we went inside to the visitor's center.  That was a lot of fun since they had memoriabilia there from previous concerts, along with pictures and schedules from previous years.  Here are a few pictures from our time there (notice Nicholas in the forground of this first picture in the blue shirt running across a row) :

From there we travelled to the campus of where we lived while Tim was obtaining his Master's Degree.  Every single building has been torn down, so we had to try to reconstruct from memory where everything used to be.  It was kind of sad because it is a BEAUTIFUL piece of property - it is a shame it is not being used.  It's not even owned by Colorado Christian Univerisity according to google maps, but instead to a Bible Institute.  So hopefully they'll build some new buildings there and use it.  We were able to find the place our apartments had been located, so Nicole took our picture there, and then we took a silly picture of the kids there (I don't know if they were trying to imitate the building falling down or what?). :-)

After we left the campus we made a wrong turn on the highway and ended up at the church we had attended while we were out there.  Well, it was a new location and buildng, but the same church - Foothills Bible Church.  So we pulled into the parking lot and I approached a gentleman leaving the building to ask him some questions.  Yes, the same pastor was still there and still going strong.  No, he and his wife never did have children (Tim and I had been really drawn to them because they had dealt with infertility like we had), but they had accepted it gracefully.  It was really good to see a church doing well that we had been close to while we were out here!
From there, we drove back to the camper for lunch and then I worked for 3 hours while everyone else kind of did their own thing.  Tim went out to get some things for grilling and for a big salad.  Once I had logged off of work, we all packed up and headed to a local park to meet some people he had been in the Master's Program with, thanks to Chuck's, initiative. (one of our friends from the Program)  We had a great time reconnecting with everyone, and meeting some additions to families!  It was such a blessing to catch up on each other's lives.  And the food wasn't too shabby either.  :-)  As the sun was setting in the sky, it was time to say our Good byes, with the hope we would be able to reconnect again in the not-too-distant future.  
We arrived home just after the Olympics started for the night, and we had invited Chuck over to check out our humble abode.  So the kids watched the Olympics while Tim and I sat outside talking with Chuck.  We felt very privileged to be able to 'go there' with him - talk about the things that are big for each of us and what God is doing in our lives.  I think that's what is called "Fellowship", and it was such a blessing.  Anyway, here are some pictures from our picnic in the park:   

Tomorrow the plan is to go out to the Mountains and drive up Mt. Evans, although Tim and Nicole went to bed not feeling too well (while Nathan is feeling better I'm afraid he may have taken our 'sharing' lessons a little too far).  :-)   So I'll keep you posted on what we end up doing tomorrow.  Blessings to all!