Estes Park, Colorado

For the New Year, I joined my brother, his wife, and her parents up in Estes Park. I love a trip to the mountains! It was really nice to be able to spend time relaxing and playing games in the lodge with the Stuarts.  : )  They often go up to the YMCA in Estes for Christmas. This national park is where Lenny and Lexey were supposed to get married when there was massive flooding in Fall of 2013, which canceled those plans. Their wedding was still fabulous -- and impressively re-planned within less than 24 hours!! I really enjoyed being able to see the wedding venue this time -- a beautiful outdoor chapel (and at this point, it was covered in a blanket of white). Koura (Lenny's dog) and the Stuart's cat, Vito, also joined for the time in the mountains!

Lenny, Lexey, Ken, and Koura outside for a walk in the sunny cold.

Koura LOVES this place!

The chapel  : )

Perrrrfection.  : )

there ARE mountains! - Leadville, CO

A group of us took a drive up to Leadville on Sunday, the day after the wedding...

It was still raining in the city... and for most of the drive to and from the mountains... but overall, it was definitely worth the trip! My aunt, uncle, two great aunts, and Poppy (grandpa) were able to see where my brother Sean lives... and when we were in the town of Leadville the weather was actually pretty nice!

We had lunch... made a trip to Melanzana... and went to Sean's place. We then drove through Vail on the way home. It was great to have everyone from the East Coast be able to see the Rocky Mountains.   : )

All of us at lunch!

Melanzana! Pretty excited that I found a great jacket in their 'seconds bin'

...I've already worn it a bunch on my bicycle ride to school...

Aunt Fran and mom looking cute...

Gorgeous view of the more mountains on the way to Sean's street...

Sean's house...

Sunday AM breakfast - Denver, CO

Lexey's parents, Barb and Ken, put together a really nice breakfast for Sunday morning. It was on the 35th (I think?!) floor of the building next door to the hotel in downtown Denver... the breakfast included great views, great food, and even better people!

Dad and Mom both loved baby Alila... well, everyone did! She's so cute...

Buddies - Lenny and Mr. BEAN!

Alila and daddy Ben

Aiden-as-Batman and his great-grandpa, Poppy

Ha - notice that out of 5 photos with people in them... 3 include baby Alila. She is SO cute and easygoing! Alila is Ben and Mel's daughter... they came all the way from New Zealand for the wedding!! It was great to see them.

PHOTO BOOP - Denver, CO

Lenny and Lexey put together their very own Photo 'Boop' for the wedding reception... 

My job was to collect costume pieces for the Photo Boop while in Denver over the summer... I loved it... and even came in under budget!

Uncle Bubby and Lenny hilariously started things off...

Me with Mom!   : )

More photos from the Photo Boop can be see on Lenny's website by clicking here.

dancin' time! Denver, CO

We all had a blast at Lenny and Lexey's wedding reception - dancing to the live band... Willy and the Po' Boys.

Aunt Lenore, Poppy, Dad, Mom, and myself... Ring Around the Rosie?!

Dad spinning Grandma  : )

Lexey and Lenny's first dance together!

...and wrapped in ribbon and tulle...

Sean and Lenny dancing with Grandma...

Like father (above!)... like son (below!)... hilarious. We loved the costumes that were used for the Photo Boop... Lenny's wearing my favorite... the shark bicycle helmet (kids'-size)   : P

...who's the pig? Denver, CO

We have a family tradition at the dinner table...

Someone begins the game by putting their index finger on the side of their nose.

Everyone else at the dinner table must do so as well, as soon as they notice that the game has begun.

The last person to notice and put their finger on their nose... is the PIG.

Why?...

...Because they were too interested in their food... and too busy eating to notice the game going on all around them!

So... of course we played at the reception of Lenny and Lexey's wedding  : P

And THEN... let there be tiramisu! Mmmmm...

the adventure continues! ...going to the reception, Denver, CO

Lenny and Lexey re-planned their wedding in a day...

They booked rooms at the Hyatt downtown... and the reception was at Maggiano's in Englewood, CO.

L & L provided lightrail tickets at the hotel for people to get to the reception by public transportation... perfect!

We went to the lightrail stop downtown, to find a sign that says this line was closed just this weekend -- of course!

Soooo... we walked back a couple blocks to catch a free shuttle bus to take us to the stop.

The bus driver told us that only one wheelchair could fit on the bus... and we had 3.

...All-in-all ...we DID get all 3 wheelchairs onto the bus to stick together on the journey. (Nothing like sneaking a wheelchair onto a bus! Haha)

On the bus to a working lightrail line:

We then made it to the lightrail stop. 

It's raining by now. Steadily...

Our train came... we all got on (including the 3 wheelchairs)... only to be told that the sign label on the front of the train was wrong (broken) and it was NOT the train that we needed to take us to Englewood!

All get off... still raining...

A few minutes later another train came along and this time (thankfully!) it was the correct one.

On the lightrail from Denver to Englewood for the reception...

Estimating, we probably rode the lightrail for about 30 minutes or so. My favorite was when Poppy asked, "Are you sure we're still in Colorado?!"

And another favorite... is that this was the first time everyone was able to get a view of the mountains! It had been about 3 or 4 days... and Uncle Bubby said, "I kept hearing all of this about there being mountains, but I was beginning to doubt that there were any!"

The adventure continues -- but we're making progress!

Crossing the highway from the lightrail stop to Maggiano's...

And everyone's in good spirits, laughing, and ready to party!  : D

Walking to Maggiano's got pretty muddy... 

rain... rain... and... rain...

The rain and flooding in Colorado while I was back for the wedding was unusual... and incredible. Incredibly bad for the most part.

The first photo below is on the day of the wedding... after the ceremony... thankfully not raining! ...But as you can see, the sky is scary-dark behind everyone...

On Sunday we took a ride up into the Rocky Mountains. It was many of my relatives first time in the Rockies! We went to Leadville to have lunch and see Sean's house... and then came back by way of Vail. It rained... but not as badly as some other parts of Colorado. We still were able to see the mountains surrounding us and we had a good day.  : )

...and friends too! Denver, CO

The time back in Denver for Lenny and Lexey's wedding was also a great time to enjoy seeing friends! Their friends are great... and I consider many of them my friends we well...

This lovely group came all the way from New Zealand for the wedding!

Inside joke... nicely carried out...  : P

Stacy is the wife of Lenny's best man, Shaun... and went to college with both of them...

so, so good to see family! Denver, CO

I was thankful to be able to see so many family members while in Denver for the wedding! It was really great to have a lot of relatives make the trip from New York and other places back East...

Crazy hair runs in the family...

...Can't tell we're related or anything...   ; )

Me and Sean... sandwiching Grandma with our hair!

A group of us went to Mr. Lucky's for lunch after the ceremony. Mmmm...

Dad's side of the family at the reception!

SO nice to have all of these people together in one place and celebrate.

Breakfast Sunday morning with Dad.

Barb and Ken Stuart (Lexey's parents) put together a great breakfast for everyone...

At Sean's house in Leadville with Mom!