Day 8

I woke up before the sun this morning. Several times in fact! I'd passed on our bedtime ritual of a bathroom stop because we were all so tired walking back from the program. I asked hoping noone would need to go and everyone declined. Our night temperatures here were perfect for camping - 70s during the day and 50s at night. But the 50s is not my favorite time to be out of my sleeping bag. Three times. I'd finally remembered the third time that Grammie had served the kids root beer with dinner and it all made sense then. So I guess that's going on my lessons post this year!

The third trip was a little after 5am so I just stayed up and waited for the sunrise. Being tucked in the mountains it's already up by the time we see it, but I did notice a hint of color on the dunes so I popped out of the tent and enjoyed the view.

I edited pictures and wrote a litle while waiting on everyone else to wake up. When I was at a stopping point I started taking our tent down and preparing to leave. Once Brayden got up we decided to go for a quick walk down the dunes trail and snap a few goodbye pictures.

We had a little impromptu review of depth of field in photography too. These kind of pictures are this lens's specialty!

When we got back to the campsite, everyone was up and ready to help us pack up. Too bad our resident deer was back as she was quite the

Grammie was prepping a quick breakfast so I shooed her off and finished packing up the tents. We ate Fruit Loops and talked about our driving plan for the day. There were 3 stops we wanted to make but they would be adding at least an hour each to our drive. We'd enjoyed being settled for 2 days at this site so we were all really looking forward to 4 days at the next site. We were all pretty bummed to have to miss the stops though, but maybe we'll be back this way again before too long. Dave was bummed we'd be missing Cow Rock so Grammie said we would find a rock and paint it to look like a cow for him!

Grammie had been having an issue with one of her tires holding air so she filled it up, we gassed up, and got on the road. Without all the stops we would be driving mostly interstate today so hopefully we would make some good time. Dave worked while the kids with me enjoyed watching the fifth Harry Potter for the first leg of the trip. Laney is anxious to finish the sixth book so she can watch that one on the trip too!

We stopped for gas about halfway and Dave found us our first ice cream stop along the way. If you're ever in Castle Rock, CO do your taste buds a favor and stop at Butterfield's . This is going to be a tough one to beat on this trip. Dave and I agreed the only ice cream we've had that is better was in a spot we were shown by our friend Lydia in Michigan. I'd love to know their secret to the creamiest homemade ice cream. Or maybe not!

We got back on the road with ice cream in hand and headed to our beloved Trader Joe's. There are things we always buy there so the kids grabbed each of those and we stocked up on snacks. If it's an on the road day we don't usually snack for lunch I just throw back snacks to the lions about every 2 hours to keep them fed. This trip it seems to be taking about an hour before they get hungry so we are zooming through our snack supply! The must be growing again.

While I was in Trader Joe's, Dave decided to go buy a new camera. He'd priced a new every day lens for us to use but it would only be a little bit more to get a new camera with that lens so it seemed like an easy decision. It helps that he'd been wanting a new camera for a little while anyway. He also just happened to find a few six packs of beer there too!

About an hour after we left the store we were driving in the gorgeous Rocky Mountains into Moraine Park. The kids and I camped here on our very first trip but we didn't do much because Ryan was sick. We were staying for a few more days than that time plus would have some time with our very-much-missed friends, the Cadenas girls! After stopping by the Beaver Meadows Visitor's Center for a map, park bulletin, and junior ranger books we headed to our sites. Just as we were rounding the corner to our site, out of the corner of my eye we spotted the Cadenas girls waving and running toward us.  Our kids couldn't get out of the car fast enough!

While all the kids caught up and climbed the boulders, Dave and I set up camp then helped Grammie get her RV settled. We immediately cooked some dinner in order to make the ranger program that night. Amy was able to sit and catch up with us while we prepped and cooked. The kids were all talking a mile a minute as if they'd never been apart. Once we inhaled dinner we headed down to the amphitheater just in time for the program. It was a fun program about the development of some of the park's animals, the elk, bear, and big horn sheep. We learned a lot about how similar the stages are for people and these animals. Ryan and I both want pet baby bears now.

After the program we walked back to our site and were talked into making s'mores with the girls. Ryan decided to sleep with us so she would have more time with the girls. I'm sure Grammie is ready for a Clarke kid break!

Around the fire out came the scary stories. I do believe Brayden ended up plugging his ears several times! We said goodnight much too late and made a quick plan for the morning. We forgot how nice it is to have friends around!

Quote of the day: When asked at the ranger program what stages we as parents have looked forward to or are looking forward to, while other parents said, "Walking", "Talking" or "Eating sold food", Dave blurted out, "Leaving for college!"