July 4-5 with Kira and David

Independence Day was great! David made us German pancakes with lemon and powdered sugar...Mmm.  Then we were off to the parade route which, I kid you not, was like 4-5 houses down form them! In this town, their parade is basically some princesses, politicians, and honored military and community emergency personnel, the later in short supply this year as they were off fighting the fires. Then the crazy begins and it's basically a huge water fight with people spraying, squirting, and splashing from parade vehicles and observers alike! I thought that was great! And my underwear were dry after a game of extreme corn hole because, you know, it's a dry heat. I say extreme because we tried it with a few challenges like with people trying to block you or turning around and throwing it backwards.We're a pretty competitive family.

Later that day, Kira and David took me to an old cemetery with a beautiful view of the resivour
and because they know I love dead people and documenting and they tolerated me doing that for longer than I thought they would which is why I love them too.

We played board games is which I lost Scrabble badly to Kira and the kids did puzzles with David. We finished up the night with ribs and a viewing of Maleficent.

July 5
After another wonderful nights sleep in the trailer (not sarcasm), Aunt Kira treated the kids and I to a day at Royal Gorge, while sadly, David had to work. They have built things up well since their fire several years back and we were happy to ride the newer less heart-pounding gondola across the gorge. We saw mountain sheep roaming through, including babies. We took pictures, watched the cheesey 15 minute film, and played before walking across the suspension bridge.

Rafts traveling below

After we left the Royal Gorge we were treated to yummy burgers and perused a great rock shop, in which Aunt Kira convinced Sophie to not spend more than half of her trip money on a rock but get something of lesser value so she could also buy thing elsewhere. Isn't that amazing logic?! Thank goodness for aunts because the same logic coming from her own mother falls on deaf ears.

On the way back home we took Skyline Drive which is one way, narrow, and really high, as the name suggests. The gem up there, beside the view, was dinosaur footprints that had become exposed.

Casper lovies